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September 1, 2010 Jeremiah 34-36

The Lord told Jeremiah that king Zedekiah would be taken to Babylon, but not to fear because he would die a peaceful death. Jeremiah went to tell this to the king while the Babylonians were breaking down the wall of Jerusalem. The king and everyone else in Jerusalem had promised to free all the Hebrew slaves. After the slaves had been freed, they changed their minds and made them slaves again. Then the Lord spoke to Jeremiah and told him to remind the people of the agreement He had made with their ancestors to free any slave after 7 years. (Feb.28 Deut.15:12 & Exodus 21:2-6 Jan 23) The people had done the right thing and gone to the temple to set their slaves free, but they changed their minds and did the wrong thing. So God told them he would free the slave owners to die in battle. The people had even cut a calf in half and walked between the two parts (Gen 15:9 Jan 5th) which made it even worse. So God told them that He would have Nebuchadnezzar come back later and do to them what they did to the calf. They would capture king Zedekiah and burn down Judah.

Earlier, when Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord told Jeremiah to go to the Recabite family and invite them to come to visit with him in a side room of the temple. He was to offer them wine when they arrived. So they did, but when Jeremiah offered them wine they refused to drink it and told Jeremiah of a command given by their ancestor, Jonadab, son of Recab (Rechab), to never drink wine, build houses, or plant their own crops, and always live in tents. They and all their descendants were to obey this command. (I was wondering if this would be the same Johonadab son of Recab referenced in 2Kings 10:15, who rode in the chariot when Jehu destroyed the Baals?) For now they were forced to live inside the walls of Jerusalem because Babylon had invaded the countryside at this time. God told Jeremiah to tell the people to take a lesson from the Recabites. He wanted them to show the same obedience to His commandments that the Recabites had shown for the command of their ancestor. God promised the Recabites that because of their obedience to Jonadab, their family would be His servants and never die out.

Also during the time Jehoiakim was king, the Lord told Jeremiah to write down everything He said from the time Josiah had been king. Then Jeremiah was to read it to the people to convince them of all the terrible things that would happen if they didn't follow God's commandments. So Jeremiah got Baruch, the scribe and had him write everything on a scroll. Jeremiah had been forbidden to go into the temple by the people, so he asked Baruch if he would go and read the scroll to the people. So on the next holy day when the people had fasted and prayed Baruch read the scroll to them. A man from the palace heard what was read and went to the palace officials and told them about it, so they sent someone to bring Baruch and the scroll to the palace. They sat Baruch down to read the scroll and when he had finished they asked him if Jeremiah dictated the words to him? He told them he had. The officials told Baruch to get Jeremiah and hide. Eventually, the scroll was read by the king who chopped pieces out of it he didn't like and burned them until there was nothing left. Then he wanted Jeremiah and Baruch arrested, but the Lord had hidden them. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah to write another scroll like the first and tell king Jehoiakim about his horrible death, and that no one would follow him on the throne. So Jeremiah and Baruch got busy and wrote another scroll and added more of the word of the Lord.

Tomorrow read Jeremiah 37-41:10

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