Day 213: Jeremiah 1-4 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny Arango. Welcome to the Bible Department podcast powered by ARMA. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebibledepartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. Family, welcome to day 213. We are in Jeremiah chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4. Got a brand new book of the Bible. Jeremiah is a pretty lengthy book of the Bible. Some people would actually argue it's the same length as the book of Isaiah, although it's not as many chapters. There are nerds out there, like serious Bible nerds, who count words. A lot of people would say that Jeremiah's got a similar word count to Isaiah, but Isaiah is just broken up into more chapters. We've got a book in similar length, Isaiah, which means we're going to be camped out in Jeremiah for a while. Like always, I'm going to give context clues. I'm going to give some nerdy nuggets. I'll always leave us with the timeless truth. When it's the first day of a new book, I feel like the context clues are always a little longer than normal. So today may be heavier on the context clues than the nerdy nuggets, but I think it'll all help us to read the book of Jeremiah better. If you've done the reading, everything I'm about to say is going to make total sense. If you haven't done the reading, you're going to be a little bit in the dark. So let's start off with some context. Let's just go to Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 1, and I'll say right out of the gate, we know more about Jeremiah as a character than we know about tons of biblical characters. I mean, Jeremiah actually did a great job of giving us tons of context. So we are not going to be clueless about context as it pertains to Jeremiah in the book of Jeremiah, but I'll explain even more of what I mean by that in a bit. Let's jump into Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 1. It says this, the words of Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, very important. Next bit is also important. One of the priests, huge detail right there, one of the priests from Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Right there. We've got tons of information about Jeremiah, but if you don't know how to decipher that information, then you may, that information may not mean anything to you. So let's dive into what that information actually means. First of all, Jeremiah is a Levite, but not only is he a Levite, he's a priest, right? So now we've got someone who's a priest and a prophet. Pretty cool. Second of all, he comes from a very, very interesting town. This town was the home of Abiathar, the high priest during the end of David's reign, which means that Jeremiah was from that side of

the family. Okay. A descendant of Abiathar. Now, if you remember this, this is going all the way back to man, second Samuel or yeah, first Samuel and second Samuel. Okay. So if you remember Abiathar, Abiathar is going to side with Adonijah instead of David. Okay. And the consequence of siding with Adonijah as opposed to David means that Abiathar, the high priest gets removed from being the high priest and who gets installed? Zadok gets installed. All right. That may seem like who cares, but it's actually a fulfillment of a prophetic word against Eli that Eli's house would no longer serve as high priest. Now, obviously that prophetic word spoken against Eli takes time to actually come to fruition and it comes to fruition with one of Eli's descendants, that descendant being Abiathar. Okay. Abiathar gets removed as high priest and another family gets installed. Now you may be thinking, but I thought there's only one family that could be the high priest. No, if you back up, okay. Aaron is the high priest and Aaron has multiple sons. So instead of the high priest coming from one line or one son, it literally just shifts over and starts to come from another son. So same descendant being Aaron, but a different line of the family. So Jeremiah actually comes from the disgraced side of the family, the side of the family that had been cut off, the side of the family that couldn't be a high priest, which means that Jeremiah's side of the family could be priests, but could not be high priests. Here's the other little bit of context that Jeremiah chapter one gives us. So already we have a lot of context about Jeremiah. Verse two, the word of the Lord came to him in the 13th year of the reign of Josiah, son of Ammon, king of Judah. And through the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the 11th year of Zedekiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

Okay, now there's a lot there. I'm gonna summarize that and tell you, Jeremiah lives through the last five kings of Israel. Now, let me just give you those five kings in a list because that's probably easier than anything else, okay? So Josiah, okay, is the first king that he lives through. Now, here's the really, really cool thing is that it says the word of the Lord came to him in the 13th year of the reign of Josiah. Now, Josiah, at this point in time, is probably somewhere around 21 years old. And Jeremiah is around 18 years old, okay? So you got a 21-year-old king and an 18-year-old priest and prophet. And so these young men are literally entrusted to lead a nation. And if you've been tracking with us through other books, Josiah is leading tons of reform, all right? Now, the first king that Jeremiah lives through is Josiah, then Jehoahaz, then Jehoiakim, then Jehoiachin, and then Zedekiah. Jeremiah has a ministry that spans 42 years and he has a ministry that goes right up until the day of exile, the day that the Babylonians take the people of Israel off into captivity. Now, that doesn't mean that Jeremiah dies that the day that the people get taken off into captivity. What it does mean is that there's a group of rebels living in Jerusalem

