The Prophet’s appeal to common sense.

Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “When men fall down, do they not get up? When a man turns away, does he not return? Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right.

No-one repents of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle. Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord.”’ (Jeremiah 8:4-7)

In this passage Jeremiah makes an appeal to common sense. He says: when someone stumbles and falls over, if they are a normal, healthy human being, they don’t stay lying on the ground bemoaning their plight - they get up. In the same way, if someone finds he is going in the wrong direction, he doesn’t just increase his speed hoping that he will get to the right place in the end! He recognises that he has to turn around and go in the right direction – it’s plain common sense!

Jeremiah then makes an appeal to nature, saying that even the birds in the air know the times and seasons, observing their times of migration so that they are not caught in the wrong place in wintertime. When they see the signs of winter approaching, they fly away to warmer places. If they did not observe the signs of approaching danger, they would not live to survive the winter storms.

The citizens of Jerusalem and the general population of Judah were so stupid, they were not even exercising ordinary common sense and recognising the danger that was plainly to be seen, if only they would open their eyes. If the birds were able to see the signs of approaching winter, the people of Israel and Judah ought to have had no difficulty in perceiving the signs of danger on the international horizon. There was plenty of news from travelling merchants that the Babylonian army was actually on the move and heading towards the land of Judah.

Jeremiah appeals to the people of Jerusalem and Judah to exercise plain common sense and open their eyes to the obvious danger ahead.

God’s Conditional Promises

Of course, Jeremiah knew that the major responsibility for this national blindness lay firmly with the priests and prophets. They proclaimed publicly that the Temple was a holy place where the Lord God of Israel had his presence. God would divinely protect the building that Solomon had created and dedicated - he would never allow it to fall into enemy hands.

But Jeremiah knew that when Solomon had prayed at the opening of the Temple, he had recognised that God’s presence and blessings were conditional upon the obedience of the nation, that they should have no other God than Yahweh the God of Israel.

Idolatry was everywhere to be seen: not only at countryside shrines and high places up in the hills, but even in the streets of Jerusalem, where the people baked cakes to Astarte, the goddess of the Assyrian Empire who was also worshipped by the Babylonians. She had obviously blessed the Babylonians greatly, so the people of Judah thought that she might do the same for them.

Common Sense Ignored

Jeremiah was horrified at the extent of spiritual idolatry right across the nation and while he primarily blamed the priests and prophets, there was really no excuse for the people, because from infancy each one was taught the Shema:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up… (Deut 6:4-7)

The first of the Ten Commandments was “You shall have no other gods before me.” Everyone in Judah should have known this, so there was really no excuse for spiritual ignorance. If the people simply exercised basic common sense, they should have known that God would not protect an unrighteous city and a land full of idolatry. They should have known the basic ‘requirements of the Lord’.

It was the responsibility of the priests to teach the people the terms of the covenant between God and the people of Israel that had been agreed by Moses when he called the assembly at Mount Sinai. But it was the responsibility of the prophets to look for signs of danger to the nation, including on the international scene. Both priests and prophets were failing in their duty, which is the reason why the people did not know the requirements of the Lord.

Jeremiah blamed the priests and prophets for the idolatry in the nation – but there was no excuse for the people either.

Disaster Ahead

Jeremiah was a lone voice on the streets of Jerusalem; banned from the Temple and even threatened by his own family. “Beware of your friends: do not trust your brothers,” he was warned. “Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie” (Jer 9:4-5).

Jeremiah wept much for the people of Jerusalem because he could see what was going to happen to them: “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” (Jer 9:1).

If there was no excuse for not knowing the requirements of the Lord in Jeremiah’s time, there is surely even less excuse for us today. We not only have the teaching given to Moses by God; we also have the Gospel in the New Testament and the revelation of truth in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus our Messiah. Our generation has rejected truth and does not even have the common sense to recognise that we are heading for disaster. Will we stop and turn around before we reach the edge of the precipice?

This article is part of a series on the life and ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah. Click here to read previous instalments.

Discerning the signs.

“Announce this to the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah: ‘Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear: Should you not fear me?’ declares the Lord. ‘Should you not tremble in my presence?’” (Jeremiah 5:20-22)

Jeremiah was outraged by the unbelief that he saw among the people, both in the city of Jerusalem and across the land of Judah. It was almost unbelievable that they should be so foolish with their great heritage embedded in the history of the nation. “Hear this!” he proclaimed; but he knew that it was useless - because although they had eyes to see and ears to hear, they did not use them.

