LESSONS FROM JEREMIAH – PART 30 – THE PROBLEM IS DISOBEDIENCE AND NECKS THAT ARE TOO STIFF
PART 30 - Jeremiah 7:20-26
CHAPTER 7
[A]. THEREFORE BECOMES THE CONCLUSION
{{Jeremiah 7:20 THEREFORE thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, My anger and MY WRATH WILL BE POURED OUT on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”}}
“What is the conclusion,” we may ask. For the answer to that we need to rake up all that has preceded this that earned God’s great displeasure. For that it included all the book of Jeremiah, so far but we confine ourselves to chapter 7.
Found in chapter 7 are terrible things. The people had despised justice. Everyone deceived each other. They stole, murdered, and committed adultery, and swore falsely, and offered sacrifices to Baal. The LORD’S house had become a den of robbers. Maybe even worse than all, they committed themselves to the evil worship of the queen of heaven. All that forms the corruption that is so far in chapter 7. To use a modern term, “It was gross.”
With that great weight of sin upon them, God introduces the “Therefore.” Now comes the inevitable result. It is a full description of judgement and it is thorough. God’s anger and wrath will be poured out.
Firstly, the expression “poured out” is quite common in scripture, the first usage being – {{Genesis 35:14 “and Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and HE POURED OUT a libation on it. He also poured oil on it.”}} Then we have references to the Tabernacle and other matters, but I want to come down to Jeremiah’s time, in the reign of King Josiah (Jeremiah’s time) and this is the king speaking – {{2 Chronicles 34:21 “Go, inquire of the LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book which has been found; for GREAT IS THE WRATH OF THE LORD WHICH IS POURED OUT ON US because our fathers have not observed the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book.”}}
Straight on top of that, the prophetess Huldah confirmed the dire position of Judah – {{2 Chronicles 34:25 “Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, THEREFORE MY WRATH WILL BE POURED OUT ON THIS PLACE, AND IT SHALL NOT BE QUENCHED.”’}} I find it interesting that the expressions of Jeremiah and Huldah are so similar. She also uses a “Therefore”.
In Jeremiah 7:20 the prophet states, “My anger and My wrath,” but what is the difference between these two? The AV uses “My anger and My fury”.
There is a difference with the second word being much stronger than the first. Anger is associated with the nostril such as when a person is angry the nostril supposedly twitches or turns up. It means angry as we understand the everyday usage. However the second word, “wrath” or “fury”, even “burning wrath, according to Strong’s means heat, rage, hot displeasure, indignation, anger, wrath, poison, venom, rage” – well, you get the idea! God would act so decisively!
The end of the verse says it “burns and will not be quenched.” These are the strongest terms for the fierceness of the rage of God against His unrepentant, wicked people. Beware, the same conditions will be here in the Tribulation that is very close now. The world is in deep wickedness, and the Lord will remove His Church as Noah was removed in the ark, and then the burning wrath of God will fall. It is all in Revelation.
Verse 20 is all-inclusive – man, beast, trees, fruit. Nothing will be excluded from the fury of God that will come on the nation. They worshipped the queen of heaven and all manner of idols, including Moloch where their children were thrown into the mouth of a burning brass bull. Wickedness multiplies and becomes more evil over time. Man is accountable for his sin and in Judah’s case, many men and women meant a huge weight of wickedness that must meet justice.
Verse 20 uses “pairs” and I think that is for emphasis and certainty –
anger, wrath
man, beast
trees, fruit of the ground (crops)
burn, not to be quenched
[B]. WHAT GOD COMMANDED AND DID NOT COMMAND
{{Jeremiah 7:21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh,
Jeremiah 7:22 for I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices,
Jeremiah 7:23 but this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘OBEY MY VOICE, AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD, and you will be My people, and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’”}}
The following 6 verses go together but I have divided them into two sections. The general idea here is that the nation kept offering its sacrifices; its burnt offerings, over and over, and considered that was enough to allow them to continue in their sin. It was the greatest compromise with enough religion to ease the consciences, while the whole time, they paid no attention to the real issue and that was the obedience needed before God.
Man has always reasoned away the true will of God while following a path of compromise and appeasement of his own making. Be not deceived for God is not mocked. His word is not compromised and the bottom line is obedience which entails commitment to God; born again as new creations in Jesus Christ. There is no way around that.
Beware that going to church or Mass or to confession or saying the Rosary or putting a bit extra into the offering plate, or wearing a cross around your neck, might make the unconverted soul feel better, but it does absolutely nothing in God’s sight regarding the future of your eternal soul. Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
The Jews of Jeremiah’s time were devious, manipulative, godless and idolatrous, yet they kept up the pretense until they were swept away in judgement. Now we will look at these verses separately –
[1]. EAT YOUR FILL FOR IT IS NOTHING TO ME
{{Jeremiah 7:21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh,”}}
The verse is actually the rejection of these sacrifices, just as God rejected Cain’s sacrifice. Impure, idolatrous people and priests can never offer “clean” sacrifices to the LORD. As the souls are polluted, so too are the sacrifices. God tells them in effect the sacrifices are worthless; just go and eat the flesh. He wants none of it.
