Jeremiah 21
January 28, 2024 1:44 PM
Solitary Man
solitaryman.substack.com
20240128
(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 21:1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
Jer 21:2 Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works (miracles), that he may go up from us (that he may go away).
This is a beginning of a new scroll of Jeremiah’s works, as there is a long time gap between chapter 20 and 21. All the previous words were during the early part of Jehoiakim’s reign (608-597 BC). Now we switch to the second major part of Jeremiah’s ministry, during the last couple years of Zedekiah’s reign (597-586 BC).
Jehoiakim was a man who cared very little for the things of God. When the book reverts back in time to Jehoiakim’s rule in chapter 38, we find that he actually burnt the scroll of prophecies as it was being read to him. His utter contempt for God’s word helped to speed the fate that Manasseh had already guaranteed.
Zedekiah would be more like our typical woke preacher of some prosperous middle class church in a safe suburb. He had an interest in the word of God, but it always took a back seat to political expediency. While he would never go so far as to burn a book of prophecies, he was easily swayed and controlled by the powerful princes around him, who had the political power. Sounds exactly like every rino and conservative in the U.S. and Canada today. Could perhaps talk a good talk, but no backbone whatsoever.
I would like to correct a minor point mentioned in the commentary in the last chapter. In Jer 20:1, Pashur was said to be the son of Immer. That was not his father’s name, but the name of the division of priests that king David had set up in 1 Chronicles chapter 24. It was from the 16th division in 1 Chr 24:14. I then said that Pashur’s real father’s name was to be found here in Jer 21:1, as the son of Melchiah. I believe that Jeremiah is still speaking of different priestly divisions. 1 Chr 24:9 speaks of this name as the 5th division. Therefore, this name is also the name of a division, not an actual father, so we are speaking of a different Pashur than the one in Jer 20:1. Similarly, 1 Chr 24:18 speaks of Maaseiah as the 24th division of 24. He is listed as the father of Zephaniah. The spellings of the division names have changed slightly over time, so they will not be exactly the same. That occurs in every culture and language, so it’s not an issue.
Under Jehoiakim, the priests had become so arrogant as to confront, beat, and jail the true men of God on their own, not fearing the wrath of the king, as the king would of cared less, and would most likely have applauded the act. Here, now that the outside threat is more real, the priests aren’t marching off to grab Jeremiah, but rather are being sent by a king that has finally remembered his ancestral deity.
Remember how chapter 20 ended. Jeremiah was virtually accusing God of dishonesty. He vented, but with such depth that it seemed to of turned into taking offence at God, becoming bitter at his fate, and very depressed. Since we now jump ahead by the space of about 15 years, God may of put him on the shelf for awhile until he had time to fully readjust his attitude.
Be very careful about exactly how far you go when you start making accusations against the most high, when your emotions are out of control.
Since they hadn’t heard from Jeremiah for quite some time, the sting of former rebukes were long gone. Now that they had tried everything, else including failed alliances with Egypt, and Babylon was toppling one city in Judah after another, they finally remembered this one prophet who was so different from all the rest. He was the only one who accurately predicted what was now occurring. Perhaps if the king respectfully sent a delegation to Jeremiah, God would look favorably upon them.
Let us carefully examine what the king said. He did not seek the Lord to find our what God wanted of him. He did not come to beg forgiveness for having turned their backs on him. He made no mention of his or the nation’s sinfulness. He approaches Jeremiah for perhaps the first time in his reign, looking for some special miracle to bail them out. God was simply a wishing well, or a slot machine, or a helicopter parent of a very spoiled child. Do whatever you want, and when you’re in a fix where nothing else works, go to him and he will immediately bail you out. All nominal believers generally display this same attitude.
Jer 21:3 Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
Jer 21:4 Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back (encircle) the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon (babel – confusion), and against the Chaldeans (kas-dee – astrologer), which besiege you without (outside) the walls, and I will assemble (gather) them into the midst of this city.