The words are reminiscent of those used by Isaiah at the time of his call to ministry when God told him that he would be ministering among a people who were “ever hearing, but never understanding; ever seeing, but never perceiving” (Isa 6:9). It was just the same in Jeremiah’s time some 200 years after Isaiah. And in another 500 years Jesus would be saying exactly the same thing of the generation in his lifetime. He spoke to them with simple stories because of their lack of understanding. He said “This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (Matt 13:13).

The spiritual blockage among the people of Israel was seemingly endemic. Jeremiah struggled to understand it. He saw that the people had lost respect for God; they had no sense of awe: “‘Should you not fear me?’ declares the Lord. ‘Should you not tremble in my presence?’” This message was not only to the people, but to their leaders and teachers.

“Hear this!” Jeremiah proclaimed; but he knew that it was useless - because although the people had eyes to see and ears to hear, they did not use them.

Spiritual Vacuum

Jeremiah accounted for this disrespect of God as stemming from the loss of recognition that the God of Israel was actually the God of Creation, who had created the universe, measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and weighed the mountains on his scales (Isa 40:12). The people had turned aside from the truth of the word of God, which resulted in a total lack of spiritual discernment.

They couldn’t even recognise what God was saying to them through the failure of the spring and autumn rains, which were causing havoc with the harvest and meant that there would be food shortages in the near future. God had withheld the rain because of the sins of the people; but they were so foolish they could not discern the signs of his activity.

When people fail to acknowledge the God of Creation, they create a spiritual vacuum that makes them insensitive to the activity of God. It leads to every kind of wickedness that affects the whole of society, which was the teaching of Paul in Romans 1. Jeremiah pointed to the social sins that had produced great inequalities in the nation. The rich had become powerful and had “grown fat and sleek” (Jer 5:27). These greedy men did not care for the poor or give justice to the powerless (Jer 5:28), which was abhorrent to God. “‘Should I not punish them for this?’ declares the Lord” (Jer 5:29).

The Reason for Indifference to God

It was at this point that Jeremiah exploded with indignation. He knew that all these social aberrations were due to a lack of spiritual truth in the nation. The people had turned away from truth; they had abandoned any thought of God in their daily lives – God was an irrelevance. This led them to worship the local Baals in the countryside, and to careless indifference to God in the city where they were intent upon making their fortunes, or struggling with poverty.

But Jeremiah went to the heart of the matter – to the reason why there was such indifference to God. It was surely due to the priests and prophets, the religious leaders of the nation, who had the word of God but did not rightly use it to teach the people: “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way” (Jer 5:31).

Why was there such indifference to God? Surely it was because the priests and prophets had the word of God but did not rightly use it to teach the people.

The prophets made up their own visions and prophecies. Their major objective was to be popular with the people – to tell them things they wanted to hear. They weren’t bothered with the truth. Jeremiah said, “The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly” (Jer 23:10). “They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jer 23:16). “Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness, declares the Lord” (Jer 23:11).

It was the priests who were most responsible for the state of the nation, according to Jeremiah; they ruled by their own authority. Instead of faithfully teaching the word of God as given to Moses and delivered to the people at Mount Sinai (Deut 4:10), the priests made up their own teaching, misusing the divine authority they had been given. Their teaching was popular, no doubt reinforcing their own authority and ensuring gifts from the people which kept them well fed.

No Excuse

There was no excuse for the priests because the scroll of the Torah had been discovered during the repairs to the Temple ordered by King Josiah just a few years earlier. The priests were the ones who had access to the scrolls that were being copied by the scribes, so they knew the truth, but they did not handle it righteously. They did not declare the word of the Lord that would establish truth in the nation.

The consequence was that the people could not even discern the reason why the autumn and spring rains had not fallen. The whole nation was lacking in spiritual understanding. They had eyes to see and ears to hear, but they had no discernment.

Could this be said of our own generation in the 21^st Century? If God still holds the religious leaders responsible for the state of the nation, we have to ask: do we have church leaders who have eyes but do not see, and ears but do not hear? If so, we must conclude that God is saying the same thing to our leaders today: Should you not fear me? declares the Lord. Should you not tremble in my presence?

