Jeremiah 16
January 23, 2024 6:33 PM
Solitary Man
solitaryman.substack.com
20240123
(Please refer to the Preface and Introduction sections found in the Jeremiah Chapter 1 commentary for some general information about this chapter by chapter study of Jeremiah).
Jer 16:1 The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,
Jer 16:2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
We are introduced to another message. In case you were wondering if God was going to start to ease off the gas pedal, as all preachers are taught to do in cemetery (seminary), as you just have to leave the people feeling good! It’s all about generating the right feeling!
Apparently God never attended seminary, as this will prove to be the harshest message yet.
While not certain of the date, most believe it was given at end of Jehoiakim’s reign, when he was trusting in an alliance with Egypt (Jer 17:5), and the prophet would be taunted because his words had not yet come true (Jer 17:15).
Although in most times a family is one of God’s greatest blessings, there is one time when it is not. When God is about to wipe out the nation. God speaks this firstly so that Jeremiah is free from all domestic burden (see 1 Cor 7:8, 32-35). But I think the main reason is that for your sake and for theirs, the amount of suffering to come will be exceedingly more difficult on everyone, especially the prophet, if he has the burden of watching his loved ones in torment. The wicked would also have leverage against Jeremiah, in order to get him to shut up. I wonder how many people were intimidated into working for the new world order due to subtle and not so subtle threats to their loved ones. When you love, you do make yourself vulnerable. Even Paul was caught up in his staunch belief that the hour was so late, and his current circumstances so dire, that he counselled not to take a wife (1 Cor 7:25-27). In Paul’s epistle, it was Paul’s learned advice that was given, but in Jeremiah’s case, it is a command of the Lord.
I know of someone who was not blessed with a husband until very recently. They are almost at the end of normal child bearing age. Yet the maternal instinct runs deep, and she was bound and determined to have at least one child. Problem was that her husband did take the initial jab. We all know what that does to the odds of healthy childbearing. I did not have a good feeling about this, but how do you counsel someone about something like that, when they have their heart set on a family? She did end up getting pregnant, but lost the child after only a couple months. I was praying that if this was not God’s will in this present time, that they would both really seek the Lord. They both are believers, and they said they have prayed about it. Yet how do you possibly minister a word such as this to someone today? Only if God speaks directly to you, as he did to Jeremiah, would you ever believe it was the Lord, as everyone knows children are a great blessing, don’t they?
We shall see that not only Jeremiah, but Ezekiel and Hosea also were called to sacrifice when it came to their domestic situation. Let’s just keep this in mind – terminal judgment changes a lot of the rules. Do you see how crucial it is to get the heavenly oil for yourselves, straight form the source in these last days? Otherwise conventional wisdom may bring additional calamity that God wants to spare you from.
Jer 16:3 For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
Jer 16:4 They shall die of grievous deaths (of mortal sickness and disease); they shall not be lamented (mourned); neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung (manure) upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat (food) for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts (be-he-maw) of the earth.
Behemaw is the singular of the plural behemoth in Job 40:15.
The corruption of the dna, and the attack on the reproductive systems, make it a dangerous, even an impossible thing – to have children. I believe sudden death syndrome will continue to increase and accelerate. I am sure we have all heard of some severely gruesome testimonies about how the jab caused countless medical issues. Some people have had a cascading number of horrid diseases, one after another, as their bodies try to survive while fighting off the deadliest toxins known to man.
Can God get any more graphic? Death. Namely, death to children. And death of such a kind that you will have to watch them suffer in ways that you would never of imagined. And in our case, it’s even worse than what Judah faced here. It says that they would not be lamented. Not because they didn’t want to, but there were just too many. In our case, we cannot. First, it was because they barred us from having proper funerals, so we could not say our proper goodbyes. Many are left with unresolved feelings. Then, we would be cut off from fellowship if we dared blamed the holy, sacred, infallible jab, that was treated as more precious than manna from heaven. How dare you question such a great and perfect gift? So you watched your children die, and you somehow had to carry on without being able to get any answers as to what happened. Think about how low we’ve sunk as a nation, when it was more important to shut up a grieving mother who wanted to know if it was the jab that caused her child to die suddenly 48 hours after injecting them, rather than offer whatever comfort and help that we could. Truly, we all bowed down and worshipped the jab. It became the world’s god. Nothing was more important than protecting the sanctity and infallibility of the holy piercer. Do you think it’s going to be a big deal for most of the planet to take the mark after what we’ve just witnessed? Somehow I don’t think so.
The bodies of your children will pile up so high, that it will like a large manure pile. Not only in size, but perhaps in sight and smell. We have not seen what true mass death really looks like. Sure, we’ve had mass deaths for 3 years, but it’s been the most sanitized genocide in history. Most die one at a time. One on the street, another in his bed, another on the sports field, another under the ventilator. Wait until physical war and the total cutting off of our supply chain occurs. We will all have to face the horror of mass putrefaction, according to this verse.
