Thursday
Evening Bible Study
January 20, 2005
Introduction
We are still in what is known as Jeremiah’s “Temple
Address”.
This was the third prophetic message of Jeremiah, starting in chapter 7. Jeremiah is talking about how the people had
been putting their hopes on the fact that they had the “Temple”. Yet in fact, God would tear down the Temple. It is thought that the negative reaction
toward Jeremiah recorded in Jeremiah 26
come as a result of this “Temple Address”.
(Jer 26:7-8 NLT) The
priests, the prophets, and all the people listened to Jeremiah as he spoke in
front of the Lord's Temple.
{8} But when Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the LORD had
told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at the Temple
mobbed him. "Kill him!" they shouted.
Jeremiah 8
:1-3 Kingly bones scattered
:1 At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the
kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and
the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out
of their graves:
:2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the
host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom
they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped:
they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face
of the earth.
This is not talking about a resurrection, but about defiling the graves of
the kings and leaders. Their bones will be spread out before the “gods” they
had loved and worshipped.
This was a huge abomination to the Jew. They worked hard to keep their
graves from being desecrated. They wanted to keep their bones intact and
together, not scattered.
:3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them
that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have
driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
:4-13 Unrepentance, judgment coming
:4 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall,
and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
When most people fall down, they get right back up again.
:5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem
slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to
return.
Jerusalem has fallen and won’t
get up. It won’t learn from its mistakes.
:6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of
his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as
the horse rusheth into the battle.
:7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle
and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people
know not the judgment of the LORD.
Lesson
Time to turn around
The animals have their built in mechanisms like bird migration, they know
when it’s time to return home.
But the people of God don’t know what to do.
Illustration
The Call of the Barnyard
A flock of wild ducks were flying in formation, heading south for the
winter. They formed a beautiful V in the sky, and were admired by everyone who
saw them from below. One day, Wally, one of the wild ducks in the formation,
spotted something on the ground that caught his eye. It was a barnyard with a
flock of tame ducks who lived on the farm. They were waddling around on the
ground, quacking merrily and eating corn that was thrown on the ground for them
every day. Wally liked what he saw. “It sure would be nice to have some of that
corn,” he thought to himself. “And all this flying is very tiring. I’d like to
just waddle around for a while.” So after thinking it over a while, Wally left
the formation of wild ducks, made a sharp dive to the left, and headed for the
barnyard. He landed among the tame ducks, and began to waddle around and quack
merrily. He also started eating corn. The formation of wild ducks continued
their journey south, but Wally didn’t care. “I’ll rejoin them when they come
back north in a few months, he said to himself. Several months went by and sure
enough, Wally looked up and spotted the flock of wild ducks in formation,
heading north. They looked beautiful up there. And Wally was tired of the
barnyard. It was muddy and everywhere he waddled, nothing but duck doo. “It’s
time to leave,” said Wally. So Wally flapped his wings furiously and tried to
get airborne. But he had gained some weight from all his corn-eating, and he
hadn’t exercised his wings much either. He finally got off the ground, but he
was flying too low and slammed into the side of the barn. He fell to the ground
with a thud and said to himself, “Oh, well, I’ll just wait until they fly south
in a few months. Then I’ll rejoin them and become a wild duck again.” But when
the flock flew overhead once more, Wally again tried to lift himself out of the
barnyard. He simply didn’t have the strength. Every winter and every spring, he
saw his wild duck friends flying overhead, and they would call out to him. But
his attempts to leave were all in vain. Eventually Wally no longer paid any
attention to the wild ducks flying overhead. He hardly even noticed them. He
had, after all, become a barnyard duck.
Sometimes we get tired of being wild ducks-followers of Jesus Christ. It’s
not always easy to be obedient to God and to discipline ourselves to hang in there
for the long haul. When we are feeling that way, that’s when Satan tempts us to
“fall out of formation” and to join the barnyard ducks - the world. But look
what happened to Wally. He thought he would just “check it out” for awhile and
then leave when he wanted to. But he couldn’t do it. Sin is like that. Sin is a
trap, and it has a way of changing us into people we don’t even want to become.
Eventually we lose touch with who we really are—the sons and daughters of the
Most High. We become barnyard ducks.
Edited from More Hot Illustrations
for Youth Talks by Wayne Rice. Copyright 1995 by Youth Specialties, Inc.
We need to be people who understand when it’s time to turn from our sin and
fly south. We can’t get too attached to this world.
:8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo,
certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
God was wasting His time giving the people His Word.
:9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have
rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?