This article is part of a series on the life and ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah. Click here for previous instalments.

Blow the trumpet!

“Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say: ‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!’ Cry aloud and say: ‘gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities! Raise the signal to go to Zion! Flee for safety without delay!’

For I am bringing disaster from the North, even terrible destruction. A lion has come out from his lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant. So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from us.” (Jeremiah 4:5-9)

This is Jeremiah at his strongest and most confident; delivering a broadside in the early days of his ministry when news had reached Jerusalem that the Babylonian army was on the march. The whole pronouncement is in poetry, which would no doubt have made it more striking for those who heard it in Jerusalem, at a time of complacency and comparative prosperity.

It is difficult to date this passage but the indications are that it came soon after the untimely death of Josiah and early in the reign of his son Jehoiakim, which puts it in the period 607-600 BC. The Babylonians were busy acquiring sections of the old Assyrian Empire and steadily moving towards Judah (the Northern Kingdom of Israel having already been scattered by the Assyrians).

This proclamation from Jeremiah is a perfect example of the prophetic ministry in action, performing his role as the ‘watchman’ of the nation and messenger of God. It is a series of announcements, each in the imperative to add drama to the news being conveyed: “A lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of nations has set out” (v7). But this was no ordinary piece of news. The Babylonians may have been the army that was threatening Judah and the holy city of Jerusalem, but the agent was God!

Claiming Immunity

Ever since the Temple, envisioned by King David but built by Solomon, was dedicated, it had been more than just a place of worship for the God of Israel. It was a living monument to the covenant between God and the house of David – the dynasty that David founded, that was endorsed and blessed by the Lord.

Hear God’s solemn promise at the dedication: “If My People who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron 7:14).

This proclamation from Jeremiah is a perfect example of the prophetic ministry in action

That promise had become the focal point of a ‘royal-temple ideology’¹ that screened out covenantal reality and permitted self-deception. The aristocratic families surrounding the King who were in charge of the national government, and the priestly aristocratic families who were in charge of the Temple, were all under the deception that Jerusalem (represented by the Temple) was inviolable and that Judah as the Promised Land could never be invaded by a foreign army because it was under the protection of Almighty God. It was this delusion that Jeremiah’s harsh poetic pronouncement aimed to dispel.

Jeremiah alone seemed to perceive that they had failed to recognise that their covenantal relationship with God was conditional! It was conditional upon the people of Israel being totally faithful to the Torah, with the Decalogue at its centre – especially having no other God than Yahweh, the God of Israel.

Judgment Inevitable

The royal-temple ideology assumed that the covenantal conditions were fulfilled through morning and evening prayers in the Temple, conducted by the priests on behalf of the nation. But this was a mere religious ordinance.

This was the message that Jeremiah was called by God to proclaim (hence the imperative in his poetry): “Sound the trumpet throughout the land!” The purpose of sounding the trumpet was not simply to warn of the dangers on the international horizon, but to bring a message of warning from God: “I am bringing disaster from the north, even terrible destruction”.

There is no call for repentance in this pronouncement – only a call to put on sackcloth and lament. Jeremiah perceived the inevitability of judgment upon the nation and he knew the hardness of the hearts of the people. He had already called for them to break up their un-ploughed ground - the hardness of their hearts - but there had been no visible response.

Without repentance and turning, the covenantal relationship between God and Israel was dead. In fact, it was worse than that: it was a dangerous delusion that would bring disaster upon all the people, the priests and the prophets as well as the King and his family. No-one would be spared.

But the stark message of this pronouncement was that it was not the Babylonians who should be feared, but the God of Israel who had been deserted through the idolatrous practices of the people. There were even hints of this within the Temple itself, which showed the utter spiritual corruption that had become embedded into the nation.

Jeremiah perceived the inevitability of judgment upon the nation and he knew the hardness of the hearts of the people.

Depths of Conviction

The poetic pronouncement concluded with a declaration from God himself, beginning with the apocalyptic phase “In that day”. It stated the stark reality of the judgment that was about to descend upon Judah: “The King and the officials will lose heart, the priests will be horrified, and the prophets will be appalled.”

The fact that there is no ‘unless’ - no call for repentance or softening of the message - shows the depths of conviction that Jeremiah had received in his time of standing in the council of the Lord. In those moments in the presence of the God of Israel, time had been suspended, the future had become the present, shadow had become reality. The full horror that was about to descend upon the nation had been revealed to the Prophet. Like the Apostle Paul some 500 years later, he could not keep silent: “Woe unto me if I do not declare the truth of the word of God!” (1 Cor 9:16).

