After Jeremiah delivers God's messages to the final few kings of this line of David, he turns to the prophesy of the real King who will be coming, our Messiah.
Woe to the Shepherds
“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:1
Some positions should be carefully considered before taking it. And any position that leads people toward or away from God is going to bring with it a larger accountability.
Our wonderful little country church went through a split last year and we're all still feeling the pain. Both sides think they are perfect. Both leaders who were the center of the split state that they did nothing wrong. I've heard both sides from people at the center of the dispute and, to my ear, it sounds like there is no villain, no bad person with bad intentions; but it most certainly sounds like neither side should be claiming perfection.
In conflict resolution one key principle is to take 100% responsibility for your portion. Even if you truly believe you are only 1% to blame, take 100% responsibility for that 1%. These two highly educated, god-fearing men stand by the assertion that they did nothing wrong.
Pretty disappointing.
I bring this up because the one speaking in verse 1 is the Lord. And He is assuring there will be woe to the shepherds who scatter sheep.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the quarreling pastors who both scattered sheep from our church are not the same as the hard-hearted, perverted, and corrupt leaders of Israel mentioned in verse 1; I know my leaders try and keep short accounts with the Lord and they have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; but reading that opening passage reminded me that those of us who accept positions of sheep-tending, better keep that "woe" in mind. I teach women's Bible studies and write curriculum for Christians. I, also, need to keep that "woe" as a reminder of the cost.
And one last thing before I try and let this go (for today), the reason, I presume, that leaders get a "woe" is because that scattered sheep may scatter right into a wolf, with no opportunity to return to the fold. That sheep will be held to account for running away--we all stand before the judgement throne on our own--but God is acknowledging that leaders are in a position to have an outsized effect on another human being's actions. And being part of the cause God loses relationship with one of His creation is going to be addressed.
Here's how God frames it in verse 2:
“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord."
Messiah
Now here's the good news:
“Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:3-4
Oh, boy...fair warning...I see a lot of quote block in this post. It's just such important content.
God knows that even the best of His sheep are lost. Even those who have studied his word faithfully and served Him can suddenly believe they did nothing wrong. So He made a way for all of us. Starting with that remnant He promised over and over that He would preserve. And then a perfect Shepherd would take 100% responsibility to tend to us, take away our fear, and restore us.
Hallelujah!!
Even just thinking about that day gives me such a sense of relief. And...And...Heaven is now. As indicated by how much God has changed me, the shepherding is firmly underway even this side of eternity. the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.
“In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His name by which He will be called,
‘The Lord our righteousness.’ Jeremiah 23:5-6
So much in this short passage.
- In the last chapter, Jeremiah 22, the Lord promises that the sitting kings of Judah will end. That branch of the line of David is excluded from any further leadership. But God. God assures us that HE will RAISE UP for David a RIGHTEOUS branch. Mind blowing how faithful, creative, loving, and yet righteous our God is.
- This is a new branch. New life.
- This King will be able to truly be just and righteous.
- He saves Judah (who is all but lost) and Israel will dwell securely (which seems impossible considering they are spread far and wide around the world).
- The name by which He will be called is a new name of God for me, Jehovah ṣeḏeq. The word means "righteousness". This is one of those names that doesn't mean this Shepherd will BE righteousness, it means He IS righteousness. Anything righteous IS Him. He's the source and the embodiment.
- And He chose to cover me in that righteousness- unearned, undeserved.
- Flabbergasting and astound and amazing grace, indeed!
In verse 7-8 the Lord draws a bright line on the timeline of history and states that the time is coming when we won't refer to the exodus from Egypt; but the next phase will start in the return from Babylonian captivity back to their own land. (Which we see after the Babylonian captivity; we see again in 1948; and we'll all see again in the fullness of the end times event.)
I'll stop here for now as we have a hard topic change in the next verse and I want to bask in these previous verses about my Lord, Savior, Messiah, and righteous Shepherd.
False Prophets
1.24.25
Poor Jeremiah turns from this hope-filled divine look at his coming King back to the scourge of the prophets he has to deal with in the here and now.
He tells us in verse 9 that he's heard from the Lord about these cursed adulterers and God word has left him heart broken and bones trembling. Both prophet and priest are polluted. What a word picture. Polluted.
Verse 12 seems to indicate that their punishment will take time. They will slip on their path and fall into calamity--the year of their punishment. That makes sense. I have to admit that I feel a bit cheated in a movie when the bad guy is winning the whole movie and then is just shot and dies instantly. I guess it's supposed to feel victorious; but it feels like the bad guy had a great time with destruction and then oblivion. I know it's not oblivion, the real bad guys pay by being separate from God for eternity; but it's just an impression I get.