:10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them
that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is
given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth
falsely.
:11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly,
saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Lesson
False healing
One reason the people weren’t getting any better was because the false prophets
were telling the people the wrong thing.
If you go to the doctor with severe headaches, and all he does is tell you
that you need to repeat over and over again, “I am not sick, I am not sick”, you
might have a problem on your hands.
Not all religions lead to God. Not
all “spiritual” people are going to tell you the truth.
:12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were
not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among
them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith
the LORD.
visitation – The time when God “visits” them. For them, it is not a
good time, it is a time of judgment. They weren’t ready for a visit from God.
:13 I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on
the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things
that I have given them shall pass away from them.
:14-17 It won’t be nice
:14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the
defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us
to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against
the LORD.
The people are talking to themselves, thinking that if the Babylonian army
is going to come, they can just find shelter in their “fenced” cities.
:15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and
behold trouble!
:16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled
at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have
devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell
therein.
:17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will
not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
The Babylonians can’t be charmed like a snake is charmed. They won’t be
able to stop the judgment. It can’t be stopped by hiding.
:18-22 No comfort
:18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
:19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of
them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion?
is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven
images, and with strange vanities?
The people who have already been taken to Babylon
are crying out, “Isn’t Yahweh still in Zion?”
God’s response is that the people have provoked Him to abandon them.
:20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
The harvest represents Judah’s
opportunities to repent, yet they’ve passed those opportunities by.
Illustration
The story goes that a big storm was on the horizon, and the police cars
went through the small farming community to warn the citizens to head for high
ground. Farmer Bill heard the warning, but decided that he was just going to
stay put and trust God. When the rain began to fall, and the water began to
rise, the firemen came by in a boat, offering to evacuate Farmer Bill, but he
said, “No, I’m going to stay put and trust God.” Finally, as Bill had to climb
out onto his roof to get away from the raging flood, a helicopter came by
offering assistance, but Farmer Bill stayed put. When Bill got to heaven, he
was a bit ticked off at God. He said to God, “How come you didn’t rescue me
from the flood when I trusted you!” God gently replied, “Bill, I sent a police
car, a rescue boat, and a helicopter. What did you expect?”
When God gives you an opportunity to turn around, take it.
:21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black;
astonishment hath taken hold on me.
black – qadar – to mourn,
be dark
:22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no
physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people
recovered?
balm – ts@riy – a kind of balsam,
balm, salve. “Balm” was the resin of the storax tree that was used medicinally.
Gilead – the land east of the Jordan River,
famous for its healing balm.
Lesson
The Balm
For the people of Judah,
there was no balm. There was no place of healing.
There is an old hymn:
There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin sick soul.
Some times I feel
discouraged,
And think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit
Revives my soul again.
For Judah,
there was no “balm”. But that’s not the case for us.
The Holy Spirit is called the “anointing”
(1 John 2:27 KJV) But the
anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that
any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is
truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
anointing – chrisma
– anything smeared on, unguent, ointment, usually prepared by the Hebrews
from oil and aromatic herbs. Anointing was the inaugural ceremony for priests
Jesus called the Holy Spirit another “Comforter”
(John 14:16 KJV) And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Our God is called the God of all “comfort”
(2 Cor 1:3-5 KJV) Blessed be God, even the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
{4} Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort
them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are
comforted of God. {5} For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our
consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
There is hope. There is a “balm”. The Holy Spirit is our comfort.
Jeremiah 9
:1-8 Sin and deceit
:1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I
might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
Jeremiah weeps for the dead.
Sometimes we have this notion of the Old Testament prophets being harsh and
cruel. But Jeremiah is pained at what has happened to his nation.
:2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I
might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an
assembly of treacherous men.
Jeremiah wants to get away from the wickedness that is among the living. He
wishes he could go to a cabin out in the wilderness somewhere.
:3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not
valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and
they know not me, saith the LORD.
tongues like their bow – an archer bends his bow to shoot his
arrows. They bend their tongues to shoot their lies at people.
valiant for the truth – they didn’t take a stand for the truth.
This makes me think of modern politics today.
It seems that it really doesn’t matter what is good or best for our
country, but what does your political party want you to think? If one political
party takes a stand on an issue, the other political party must take the
opposite stand and come up with reasons to oppose it, not because the idea is
wrong, but because it’s what the other party is standing for.
:4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any
brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk
with slanders.
(NAS) Because every brother deals craftily
:5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the
truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to
commit iniquity.
They wear themselves out sinning.
:6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse
to know me, saith the LORD.