Of course, Jeremiah knew that if there were repentance in the nation, the Babylonian army could not penetrate the walls of Jerusalem or bring devastation to the cities of Judah, because there was no power on earth that could defeat the God of Israel. But he also knew the hardness of the hearts of the king and the priests and the leaders of the nation, who were blinded by a powerful spirit of corruption from the world that prevented them from perceiving the truth.

We Need Prophets!

The New Testament has many warnings of a similar blindness coming in the days leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus. 2 Timothy 3 speaks of this and the letters of Peter have strong warnings of the delusion that will drive the nations into a time of darkness and infect the Church with different forms of corruption.

Those who have prophetic gifts today need to spend more time in the council of the Lord, as Jeremiah did, and then to declare boldly what they are hearing and seeing revealed. In these days when the leaders of the Western nations have turned away from truth, and when many church leaders are also blinded by various forms of spiritual delusion so that they are unable to declare the word of the Lord, the greatest need is for the Lord to raise up prophets in our midst.

May those who have learned to stand in the council of the Lord, to recognise his voice, to understand how he is working out his purposes today – be given boldness by the Holy Spirit to declare the word of the Living God in this godless generation that is hungry for truth, but does not know where to find it.

References

1 E.g. Brueggemann, 1999. A commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and homecoming. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

This article is part of a series. Click here to read previous instalments.

The conspiracy.

“Then the Lord said to me, there is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins of their forefathers, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their forefathers. Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.” (Jeremiah 11:9-11)

Strong words! Not an easy message for the young prophet from the country town of Anathoth to bring to the sophisticated city-dwellers of Jerusalem. Jeremiah was still in his late teens: it was the year 621 BC, there was great excitement in the air following the discovery of the Book of the Covenant during the repairs to the Temple initiated by King Josiah.

Two-fold Deception

Once he had read the Deuteronomic penalties for breaking the Covenant, the King had called a great assembly in Jerusalem where he renewed the Covenant on behalf of the nation and then enforced the destruction of the shrines on the high places throughout Judah. But the ‘Great Reform’ had not reached the hearts of the people, who still longed for the exciting ceremonies of the local gods at the village shrines.

They crept back secretly to these places in the countryside, while the people in the town built little shrines on the rooftops of their houses so that they could continue their idolatrous practices. They thought their ways were hidden from the King (and also from God), particularly if they only went onto the rooftop by night, when the darkness would cover them from detection.

But they did not reckon with the observant young Jeremiah, who not only kept his eyes open but had learned to get into the presence of God, where a two-part conspiracy was revealed to him. One part was designed to deceive the King and the other part was directed against Jeremiah himself – and it was coming from his own family.

Josiah’s ‘Great Reform’ had not reached the hearts of the people, who still longed for the exciting ceremonies of the local gods.

Betrayal and Treachery

Jeremiah’s own family and friends in Anathoth, his home-town, were plotting against him. He said he felt “like a lamb led to the slaughter” (Jer 11:19). His own flesh and blood were plotting to assassinate him; “Let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more” they said.

How could Jeremiah’s own family be so cruel and so treacherous? But this is what happens when men feel their livelihoods to be threatened and their whole way of life to be endangered. Jeremiah was publicly supporting Josiah’s Reform, which would effectively have put his own family out of work – certainly out of the prosperity they were presently enjoying!

They were ministering at the high places in the countryside – supposedly in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. But these were pagan shrines where the priests were practising a form of syncretism, mixing the worship of Yahweh on altars set up to offer worship to the local Baals, supposedly ‘gods of the land’ who required various forms of fertility rites. These practices were popular with the people in the countryside where their livelihoods depended upon the productivity of the land.

Renegade Priests

Jeremiah’s family had been regarded as renegade priests for some 300 years. They were descendants of Eli, whose sons had behaved disgracefully. During King David’s lifetime there were two chief priests, Zadok and Abiathar. Zadok backed Solomon to succeed David, but Abiathar favoured David’s eldest son, Adonijah. In order to secure the throne, Solomon assassinated his older brother and promptly dismissed Abiathar, telling him to go back to his fields in Anathoth (1 Kings 2:26) and his family line was reduced to a minor priestly role from that day.