Jer 21:5 And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger (face to face), and in fury, and in great wrath.
Jer 21:6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence (deh-ber – plague).
It didn’t seem to take long for God to respond. After all these years, you presume to approach me demanding miracles? No acknowledgement of your sin, your rebellion, your idolatry and blasphemy? No admittance of your many crimes? You ignore me all your life, and now you want me to intervene? To what purpose? So that you can go back to your godless lifestyle?
God shocks the emissaries in that he says he will fight on Babylon’s side. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a modern prophet state that God would actually fight against his own people to destroy them.
Let us stop and consider this harsh truth. For those who still believe in taking the word of God literally, they would all agree that God clearly said he will fight on the pagan’s side to ensure his people could not win this war, and that they would be destroyed – either killed or exiled. However, they would most likely say that since we’re in the new covenant, God doesn’t do these kinds of things to his own people anymore, since this same wrath was fully satisfied at the cross. That somehow any and all future sin done by his church was already paid for at Calvary.
Two things come to mind. First, you could then argue the case that no judgment should ever befall any place where there is at least one believer. Second, it makes it sound like believers are exempt from the eternal principles of God’s mishpat. This is ridiculous. Jesus died for all sins. All who don’t believe, receive no deliverance from their sin. When you come to Christ, all your sins up to that point are forgiven, not future ones. Future sins can be forgiven because of the cross, but are not guaranteed unless you repent. Otherwise the cross becomes of no effect. This idea of future forgiveness is no different than the doctrine of indulgences practised by the medieval church. The only difference is that the Protestant version doesn’t cost you anything, since Jesus paid it all at the cross, do you don’t even have to pay the church for that future pardon. What an insidious doctrine to make us spiritually careless in our daily walk with the Lord!
Second, no one would argue with the principle of to whom much is given, much is required. If Judah was held to such a high standard of behavior, where God would choose to fight militarily against them because of their apostasy, how much more the church. Indeed, this is not very hard at all to accept. All we need to do is to examine America’s military history since world war two. Has America even won a single war since then decisively? Maybe if you really want to grasp at straws, you can think of Grenada in the 80’s, though no one would really call that a war. I submit that God has been fighting against America’s military for quite some time now. After Iraq and Afghanistan, no one would
argue those were comprehensive disasters. And now in Ukraine, we are depleting all our resources unto bankruptcy, to no benefit except to strengthen our opponent immeasurably. God is doing exactly the same thing to America today as he was doing to Judah here.
God said he would turn back the weapons of war against them. How many American made weapons are now in the hands of our enemies? You are fighting nations known for confusion and superstition (astrology). Yet those names would be more apt if they were applied to our side and not theirs. God promises that those outside our walls will be placed in the midst of our cities. Our open borders made this come to pass. God himself promises to be our enemy. Has it not been so, as we lose almost every court challenge, confirming the actions of the criminals? God promised to smite man and beast with plagues. Whether man made or not, people are dying suddenly like never before in history, and hundreds of millions of poor defenceless animals are being killed over fraudulent pcr tests of bird or swine flu. Famine will be the result of this mass murder of God’s creatures.
Jer 21:7 And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare (have compassion on) them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
We always think that God’s love and pity is of such a bottomless, endless nature, that he will never stand by and watch us be utterly destroyed. Like in the movies, he will come to our rescue in the nick of time.
Well for the obedient and the faithful, that may very well be the case. You would have a solid biblical reason for believing that, if you were that kind of person. Like Daniel, or the three Hebrew children. However we are like Judah in Zedekiah’s day. Therefore hear the word of the Lord for those kinds of people.
For this wicked generation, God promises the end result of this siege is that most will be die of famine and plague. If you then think my wrath will be satisfied, think again. I will take what is left of your leadership and the nation itself and turn them over to those who caused the bulk of you to perish already. Not only will I deliver you to one enemy, but to all your enemies. You will fall to Babylon, and to all those within Babylon, or those confederate with her, who really, really hate you. So now that you are under their control, do you think my anger is now satisfied? Once more, think again. That small remnant that I have not allowed to escape, they shall also be slain.
