This week, we shall continue the study of the book of Jeremiah in the
Old Testament.
In His effort to persuade His people to repent from their sins, it is obvious that God is willing to try every means to convince or convict them, and this is an account of His uses of the Recabites who lived among them to shame them into repentance. (See Note below concerning the Recabites.)
(1) When the Lord asked Jeremiah to invite the whole family of Recabites for a drink, do you think that the Lord was confident that they would not break the command of their forefather? Why or why not? (v. 2)
(2) Was there a reason why Jeremiah chose to describe in such a detailed fashion of where the room of reception was located? (v. 4)
(3) The reply of the Recabites (vv. 5-11)
a. Did God give the command to them not to drink wine? (v. 6)
b. Apart from the prohibition of wine drinking, what else did Jonadab command them not to do? (v. 7)
c. What might be the reason for these commands to maintain a nomadic lifestyle?
d. How long had they been keeping these commands, considering Jonadab lived in the time of Jehu, i.e. around say, 886 B.C.? (see 2 Ki. 10:23)
e. What happened that had caused them to move into Jerusalem? (v. 11)
f. Would you say that the invitation by Jeremiah in the name of the Lord for them to drink presented a strong temptation or reason for them to break the command of their forefather? Why or why not?
g. Why would they stick to the command of their forefather?
(4) The Recabites versus God’s people (vv. 12-16)
a. Who was the one who gave the command in each case?
b. How different were the commands? Which one was easier to obey? Why?
c. What was the promise given in each case? (vv. 7 and 15)
d. What was the difference between their receptions of the commands?
e. In what ways does this contrast reveal the particular wickedness of God’s people?
(5) What punishment does the Lord affirm again that would befall Judah? Do they deserve it? (v. 17)
(6) What blessing does the Lord bestow upon the Recabites? Do they deserve it? (vv. 18-19)
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
“According to this passage, the Recabites were a branch of the Kenites, i.e. descendants of Kenite, the father-in-law of Moses (Jdg. 1:16) who had gone to Canaan with the Israelites, and dwelt among them, partly in the wilderness on the southern frontier of the tribe of Judah (1 Sam. 15:6; 27:10; 30:29), partly in Kadesh in Naphtali (Jdg. 4:11, 17; 5:24). Their ancestor, or father of the tribe, was Rechab, the father of Jonadab, with whom Jehu made a friendly alliance (2 Ki. 10:15, 23).”
(K&D, 313)
This chapter sheds light on the beginning of the process by which Jeremiah’s sayings were collected and given a fixed literary form (see today’s Meditative Article). The fourth year of Jehoiakim saw Nebuchadnezzar defeat the Egyptian army at the Euphrates and his advance against Jerusalem. Daniel 1:1 indicates that Jerusalem was taken for the first time and a day of fast was likely instituted to commemorate this day to “evoke in the people a religious enthusiasm in favor of resistance” (K&D, 317).
36:1-7—Instruction to Put All Oracles into Writing
(1) When was Jeremiah asked to put “all the words” that God has spoken to him into writing? And how many years of prophecies did it cover? (see Jer. 25:1-3)
(2) What was the purpose of putting all the inspired words into writing? (v. 3)
(3) We have no idea why Jeremiah was “restricted” perhaps because he “had been forbidden to enter the temple precincts after the event of 19:1–20:6 or after the temple sermon (7:1-15)…” (NICOT, 623). His secretary, Baruch was asked to read all these words instead:
a. Where was he going to read the words? (v. 5)
b. When? (v. 6)
c. To whom? (v. 7)
d. Why? (v. 7)
36:8-19—The Reading of the Scroll in Public
(4) When was the scroll finished and read? (v. 9)
(5) Why was the day of fast being picked for the reading? (v. 9)
(6) The day of fasting was obviously a day of mourning, and likely for the first defeat of Jerusalem in the hands of the Babylonians.
a. What impact might these messages have on the people who came to the temple for the day of fast?
b. Why did the officials, who subsequently also heard the messages, look at each other in fear? (v.16)
c. Why did they think the king should hear the messages also? (v. 16)
d. Why did they ask Baruch and Jeremiah to hide first? (v. 19)
36:20-26—The Reading of the Scroll to the King
(7) Did the king bother to hear the entire message in the scroll? Why? (v. 23)
(8) What did he do to the scroll? What did his action represent? (v. 23)
(9) How different was the reaction of the king (and his attendants) from that of the officials? (v. 24) Why?
