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In the middle of chapter 22, Jeremiah turns his attention to Shallum – or Jehoahaz – promising that he will not return from exile in Egypt. He then condemns Jehoiakim, who succeeded him, and Coniah, short for Jeconiah, who also will not return from captivity in Babylon.

To frame these oracles, it’s time for a history review. 2 Kings lets us know that King Josiah (Jehoahaz’ father) had died trying to thwart Egypt’s advance against Babylon. Judah placed Jehoahaz on the throne in Josiah’s stead, but the Pharaoh, on his way back through Jerusalem, took Jehoahaz captive and placed Jehoiakim on the throne.

During Jehoiakim’s reign the political winds turned and Judah came under Babylonian rule. Jehoiakim rebelled however, and Babylon was amassing its forces against him when he died in 598 B.C. His son Jeconiah (who’s named Jehoiachin in 2 Kings), eighteen years old and three months into his reign, gave himself up to the king of Babylon.

To release his siege of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 24 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar carried off all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house… He also carried away all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained, except the poorest people of the land… Further, the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle [and Josiah’s remaining son], king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

It’s unclear why the author is dropping these oracles in here – especially when some of them could be two decades old – except that it’s possible there was a Judean hope that one of these rulers will return to the throne. Even imagining their homecoming would give a glimmer of hope that there will be a homeland for them to return to. Jeremiah’s challenge all along has been to convince the remaining Judeans that no hope remains; perhaps he is simply checking any glimpses of optimism off the list.

Optimism-crushing is certainly the theme in the rest of today’s reading. In chapter 23, the LORD calls Judah a burden, and promises to cast them off. He even declares opposition to the prophets “who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name…” In chapter 24 Jeremiah recalls a vision from Nebuchadnezzar’s earlier seige, in which the LORD promises to protect the exiles and reject the remnant in Jerusalem, promising to “send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”

Our verse for this week is Hebrews 8:10: For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jeremiah 22 through 24. Now let’s read it!

Jeremiah 22 - 24

Jehovah said, "Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there: 'Hear Jehovah's word, king of Judah, who sits on David's throne--you, your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates. Jehovah says: "Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don't shed innocent blood in this place. For if you do this thing indeed, then kings sitting on David's throne will enter in by the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses--they, their servants, and their people. But if you will not hear these words, I swear by myself," says Jehovah, "that this house will become a desolation."'" For Jehovah says concerning the house of the king of Judah: "You are Gilead to me, the head of Lebanon. Yet surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited. I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons, and they will cut down your choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. "Many nations will pass by this city, and they will each ask his neighbor, 'Why has Jehovah done this to this great city?' Then they will answer, 'Because they abandoned the covenant of Jehovah their God, worshiped other gods, and served them.'" Don't weep for the dead. Don't bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he will return no more, and not see his native country. For Jehovah says touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went out of this place: "He won't return there any more. But he will die in the place where they have led him captive. He will see this land no more." "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor's service without wages, and doesn't give him his hire; who says, 'I will build myself a wide house and spacious rooms,' and cuts out windows for himself, with a cedar ceiling, and painted with red. "Should you reign because you strive to excel in cedar? Didn't your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so then it was well. Wasn't this to know me?" says Jehovah. But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence." Therefore Jehovah says concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: "They won't lament for him, saying, 'Ah my brother!' or, 'Ah sister!' They won't lament for him, saying 'Ah lord!' or, 'Ah his glory!' He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem." "Go up to Lebanon, and cry out. Lift up your voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim; for all your lovers have been destroyed. I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, 'I will not listen.' This has been your way from your youth, that you didn't obey my voice. The wind will feed all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Surely then you will be ashamed and confounded for all your wickedness. Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail! "As I live," says Jehovah, "though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet on my right hand, I would still pluck you from there. I would give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of them of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. I will cast you out with your mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born; and there you will die. But to the land to which their soul longs to return, there they will not return." Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which no one delights? Why are they cast out, he and his offspring, and cast into a land which they don't know? O earth, earth, earth, hear Jehovah's word! Jehovah says, "Record this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his days; for no more will a man of his offspring prosper, sitting on David's throne and ruling in Judah." "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" says Jehovah. Therefore Jehovah, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: "You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings," says Jehovah. "I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they will be fruitful and multiply. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, neither will any be lacking," says Jehovah. "Behold, the days come," says Jehovah, "that I will raise to David a righteous Branch; and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. This is his name by which he will be called: Jehovah our righteousness. "Therefore, behold, the days come," says Jehovah, "that they will no more say, 'As Jehovah lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;' but, 'As Jehovah lives, who brought up and who led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them.' Then they will dwell in their own land." Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of Jehovah, and because of his holy words. "For the land is full of adulterers; for because of the curse the land mourns. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right; for both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness," says Jehovah. Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They will be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation," says Jehovah. "I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah." Therefore Jehovah of Armies says concerning the prophets: "Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land." Jehovah of Armies says, "Don't listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Jehovah. They say continually to those who despise me, 'Jehovah has said, "You will have peace;"' and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, 'No evil will come on you.' For who has stood in the council of Jehovah, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has listened to my word, and heard it? Behold, Jehovah's storm, his wrath, has gone out. Yes, a whirling storm! It will burst on the head of the wicked. Jehovah's anger will not return until he has executed and performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days, you will understand it perfectly. I didn't send these prophets, yet they ran. I didn't speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. "Am I a God at hand," says Jehovah, "and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can't see him?" says Jehovah. "Don't I fill heaven and earth?" says Jehovah. "I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? They intend to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they each tell his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal. The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?" says Jehovah. "Isn't my word like fire?" says Jehovah; "and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? "Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," says Jehovah, "who each steal my words from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets," says Jehovah, "who use their tongues, and say, 'He says.' Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams," says Jehovah, "who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting; yet I didn't send them or command them. They don't profit this people at all," says Jehovah. "When this people, or the prophet, or a priest, asks you, saying, 'What is the message from Jehovah?' Then you shall tell them, '"What message? I will cast you off," says Jehovah.' As for the prophet, the priest, and the people, who say, 'The message from Jehovah,' I will even punish that man and his household. You will say everyone to his neighbor, and everyone to his brother, 'What has Jehovah answered?' and, 'What has Jehovah said?' You will mention the message from Jehovah no more, for every man's own word has become his message; for you have perverted the words of the living God, of Jehovah of Armies, our God. You will say to the prophet, 'What has Jehovah answered you?' and, 'What has Jehovah spoken?' Although you say, 'The message from Jehovah,' therefore Jehovah says: 'Because you say this word, "The message from Jehovah," and I have sent to you, telling you not to say, "The message from Jehovah," therefore behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off with the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence. I will bring an everlasting reproach on you, and a perpetual shame, which will not be forgotten.'" Jehovah showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set before Jehovah's temple, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first-ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then Jehovah asked me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs. The good figs are very good, and the bad are very bad, so bad that they can't be eaten." Jehovah's word came to me, saying, "Jehovah, the God of Israel says: 'Like these good figs, so I will regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, as good. For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land. I will build them, and not pull them down. I will plant them, and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Jehovah. They will be my people, and I will be their God; for they will return to me with their whole heart. "'As the bad figs, which can't be eaten, they are so bad,' surely Jehovah says, 'So I will give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I will drive them. I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, until they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.'"

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