Lesson
Truth or lies
Truth is the key to knowing God and growing in Him.
(Eph 6:13-14 KJV) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand. {14} Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth…
The first part of our spiritual “armor” is the belt of truth.
Paul had in mind the Roman soldier’s armor.
The belt was what held everything together.
It’s what the other pieces of armor hung on.
It’s what was used to tie up your tunic to help you run faster, to keep you
from tripping on your own robes.
(Eph 4:15
KJV) But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which
is the head, even Christ:
Truth is the key to growing up. You’ll never grow up if you don’t learn to
live in reality.
If you try and live your life in a fantasy world, you’re only hurting
yourself.
God wants us to face reality and live in reality.
(John 4:24 KJV) God is a Spirit: and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Jesus said that part of the key to understanding how God is to be
worshipped is truth.
We don’t worship a “make-believe” God. We worship a real God.
We don’t worship a god who is made up of our own ideas. We worship God as
He has revealed Himself. We worship the God who is revealed in the Scripture.
:7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and
try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
The idea is melting them as silver or gold is melted in the fire to be
refined.
:8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh
peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.
:9-11 God will visit
:9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my
soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
God would visit the nation through the judgment of the coming Babylonian
war.
:10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the
habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so
that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle;
both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
:11 And I will make Jerusalem
heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah
desolate, without an inhabitant.
dragons – tanniyn –
dragon, serpent, sea monster
(NLT) Jer 9:11
"It will be a place haunted by jackals.”
This is what happened when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem.
It would be wiped out.
:12-16 Why is destruction coming?
:12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom
the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land
perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?
What’s the reason this is going to happen?
:13 And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set
before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
:14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after
Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
after the imagination of their own heart –
Lesson
It’s God’s rules
People like to make up their own ideas of what God is like and what it
takes to get to heaven.
It’s not what you think that counts, it’s what God thinks that counts.
We are a nation that likes to take polls. And it seems that we have this
notion that whatever the poll says must be the truth.
When an infamous criminal is about to be tried, a poll is taken to see whether
people think he is guilty.
But in reality, his guilt doesn’t depend on what the poll
says, it depends on whether or not he committed the crime.
Who God is and what He’s going to require of you is not
determined by a poll. It’s determined by
God.
We seem to think that when it comes to understanding God, that we puny
little humans have the ability to tell God what He ought to be like.
People will say, “Well how can a God of love send people to hell? Therefore
I can’t believe that there is such a place like hell, and God doesn’t send
people there.”
God isn’t going to judge the earth by taking a poll first.
He is the Creator. He made us. He makes up the rules, not us.
You can either play by God’s rules or … you’re going to
lose.
:15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel;
Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water
of gall to drink.
wormwood … gall – bitter things. They would go through bitter times
with the Babylonian captivity
:16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their
fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed
them.
:17-22 Get ready to wail
:17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning
women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
:18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes
may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
(vs. 17) mourning women – the “professional” mourners. It was a custom
to hire people who were good at making a lot of noise at a funeral. The more
noise the more the person was loved.
I imagine they must have sung some of those “country” tunes, those sad ones
…
:19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion,
How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the
land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
:20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the
word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her
neighbour lamentation.
These professional “mourners” were to teach a new song to their daughters …
:21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces,
to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
They were to mourn over the death that would cover the city when the
Babylonians would invade.
:22 Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung
upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall
gather them.
handful after the harvestman – (Jer 9:22 NKJV) …Like
cuttings after the harvester…
There would be dead bodies everywhere
:23-24 Glory in knowing God
:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither
let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his
riches:
glory – to boast in something.
Speaking of boasting …
Illustration
A group of chess enthusiasts had checked into a hotel and were standing in
the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour,
the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. “But why?” they
asked, as they moved off. “Because,” he said, “I can’t stand chess nuts
boasting in an open foyer.”
The things you “boast” about are the things you count on.
Things not to boast about:
Wisdom, strength, wealth
These are the kinds of things we have come to count on.
True of False Quiz
If I could just be a little smarter, I would be able to solve all my
problems (False)
If I could be just a little stronger, I could handle my problems better
(False)
If I had just a little more money, everything would be okay (False)
:24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and
knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness,
in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
Lesson
The Gospel
There’s only one thing that’s going to count – do you know God?
(Mat 7:21-23 KJV) Not every
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. {22} Many will say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name
have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? {23} And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew
you: depart from me, ye that work
iniquity.
The key to getting to heaven is whether or not you know God and He knows
you.
