Day 217: Jeremiah 15–18 | 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 217. We're in Jeremiah chapters 15, 16, 17, and 18. Today, we got a lot to go through. Yesterday, I really gave you a lot of context clues. I also gave you a lot of nerdy nuggets. Today's gonna be less context clues and way more nerdy nuggets. You know, the days fluctuate. If you've done the reading for today, then good job. Everything that I'm gonna say is gonna make perfect sense. You're gonna have context for all the context clues and the nerdy nuggets and the timeless truth. If you haven't done the reading for the day, how about you stop the video, pause the audio, take a couple of moments. It won't take long. All you gotta do is read Jeremiah chapter 15, 16, 17, and 18 and then come on back and we're gonna study what you read. So let's jump on in. Jeremiah chapter 15. One of the first things that I wanna point out, okay, we talked about this yesterday, but we really wanna give context for the person of Jeremiah, okay? So let's jump into context clues.

And in order to do that, we're gonna actually need to get into the text a little bit. So I actually wanna pull up Logos on my iPad. There we go. Jeremiah chapter 15, okay? We're gonna go to Jeremiah chapter 15 and let's go to verse 10. It says this. Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends. I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me. Okay, not only is Jeremiah just a rather emotional like prophet or person, and we're gonna get into that in a minute, but he curses the day that he's born, okay? Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends. So everybody, everybody in the land of Judah strives with me, contends with me. I've neither lent nor borrows. I'm not even a banker, okay? I'm not a loan officer, I'm not a banker, I've not lent anything, I haven't borrowed anything, yet everyone curses me. So the person that everybody would dislike would be, you know, the loan officer, the banker, right, the tax collector. I've neither lent nor borrowed. I haven't done any of that, yet everyone curses me, okay? I just wanna put this in context for us

before we move into Nerdy Nuggets. Let's give some context. Outside of the person of Job, Jeremiah is the only character in the Bible who curses the day of his birth, okay? Who curses the fact that he was even born. Who's upset that his mother's womb didn't become his grave. Okay, that is pretty depressing and drastic and extreme language. Here's what Job chapter 10 says, okay? So Job is the only person other than Jeremiah who would even dare speak the depth of this kind of language. This is dark, all right, but it's right here on the page of the scripture. So here's what Job chapter 10 verse 18 to 19 say. Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me. Verse 19, if only I had never come into being or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave. Nope, it would have been better off for me to not die. I mean, it would have been better off for me to not live. It would have been better off for me to die as an infant than to be experiencing what I'm experiencing right now. And then Job chapter three, verse one to three says this. After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. He said, may the day of my birth perish in the night that said a boy is conceived, okay? So Jeremiah is saying, he's making a pretty heavy statement.

Like this isn't like a small deal, okay? Jeremiah's statement about not wishing that he was alive, like that's a big deal. So I just want to like put that into context for us. The fact that this man is kind of like, I just wish I had never been born, means that his life is just hard, okay? So now let's get into some nerdy nuggets. Well, maybe I'll give you a little bit more context. Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet and you can write these eight verses down. Not only is this kind of extreme, but it is like warranted. I mean, Jeremiah's life is really difficult and I want you to be able to appreciate like just how difficult this man's life is. That's why I wanted to put his words in the context. text of the book of Job for us. Secondly, Jeremiah is also an emotional communicator, and he's known as the weeping prophet. And I think the more we know about Jeremiah, the more we're able to interpret his words. And let me just say this, him being emotional or him being someone who cries a lot, weeps a lot, didn't disqualify him from a call of God on his life. So maybe you're someone who is a sensitive person or an emotional person. That doesn't mean that you lack emotional maturity. That just means that you have your, you know, expressive in terms of your emotions, and you still need to surrender your emotions to the Lordship of Jesus. But it doesn't mean that you can't be used greatly by God. So I want to give you these eight verses just that we could better understand Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 19 and 21 says this, Oh my anguish, my anguish, I write in pain. Oh the agony of my heart, my heart pounds within me. I cannot keep silent, for I've heard the sound of the trumpet. I have heard the battle cry. Okay, so anguish, I writhe in pain, and the agony