Jer 16:5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them (don’t have sympathy for them): for I have taken away my peace (shalom, well being, safety) from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness (chesed – kindness) and mercies (compassion).
What an unimaginable state for a nation or a people to find itself in. God commands us not to grieve, because judgment is final, grace and mercy is no more to be found. Yet Hebrews 4:16 urges us to always approach the throne to find mercy and grace in the time of need. How do we reconcile these two verses?
As with any doctrine, the entire bible must be considered. Statements are often made without any qualifying conditions. That does not always mean that there aren’t any. You need to search the rest of the bible to see if they exist. For example, as far as an individual goes, Heb 4:16 does not apply to everyone in every situation. Romans 1 talks about those turned over to their sin, having reprobate minds. Those cannot be saved anymore. Heb 6:4-6 speaks about the mature believer wilfully apostatizing. They also cannot be saved anymore. Esau could not find repentance in Heb 12:16-17. King Saul was rejected by God, as even Samuel came back from the dead to confirm that fact (1 Sam 28:16). So we see that Heb 4:16 is not applicable universally.
It is the same way for a nation. The day of 1 Chr 7:14 has come and gone. The day of Jer 16:5 is now here.
I see two aspects of mourning here. The first is that everyone will find that they will reach a limit as far as staying sensitive and tenderhearted to all the suffering around you. There comes a time when there is so much evil and pain, that you sort of become numb to it and you can’t feel like you once used to. This is a challenge for all of us to overcome, to stay soft and continue to seek to walk in true compassion.
However in this verse, God is commanding to stop mourning for these wicked people, whom I have irrevocably chosen for destruction. God has chosen to take away his shalom. This is more than just peace, or a feeling of peace. It refers to God’s providential care for us. Without God’s protection, we have no hope. He further elaborates that his kindness and compassion is now gone. Woe unto us if this is indeed the case for our lands!
Jer 16:6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
Jer 16:7 Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation (solace, comfort) to drink for their father or for their mother.
So much death that proper mourning and funerals shall be a thing of the past. One proof of this today is that hospitals in Britain are now simply informing the parents of stillbirths that the hospital will take care of the dead for them. Previously, they always told the parents that they had the option of contacting a funeral director and having a proper service. Now that stillbirths have exploded worldwide, there are so many that they want to hide as many as possible. Almost all these parents, in their grief, agree to let the hospital handle it. They incinerate the child, and make no record of it, gone and forgotten, in order to help cover up at least some of the genocide that has been unleashed.
Cutting oneself and making oneself bald were forbidden by the law (Lev 19:28, 21:5, Dt 14:1). Yet they were in common practice, probably due to Ahaz and Manasseh. Tearing oneself would be a pagan practice of cutting oneself to show your sincerity in expressing grief. They would send strong drink to help ease the pain. All these things God sees and recognizes, even though some were forbidden. As for the dead children, so even for your dead parents will the cultural customs of mourning vanish. We have fulfilled this scripture with our forbiddance of funerals. What I have also noticed recently is that even though we are allowed to have normal funerals again, more and more are choosing not to. They are cremating and not having any kind of service. The cabal have trained the world well into a new pattern of behaviour. Just another example of the latest generation only concerned about themselves.
Jer 16:8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.
Our social gatherings were cut off, further reinforcing the cell phone’s generation’s tendency to isolate themselves from all human contact. Here God is commanding Jeremiah not to go to any wake, or any such commemoration for the dead. God wants to forget about this particular wicked generation. Everything he is saying indicates he wants no remembrance of them anymore.
Think about all the billions in hell today. I believe someone said that in a vision, when death and hell are cast into the lake of fire for all eternity, God will place them in such a place that even he will forget that they exist. I cannot prove that from the word, so don’t take it to the bank. Yet if God does cast our sins into the sea of forgetfulness for the truly redeemed children of the lamb, then perhaps he chooses to forget those that have found their way into the one place where God is said not to inhabit.
Jer 16:9 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.
Note God will cause, not Schwab or Gates or (insert your favorite villain here). What will God cause? God will cause the disappearance of all joy, of which the best example is the wedding feast. God will make joy disappear before our very eyes, and at this time, not at a later time.
One thing I sometimes find it hard to do is to retain any hope for the future, knowing what we know. And if you don’t have hope for the future, then how to remain optimistic? This is an issue I continue to wrestle with. Yet our hope and joy should not be in an assured earthly future of peace and safety, but in knowing that today we are doing the will of God. That must suffice.
Jer 16:10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?