Illustratively, Cecile Richards was the president of Planned Parenthood and an activist for abortion. To me that makes her the high priestess of the child sacrifice industry. She died this week after a battle with brain cancer. I actually know and love some people with brain cancer, so I know the rain falls on the just and the unjust; but in this case, I feel like Cecile Richards slipped on her own path and fell into calamity. She was only 67. That's pretty young in this day and age. Again, the rain falls on the just and unjust, and with my health 67 looks unlikely for me. But I am, personally, glad that she's not here doing any more harm.
All of that to say, I am of two minds. I know we're told not to gloat or feel glad when bad things happen to truly bad people; and I get that. Who am I to judge? There's probably plenty I don't know or understand about the situation. And I do, actually, feel horror at anyone's pain. It's just too easy to imagine being there myself. But on the other hand, these ancient prophets and priests and this modern priestess led people into calamity. They brought false warnings and false hope. They directed people away from the Lord. They had important information and used it against the people they were given charge over. And I also can't help but feel glad that there was a "year of punishment" and not just a quick bad guy ending.
God is just. Whatever any of us go through and how all of us end is in His sovereign hand. Just my thoughts on the bad guys, of whom Cecile Richards most certainly is accounted.
Ok, back to the text. Starting in verse 13.
Oh...well...speaking of really bad decisions, Jeremiah exposes more of what these prophets and priests did.
- He mentions, specifically, prophets from Samaria, the northern kingdom that was previously carried off. So any prophets from this region are, for sure practicing a bastardized version of faith- as the Assyrians sent in many people to wash away the local culture.
- These prophets prophesied by baal, which of course, led the people astray.
- Then he turns to the prophets of Jerusalem, so the southern, official kingdom of Judah-still standing (for now).
- These are committing adultery and lies.
- They are supporting evil and not turning people back.
- They have become like Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Notice that this cannot be construed as having anything to do with a critique on their hospitality skills, as some in the gay community have come to try and frame Sodom and Gomorrah.
“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets,
‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood
And make them drink poisonous water,
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’” Jeremiah 23:15
Starting in a new paragraph in verse 16, The Lord commands that the people not listen to these tainted prophets. He lets them know that these prophets are making up what they say--it is not from God.
- They are promising people peace, against the message of calamity Jeremiah is trying to share as a warning.
- They support people walking in stubbornness. Promising that calamity will not come to them. Sound familiar? What is your truth? You do you? Sounds like the same lie that's quite prevalent today.
- The Lord questions who can make that kind of statement without having been in the presence of the Lord, listening and taking heed of what was said to them.
- He promises a storm of wrath to come down on them.
- Hus anger will not turn back until His purpose is fulfilled.
"In the last days you will clearly understand it."
He clearly states that He did not send them. They prophesy without hearing from Him. Then the paragraph ends with this clear message:
“But if they had stood in My council,
Then they would have announced My words to My people,
And would have turned them back from their evil way
And from the evil of their deeds. Jeremiah 23:22
2.2.25
In verses 23-24, the Lord contrasts Himself with the false prophets of verses 13-22. He is a God who is near. In fact, a man cannot hide himself anywhere because the lord fills heaven and earth.
Now God moves from a contrast in these false prophets and Himself to a contrast in the messages.
- He starts off plainly labeling their message false.
- He hears them emphatically claim to have had a dream
- They intend to try and make the people forget the Lord as previous prophets tried to replace Him with baal.
As usual, his analogies are perfect:
The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:28
I love that imagery. Do you want to eat empty straw or the nutritious grain of truth. (which makes the bread of life.)
In verse 29 He likens His word to fire and a hammer, which both can cause action-for building and destroying. Compare this to the false prophets who "steal His words from each other." He is against them because they declare things, but claim they are declaring on behalf of the Lord.
Verse 33 starts a new paragraph in which the Lord makes His actual message simple and clear, "I shall abandon you."
Ouch. But simple and clear. And true.
And those falsely speaking on behalf of the Lord...He will bring punishment down on their house. (Note, the whole house...)
He points out that when people think to ask what God has said they will actually just be asking what they think themselves, forgetting God's message. Those who reject the weighty and serious oracle from Jeremiah will find that the Lord forgets them and cast them from His presence. This is an everlasting humiliation and punishment.
Grim, but such an important message.