and they take Jeremiah against his will to Egypt and because they thought they were gonna be safe in Egypt. That's a whole nother story for a whole nother day. However, Jeremiah lives through the exile. He's got a long, long, long ministry. And so, not only is he prophesying, he starts prophesying during the time of Josiah and he's gotta prophesy all the way until the very last king, which is Zedekiah. So, Jeremiah is technically a pre-exilic prophet, but I mean, his prophetic ministry is gonna take us right up until the moment of exile, the event, okay, the defining event of exile. All right, if there's any context that I'm missing, then we're just gonna pick it up tomorrow, okay? All right, oh, oh, oh, last thing. The 13th year of the reign of King Josiah is 627 BC, okay? And Jerusalem is gonna fall to the Babylonians in around 586 BC, which gives Jeremiah a ministry of around 42 years with a few extra years in Egypt after the exile. Let's dive into some nerdy nuggets. I'll try to count them off as I rattle them off. That's all the context for the book of Isaiah really, but especially for these chapters that we have on the reading plan for today. Let's dive into some nerdy nuggets. Number one, Jeremiah chapter one contains the call of Jeremiah and we get a rather famous verse, all right?

Here's the verse, verse five. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Now, oh boy, people aren't gonna like me. We love to take this verse that's about Jeremiah and we love to apply it to everyone, everywhere, all the time, okay? So we love to quote, you know, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, Manny, or I knew you, Andrew, or I knew you, Elijah. Before you were born, I set you apart. But we don't then include, I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Can I just say this? This word is for. Jeremiah now that doesn't mean that God doesn't form people in the womb. That doesn't mean that God doesn't For no people or no people before they're born. It just means like this is for Jeremiah and I could totally understand Why this is an important word for Jeremiah? Because he is from the disgraced line of Eli and Abbiathar He's from the disgraced side of the family and so Yahweh is making it very very clear Hey before I formed you in them in your mother's womb before I formed you I knew what side of the family you were on Okay, before you were born. I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations Okay, and here we go. Alas Sovereign Lord. I said I do not know how to speak. I am too young Well, Jeremiah is probably somewhere around 17 18 years old So he's not a child But I want you to see a couple of similarities between Moses's call Moses says the same thing Moses is a prophet and he says I don't know how to talk. Okay, Isaiah Yes, I'm I have unclean lips. I'm from a people of unclean lips

So Jeremiah same thing. I don't know how to speak I'm too young, but the Lord said to me do not say I am too young You must go to everyone I send you and say whatever I command you Do not be afraid of them for I am with you and will rescue you declares the Lord Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me I have put my words in your mouth See today. I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down to destroy Overthrow to build and to plant the Word of the Lord came to me and then does a couple of tests to figure out can Jeremiah see what it is that the Lord is showing him So I know that we really really love we love to take the verse, you know before I formed you in the womb I knew you before you were born. I set you apart and Trust me. I'm as pro-life as it gets. Okay, but we can't build entire theological arguments around this verse There are other verses Where we can build arguments for the personhood of a fetus where we can build arguments for the foreknowledge of God But this word right here Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5 is for Jeremiah. That's who this is for now. I'm not saying it doesn't have any you know Applicability for us today. I'm just saying it's for Jeremiah and it's okay that it's for Jeremiah Alright, let's keep moving. Let me give you Some more some more nerdy nuggets. Alright, let's jump into our second nerdy nugget Jeremiah chapter 2 is a law suit. It's a it's a court case Oracle now we've talked about these back in the book of Isaiah that one of the things that the Prophets or one of the roles of the prophets were to be the legal representative for Yahweh And so remember the prophets one of the big things that the prophets are doing is they are Clearing Yahweh's name because Yahweh is going to punish the people by sending them off into exile and the people are adamant We have done nothing wrong. We do not deserve punishment You know, this is not fair and the prophets are literally keeping an account. No, this is exactly what you did wrong So one of the things that the prophets is gonna are going to do is just line up the evidence Here's exactly what you've done wrong. Here's all the times where you were idolatrous. Here's all the times where you were unjust Okay, so one of the things that the prophets doing it they're clearing God's name. Okay, so we're gonna get what what we would call courtroom Scenarios. Okay, and this was a big thing in the book of Isaiah and here it is again