Do not think that help is on the way. No one will have pity on you. Not me, not man, no one.
This is what the day of the Lord really looks like.
Stop believing the lies of the blinded, deceived, wicked Laodicean prophets.
Are you finally beginning to truly understand the fix that we are in? What our imminent fate truly is, unless we find a level of genuinely pure repentance on such a scale that the church has never before seen?
Jer 21:8 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
Is this not what God offers each and every one of us? No matter where we are in life, no matter how young or old, rich or poor. No matter if we are free, or in total bondage. God is speaking. What road will you choose? It may be too late to salvage our nation, but it is never too late to salvage our soul, should we sincerely desire to follow him.
Jer 21:9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey (booty, spoil).
Even at this late time, though much was lost, God was still offering them the ability to salvage something. They could not save their stuff, but they could save their lives. For the Christian in the end times, God is offering to spare our eternal lives, though the beast system may take everything else from us, including our physical lives.
Sometimes the choices that God offers us are all evil, though some are less evil than others. The concept of accepting the judgment and punishment of God has been lost in the western church (Lv 26:41).
Jer 21:10 For I have set my face against this city for evil (rah), and not for good (tobe – pleasant, sweet, wealth, kindness, prosperity), saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
God had decided that they had forfeited their right to their inheritance. If they would at least obey this one command, they could yet live, but not with any comfort. But with such hardened hearts, could they accept their punishment? Would they not continue to fight to their last breath, in trying to hold on to the things of this world, the things that gave their life pleasure and meaning? This is where most find themselves, obeying every insane mandate so as not to lose those things we value most – our careers, our ability to travel, to be entertained. We prove by all that we choose that we do not value the inheritance that God had set aside for us. We threw it away with as little thought as Esau did.
Jer 21:11 And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
Jer 21:12 O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment (mishpat) in the morning (right from the get go), and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil (ro-ah – badness) of your doings (actions).
A word is given specifically to the leaders. They have more accountability than anyone, since they have the levers of justice in their hands. God is yet giving them a chance at this late hour to turn around and start executing mishpat as the first thing that they do. Not the second, third or last, but the first choice in all things. Help those who have been unjustly treated. Let the Coutts four and the j6ers go free. Let all political prisoners go free. If you don’t, God’s anger will burn you up like an out of control wildfire.
Even in the midst of total ruin, God still wants us to know that it is never too late to repent. He never wants us to despair. Who knows what good will come out of a righteous act, even at this very late hour?
Jer 21:13 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
We all thought that once the Soviet Union fell, since America was the world’s lone superpower, that our peace and safety was assured for generations. Who could challenge the might of America? In the early 90’s, who could of foreseen 2020 and beyond? After surviving decades of the cold war, who could of known that we would of been taken down from within? And how little time it took for America (and all the west) to be destroyed? Who saw the coordinated attack that was covid coming? How all the nations’ governments were already overthrown, yet no one really knew it.
We were so cocky and sure of ourselves. Our might and superiority, who could ever harm us? Our future and our children’s future was assured.
How utterly helpless we have become when God decides to remove himself from our lands. We had no idea how much our peace, security and freedom all depended on the invisible hedge of protection that God had thrown around our borders. Look at the sorts of demonic manifestations in our nations today. We had no idea such demons even existed.
Jer 21:14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
We have no strength to defend ourselves. If God decrees we are to be overcome, so shall we be. All the confession and declaration and standing on the word will be to no avail. We are not gods. We have no ability to control our circumstances.
Let each and every one of us not waste a single lesson in this time of loss and grief. Let us truly embrace a full and total dependence upon him who gives us life and breath and all things good.
Solitary Man
https://solitaryman.substack.com/
Photos courtesy Depositphotos