of my heart, like you hear like just Jeremiah's just like emotions. Okay, next one, Jeremiah chapter 8 verse 18 says this, You who are my comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me. Since my people are crushed, I'm crushed. I mourn, and horror grips me. Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 1, Oh that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears. I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. Jeremiah 13 17, If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord's flock will be taken captive. Jeremiah 14 17, Speak this word to them. Let my eyes overflow with tears, day and night, without ceasing. For the virgin daughter, my people has suffered a grievous wound, a crushing blow. Number six that I'm about to give you, Jeremiah 15 10, Alas my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends. I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me. That's kind of the verse that got us on this whole kick in the first place. And then number seven, Jeremiah 20 verse 14 18, Cursed be the day I was born. May the day my mother bore me not be blessed. This is again Jeremiah expressing the fact that he wished he wasn't even alive. And Jeremiah 31 15, This is what the Lord says. A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they are no more. So when people refer to Jeremiah as the weeping prophet, now you've got eight verses that help you understand exactly why he's considered the weeping prophet. He's a very, very emotive prophet. He's a very, very emotional prophet. And his life is just simply very, very, very difficult. And so with all that context, now let's get into our nerdy nuggets for the day. Okay, first thing, let's get into Jeremiah chapter 16. As if it's not bad enough that Jeremiah is persecuted, that Jeremiah is put in prison, that his feet are fitted in the stocks, that he's gonna be whipped, that all types of stuff is gonna happen to Jeremiah. He's gonna get kidnapped, nobody likes him, everybody makes fun of him, everybody ridicules Jeremiah, and the persecution is gonna get worse and worse as the book keeps going. If that's not bad enough, my man's not even like allowed to have children. God does not allow Jeremiah to have kids. It says this,

Jeremiah chapter 16, then the word of the Lord came to me, you must not marry. So you can't get married. At least Isaiah is able to get married, have children. Okay, you must not marry and have sons and daughters in this place. For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers. They will die of deadly diseases. Yo, hey man, you can't get married. Why? Because everybody's gonna die. That's why, Jeremiah, so you're not gonna get married. It's like, you can't save me and my wife? So now I just gotta be lonely? No kids? This is just sad, man. They will not be mourned or buried, but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals. So it's funny because Jeremiah is clearly the sensitive guy, but God has the harshest things to say through him. So I could bet like there's just this conflict within Jeremiah's own experience of like, oh man, like it's clear that Jeremiah is a crier. It's clear that he's just like emotional and emotive. and expressive, and the stuff that he has to say, the stuff that Yahweh has him say, is just like very, very harsh. All right, let's dive into just Jeremiah 16 and kind of what it means that Jeremiah's not gonna have a wife or any children, okay? He's commanded not to take a wife, which would be something unheard of for a priest, okay? Let's remember, Jeremiah's a priest. That may be something that you've forgotten already. I know we said it days ago, when we first started reading the book, Jeremiah's a priest. Him not having a wife or children

would be absolutely ridiculous and unheard of, definitely counter-cultural. And so he would have no children. This would be one of the worst things imaginable for a Jewish person. Now, I know for us living in the Western world, maybe not having a wife or kids, not having children, not having sons or daughters, not that big of a deal, but we live in an individualistic society. In a communal society, not having a wife, not having children is one of the worst things that could happen because it means that your name is just not gonna last, okay? You have no permanence. It says this, my notes, it says this. This would be one of the worst imaginable things for the Jewish people. Children was how your name continued in Israel. To have no children is to be cut off and have no future in Israel. Yahweh also forbade Jeremiah from attending funerals, feasts, or weddings, okay? If you keep reading in Jeremiah 16, he can't go to any feast, he can't go to any festivals, he can't go to any weddings, no funerals. Funerals, feasts, or weddings. Jeremiah would stick out even more like a sore thumb than before. He's already gonna stick out like a sore thumb,

not having a wife or not having children as a priest, but now even more. He can't go to funerals, he can't go to weddings, he can't go to feasts. His life would be a message to the entire people of Judah. He had no children in the same way Judah would have no children. He would not celebrate in the same way they would lose all their joy in the celebration of life. Jeremiah would not grieve. They would have no time to grieve by burying their dead and lamenting when Babylon came and took them into captivity. There was no pity, no sympathy, no joy. Yahweh's face was set. So not only does Jeremiah reflect the reality of what the people are gonna have to live through, but Jeremiah's also reflecting Yahweh's stance that Yahweh is not gonna give any pity, any sympathy, and that Yahweh's not gonna have any joy. Yahweh has joy when our lives are full of joy, but Yahweh's not gonna have any joy. Yahweh mourns, he grieves when our lives are mourning and grieving, but punishment is set and God is gonna have no pity, no sympathy. So Jeremiah 16 is not just about Jeremiah being unable to go to funerals, go to weddings, go to feasts, get a wife, have children. It's actually a prophetic picture. Same way that he had to wear his underwear all the way to the Euphrates and come back