(10) Were you surprised that the king wanted to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah? Why?
36:27-32—The Re-Writing of the Scroll
(11) How does the fact that the scroll was re-written with many additions (v. 32), even though the original one was burned, speak to the indestructibility of the words of God?
(12) What specific judgment was pronounced on the king? (vv. 30-31)
(13) What message does this carry for those who are bent on destroying the Bible?
(14) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
37:1-10—False Hope Raised by the Retreat of the Babylonians
(1) Quickly scan through 2 Kings 24 to get a sense of the events that eventually led to the installation of Zedekiah as king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar:
a. Since the prophecies of Jeremiah had come true, why did Zedekiah and his attendants still pay no attention to the words of God?
b. What possibly could their reasons be?
(2) Based on the information in vv.5-9, what do you think was the reason for Zedekiah’s request to Jeremiah to “pray to the Lord our God for us”? (v. 3)
(3) What was God’s reply to the king? (vv. 8-10)
(4) What should the king’s reaction be?
37:11-21—Jeremiah’s Imprisonment —We have no idea what is meant by “to get his share of the property” nor whether it was connected to the subsequent purchase of his uncle’s land after he was imprisoned (in chapter 32):
(5) What was the reason for his arrest? (v. 13)
(6) Do you think the captain was simply using it as an opportunity to arrest him? (v. 15)
(7) What was the condition of that jail? (see v. 20)
(8) Why did the king send for him again? (v.17) Did he know he was falsely imprisoned?
(9) What was the answer from the Lord? (v. 17)
(10) How did Jeremiah remind him of the certainty of God’s word? (v. 19)
(11) Whom did Jeremiah say was the one who put him in prison? (v. 18)
(12) Why did Zedekiah agree to transfer him to the palace’s prison? (v. 21)
(13) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
King Zedekiah’s fear of the nobles almost cost the life of Jeremiah:
38:1-6—The Officials’ Attempt to Kill Jeremiah
(1) If Jeremiah was not a prophet and his prophecies did not come from God, what would his message amount to at a time like this? (v. 2-3)
(2) Was the opinion of these officials or noblemen necessarily wrong then? (v. 4) Why or why not?
(3) What was the king’s response in essence? (v. 5) Could he have saved him?
38:7-13—Godly Officials Stepped in to Save Jeremiah
(4) Who was this Ebed-Melek? (Note: Cushite means he was an Ethiopian.)
(5) Why was he the only one who dared to step up to save Jeremiah?
(6) What does it tell you about King Zedekiah who now changed his mind, but still put Jeremiah back in the prison in the courtyard of the guard?
38:14-28—Zedekiah’s Inquiry of the Lord
(7) Why did Jeremiah point out that it was futile for the king to ask?(v. 15)
(8) What promise did the king give? Why did he swear an oath “secretly”? (v. 16)
(9) The answer of Jeremiah was basically the same as before, with these exceptions: (vv. 17-23)
a. What details were given concerning the fate of the king and his household?
b. What would be the wider implications of his action beyond himself?
(10) Why did the king warn him not to repeat this conversation to the officials?
(11) Should Jeremiah listen to him? Why or why not?
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
39:1-10—The Fall of Jerusalem
(1) Based on the information in vv. 1-2, how long did it take for Nebuchadnezzar to eventually overcome the opposition of Jerusalem?
(2) Given what we have considered in the last chapter, what would have gone through the minds of the king and his officials during this prolonged time of siege?
