This week, we shall continue the study of the book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament.
In this series of rebuke and warning, the focus is turned back on Judah and Jerusalem (Israel had already been destroyed):
4:3-4—Calling Judah to Repentance
(1) The Lord uses a farming imagery to urge Judah:
a. To break up unplowed ground: The implication is that Judah has been sticking to sowing on the same ground that produces no result (i.e. fruit of repentance)
- Why then would they not break up unplowed ground so that fruits or results would be produced?
- How hard it is to break up unplowed ground in both a physical and a spiritual sense?
b. Not to sow among thorns:
- Why would they sow among thorns since it is obviously futile and a waste of time?
- What does this imagery project as to the spiritual condition of Judah?
(2) Call to circumcise their hearts:
a. Is the external ritual of circumcision not important? Why or why not? (Gen. 17:9-14)
b. What is the meaning of circumcising one’s heart? (Deut. 10:16; 30:6; Rom. 2:29)
(3) What if they do not circumcise their hearts?
4:5-10—The Judgment of God Foretold—The result of their refusal to circumcise their hearts is the judgment of God through the invasion of the Babylonians from the north:
(4) Where should the trumpet of warning be sounded?
(5) Why are they told to go to Zion?
(6) How urgent is this cry?
(7) What image is used of the invader from the north? (v. 7)
(8) How devastating will the invasion be? (vv. 7-8)
(9) Will their flight to the fortified city of Zion deliver them? (v. 9)
(10) Will the people listen to this warning? Why or why not? (v. 10)
a. Given that the prophecy was likely pronounced at the time of Josiah, what would cause them to ignore this warning?
b. Did the deception really come from the Lord? Why or why not?
4:11-17—The Judgement Reiterated
(11) Instead of a lion, what is the imagery used in this reiteration? (v. 11)
(12) In what sense is this imagery different? (vv. 11-13)
(13) Which imagery is more terrifying to you? Why?
(14) What is the reason for this impending judgment? (vv. 14-15, 17)
(15) Why does a voice of warning come from Dan, in particular? (v.15; 1 Ki. 12:28-30)
(16) Is there any hope for Jerusalem? (v. 14)
(17) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
4:18-31—Heart-wrenching Judgment
(1) The weeping prophet (vv. 18-26)
a. While the judgment pronounced is the infliction of physical destruction, what will it do to the heart? (v. 18)
b. Since the judgment is on the people, why would Jeremiah himself “writhe in pain”?
- In his vision, what does he hear?
- What does he see?
- Do you think that what grieves him most is the severity of the sins of the people (v. 22) or the severity of the devastation? (vv. 23-26) Why?
(2) An Unrepentant People (vv. 27-31)
a. What does the imagery of the earth and heavens portray concerning this judgment? (v. 27)
b. Why will the Lord not destroy the land completely? (v. 27)
c. What imagery is employed to describe the response of the people to this devastating warning? (v. 30)
d. Why do the people ignore such a serious warning like this?
e. To our warning of the coming judgment of God upon the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, in what way does the world today resemble these people?
f. Instead of being like a woman getting ready for pleasure and fun, what will be the end of these unrepentant people? (v. 31)
g. What does the contrast of these two imageries seek to highlight?
(3) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) Streets and squares denote the marketplace of trading (vv. 1-5):
a. How bad is the spiritual condition among the ordinary merchants in Jerusalem?
b. What kind of sin, depicted in v. 2, is among them?
c. Why did the prophet think this was the sin of the poor only? (v. 4)
d. Whose fault is it? (v. 5)
e. Has God remained silent over their sins? (v. 3)
f. Why didn’t the punishment of God work? (v. 3)
(2) Why does the Lord describe His punishment as “avenging Himself”? (vv. 7-9)
a. From this description of their sins, what might be the most despicable to you?
b. Would you have forgiven them if you were the Lord? Why or why not?
(3) Consider the severity of their sins:
a. What has happened to their relationship with God? (vv. 10-11)
b. Why does the Lord make the words of Jeremiah as fire that would consume the people? (vv. 12-14)
(4) The Judgment of Invasion and Destruction by Babylon (vv. 15-17)
a. How does the Lord describe the origin of the invading nation? (v. 15)
b. How invincible are they? (v. 16)
c. How complete will the destruction be? (v. 17)
(5) Why does the Lord repeat the promise of not destroying them completely? (4:27; 5:10, 18) What does He hope to achieve with this repeated message?
(6) This impending punishment is highlighted by the invaders as being of a foreign tongue (v. 15) and that they will serve these foreigners in a land not their own (v. 19).
a. Why would that be a fitting punishment?
b. What does such a punishment represent?
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
This series of messages to Jerusalem and Judah is highlighted by several sets of rhetorical questions, as if the Lord invites them for a debate:
5:20-24a—“Should you not fear me?”
(1) Now, the Lord addresses them as “descendants of Jacob”: What does this address point to? (v. 20)
(2) As covenanted people, they are now described as foolish and senseless. (v. 21)
a. What should their eyes have seen?
b. What should their ears have heard?
c. If they have seen and heard, what should they have done? (v. 22a) Why?
(3) How has God demonstrated that He is a God to be feared? (v. 22b)
(4) Of all creation, why does the Lord give the sea’s boundary as an example?
(5) As they have chosen to turn away from God, why does God call them people with “stubborn and rebellious hearts”? (v. 23)
(6) Do people of the world also demonstrate their stubbornness and rebelliousness against the Creator God? Why and how?
5:24b-29—“Should I not punish them?”
(7) Apart from referring to His majestic power to be feared, what does the Lord talk about in v. 24b?
(8) How should they respond to God’s goodness to them?