It is very possible that Jeremiah was unhappy with the priestly activities of his family at the country shrines. In order to fulfil the prophetic calling upon his life, he distanced himself from their activities and went to Jerusalem, where he would almost certainly have been in the great assembly called by Josiah.

Josiah’s Reform required the destruction of all local shrines at the high places. It further required the centralisation of all worship at the Temple. This effectively reduced Jeremiah’s family of priests to a minor role of serving in the Temple on a rota that would give them occasional service, while cutting them off from practising at the countryside shrines on the high places. This no doubt drastically reduced their income.

Jeremiah was publicly supporting Josiah’s Reform, which would effectively have put his own family out of work.

Hated for Putting God First

Jeremiah suddenly found himself the most hated person in Judah. He had publicly backed the King and now he was speaking in the streets of Jerusalem and railing against the people burning incense to foreign gods. He said there were as many shrines in Jerusalem as there were streets in the city.

Jeremiah not only prophesied disaster upon the whole land and upon the city of Jerusalem, but he actually told the people that God had instructed him not to offer any plea or petition for the city, because God would no longer listen. God would refuse to listen to the people in the time of distress which was coming upon the land.

“The Lord Almighty”, he said, “who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and provoked me to anger by burning incense to Baal” (Jer 11:17). Jeremiah’s family had been supportive of these practices and to them he must have seemed a traitor who had to be removed. They were saying “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord or you will die by our hands” (Jer 11:21).

Jeremiah was now discovering that being a prophet was a lonely task. It is very sad when families are divided, but for Jeremiah his primary loyalty was to the Lord. Jesus recognised this principle and he even went so far as to say “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt 10:37).

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.

The Prophet's message for our times.

The first in a new series looking at the lives and ministries of the Old Testament prophets, particularly in light of our situation in Britain today.

Jeremiah lived in a time of great turbulence, on both the international and the domestic scenes. Internationally, three great empires, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, were vying for dominance, while on the domestic front Jeremiah saw the reigns of five kings, bitter political rivalries and moral and spiritual decay.

In the 22 years from the death of Josiah in 608 BC to the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, four kings reigned in Jerusalem, none of whom were godly men. Two of the four, Jehoiahaz and Jehoiachin each only reigned three months, while Jehoiakim and Zedekiah each reigned 11 years. The two short reigns were each the result of military conquest.

From One Tragedy to the Next

Josiah was killed in battle at Megiddo when the Egyptian army was passing through the territory of Judah en route to face the Assyrians. Josiah foolishly decided to oppose them, despite the fact that the Egyptians had said that they had no quarrel with Judah.

He lost his life in an entirely unnecessary battle and was succeeded by Jehoiahaz who, only three months later, was taken in captivity to Egypt. This was following the surrender of Jerusalem and the payment of crippling amounts of gold and silver, none of which would have happened if Josiah had not intervened in a dispute between the two empires.

The history of Judah, from that moment, went from one tragedy to the next until the final decimation of all its towns and cities and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army in 586 BC. Jeremiah was in Jerusalem throughout this time, witnessing each stage of the national tragedy. This is reflected in the account of his ministry recorded in the book that bears his name in the Bible.

Jeremiah lived in a time of great turbulence, on both the international and the domestic scenes.

Vassal Kingdom

Following Jehoiahaz’s short reign, Jehoiakim was appointed by the Egyptians, whose power was greatly weakened later on in the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC. This had involved all three empires, with Babylon emerging as the strongest power. Judah was seen as a vassal of Egypt, which drew the wrath of Babylon. As their army approached Jerusalem in 598 BC, Jehoiakim died (or was assassinated).

He was succeeded by his 18-year-old son Jehoiachin, who reigned just three months until Jerusalem surrendered to Babylon in the spring of 597 BC. He was taken captive to Babylon, together with many thousands of the leading citizens of the land plus most of Judah’s army and the most valuable articles from the temple (2 Kings 24).

Terrible Destruction Foretold

Then, Zedekiah was put on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah was a weak and foolish man who sought to enter into a conspiracy with the surrounding nations of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon – fiercely opposed by Jeremiah in chapter 27.

