DAY 310

PROMISE BREAKERS—PROMISE KEEPERS

Jeremiah 34, 35 & 36 and Hebrews 2

Let’s get grounded:

·         Chapter 34 speaks of King Zedekiah

·         Chapter 35 and 36 speaks of King Jehoiakim

·         And tomorrow in chapter 37 we will be back to King Zedekiah

The flow of kings during Jeremiah’s life was: Josaih to Jehoahaz (who only lived about 3 months) to Jehoakim to Jehoachin (who lived less than a year) to Zedekiah.

Chapter 34 takes place some 12-15 years after chapters 35-36 – again with the “back-and-forth” nature of reading the prophets…and chapter 34 takes place before Jeremiah is imprisoned (chapters 32-33). I know it can be confusing, but I am trying to keep it sorted out in my head.

In chapter 34 the siege of Jerusalem has begun in earnest; it and only two other cities remain. In looking at the chapter we read in verses 1-7 what might be some small comfort for the king…he will not die in Jerusalem. What I found remarkable was the phrase “all the kingdoms of the world under his dominion (his being the king of Babylon) were fighting against Jerusalem.” The siege is terrible.

And so the freeing of slaves in verses 8-10 might seem like an amazing act of obeying the Bible (cf. Dt. 15:12) – and it says they were to be free forever. But some critical thinking will reveal that masters had to feed their slaves, and when a city is under siege no food or water can go in or out. The freeing of the slaves was the abandonment of the responsibility to take care of them—God’s law was perverted.

It gets worse. In 34:21b (and chapter 37:5) we note that the Egyptians attacked Babylon and this brings a slight respite from the siege…what does the king do…he revokes the slaves freedom and everyone who was once a slave, is now again a slave (see verse 11)—things just went from bad to wicked. God has the last word, in verse 17 He says “you were not obeying me when you proclaimed liberty…so I will give you liberty by the sword and by pestilence and by famine.” A year later Jerusalem falls.

Contrast chapter 34 with chapter 35. Here we read what seems like an obscure story…in some ways it is. The point of course is that there are people who are faithful to their father…period the end…that is the point. The contrast is real. You can read about these folks ancestors in 2 Kings 10:15-27. His name was Jonadab and he joined Nehu in the massacre of Baal worshippers…and for two and half centuries since his family has been faithful.

We now see why Jeremiah has placed this material in chapter 35—the contrast of Promise Keepers to the Promise Breakers of chapter 34 is obvious. Yet we should not be surprised. Judah has been sailing towards this shipwreck for some time. In chapter 36, which took place probably earlier than chapter 35, we see the very Word of God burned and spurned…most people who “break promises” have a track record.

Jeremiah is a tough book to read…we so often see God exacting punishment upon His people. We read phrases that indicate God “raised up Babylon” to destroy his own people. We then think about the atrocities of our own time and someone will “proclaim” that God is carrying out our modern day atrocities for similar reasons. I do not agree.

Certainly God is sovereign, and certainly He can “move His hand” and intervene whenever he desires. But we need to remember the big picture…the big picture is that Israel’s job was to proclaim God to the world by how they lived and ordered their society…they were a divinely appointed people. They did not do that, they lived for themselves and so God will not have His Name profaned by their behavior. As serious and as real as the situation we are reading about it, we must remember that no nation today has such an appointment from God.

God has fulfilled His plan of salvation through Jesus Christ…that is in part what Hebrews 2 is talking about from a sacrificial viewpoint. And we, Jesus’ followers, now have the job of making the love of God know throughout the world.

Most of us at our baptisms, or in other services, have made promises to God, promises to try and be the bearers of His Light to the world…may we, and His Church, be promise keepers.