CBSC suggests one of two reasons but I think it is both –
[[ (i) “appropriate for your own use the offerings of which ye now consume the whole: I care not, for whether ye do this or not ye are breaking a higher law; or (ii) add one sacrifice to another. Multiply your victims ad libitum. They have no sanctity, as offered by your guilty hands, but are merely so much flesh.” ]]
And in the same vein The Pulpit Commentary says, [[ “Throw all your sacrifices into a mass, and eat them at your pleasure. Ye have my perfect permission, for they are of no religious value.” ]]
It was abundantly clear in the Old Testament that SACRIFICES DID NOT OVERRIDE OBEDIENCE. That was made very clear here -
{{1Samuel 15:22-23 Samuel said, “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE, and to heed, than the fat of rams, for rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.”}}
{{Psalm 51:16-17 “You do not delight in sacrifice otherwise I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt offering. THE SACRIFICES OF GOD ARE A BROKEN SPIRIT. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”}}
The contrast - On one hand you have sacrifices and offerings coming from rebellious and evil hearts, and on the other hand you have obedience from a broken and contrite heart. Those who do not belong in one camp belong in the other. The single fountain can not be clean and muddy. There are two fountains.
[2]. BURNT OFFERINGS/SACRIFICES LESSER THAN OBEDIENCE
{{Jeremiah 7:22 for I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices,}}
When the nation was to depart Egypt, the LORD provided them the means of escape through the sacrificial lambs but it was all a matter of obedience. The blood was applied to the doorposts and the lintel as the means of protection and inside, the family/families feasted on the lamb of sacrifice. There is wonderful teaching there, for the lamb that died for their protection was also their fellowship in strength for the wilderness journey.
Christ is our Lamb for protection from sin and death, and also the One we feed upon for the wilderness journey; the One who gives the strength for that journey.
What Jeremiah says is that the Lord did not bring them out to sacrifice because the sacrificial Law was yet to be established, but God brought them out to be obedient and trust in Him. No sooner was the nation delivered than it began to grumble and complain. They were a stiff-necked and rebellious people. {{Exodus 14:11-12 Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians?’ for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness,”
The Israelites never stopped complaining and failing the LORD and God had had enough of their rebelliousness and idolatry in Jeremiah’s day, and only judgement remained.
[3]. THE ONLY KEY IS OBEDIENCE – OBEDIENCE AND WELLNESS ARE MARRIAGE PARTNERS
{{Jeremiah 7:23 but this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘OBEY MY VOICE, AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD, and you will be My people, and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’”}}
Again the word that pleases God is used and that is “obey”. The Lord loves obedience for He is a loving Father who wants to give good things to His children and bless them. He loves His children’s dependence.
It was a simple matter for them to do. They just had to obey, and that word means trust. Trust means putting your hand in that of Almighty God and walking along with Him. The Jews of Moses’ time and Jeremiah’s time had no trust, only rebellion and disappointment for the God who wanted to protect and bless them.
Obedience was the key, not sacrifice or anything else; it was obedience to walk in the way God commanded and then it would be well with the nation.
[C]. THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE AND IT IS NOT NICE OR PLEASING TO THE LORD
{{Jeremiah 7:24 “Yet THEY DID NOT OBEY or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.
Jeremiah 7:25 “Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them,
Jeremiah 7:26 yet THEY DID NOT LISTEN TO ME or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did evil more than their fathers.”}}
[1]. SELF DEPENDENCE IS REJECTION OF THEIR LORD
{{Jeremiah 7:24 “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.”}}
There are five negatives in this verse. There is disobedience; then the failure to listen to God; then a walk in humanism and man’s wisdom; then a stubbornness that prevented repentance; and lastly, they kept going backwards, or if you like, kept sinking in an ocean of hopelessness.
This is a description of a people far removed from God, and is a certain picture of our world today. Yes, it has been the testimony of the human race that exhibits all those characteristics through history, but the modern world is festering to overflowing with the things God hates – disobedience, rejection, humanism, stubbornness and downward progression.
Our world continues on that path but it will get worse; just keeps declining past the Rapture and into the Tribulation where people will be the most wicked they have ever been since the time of Noah.
[2]. IT WAS GOD WHO TOOK THE INITIATIVE WITH THE PEOPLE
Jeremiah 7:25 “SINCE THE DAY that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I HAVE SENT YOU all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them,
The opening word is “since” and this is a long-suffering God of mercy and grace, but the people played on that and continued the journey away from their God. “SINCE the DAY” – they rebelled even the day they came out, and you know something, they brought their gods with them when they left Egypt! Yes, they worshipped idols even as they were delivered in the exodus.
{{Ezekiel 20:7-8 I said to them, Cast away, each of you, the detestable things of his eyes, AND DO NOT DEFILE YOURSELVES WITH THE IDOLS OF EGYPT. I am the LORD your God.’ “They rebelled against Me and were not willing to listen to Me. They did not cast away the detestable things of their eyes, NOR DID THEY FORSAKE THE IDOLS OF EGYPT. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.”}}
God did everything for the people and sent them one prophet after another to turn them back but they refused to obey and persecuted and killed the prophets. The end of verse 25 indicates the faithfulness of God’s messengers who rose early for ministry and also God who acted promptly and straightaway sent prophets to the people but they would not disobey; even worse, in the first instance, they would not listen.
[3]. YET NOW THEY ARE EVEN WORSE
{{Jeremiah 7:26 yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, BUT STIFFENED THEIR NECK. They did evil more than their fathers.”}}
The extra added here is that they stiffened their necks and were more wicked than the ones who came out of Egypt. The forefathers could mean in a broad sense all who came before the generation of Jeremiah’s time. The nation was deteriorating as time went by. This is as worse as they would get because Nebuchadnezzar was on the threshold.
The expression in the AV is “they hardened their necks” but stiffened is best. The picture is of the people with their backs to God with necks so stiff that they could not turn to the LORD. Their necks were fixed because their hearts were, and that was their problem. They were like objects set in moulds that come out unalterable. Sadly sin can reach a point when it is unalterable. It happened in Noah’s time and now it is happening in our generation.
From here we move to a new section and rather than start it and break in the middle, we will keep it until next time.