(3) What was the fate of King Zedekiah and his sons? (vv. 5-7)
(4) As his eyes were gouged, do you think King Zedekiah was filled with regrets? Why or why not? (v. 7)
(5) The fate of Jerusalem and its people were described in vv. 8-10. Read it carefully and reflect on the following:
a. What was it once, especially in the time of David?
b. How delighted was the Lord, especially in the time of the dedication of the temple? (2 Chr. 7:1-3)
c. How did the remnant feel at the news of the fall of Jerusalem? (see Ezek. 33:21ff)
d. How did the Lord feel at the destruction of His Holy City?
39:11-18—The Fate of Jeremiah
(6) How was Jeremiah treated by Nebuchadnezzar? (vv. 11-14)
(7) Why? (see 40:2-4) Would anything below be relevant?
a. The fact that he was a prophet of the Lord and Nebuchadnezzar knew about the prophecies he had been preaching.
b. Perhaps because Daniel had increased in influence in Babylon by then. (see Dan. 2:1ff)
(8) How was Ebed-Melek rewarded for his action in saving Jeremiah’s life? (vv. 15-18)
(9) What was the reason given for his action? (v. 18)
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
40:1-6—The Freeing of Jeremiah—There was an apparent slipup by the soldiers in that they mistakenly captured Jeremiah in spite of the order given by Nebuchadnezzar. (39:11-14)
(1) What do you think might be the reason for the mix-up or mistake in Jeremiah being bound in chains? (v. 1)
(2) What was reason given by the commander for the freeing of Jeremiah? (vv. 2-4)
(3) Do you think he was sincere with his words? Why or why not?
(4) What options did he give Jeremiah? (v. 4)
(5) What did Jeremiah choose? (vv. 5-6) Why? (see the opening words of this chapter)
40:7-16—Gedaliah as Governor
(6) In order to understand why Gedaliah was chosen as governor, perhaps we need to trace his genealogy (see Note below).
a. What was recorded about his father Ahikam? (40:9; 26:24; also 2 Ki. 22:12-14)
b. What was recorded about Ahikim’s father Shaphan? (2 Ki. 22:3-13)
(7) How does v. 12 speak of the goodness of the Lord to the remnant and the hope He offers after His punishment of the land?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
“He (Gedaliah) may have had a good deal of administrative experience in Zedekiah’s cabinet. A seal impression found in Lachish dating to the beginning of the sixth century B.C. bears the name, ‘Belonging to Gedaliah, Over the House.’ The latter expression was used of the chief minister of the king.”
(NICOT, 653)
41:1-9—The Assassination of Gedaliah
(1) Why didn’t Gedaliah believe the report of Johanan? (40:13-14) What possibly could the reason(s) be?
(2) Who was Ishmael? (v. 1) What might be his motive to assassinate the governor (40:14; he had planned to flee afterwards and not to remain in Mizpah)?
(3) How many men did he bring with him? (v. 1)
(4) He also killed 70 of the 80 men who came from the north (vv. 4-9)
a. Where did these men come from? (v. 5)
b. What kind of offerings did they bring? (v. 5)
c. How did they come and how did it show their purpose for coming? (v. 5)
d. How did Ishmael fool them into trusting him? (v. 6)
e. What does this story about the death of these men tell us about Ishmael?
41:10-18—The Aftermath of the Assassination
(5) What might be the motive of the king of the Ammonites to use Ishmael to kill the governor and Babylonian soldiers and to take captive of the daughters of the king? (v. 10)
(6) Having rescued the captives, why did Johanan and his men decide to flee to Egypt? (v. 18)
(7) With Jeremiah among them, what should he have done?
(8) This presumably was a tragedy of lesser national significance, and yet it was later commemorated by the Jews of the post-exilic period (see Zech. 7:3; 8:19) with a fast “on the third day of the seventh month” (K&D, 340; NICOT, 657). Why was this the case?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?