The Lord speaks again to the house of the king of Judah.
This time Jeremiah is sent to the actual family, whereas in the last chapter the message was given to an envoy to deliver.
God gives an expanded version of the offer He made in the previous chapter. Just as a reminder, the king wants God to deliver him from the Babylonian siege, but doesn't offer the Lord any offering or reason to intervene, especially considering all of the warnings he has received from the prophets. Instead God tells him what he can do. Does God want gold? Human sacrifices? Fasting and self-flagellation?
No. Because that's not Who He is.
Here's what they can do to turn God's heart back to them:
Thus says the Lord, “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you men will indeed perform this thing, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people. 5 But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation.”’” Jeremiah 22:3-5, NASB 95, biblegateway.com
Take care of those who need it and don't shed innocent blood.
That's it.
When you go astray of our worldly government it adds interest and fines on top of whatever you already owed. Making it insurmountable to dig out.
But our good and gracious God was going to turn things around if this king and his household who just care for those in need and forego shedding innocent blood.
That's the God we serve.
But also the God we serve, "But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that this house will become a desolation."
His carrot was offering a small price for help and His stick was desolation. Something to think about.
And then He details what desolation would mean. He'll cut them down and throw them in a fire, so that when people come by the ask why God would do this awful thing.
Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.’” Jeremiah 22:9
The last chapter and this one through verse 9 have been about Zedekiah. Verses 10-12 is a very brief reference to King Jehoahaz (Shallum), son of Josiah, who reigned briefly before being taken by King Neco to Egypt, where he died. See II Kings 23 for the story.
Starting in verse 13 is reference to Jehoiakim. This was the king was reigned when the first round of captives were taken from Judah to Babylon, which included Daniel and his friends. Despite the fact that the cream of the crop were being hauled away and he was under the official leadership of Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakim didn't suffer. He built extremely well-appointed palaces and spent money like crazy, and he was able to do that because he was using his own people for taxes and slave labor.
However, as noted in this passage, this indulgent and cruel lifestyle isn't going to end well. God reminds Jehoiakim that his father, King Josiah, managed to eat and drink as the king, but also took care of the afflicted and needy- and it was well with him. But for Jehoiakim's selfishness, dishonesty, violence, murder, and oppression it will not end well. Not only will he not be lamented as a king of Judah when he passes, but he will just be dragged from the city and dump his body with the garbage as if he were a dead donkey.
The final king to receive a message from Jeremiah from the Lord in this chapter is Jehoiachin, also called Coniah and Jeconiah. He is the son of Jehoiakim and only serves 3 months, but gets a lengthy prophesy as the last king on the throne. God points out that he lived in the prosperity of Jehoiakim's greed and ignored God's voice from his youth. There are multiple references to his lovers, so that's probably not a pretty story. That means God tried to work with him, but he chose to rebel. This reminds me of Cain and Sampson and Jeroboam. And me. People offered individual counsel from the Lord, but wanted what we wanted more than we wanted Godly counsel. I'm just humbly blessed that Holy Spirit guided me back to God through the work of Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah closes out this chapter by assuring Jehoiachin that the throne ends with him. This branch from the line of David dies here. He will be hauled off by Nebuchadnezzer, along with his mother, to another country where he will die.
The Ryrie footnote explains that the genealogy of Jesus on His father's side (Joseph) ends here. However, the genealogy on His mother's side does track back to David- so the covenant is upheld, but not by this branch of the line.
This ends the kings up through captivity. However, there is still one more prophesy about the King of Judah that we cover in the next chapter, THE KING. The Messiah.
Today is the inauguration of Donald Trump for his second presidency. I know people are thrilled and outraged and horrified and optimistic and all the things. It's been a crazy political season for the last eight or nine years. My prayer is that God keeps him safe and on a narrow path, guided by His hand. But I'm not naive enough to think this man can do anything--good or bad--apart from God's sovereignty. Only God knows if Trump is a Josiah or a Manasseh, he's painted as both. My guess is, he's both.
I bring this up because it's so relevant at this point in my reading of Jeremiah. It was well for Josiah, until his end. It was prosperous for his sons and grandson, until their end. We cannot always see what God see; but we can hold on to is God sovereignty and the promise of what we're about to receive in chapter 23, the real heavenly Messiah. Our hope or dread need not be in the inauguration today; because God is sovereign and sent His Son to be the only king we'll ever need.
He is sovereign in our past, present, and future. I do pray that He will bless this president and this country; but my trust is in Him alone.
Amen.