Bible reading & studying Jeremiah chapter 9-11 by Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

 Bible reading & studying  Jeremiah chapter 9-11 

by Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries:Biblical Precepts & Gospel music 

               In Jeremiah chapter 9, notice Jeremiah’s grief over the sin of his people. As the name of Jacob a deceiver, one who deceives, in verse 4 indicates everyone was a Jacob.(Gen.27:36)

1)                         “They made ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me.” (v.3  Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me.” Declare the Lord. (v.4)

3)                     Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks with deceit. With him mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him. Should I not punish them for this? Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? (vv.8-9)

4)                   Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they had followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them. (vv12-16)

         Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “see, I will make this people eat bitter food, and drink poisoned water. I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have destroyed them.” (vv.15-16) This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about his: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah9:23-24)

          In the chapter 10:1-16 a scathing denunciation of idolatry, involving a threefold contrast: Heathen worship attached great importance to the sun, moon, and stars.(v.2). Though God made the heavens (v.12). 2) Man-made idols have to be stabilized (v.4), but God even controls the nations (v.10). 3) Idols are senseless (without intellectual capacity)because they are inanimate(v.8), but the living God designed and created all things.(vv12-13)

                  “Hear what the Lord says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the Lord says:

“Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a melon    patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good….they are all senseless and foolish; they are taught by worthless wooden idols….. But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.

Tell them this: “these gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.” But God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. (vv1-5,8,10-12) Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them. They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish. He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these for he is the Maker of all things, including Israel, the tribe of his inheritance-the Lord Almighty is his name. (vv.14-16)

 

I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. Correct me, Lord, but only with justice not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing. Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the peoples who do not call on your name. (vv.23-25)

          In the chapter11 unveils that Judah’s breaking of God’s covenant. The historic agreement between God and Israel made at Mt.Sinai. Jeremiah’s warning to be faithful to the Sinaitic covenant was delivered during the reformation under Josiah (2Kings22-23). He obviously viewed this revival as superficial and inadequate (11:13 shows that the people continued to worship Baal). “ you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.) (v.13).

  In Jeremiah 7:16 & 11:14 twice mentions about “Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.”   The Lord refused to listen the prayers because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and provoked Him to anger by burning incense to Baal. (11:.17)

  “Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. The terms I commanded your forefathers, when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace. I said, ‘ Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey –the land you possess today. (vv.4-5)

 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil heart…there is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins of their forefathers, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them…(vv.8,9)

Bibliography

     Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.