You have got to be kidding. Are the people so blind, that they would actually ask this stupid question? Apparently, yes. Go into any ‘normie’ church today. Don’t even go into one with pride flags and injection sites. Just a good, born again believing, evangelical church. With their padded seats and their coffee bars. Their cell phones glued to their palms and their smoke pots, strobe lights, and 4k ultra screens. Their suv’s and designer clothes. Their sermons devoid of any mention of the sexual abominations occurring all around them. No mention of the world wide genocide. No warning about the imminent apocalypse, except perhaps in an academic sense, with their tables, charts, and man-made sequence of events that they’ve got all figured out. While their nation burns down all around them, they continue in their weekly service, thinking it’s business as usual. When their church burns down or is confiscated, or their pastor is arrested and/or killed, will they ask the same question today?
Jer 16:11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
First God indicts their ancestors. This is not some thing where God one day woke up on the wrong side of the bed. God does not respond with pure emotion, like man does, even though some of the bible stories seem to paint that kind of picture. Just remember that when you are reading of quick judgments in the book of Numbers, God is creating eternal patterns to teach his people in all future generations about the inevitable wages of sin, by giving graphic examples where sin ultimately leads. He just sort of hits fast forward on the consequence button so that we can comprehend that the wages of sin is death.
Twice God charges the previous generations with forsaking him. In those days, you did not go to your personal device to worship. Nor did you go to your favorite teams’ sports stadium, not to the concert hall. The place where you went for entertainment was to the pagan temple. We have polished up those temples in our sophistication. Instead of having sex with temple prostitutes, we get our sexual release through the internet. We stand and shout and clap and give our heart to our football team. We sing and dance and bow with our favorite band. Our hearts are everywhere but in heaven, where they’re supposed to be. And we have the gall to wonder why so many bad things seem to be happening all around us?
Jer 16:12 And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination (obstinate, twisted, hostile, lust) of his evil heart, that they may not hearken (shama – hear intelligently, with the intent to obey) unto me:
The history of Israel had some pretty wicked actors. Nadab and Abihu. King Saul and Achan. The tribe of Benjamin, raping a concubine to death. Idol worship in all shapes and sizes. Then the kings such as Jeroboam, Ahab, Ahaz, and Manasseh, among many others. Yet God says this final generation behaves even more wickedly.
Think about what we have seen in the last decade or so. Things we have never seen in the entire history of western civilization. Sodomy was always found in every culture, but never has it been elevated to this untouchable, sacred status that it has today. We celebrate an entire month, dedicated to all manner of sexual deviancy. Transgenderism is the most bizarre and unholy thing mankind has ever dreamt up. The intentional murder of the entire planet by getting you to believe you are taking some kind of medicine is unprecedented. The mass poisoning of all life is mind boggling. The ultimate transhumanist agenda. We could go on and on.
If we look inside the Laodicean churches, we would find similar abominations. Not just the obvious things such as rainbow flags and the prosperity gospel, or the hyper grace nonsense, the jab clinics and the vax passes. No, it’s our evil imaginations that create such twisted, bent out of reality images of God and Jesus. Things like ‘The Chosen’. (Here I am sure I will lose a lot of readers)!
The problem with that hot tv show is that it’s so hot. Anything so exceedingly popular warrants closer scrutiny (remember the narrow road and the wide road?). But seriously, Jesus’ humanity so predominates the characterization of the son of God that his divinity is virtually lost. Do you really think that Jesus needs an autistic, detail oriented tax collector write the sermon on the mount for him? That he would spend all day doing nothing but playing with a bunch of kids when he had this 3 and a half year window to proclaim the gospel and bring eternal salvation to humanity? That he would allow Peter to keep blithering about any and everything, patiently putting up with all his ridiculous antics? My bible reads that he told satan to get behind Peter. He spoke in such a way as to almost dare people to keep following him. He spoke parables whose meaning was intentionally hid from the masses. When the crowds were getting too big with people who were there just to see the show and not truly serious about giving their all, he spoke in such a way that caused most to leave. He told a rich young ruler that he better take care of the one and only thing that he wasn’t doing perfectly, when he knew it would cause him to fall away. He called pagan women dogs. He spoke of hell fire more than all other biblical authors put together.
Now tell me honestly, is that the image that ‘the chosen’ leaves its audience? Ar is it another Jesus? Just like everything else in the Laodicean age, we too have created our own gods. In our case, its just innumerable versions of Jesus, which have virtually nothing to do with the true lamb of God.
Let us not be afraid to stand up for the real son of God, and cast these other facsimiles on the dung pile where they belong.
Jer 16:13 Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour (graciousness).
What a terrible place to be – a God so angry that he has flung you so far away from the inheritance that he intended for you that even God’s grace cannot find you anymore.