and then go back and then find them. Well, this is also not just an illustrated sermon, but an illustrated life, that his life is the message. And you're gonna see this with tons of the prophets. Jehoshiah, same thing. Isaiah, same thing. What he has to name his children are all reflective of the message that God has him to preach. Ezekiel, same thing. So it's not just their words are the message, but their life is the message. That should really help us with Jeremiah 16. Then, so Jeremiah 15 starts with Jeremiah's complaint. Man, I wish I was never born. My life's just hard. We then get to Jeremiah 16, okay? And he's got his life, which is gonna be a message. And then this kind of resolves itself in Jeremiah chapter 17. Okay, when we get to Jeremiah chapter 17, so Jeremiah 15, I wish I was never born. Jeremiah 16, we literally get to see why he feels that way. I can't have a wife, I can't have kids, can't go to funerals, can't go to weddings, can't go to feasts. And then now things kind of start to find a resolve in Jeremiah chapter 17. So I kind of just want you to see the flow of the text. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 16 says this. This is Jeremiah talking to the Lord.

I've not run away from being your shepherd. You know, I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my lips is open before you. Do not be a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of disaster. Let my persecutors be put to shame, but keep me from shame. Let them be terrified, but keep me from terror. Bring on them the day of disaster. Destroy them with double destruction. I know sometimes wishing that other people would would that calamity would come on them or disaster will come on them that that's very not Christian I would say but I think for people who have been persecuted I almost want to say like they get a pass I think that for a lot of us we don't we don't know what persecution is. Jeremiah is death threats, death plots, assassination attempts, loneliness, can't get married, no children like and he says like he renews his faithfulness to the Lord he says I've not run away from being your shepherd you know that I have not desired the day of despair what passes my lips is open before you do not be a terror to me you are my refuge in the day of disaster I think that what I can hear in Jeremiah's words are I have nobody else you're my refuge you're my refuge and so yeah there's a part of me that may want to forsake you so that I could actually get some comfort in this life but the reality is that you're all I have at this point. Last kind of nerdy nugget is actually from chapter 15 God's actually gonna give a reason okay I'm gonna tell you exactly why I'm gonna punish the people of Judah okay I don't want there to be any confusion as to why you guys are going off into exile so chapter 15 verse 3 I will send four kinds of destroyers against them declares the Lord the sword to kill the dogs to drag away then the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy I will make them abhorrent to the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem because of Manasseh okay this is a man who sacrifices children okay

this is a man who burned his children alive this is a man who was absolutely evil and wicked and so God is definitely saying and then if you drop down in chapter 15 to verse 8 I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea I just want to remind you what is God's promise to Abraham I'm gonna make your descendants more numerous than the sand of the sea and so now the people have have not repented in their idolatry God's gonna turn blessings into curses so the blessing of Deuteronomy was that as long as you worship me and follow me and love me and you're you you pledge your allegiance to me not just in your verbal pledge but in your life then I'll bless you with rain and crops fertility and life I will not interfere I've set up life to flourish for you and that's exactly what it'll do but what will happen if you disobey you'll get drought you'll get the exact opposite so I'm taking the blessing that's meant for you and I'm turning it on its head same is here I will make their widows more numerous in the sand of the sea not the people their widows which means their sons are gonna die and their husbands are going to die this is just sad this is so sad I don't think there's a way to read this without feeling the gravity of like of the situation that in a couple of short years the the army the army of of Nebuchadnezzar is gonna march in and totally absolutely destroy everything and everybody okay last little bit in chapter 15 says this chapter 15 verse 1 then the Lord said to me even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me my heart would not go out to this people send them away from my presence let them go and if they ask you where shall we go tell them this is what the Lord says those destined for death to death those for the sword to the sword those for starvation to starvation those for captivity to captivity this is just so sad like God is saying even if Moses Samuel were to stand before me I'm not relenting that the window of opportunity for me to change my mind has closed that window will not reopen Nebuchadnezzar is going to come to Jerusalem and he's going to kill all of you and he's gonna take the rest of you into captivity you're gonna go to Babylon you're gonna die your your your women are gonna get turned into widows Nebuchadnezzar's army

is gonna come in and defile the women and rape them and there's gonna be starvation there's gonna be cannibalism because people are gonna be so hungry they're gonna want to eat each other not one stone of this temple is gonna be standing on another I'm gonna totally trample Jerusalem I'm gonna pour out my wrath on the people because they've disobeyed me okay that is the message of Jeremiah has to preach over and over and over and over and over and he's finding new ways to deliver the message and new illustrations but at the end of the day that's the message There is no repenting, there is no opportunity to change, there is, it does not matter what you do, the Babylonians are coming and they are going to utterly destroy you. And so I want to highlight just this last nerdy nugget, even if Moses or Samuel were to stand before me, nothing would change. So let's, why these two men? Number one, Moses and Samuel, both known as great intercessors. So intercessors are people who stand before God, remember? Every time Israel sinned against God, Moses would like say, no, don't destroy the people, okay? That's what it means to be a righteous intercessor. You're, you're praying that God would, you're praying on behalf of the people that God would relent, and this is someone that God listens to. Moreover, Moses and Samuel both stand outside of the system, almost as exceptions to the system. Why? Well, because they have to set up the system. So Moses is responsible for building the tabernacle, setting up the priesthood, like getting the sacrifices started, which means he's not necessarily in the system, he kind of stands above the system, outside of the system. Same with Samuel, okay? Samuel has to get the system kind of going because it had been dilapidated, like the people had abandoned the system. So Samuel and Moses kind of stand outside of the system, almost as exceptions to the rule. I go into more detail on that, but I think you get the gist of what I mean. By the time we get to Samuel, like the Philistines have taken the Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle is, is all but lost. I mean, he has to travel around and help people to do sacrifices all over the land of Israel, and then he has to anoint a new king. So he's setting up a system. So

