The Remnant in Jeremiah
A
Scriptural Introduction
Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet.
His book is very long, as is Isaiah’s and it contains many excellent
illustrations of the remnant. We heartily encourage you to read Jeremiah once a
year and perhaps to even study the Jeremiads (preachers around the time of the
Revolutionary War that took Jeremiah as their text for their sermons and
declared the parallels to the American people). However, for the purposes of
this book, we believe God has a few particular chapters that He wants us to
focus on.
Again, as you read, please approach the
Scripture with an open heart and listen for the Lord’s voice. Yet, also
contemplate and search, even pause to think about how accurately Jeremiah’s
words apply to today.
Jeremiah 22
He exhorts the royal family to repent
1 Thus
saith the Lord; Go down to the
house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, 2 And
say, Hear the word of the Lord, O
king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants,
and thy people that enter in by these gates: 3 Thus saith the Lord; Execute ye judgment and
righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do
no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow,
neither shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if ye do this thing
indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon
the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants,
and his people. 5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by
myself, saith the Lord, that this
house shall become a desolation. 6 For thus saith the Lord unto the king's house of Judah;
Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet
surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not
inhabited. 7 And
I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they
shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. 8 And
many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his
neighbour, Wherefore hath the Lord
done thus unto this great city? 9 Then they shall answer, Because they
have forsaken the covenant of the Lord
their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
The judgment of Shallum
10 Weep
ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that
goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. 11 For
thus saith the Lord touching
Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his
father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any
more: 12 But
he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this
land no more. 13 Woe
unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong;
that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for
his work; 14 That
saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out
windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. 15 Shalt
thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father
eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well
with him? 16 He
judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him:
was not this to know me? saith the Lord.
17 But
thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to
shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. 18 Therefore
thus saith the Lord concerning
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying,
Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah
lord! or, Ah his glory! 19 He shall be buried with the burial of
an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
and of Coniah (Jehoiachin)
20 Go
up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from the
passages: for all thy lovers are destroyed. 21 I spake unto thee in thy
prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy
manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice. 22 The
wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity:
surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. 23 O
inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt
thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail! 24 As
I live, saith the Lord, though
Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand,
yet would I pluck thee thence; 25 And I will give thee into the hand of
them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them whose face thou
fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the
hand of the Chaldeans. 26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare
thee, into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. 27 But
to the land whereunto they desire to return, thither shall they not return. 28 Is
this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is
no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a
land which they know not? 29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word
of the Lord. 30 Thus
saith the Lord, Write ye this man
childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his
seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in
Judah.
Jer
22:1-30 (KJV)
Chapter 23
He prophesies the restoration of the scattered flock
1 Woe
be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the
Lord. 2 Therefore thus
saith the Lord God of Israel
against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven
them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of
your doings, saith the Lord. 3 And
I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have
driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be
fruitful and increase. 4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed
them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be
lacking, saith the Lord. 5 Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and
prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In
his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is
his name whereby he shall be called, THE Lord
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 7 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 8 But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which
led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all
countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
Against false prophets
9 Mine
heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am
like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord, and because of the words of his
holiness. 10 For
the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the
pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and
their force is not right. 11 For both prophet and priest are
profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. 12 Wherefore their way shall
be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on,
and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of
their visitation, saith the Lord. 13 And
I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and
caused my people Israel to err. 14 I have seen also in the prophets of
Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they
strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his
wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof
as Gomorrah. 15 Therefore
thus saith the Lord of hosts
concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them
drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone
forth into all the land. 16 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets
that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own
heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
17 They
say still unto them that despise me, The Lord
hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after
the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. 18 For
who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord,
and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
19 Behold,
a whirlwind of the Lord is gone
forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the
head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the Lord
shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the
thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. 21 I
have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they
prophesied. 22 But
if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words,
then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of
their doings. 23 Am
I a God at hand, saith the Lord,
and not a God afar off? 24 Can any hide himself in secret places
that I shall not see him? saith the Lord.
Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.
25 I
have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I
have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 How long shall this be in the heart
of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit
of their own heart; 27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name by
their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have
forgotten my name for Baal. 28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him
tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is
the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.
29 Is
not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord;
and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore,
behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 31 Behold,
I am against the prophets, saith the Lord,
that use their tongues, and say, He saith. 32 Behold, I am against
them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord,
and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their
lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not
profit this people at all, saith the Lord.
and mockers of the true prophets
33 And
when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is
the burden of the Lord? thou shalt
then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the Lord. 34 And as for the
prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the Lord, I will even punish that man and
his house. 35 Thus
shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What
hath the Lord answered? and, What
hath the Lord spoken? 36 And
the burden of the Lord shall ye
mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have
perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord
of hosts our God. 37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the Lord answered thee? and, What hath the Lord spoken? 38 But since ye say,
The burden of the Lord; therefore
thus saith the Lord; Because ye
say this word, The burden of the Lord,
and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the Lord; 39 Therefore, behold, I, even
I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave
you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: 40 And
I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which
shall not be forgotten.
Jer
23:1-40 (KJV)
Chapter 24
By the figure of good and bad figs
1 The
Lord shewed me, and, behold, two
baskets of figs were set before the temple of the Lord, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah,
and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and
had brought them to Babylon. 2 One basket had very good figs, even
like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very
naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3 Then
said the Lord unto me, What seest
thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very
evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. 4 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 5 Thus
saith the Lord, the God of Israel;
Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive
of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for
their good. 6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I
will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them
down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7 And
I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I
will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. 8 And
as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith
the Lord, So will I give Zedekiah
the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain
in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: 9 And
I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their
hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places
whither I shall drive them. 10 And I will send the sword, the famine,
and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I
gave unto them and to their fathers.
Jer
24:1-10 (KJV)
