Day 224: Jeremiah 42–45 | 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 224. We're still in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah, the big book, is the big book. We are in Jeremiah chapters 42, 43, 44, and 45 today. Four more chapters of the book of Jeremiah. If you've done the reading, then you already know where we are going. The context for today is directly following the fall of Jerusalem. So this is the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem. If you have not done the reading, then this episode isn't gonna be that helpful. You gotta have context and the Bible's good for you. Okay, so we don't want these episodes to be a substitute for reading your Bible. We want these episodes to supplement your Bible reading. And so if you haven't done the reading, stop the video, pause the audio, go read Jeremiah chapter 42, 43, 44, and 45 and come on back and we'll have a blast together. All right, we're gonna have a good time. All right, now, Jeremiah chapter 42 and 43 is taking place just after the murder of Gedaliah. Okay, three months after the fall of Jerusalem in July of 586 BC.

They are dealing with the consequences of that murder, the possibility of further Babylonian reprisals. Nebuchadnezzar is not just gonna let you kill the governor that he's installed and there's not gonna be consequences. Consequences and repercussions are coming from Nebuchadnezzar. And what happens to Jeremiah and the remnant in the land as the aftermath of killing Gedaliah is what these chapters are all about. Jeremiah chapter 44 is kind of considerable time later. So chapter 42 and 43 is taking place just after the murder. Jeremiah chapter 44 is sometime later than Jeremiah 42 and 43, as Jeremiah is speaking to the Jews that have now settled within Egypt. So Jeremiah chapter 42 and 43, they're still in Jerusalem. They've just killed Gedaliah. Jeremiah 44, the narrative or the plot has moved forward just a little bit. And he is now speaking to Jews that are settling within Egypt. And then Jeremiah chapter 45, we're back in the past. All right, so buckle up, okay? Because we're back in 605 BC again. So we're gonna go from 586 all the way to 605 BC. And so it's another one of those moments where if you're anything like my wife, when she watches movies, where somebody has a flashback, she gets a little, she just gets a little confused. She's like, was that the past?

Was that the present? Especially when me and her watch Inception together, she's like, was that a dream? Was it reality? I don't know. And to me, I'm like, I know exactly what the dream scenes are versus the reality scenes are. And so my job is to do that same thing for you, to help you to know what is 586 BC, what's 605 BC, so that you're not experiencing whiplash as you read through the book of Jeremiah. All right, also Jeremiah chapter 45 is a big shout out to my man Baruch. Back in, I think it was chapter 36, we kind of saw how he dictated all the words that Jeremiah prophesied, that it was God's idea to write this stuff down. Jeremiah was just out here just prophesying, not writing nothing down, no notes, freestyling, Jay-Z in the booth, okay? Jeremiah is just freestyling, just prophesying. Everything's just auditory. And it is a man by the name of Baruch that actually becomes the scribe that writes down the words of Yahweh spoken through Jeremiah. And so chapter 45 is gonna be a big shout out to the big homie Baruch. And you gotta show some love for Baruch. There's a phrase that I love,

and I think this is not our timeless truth for the day, but I think it's good that we're shouting out Baruch for a whole chapter because church, even today, church, ministry, is not built on the gifts of a few, but on the sacrifice of many, okay? Church, ministry, the kingdom of God is not built on the gifts of a few. Some churches do try to build their whole church on the gifts of a few. Man, we got an anointed worship leader, we got a killer preacher, but the churches are not built on the gifts of the few, but on the sacrifice of many. Sacrifices of the many that you may not be as gifted But guess what? I've been a part of a church for the last couple years and we're mobile And there's a team that wakes up at four o'clock in the morning. They're at a storage unit by five. They're unloading chairs They're getting chairs set up to get an LED screen set up Whatever venue we've been at in the city of Dallas over the last couple of years that crew is there unloading a box truck Getting it done And so when I look at a Sunday morning and maybe pastor Robert or pastor Taylor or myself or somebody else is holding a mic Preaching it'd be easy to think. Oh, yeah church is built on the gifts of a few but it's not It's built on the sacrifices of the many and so I love the fact there's a whole chapter Dedicated to the big homie Baruch because of course, it's jeremiah who's prophesying jeremiah Who's hearing from the lord jeremiah who is going through persecution and no one's downplaying? The price that jeremiah is paid, uh to to be the prophet that god's called him to be but without Baruch We we wouldn't know about it without Baruch. We wouldn't have a written account without Baruch. It wouldn't get written down So that's what chapter Is all about. All right, let's dive into some nerdy nuggets. Okay, jeremiah chapter 42 is tragically hilarious, uh, but but it's ridiculous like It's it's it's one of those moments of I gotta laugh so I don't cry bro, because this is absolutely ridiculous