because Moses and Samuel are the two people that are like setting up systems, they kind of get to operate in this gray area of not necessarily being held to the same standards because they can't, because the system's out of place. I hope you get what that means, right? So God is saying to Jeremiah, nope, I will not have any kind of exceptional grace for these people. Nope, they're gonna get law. Even if the exceptions to the rule were to show up, which is Moses and Samuel, I will not operate in the exception. I'm gonna operate by the rule, and that rule is that I've given these people years and years and years, centuries, decades, to get it together. They haven't gotten it together, so they are going into captivity. 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 & Noble, and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes & 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. What is our timeless truth for the day? Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9 and 10 says this, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds desire. So this is actually part of God's response to Jeremiah when Jeremiah is wishing that he had never been born, wishing that his message was not his message. When Jeremiah is despairing of life itself, God says, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Part of the big theme of the prophets, especially Jeremiah and Ezekiel, is that the heart is wicked, the heart is deceitful. That's kind of Jeremiah's side of the coin. Here's gonna

be Ezekiel's side of the coin. Therefore, I have to put a heart of flesh within these people. I have to give them a new heart. So I think a timeless truth here is that the heart is deceitful. Not just wicked, but like deceitful. Like our emotions will trick us. Like your heart is deceitful. Jeremiah, I know you feel like you wish you had never been born, but don't follow your heart, man. Your heart's deceitful. Don't always listen to your emotions. Your heart's deceitful. Okay, I called you. I've anointed you. You're a prophet. You got to run your race you're not able to see the full breadth of history the same way I'm able to see it Jeremiah you're just but a blip on the radar but when you look at all of eternity man you don't have my perspective so don't let your heart deceive you and deception is worse than a lie okay deception means that there's some truth mixed in with a lie to deceive to deceive right there's this guy who got you know banned from the Oracle arena because he pretended to be Clay Thompson this is years ago and in the interview you know he said I didn't lie I never said I was Clay Thompson and it's like yeah buddy you didn't lie you're right you did something worse than lying you deceived so deception is even worse than lying that's why Satan is a deceiver not a liar and so a timeless truth is that God knows the human heart and the human heart deceives it deceives it's one thing to be deceived from the outside in it's a whole nother thing to be deceived from the inside out so my challenge to us today is a reason that we need to like read the word the reason that we need the Holy Spirit the reason that we need to be a a clay pot in the hand of a potter is because we need the Lord to actually mold our hearts into hearts that don't deceive us into people who are loyal to Yahweh into people who are not double-minded in all their ways therefore unstable in life but people whose hearts are set on the things of God who love the Lord their God with all their hearts with all their minds with all their strength and with all their soul alright timeless truth for the day that the heart is deceitful that's not just true in Jeremiah's day that's not just true in this context that's true period and that's true for me my heart's

deceitful my heart is deceitful and I think that we have to start keeping track of what are the ways in which my heart's trying to deceive me is my heart trying to get me to be bitter or resentful or unforgiving or offended and I don't want my heart to deceive me because my heart will deceive me and quickly make me not trust people around me not trust God my heart will make me bitter and angry or calloused but I've got to keep a soft heart gotta trust people gotta believe the best I gotta assume the best I have to trust the Lord I've got I've got to operate in faith and my heart doesn't want to do that and my heart is something that can't just be set on cruise control my heart has to be something that's constantly being molded by the Potter constantly in the hands of God constantly being molded and shaped continually being softened so that it can be the thing that I needed to be which is a wellspring of life so that's our Thomas roof of the day tomorrow is day 218 we got Jeremiah chapters 19 20 and 21 tomorrow it's gonna be really really good and I can't wait to hang out with you if you're on a streak I'm proud of you even if you're not on the streak I'm still proud of you to meet me right here tomorrow as we continue our trek to the book of Jeremiah love you 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 the Bible department calm we'll see you right back here tomorrow