It was this act of treachery by Zedekiah, who had sworn allegiance to Babylon in the name of Yahweh, God of Israel, that enraged Nebuchadnezzar and caused him to come back ten years after the surrender of Jerusalem and this time decimate the whole land. He destroyed towns and villages, raped the countryside and laid siege to Jerusalem causing great suffering to the people, until the city fell in July 587 BC.

Most of the remaining citizens and many from the land were taken to Babylon in the second Exile. The great walls of Jerusalem were torn down; the Temple and the Palace and most of the great buildings were destroyed. Zedekiah’s family were murdered in front of him, then his eyes were gouged out and he was taken to Babylon as the prize exhibit in Nebuchadnezzar’s victory parade.

Jeremiah had foretold all these terrible events, more than once telling Zedekiah what his personal fate would be. But none of these things would have happened if the word of the Lord had been obeyed.

None of the terrible events foretold by Jeremiah would have happened if the word of the Lord had been obeyed.

Similarities with Today

If king and people had been willing to humble themselves and to put their trust in the Lord, they would have been preserved from destruction. God would have found a way of working out his purposes among the nations while preserving and protecting his own covenant people, among whom he had established his name and through whom it was his intention to reveal himself to the pagan nations.

It was God’s intention to use Babylon as part of his purposes so that for 70 years they would dominate the region. After that time, God would deal with the Babylonians themselves for their cruelty and arrogance, as Jeremiah records in 25:11-12. The Exile lasted until Cyrus the Persian overthrew the Babylonian Empire and took Babylon in 538 BC, when the people of Judah were released to return to their land and rebuild Jerusalem.

But the Exile would never have happened if the word of the Lord through Jeremiah had been heeded.

Forewarning

Jeremiah claimed that God had revealed to him the threat from Babylon and he gave clear warning of what would happen: “This is what the Lord says: Look, an army is coming from the land of the north [Babylon]; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth. They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, O Daughter of Zion” (Jer 6:22-23).

Jeremiah also knew that it was no use relying on either Egypt or Assyria to protect them from Babylon. He said “Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Shihor? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the River? Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realise how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me, declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty” (Jer 2:18-19).

Sadly, the politicians, the religious leaders and the people ignored the prophet among them, continuing in idolatry and turning their backs upon the word of the Lord. In one sentence Jeremiah describes the spiritual condition of the nation: “Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute” (Jer 2:20). Jeremiah knew that by turning their backs upon God, both leaders and people had put themselves outside the Lord’s protection.

Jeremiah knew that by turning their backs upon God, both leaders and people had put themselves outside the Lord’s protection.

Nevertheless, Jeremiah continued throughout his 40 years’ ministry in Jerusalem to call for repentance and returning to God as the only way, both to national safety and to salvation. He was still calling for repentance when the Babylonian army was surrounding the walls of Jerusalem, because he knew that repentance would immediately bring the forgiveness, restoration and protection of God. He knew that God had the power to send a plague through the enemy army overnight, as he had done in the time of Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:35). But Jeremiah’s warnings were not heard or heeded.

This is the tragedy that history records - and this is why the Book of Jeremiah has great significance for the Western nations in the world today. They, like Israel, have had biblical truth for many generations and, like Zedekiah, have conspired with one another to reject the truth and follow other gods and philosophies and cultures, to their own harm.

In studying the Book of Jeremiah, we can see many similarities with modern history. This is why we are undertaking this study on Prophecy Today UK.

Next week we will begin our study of the ministry of Jeremiah by looking at his calling and some of his early words.

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.

Understanding ritual purity baffled the sages of Israel. One of the most influential Jewish scholars, Maimonides, describes the whole subject as "bristling with difficulties, far from human understanding and one which even the Great Sages [of the Mishnah] found hard to comprehend."¹

Maimonides concluded that the purpose of these regulations was to impose limitations and conditions upon Israel's approach to God, to deepen their sense of awe and reverence for the majesty of their divine Father and King, which is why the laws apply only to relations with the sanctuary and the objects connected with it.²

However, Christians tend to perceive ritual purity as relating to sin, but this is not the case. The Lord mentions four categories of state in Leviticus: "distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean" (Lev 10:10). This instruction is given after unauthorised fire is offered by Aaron's sons, "So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord" (Lev 10:2). To distinguish between the holy and common, the clean and unclean was therefore of life or death importance for the Israelites. No one could approach the Lord casually or unprepared because he dwelled physically in the Tabernacle and the Temple:

'Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.' (Lev 16:1-2)

It is important to understand that the distinction between the four categories of holy, common, pure and impure (or clean and unclean) is not between good and evil. Ritual purity is also not about hygiene or disease control – it had beneficial effects in these areas but that is not the central purpose. Rather, it is to do with the separation of the holy from the everyday.³

Holy vs Common, Clean vs Unclean

For example, in many churches when communion is served a special silver goblet is used, but after the service coffee is served in ordinary cups. It shows that in communion we are doing something different from every day eating and drinking. It doesn't mean that the cup itself is special, just that we are making a distinction. The biblical idea of holiness is not simply avoiding illicit things but hallowing the licit.

Ritual purity is not about hygiene or about distinguishing good from evil - it's about separating the holy from the everyday.

Holiness is not the same as purity or cleanness. An object which is not holy is not necessarily clean. An object which is clean is not necessarily holy. Joshua Tilton explains, "Holiness describes an object's use, whereas purity describes that object's readiness for its intended use" [emphasis added]. Suppose you lived in 1^st Century Jerusalem and you had a sack of grain set aside for a tithe. If a mouse crawled into the sack of grain and died, the grain is still holy because it is your tithe, which you have set aside for the Lord, but it is now unclean because it has a dead creature in it. So the difference between holy and common and clean and unclean is not about good versus evil, rather it is about the appropriateness of an object for its intended use.⁴

In the Nature of Creation, Not the Creator

Holiness originates from God and he created his creation to be clean – nothing he made is intrinsically unclean. However, the eternal and immortal and the finite and mortal have to find a way to approach each other. Joseph Frankovic illuminates this point, "...in designing a house, one does not put the bathroom inside the dining room. The activities of the bathroom do not complement those of the dining room. Neither bathroom nor dining room activities are, however, sinful - just incompatible."⁵

God's holy Temple would be profaned or contaminated by distinctly mortal sources of ritual impurity – sex, disease and death (for example, genital discharges, menstruation, childbirth, skin disease, contact with dead bodies). This is not for moral, ethical or simply hygiene reasons, but because God is not subject to disease, decay and death and he does not reproduce. Decay, death and reproduction are characteristics of the creation not the Creator, who is eternally alive, immutable and self-sufficient, radically different from us. We are mortal with the potential for immortality, changeable and dependent. Therefore, we need to set aside aspects of our mortal nature to approach his immortal presence. We must be in a state of holiness in order to move from our sphere into God's sphere.⁶

We might say that holiness requires purity because holiness is divine, of a different order, not because impurity is bad. Impurity from sin is, of course, bad, but that is different from ritual purity. For example, giving birth is not sinful, but it gives rise to ritual impurity.

Holiness requires purity, but it is not the same as purity.

Now the biblical writers (especially Ezekiel) did sometimes employed the terms 'clean' and 'unclean' as metaphors for good and evil, e.g. Ezekiel says God will "...cast clean water on you and you will be clean" (Ezek. 36:25).⁷

For believers in Jesus, this is the sense in which we usually apply these terms because we are not required to regard certain physical states or foods as clean or unclean. However, we are to have a keen sense of what is sinful and morally corrupt, what will pollute and defile our minds, bodies and spirits.

God's Holy Presence

Holiness radiates from the divine presence. Therefore, those things which are closest to God's presence are holier than things which are further off. The sages of Israel⁸ said that there were ten degrees of holiness, starting with the Land of Israel which is holier than any other land, then the cities in it - Jerusalem is the holiest city, the Temple the holiest place in the City, and going through the courts of the Temple from the outer to the inner the holiness increases, until you reach the Sanctuary which is more holy than the outer courts, for none may enter there with unwashed hands and feet. Finally, the Holy of Holies where the ark was kept is more holy, "for none may enter therein save only the High Priest on the Day of Atonement."

Holiness can be transferred to common objects, which unlike unclean objects do not contaminate what is holy, but can instead be made holy by contact with holy objects, as Exodus 29:37 states, "The altar shall be most holy. Everything that touches the altar will become holy." However, the approach must be made from the holy towards the common: if a 'common' person, not a priest who was consecrated holy, intruded unauthorised into the holy places of the Temple they risked being struck down. It is also worth noting that sacred or holy objects were in two categories, sacred and most sacred. For example, some parts of an offering were considered most sacred: "The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the food offerings presented to the Lord" (Lev 2:3). There were also degrees of uncleanness, the most basic level dissipated by the evening. Contact with a corpse required a period of seven days' separation.