Okay, so chapter 42 Uh, i'll just kind of summarize the whole story pretty much goes like this the people say to jeremiah Oh, no, we killed the governor Jeremiah, we are thinking of running away to egypt. Can you ask yaweh if this is a good idea? Okay, so the people have murdered a man Murdered they have murdered get eliah the governor. Okay. Hey. Oh, no. Oh, no, we killed the governor Jeremiah, we're thinking about running away to egypt because we're scared of nebuchadnezzar Could you maybe ask yaweh? Like if if he thinks it's a good idea? Jeremiah responds says I gotcha. I'll ask yaweh. Yahweh. That's a terrible idea. Yahweh answers clearly Bad idea first of all, you shouldn't have killed get eliah second of all You definitely shouldn't be running away from nebuchadnezzar. This is a bad Idea, okay, you get this verse 7. Okay of chapter 42 10 days later the word of the lord came to jeremiah So he called together, you know, the army officers who are with him and the people at least the greatest said to them This is what the lord the god of israel to whom you sent me to present your petition says if you stay in this land I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not uproot you for I have relented concerning the disaster I've inflicted on you do not be afraid of the king of babylon whom you now fear Do not be afraid of him declares the lord for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land like verse 13, however, if you say we will not stay in this land And so disobey the lord your god And if you say no We will go live in egypt where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread Then hear the word of the lord you remnant of judah This is what the lord almighty the god of israel says if you are determined to go to egypt and do not go settle there Then the sword you fear will overtake you there and the famine you dread will follow you into egypt And there you will die Indeed all who are determined to go to egypt to settle there will die by the sword Famine and plague not one of them will survive or escape the disaster. I will bring on them This is what the lord almighty the god of israel says

pretty clear Jeremiah got a pretty clear answer from yahweh. So let's just think about this the people are like yo jay Yo, jay, yo, we we killed we killed get eliah. Yo Our bad we didn't mean to kill him but we we killed we killed we killed the governor Uh that nebuchadnezzar set up. Um We scared because dude that was just here three months ago nebuchadnezzar good old nebby nebs like homeboy Uh, he's intense and we think he's probably gonna kill us Uh, because we killed we killed governor get eliah Could you maybe like ask yahweh real quick if it's cool if we go to egypt jeremiah's like bet I got you don't stress I can ask yahweh for you real quick Jeremiah gets a word from the lord. Hey if you stay here Nebuchadnezzar gonna have compassion on you if you run away to egypt you gonna die You're gonna die. It's not gonna end. Well, this is gonna be bad famine plague sword. You're gonna die Here's what the people respond with. Okay. Well in that case, we're gonna go to egypt and we're taking you with us And so they kidnapped jeremiah And take him to Egypt against his will. Talk about a curve ball. Just like, yeah, all right. So you don't, so you're saying God don't want us to go, okay, cool, we're gonna kidnap you and we're gonna go. We are all gonna go. So that is what happens. That is chapter 42 and chapter 43. And now Jeremiah is in Egypt against his will. That is absolutely hilarious, but 100% ridiculous and sad and all the negative words, but at the end of the day, to keep from crying, sometimes you gotta laugh. Like, yo, talk about absolutely ridiculous.

All right, which leads us into Jeremiah chapter 44. So now there are Jewish refugees who are living in Egypt who are worshiping the queen of heaven, air quotes, or better referred to as Ishtar. Ishtar was a Babylonian fertility goddess who was often worshiped using cakes made in her image. This is chapter 44, verse 19. I'll just read verse 19 for you. It says, the women added when we burn incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes and pressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her? Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women who were answering him, did not the Lord remember and call to mind the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your ancestors, your kin, your officials, and the people of the land when the Lord could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did? Your land became a curse and a desolate waste without inhabitants as it is today because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed him and follow his laws and his decrees or stipulations. This disaster has come upon you as you now see, okay? So haven't we learned our lesson? Like, what are we talking about?

So Jeremiah chapter 44 is all about idolatry. It seems that they believed that the disaster had come upon Jerusalem because they had stopped worshiping her, okay? So these people believe that Jerusalem has been destroyed because they stopped worshiping Ishtar. She was also a goddess of war. Here though, Jeremiah reminds them of the real reasons Jerusalem fell because people were doing things like worshiping Ishtar. No! Yo, at this point, there's a brain scrambler that they have. Like, they are hearing words and scrambling it into something that only makes sense to them, okay? What do you mean you think Jerusalem fell because you stopped worshiping the goddess Ishtar? Nah, homie, Jerusalem fell because you were worshiping Ishtar, okay? So Jeremiah tries to make this very, very clear to them. Yahweh was still watching them, and if he destroyed his own house in the land of Jerusalem in judgment, he could certainly do it again in the foreign land of Egypt. So just because you're in Egypt doesn't mean you're away from God. Please, be real. Like, be loyal. If you are to learn a lesson from this entire ordeal with Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, the lesson should not be,