Okay, so I'm actually gonna give you a breakdown of Jeremiah chapter 2. So from verse 4 to 6 Yahweh interrogates and accuses the guilty in verse 7 He mentions the benefits that they received by being in covenant with him in verse 8 through 11 Yahweh warns them of the consequences of breaking covenant of In covenants are legally binding. So he warns them of the consequences of Disloyalty to the covenant in verse 12. He appeals to witnesses and in verse 31 to 37 Yahweh declares a verdict. He declares that the people are guilty And so we are gonna get courtroom scenes and we've got one here in chapter 2 So that's nerdy nugget number 2 nerdy nugget Number 3 is a repeated idea that we've had through a couple of the prophets and that is in verse 5 followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves." If you've been on this journey with us over the last 200 and some odd days, you've heard that before. They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. That idea is in 1 Samuel, that idea is in Deuteronomy, that idea is in 2 Kings, that they followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. I'm pretty sure that verse by itself has been a timeless truth maybe once or twice already on this journey. One of the things that Jeremiah is famous for is linking idolatry with adultery. That concept for modern Christians is probably an automatic one, but Jeremiah is one of the first prophets that's going to link idolatry with adultery and use adulterous language to talk about Israel's idolatry. You can start to see this in chapter 2, verse 20. Long ago you broke off your yoke, tore off your bonds, and said, I will not serve you. Indeed, on every high hill and every spreading tree, that's Asherah poles and Baal worship, high hills and spreading trees, you lay down as a prostitute. So God is flat out like, oh no, you've prostituted yourself. Okay, so idolatry is now seen as adultery or prostitution. This idea is very true to Jeremiah's artistic style of writing. Let's see, go down to the bottom of verse 23. You are a swift she-camel running here and there, a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving, in her heat, who can resist her? Okay, you're an animal in heat. You are an animal who wants to be mated with so bad. You just have animal-like impulses that can't even be controlled. Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves. So these idols don't even have to work hard. They don't even have to pursue you or chase you. Okay, at mating time, they will find her. You're easy to find. Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, it's no use.

I love foreign gods, and I must go after them. You're like an addict. You love idolatry. You love worshiping other gods that are not Yahweh. So this is a courtroom scene, and Jeremiah is speaking on behalf of Yahweh saying, you've been, you've definitely been unfaithful. There's not even a question about it. Verse 33, how skilled you are at pursuing love. Now, that is the NIV. I'm going to read that one for you out of the NRSV because it's way stronger language in the NRSV. Verse 33, how well you direct your course to seek lovers. That's way stronger than how skilled you are pursuing love. The idea here is not love. It's sexual lovers. It's promiscuity. So that even to wicked women, you have taught your ways. You can give a prostitute a lesson. This is harsh language. You've been idolatrous, and therefore, you have been like a prostitute. You have been adulterous. Let's see, nerdy nugget number four. I think I've given you three so far. If you go to chapter three, it's going to start out with, if a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another, should he return to her again? So this is actually, you cannot. If you divorce a woman and she becomes another man's wife, you can't then have sex with her again. Would not the land be completely defiled, but you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers. Would you now return to me, declares the Lord. So chapter three starts with, you can't even return to me because that would be wrong. But then chapter four starts and says, if you, Israel, will return, then return to me. So let's kind of break down what's going on here. First of all, throughout this section, God is going to say essentially that the northern kingdom of Israel has been divorced, but there's hope for Judah. Okay. The hope for Judah is that there's a remnant, but there's also a twist here that does God want the nation of Israel, Judah and Israel, the whole people to return? Yes, he does. But he's going to first remake them. And by remaking them, he remakes them into the true Israel, which includes us, the Gentiles, which is the church. So is God saying, Hey, you can't come back. Yes. But he's saying, you can't come back as is, I'm going to remake you into a new people. And so this is where the idea Really, this another metaphor to think about the same idea that we got in the book of Isaiah, which is I'm gonna cut down this tree. And what's gonna happen after I cut down this tree? The root, which was always Jesus, is gonna spring forth as a new branch