Jacob Milgrom describes both the most sacred and impurity as having airborne properties in rabbinic thought and those closest to the sacred, the priests, had to be more vigilant than ordinary people. Priests could attend the burial of only their close relatives, and the High Priest could not even attend the burial of his parents: "He must not enter a place where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother" (Lev 21:11).⁹

Holiness radiates from the divine presence. Those things which are closest to God's presence are holier than things which are further off.

Sin impurity was a potent source of contamination and would drive away the divine presence if it were not atoned for. Under the Mosaic Covenant, there was no purification for deliberate, unrepented sin. Even the Day of Atonement could not purify the Temple from wilful, unrepented rebellion. The shekinah (dwelling) presence of the Lord would no longer inhabit the Temple.¹⁰ The people of Israel's conduct had the capacity to defile not only the Temple but also the land of Israel. The land itself was not intrinsically holy: to call it the 'Holy Land' is a misnomer. It was simply God's land where Israel could live in either holiness or profanity. If it was the latter, the end result would be exile.

Restoration and Cleansing in Messiah Jesus

Only the Messiah could restore Israel to holiness. People became clean through touching him; he did not become unclean. Jesus was like the altar in the Temple: his presence was the place where heaven touched earth. The altar was where sin was atoned for and Jesus forgave sins, so he was an atonement carrier – he had the power to forgive and cleanse – when lepers touched him they became clean, ritually clean.

Jesus was 'most holy', like the altar in the Temple and like the Holy of Holies where the ark was kept. Uniquely, unlike any other person, he could not be contaminated but he decontaminated others.

The woman who touched the 'hem' of Jesus' garment (Matt 9) knew she was touching the most holy part of his physical presence, since it was the edge of his prayer shawl, whose knots and windings represented the very word of God, so she was trembling in fear when discovered, because when common objects were unintentionally brought into contact with the holy, or brought into the divine presence without proper sanction, it could be dangerous. Unauthorised approaches could lead to disaster. At Mount Sinai, Moses was warned not to let the people come near in case the Lord broke out against them. Even on the Day of Atonement the High Priest had a rope tied round his ankle as he entered the Holy of Holies in case he was unclean in some way and was struck down and had to be pulled out.

Jesus was 'most holy', like the altar in the Temple and like the Holy of Holies where the ark was kept. He could not be contaminated - instead he decontaminated others.

All the more miraculous that a way has been opened for us to enjoy unfettered access to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ and his indwelling Spirit. We "have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death." The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear." But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem...to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel" (Heb 12:18-24).

Let us not take this privilege for granted. We may be, thankfully, confident of full acceptance by the Lord through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, but let us not forget that he is radically, awesomely holy. So "let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire'" (Heb 12:28-29).

References

1 Maimonides, Introduction to Seder Todoroth. Quoted in Slotki, IW. The Soncino Babylonian Talmud, Book I, Folios 2a-23a. Moore, Soncino, p491.

2 Maimonides, Mishneh Torah Book 10, The Book of Cleanness.

3 Tilton, J. A Goy's Guide to Ritual Purity, Jerusalem Perspective. 30 April 2014. I am indebted to Joshua Tilton for a number of insights into ritual purity.

4 Ibid. The example here is extracted from Tilton's expanded example: "a sack of grain could be common, if it was harvested by an Israelite, and clean, if the harvester was in a state of ritual purity. But if a mouse climbed into the sack of grain and died, the grain would be common and unclean. On the other hand, if the harvester happened to set aside this particular sack of grain as tithe, then the grain would be holy and clean. And finally, if a mouse crawled into the sack of grain set aside for tithe and died, the grain would be holy and unclean."

5 Frankovic, J, in Wilson, MR. Jewish Laws of Purity in Jesus' Day. Torah Class.

6 Tilton, ibid (note 3).

7 "Cleanse me from my iniquity and purify me from my sin" (Ps 51:4)

8 Mishnah (m. Kelim 1:6-9).

9 Milgrom, J, 2004. Leviticus, A Book of Ritual and Ethics, A Continental Commentary. Fortress Press, Minneapolis, p143, 154.

10 Tilton, ibid (note 3).