(9) They have responded with wrongdoings and sins instead (vv. 25-28). How would you label the sin described in the following verses:
a. V. 26
b. V. 27a
c. V. 27b and v. 28a
d. V. 28b
(10) What should the answer to v. 29 be? Why?
5:30-31—“But what will you do in the end”
(11) It appears that as horrific as the sins described above are (sins which are committed by a people who belong to God), a far more horrible and shocking sin is described in vv. 30-31.
a. What are the sins so described?
b. Why are they even more horrific and shocking?
(12) What should the answer to God’s question in v. 31b be?
(13) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Chapter 6 appears to conclude with this first series of earlier messages by Jeremiah, preached likely during the reign of Josiah:
6:1-7—The Call to Jerusalem’s Neighbors to Flee
(1) Benjamin, Tekoa and Beth Hakkerem are all likely places close to Jerusalem to its “northeast, west or southwest”:
a. How does the Lord describe Zion? (v. 2) Why?
b. What does this call to the neighboring cities to flee mean?
(2) What kind of people will their invader be? What will they turn the city of Jerusalem, a prosperous city, into? (v. 3)
(3) In what way does vv. 4-5 poetically depict the relentless and spirited attack of the invaders?
(4) Who is the real enemy behind this invasion? What is He called? (v. 6)
(5) What reason is given for such a punishment? (v. 7)
(6) Does the foregoing pronouncement of judgment sound final? Why or why not?
6:8-15—Jeremiah’s Own Monologue
(7) How devastating was the judgment already pronounced? (vv. 9-10)
a. How does the prophet react to their refusal to hear his warning? (v. 10a)
b. What reason is given for their refusal to listen? (v. 10b)
(8) Why does the grief of the prophet turn to anger? (v. 11a)
(9) How complete will God’s punishment be as a result?
a. In terms of the people? (v. 11b)
b. In terms of their possessions? (v. 12)
(10) How does the prophet justify the completeness or totality of God’s punishment?
a. In terms of their greed? (v. 13)
b. In terms of the deceit of the religious leaders? (v. 14)
- What is meant by only dressing the wound of the people?
- What is reason for their preaching of peace?
c. In terms of their shamelessness? (v. 15)
- Why do they not feel ashamed of their detestable conduct?
- In what way(s) do the people today resemble these people of Judah?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
This series of message ends on a sad note of futility:
(1) God calls them to return to the ancient path (v. 16)
a. What is this ancient path?
b. What if they choose to walk in it?
c. What was their response? Why?
(2) God also has appointed numerous prophets to warn them (v. 17)
a. Why does God call them “watchmen”?
b. How did they respond to the trumpet sounds? Why?
(3) Because of their refusal to listen, God calls on witnesses. (vv. 18-19)
a. Whom did the Lord call as witnesses?
b. What are they to witness?
(4) What is one of the reasons why the people have chosen not to heed to the calls of the watchmen? (v. 20)
(5) V. 21 begins with word “therefore”: How does their false piety turn into obstacles over which they stumble? What is the end result of their stumbling?
(6) God gives them one final warning here of the invasion they will have to face (vv. 22-25).
a. The enemies from the north have previously been foretold: What is the emphasis in vv. 22-23?
b. How is the suddenness and terror being portrayed in vv. 24-26?
(7) God’s conversation with Jeremiah (vv. 27-30)
a. Throughout the first six chapters, what is the function served by Jeremiah (and his message)? (v. 27)
b. How did the people respond to the test? (vv. 28-29)
c. In God’s desire to purify the people into pure silver, what is the result so far? (v. 30)
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
After the first series of messages and prophecies which was most likely delivered during the reign of Josiah, this section 7:1-8:3 appears to be the next collection of Jeremiah’s messages which were likely preached after the time of Josiah, when Jehoiakim permitted the return of pagan worship and practices (2 Chr. 36:5-8).
7:1-15—The Temple Fostered False Piety
(1) Where was Jeremiah to preach this message and who would be hearing this message? (v. 1)
(2) What kind of challenge would such a setting present to Jeremiah who himself is from a priestly lineage?
(3) The message is one of “reforming their ways and actions”:
a. How did they treat one another? (v. 5)
b. How did they exhibit their lack of compassion? (v. 6)
c. In what setting would they be shedding innocent blood?
d. What gods did they worship and follow in the meantime? (v. 9)
e. Which of the Ten Commandments did they openly violate according to v. 9? (see Ten Commandments in Exod. 20:2-17)
(4) How could they go to worship in the temple without feeling guilty? (vv. 4, 10)
(5) In particular, what does the repeated mention of the “temple” mean? Why does it give them a sense of security?
(6) What is the first example that the Lord uses to point out their false sense of security? (vv. 12-14)
a. How important was Shiloh once? (1 Sam. 1:3; 3:21)
b. What happened to the Ark of Covenant at Shiloh? (1 Sam. 4:4, 17, 22)
c. Why did it happen according to Jeremiah? (v. 12)
d. What is the message to the people? (v. 14)
(7) What is the second example that the Lord wants them to learn from? (v. 15)
7:16-20—Blatant Resumption of Idol Worship
(8) Read 2 Kings 23:19-20, 24-25 to see how Josiah utterly eradicated all forms of idol worship from the land.
(9) What have they now done? (vv. 17-18; see Note below)
(10) How angry is the Lord at them? (vv. 16, 19)
(11) Even if the Lord does not pour His anger on them, what have they done to themselves with idol worship? (v. 19) How so?
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
The worship of the Queen of Heaven was a
“reference to the Assyro-Babylonian Astarte…The worship of Astarte along with other Mesopotamian gods was popular in Judah in the days of Manasseh (2 K. 21; 23:4-14). In Mesopotamia this goddess was known exactly as the Queen of Heaven…or the Mistress of Heaven” (NICOT, Jeremiah, 284).