We come to know God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
(John 14:6 KJV)
Jesus said … I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me.
We come to know God by turning from our sin and opening our heart to Jesus.
(John 1:12 KJV)
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name:
If you really know God, you will start to care about the things that God
cares about: Lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness
:25-26 Circumcised and uncircumcised punished
:25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them
which are circumcised with the uncircumcised;
:26 Egypt,
and Judah, and Edom,
and the children of Ammon, and Moab,
and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all
these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel
are uncircumcised in the heart.
The Jews had no problem understanding that God would one day punish the
uncircumcised. But God is now saying
that the day would come when He would punish the circumcised as well, if their
hearts were not circumcised.
Egypt, Edom,
Ammon, etc. were nations that practices circumcision outwardly. But their hearts were not right.
God isn’t impressed by our outward rituals.
He’s looking for hearts that are right.
Jeremiah 10
:1-16 True God vs. Dumb idols
:1 Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not
dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
Lesson
Signs
Some signs are okay to read:
Illustration
Vets office: “All unattended children given free kitten.”
Plumber: “We repair what your husband fixed.”
At a tire shop in Milwaukee: “Invite
us to your next blowout.”
Door of a plastic surgeons office: “Hello, can we pick your nose?”
At a Towing Company: “We don’t charge an arm and a leg. We want tows.”
On Maternity Room Door: “Push, Push, Push.”
Billboard on the side of the road: “Keep your eyes on the road and stop
reading these signs.”
But what Jeremiah is talking about are other kinds of “signs”. J
(Jer 10:2 NLT) This is what
the LORD says: "Do not act like other nations who try to read their future
in the stars. Do not be afraid of their predictions, even though other nations
are terrified by them.
There’s a danger of looking for “signs” around you. Yes, God can speak to you through signs, but
the dangerous thing is that signs can be interpreted many different ways.
Looking for “signs” is a way of the “heathen”.
It’s better to be letting God speak to you through His Word. His Word is pretty clear about what you
should and shouldn’t do.
:3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of
the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
He’s talking about how people make their little “idols”.
:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and
with hammers, that it move not.
:5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be
borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil,
neither also is it in them to do good.
There’s nothing to these little “gods”.
:6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and
thy name is great in might.
:7 Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it
appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their
kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.
There is no other God like ours.
:8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of
vanities.
brutish – ba‘ar – to be
stupid, brutish, barbarous; dull-hearted, unreceptive
stock – the thing the idol is made of, it’s worthless
:9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz,
the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is
their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting
king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able
to abide his indignation.
:11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens
and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these
heavens.
This is the only verse in Jeremiah written in Aramaic. Aramaic was the language of the merchants,
the “trade” language. It was the
language of the people who worshipped these idols. God spoke this warning to them in their own
language.
:12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by
his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
:13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the
heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he
maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
Our God is powerful.
:14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by
the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in
them.
(Jer 10:14
NLT) …They make idols, but the idols
will disgrace their makers, for they are frauds. They have no life or power in
them.
:15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their
visitation they shall perish.
:16 The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all
things; and Israel
is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.
:17-22 Get ready to move
:17 Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.
The people were to pack their bags and get ready to move out of Jerusalem.
:18 For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of
the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.
:19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is
a grief, and I must bear it.
It seems that this is Jeremiah speaking of the anguish the people will be
feeling when the Babylonians come.
:20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are
gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any
more, and to set up my curtains.
:21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD:
therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
pastors – the leaders of the nation.
brutish – ba‘ar – to be
stupid, brutish, barbarous; dull-hearted, unreceptive
Lesson
Great leaders seek God
These leaders wouldn’t prosper because they weren’t asking God for
directions.
God says,
(Jer 33:3 KJV) Call unto me,
and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou
knowest not.
God is the one who gives “vision”
(Prov 29:18 KJV) Where there
is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
(Prov 29:18 ICB)
Where there is no word from God, people are uncontrolled. But those who
obey what they have been taught are happy.
Those of us who find ourselves in positions of leadership – we aren’t supposed
to have all the answers – God has all the answers.
:22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of
the north country, to make the cities of Judah
desolate, and a den of dragons.
bruit – sh@muw‘ah –
report, news, rumour
The report of Babylon coming.
:23-25 Jeremiah’s prayer for correction / judgment
:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man
that walketh to direct his steps.
:24 O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou
bring me to nothing.
:25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the
families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured
him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
I find it humorous how much we are like Jeremiah.
We want God to be gracious with us and not be angry with us.
But we want Him to be harsh on those around us.