yeah, we forgot to worship Ishtar, and that's why Jerusalem fell. No, it should be, you were worshiping Ishtar, and that's why Jerusalem fell, okay? So that's chapter 44, and then chapter 45, this chapter is basically a shout-out to the untold, unsung hero, behind-the-scenes hero of this book, Baruch. Jeremiah's faithful companion, supporter, and scribe, the man who wrote down the words of Jeremiah, publicly read them, and then started all over again when they were burnt. In a sense, there are three authors of this book. Above all, these are the messages that Yahweh gave. So Yahweh's an author of the book. He gave them to Jeremiah the prophet. They are also messages shaped by the words of Jeremiah, his emotions, his struggles, his life, his artistic expression. But those words are also stories and recorded by the hand and imagination and skill of Baruch. And so when you encounter the book of Jeremiah, you are encountering the words of Yahweh spoken through Jeremiah, but captured and skillfully crafted by Baruch. And so there are three people who we're interacting with, obviously Yahweh, but also Jeremiah, and then lastly, Baruch. And that's what chapter 45 is all about.

Let's talk about our timeless truth for the day. 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. The people were afraid, so it was only natural to pray to Yahweh or at least get Jeremiah to pray to Yahweh. But it's clear that they had already had an answer in their own mind while they had sent Jeremiah to pray. So they send Jeremiah to pray, say, hey, ask God what he thinks about maybe us going to Egypt. Jeremiah gets a clear word from the Lord.

And what do the people do? They do what they had already decided to do. And this is not new. There are lots of people who pray, but they've already made up their minds about what they're going to do. And that is not the right way to pray. You should not pray about God, is this person somebody I should be dating, but secretly I've made up my mind that I'm gonna continue dating them. Or God, is this person somebody that I should propose to? And then you pray, but really you've made up in your mind that you're already gonna propose to them. God, should we break up our engagement? But you already made up in your mind that you're not gonna break up the engagement. God, should we tithe? But you've already made up in your mind that you're not gonna tithe. As a pastor, I actually deal with this a lot. People who want counsel, well, they say they want counsel, but quickly when you sit down with them, you realize they don't want counsel, they want confirmation. They want you to simply confirm that what they've already decided to do is a good idea. And a lot of pastors get treated like Jeremiah. Hey, pastor, do you think I should do X? And pastor's like, nah, I don't think you should do that.

That's a bad idea. And they go, okay, cool. And then they go do X, which is a waste of your pastor's time, but more so it's disrespectful to God. Like, why would you pray about something that you've already made up your mind on? And that is not just something that's relegated to the pages of history or these people here in Jeremiah 42 and 43. That is something that's true about the human nature. It's true about us, that a lot of the things that we pray for, we've already made up our mind on, and we're actually asking God for confirmation, not for counsel. And can I ask you, when you begin to pray, say, Lord God, make my selfish desires known to me and help me to put that on the altar first so that when I pray, I'm actually praying with a clean slate and you have the power to tell me what to do. One of the coolest things that I've ever done as a pastor is I've always counseled people to go through premarital counseling before they buy an engagement ring because the goal of premarital counseling is not actually to help you know how to be married, it's to break you up if you need to get broken up. And people really struggle

with the idea of cutting off an engagement if they've already secured a venue and they've already put down payments on cakes and dresses and there's already a ring and you've already proposed. So I always tell people, hey, hey, hey, to save yourself any embarrassment that you may feel, just go through premarital counseling before you get engaged. Because I know, even if people need to cut off an engagement, they won't, because they don't typically come to pastors for counsel, they come for confirmation. They've already made up in their mind what they're gonna do. And you can see that right here in Jeremiah 42 and 43. The people are praying, hey, Jeremiah, should we leave Jerusalem and go to Egypt? Nah, you shouldn't do that. Okay, cool, we taking you and we going to Egypt. Dang, and now me as the leader, I'm caught up in your disobedience to Yahweh. And I've seen a lot of pastors, a lot of leaders get caught up in people's disobedience and we've got to do better. We've got to approach God with a clean slate and say, you know what, Lord, I'm not here to tell you my plans. I'm here to ask you, what are your plans for me? Same goes with a pastor. I'm not here to tell the pastor what my plans are.

I'm here to ask the pastor, hey, could you help me make this decision? For me in my personal life, I don't typically approach any pastor in my life with plans that I've already made. I approach them and I invite them to be a part. of the decision-making process. And because I've done that, they feel honored. They don't just feel honored, they are honored by the fact that I would invite them in, not just to a decision that's already been made, but I'm inviting them into the process because that's actually the proof that that person's my pastor. Not that I tell them a decision that I've already made, but that I would invite them in to a decision-making process. And I would say that's a healthier way to engage, not just with God, but with the leaders that God's placed in our lives. Okay, that wraps up day 224. Tomorrow, we've got day 225. We're gonna be in Jeremiah chapters 46, 47, 48, and 49. We're getting towards the end of the book. I'll see you right here tomorrow as we continue our trek through the book of Jeremiah. I love you so much. See you tomorrow, 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.