Jer 16:14 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
Jer 16:15 But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
The great cultural tale of the Hebrews was their deliverance under Moses from Egyptian bondage. That story had gotten world renown. Just like the Christmas story is the west’s main cultural tale, so was the escape from Egypt. Yet God abruptly in this verse switches to a hopeful statement. That predominant tale will be replaced with a new tale, when God would return them from captivity from Babylon in 70 years time (of which Jeremiah will prophesy in another passage). That story would replace the old one as their major story of deliverance, to some extent. Sometimes we need a current spectacular encounter with the living God to renew our faith and our steadfastness in our walk. If only something similar would be in store for us. Alas, the biblical texts take us more toward martyrdom than simple bondage and restoration, unless you want to skip to the Millenium.
Even though this return was fulfilled in the days of Daniel, it has been fulfilled again in the 20th century, and is continuing to be fulfilled. What Israel’s next prophetic fulfillment will be in the midst of this escalation of war they are now in, I am sure we can go and watch the 20 foremost prophetic experts on youtube and you would probably get 20 different viewpoints. That is the most amazing thing with future prophecy, virtually no one gets it right before the fact. No one even sees a verse suggesting it. Yet after the event occurs, the scripture begins popping, revealing the event before our very eyes. Look at all the verses that talk about the piercer, the dart, that can now possibly refer to the jab. All the warnings and prophecies about illicit mixtures, hinting at the transhumanist agenda in full swing today.
Jer 16:16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes (cleft) of the rocks.
Well just as we thought God was getting into a good mood, we must once again bring the reader back to the main message. Initially, one might think that a verse about fishing may be a positive one, as Jesus said that we would become fishers of men. Alas, no such happy ending here. As we will see from the context of the rest of the chapter, the fishers and the hunters are the hostile nations all around Judah. Even if some managed to squirrel themselves away in some hidey hole, it would do them no good. God will point them out to their enemies.
Preppers will not escape if they do not know the Lord, no matter how remote their location. The elite are all building bug out shelters. They know what’s coming, but all their plans will come to naught in the day of the Lord.
Jer 16:17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
Human nature is amazing, yet depressingly predictable. We continue in some known sin, but somehow figure that God is ok with it, since we go to church so regularly, and tithe and read our bibles and pray. No real judgment has fallen, life is pretty good, my conscience really isn’t bothering me too much, i think God understands. Yes, God does understand. He understands that you are deceiving yourself, like billions of others that have gone before you. He understands the broad path you have chosen to walk on. Nothing is hid from him.
Jer 16:18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things (with the dead things that are disgusting, filthy abhorrent idols).
The law of increase works both ways. Continue to sow in faith, your harvest will grow larger and larger as you remain faithful. Sow continual sin, and you will reap even more than the sin would normally warrant. Here God repays Judah double for her sins. Rev 18:6 says God will reward Babylon double for her sins.
Yet God may choose to impose an even harsher punishment. Remember God demanded that certain thefts be repaid 4 or 5 fold (Ex 22:1). David spoke his own mishpat when he responded to Nathan’s tale of a miserly rich man (2 Sam 12:6). four of his sons met an untimely end. God took 4 sons as payment for the murder of Uriah the Hittite.
Don’t presume upon the mercy of God. You are not him, you do not know what his righteous mishpat shall be for our nations, or even our churches.
Jer 16:19 O LORD, my strength (security), and my fortress (defence), and my refuge (retreat) in the day of affliction (tightness), the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity (emptiness), and things wherein there is no profit.
We must desperately hold on to verses such as these, that call God our refuge in the day of affliction. Do not look to the police to protect you (that is certainly out the window in 2024). Do not look to some lawyer to get you your rights back. Do not look to your favorite cruise line to provide the retreat you need. In this end of days, Jesus, and only Jesus, can meet those needs.
Here is a hint of something that some could interpret as a final harvest. If you are found trusting in God alone, then some pagans may suddenly have their eyes opened and realize the true state of their souls.
Jer 16:20 Shall a man make gods (elohim) unto himself, and they are no gods (elohim)?
Jer 16:21 Therefore, behold, I will this once (or twice) cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.
God will suddenly turn on a light bulb in these Gentile minds, and they will come to realize that what they trusted in has no characteristic of the divine.
There are many instances where God has made his reality and his power known. The 7 years of madness bestowed upon king Nebuchadnezzar comes to mind. He came to recognize God’s ways are judgment (Dan 4:37). Imagine, a thoroughly heathen, world dictator came to know more about God’s ways than almost all churchgoers!
The Hebrew word translated once can also be translated twice. That would fit nicely with the first and second coming. Has there been any event in history like the coming of Jesus as a lamb? Yet we are most likely living in the generation that will see version two, the coming of the lion.
May he find us with our lamps full, our light shining bright, and our bags packed and ready to go!
Solitary Man
https://solitaryman.substack.com/
Photos courtesy Depositphotos