and it's gonna produce something that's different. So this tree now is different and this wife now is different. So I am sending you away. You are going off into exile. I am judging you and I'm gonna take the new remnant and I'm gonna remake a new Israel, a true Israel. And it's gonna include the Gentiles, it's gonna include the church. And since this is still Israel, but new, then now you can return to me. It's almost like saying, if I'm on a boat and I replace each plank of the ship one by one, do I have a new boat? And some would say, no, you don't have a new boat. It's the same boat. But at a sell your learn level, yes, it actually is a different boat because it is different pieces of wood, different planks of wood. So God is saying, I'm actually gonna form a new Israel, a brand new people. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos is out now and available everywhere books are sold. Literally today, I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble, or you can go to a books a million or Amazon or anywhere, books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective,

if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. So this gets into our timeless truth. This is great because Paul is gonna pick up language from chapter four, verse four. It says this, circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts. You people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done, burn with no one to quench it. Circumcise your hearts. Now, this idea of circumcision is actually a timeless truth. And Jeremiah literally says, hey, I know everyone's familiar with the idea of circumcision and what did circumcision really signify? It signified that you're to take a member of your body that can produce two things. It can produce death and life, okay? And so this is how the ancient person thought about this.

It can produce urine, but it can also produce semen. So it can produce death and it can produce life. So now I wanna mark this part of your body so that it produces life. The same idea is actually like understood with the female reproductive organs. God says your righteousness is like filthy rags. Well, that's a woman who's on her menstrual cycle, who's bleeding. And without the seed of God's spirit, his word, then that female genitalia can only produce death. It doesn't have the power to produce life. So the reproductive organs of the man and the woman can produce death, they can produce life. But when circumcised or when impregnated, they don't just produce death, they can produce life. I hope you're following the visual. Now, Jeremiah and then Paul is gonna say the human heart. Oh, the human heart, it can produce death, it can produce life. So what does God wanna do? God wants to circumcise it so that it produces life. So that's a timeless truth. That's true here for Jeremiah's audience, that's true for Paul's audience, and that is definitely true for our audience. Can I ask you a hard question? What does your heart produce? Does it produce envy? Does it produce pride?

Does it produce arrogance? Does it produce insecurity? Does it produce doubt, fear? Well, man, God wants to circumcise your heart. He doesn't want your heart to be calloused, he wants it to be sensitive to the working of the Holy Spirit so that your heart, the wellspring of your life, can produce, oh, it can produce faith, it can produce joy, it can produce peace. Your heart needs to produce life in the same way that a male reproductive organ can produce death or life, a female reproductive organ can produce death or life, but if it gets the seed, it starts to produce life, and if it's marked, it starts to produce life. God says, I want to do the same thing with your heart. I want your heart to. I don't want it to produce life. I don't want it to produce death. Deceit comes out of the heart. Man, faith also comes out of the heart. So God wants to circumcise the heart. And that's true in every generation. And that's a timeless truth for the day. All right, the next day on the plan is day 214 will be in Jeremiah chapters five through eight. If you're on a streak, I'm so proud of you. I love you so much. I'll see you right here tomorrow

as we continue our trek through the book of Jeremiah. Love y'all, peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible department podcast. If this episode was helpful, how about you leave a comment, share with a friend and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. To learn more about the show, head to thebibledepartment.com. We'll see you right back here tomorrow.