Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.
Today we have another flashback to a previous king. In fact, much of the rest of Jeremiah will take us back and forth in the timeline, so try to hold the order loosely. I know that can be chronologically frustrating, but the commentaries assure me that all of this is actually intentional. For instance, the last thing we read about yesterday was Judah's unfaithfulness, and today we open with a story about the strict obedience of the Rehobites.
Commentators think God really wanted to highlight the contrast between the two, so he had Baruch put the stories side by side. If you don't recognize the name Rehobites, don't worry, we haven't met them before. Technically, they've met their ancestors, though. They're descendants of the Kenites. They're all nomads, and even though they're not technically part of the Israelites, they've lived alongside the Israelites for a long time, and some of them seem to be followers of Yahweh.
God tells Jeremiah to invite them to the temple and offer them wine. But they all refuse because a long time ago, one of their ancestors commanded that their family limit their possessions and avoid alcohol altogether. And they'd been honoring this command for over 200 years. They have a heritage of obedience that puts Israels to shame.
God tells Jeremiah to point this out to both groups of people. To let the Israelites know they'll be punished for their rebellion, and to let the Rehobites know he will preserve a remnant from among them too, because of their faithful obedience. This is a big deal. This is kind of like if there's a football team that's going to the playoffs, and the coach suspends the quarterback and replaces him with the head of the chess club. Some of the people who are considered insiders are being cut off, and some of the outsiders are being welcomed in.
This is a theme in the kingdom of God, as I'm sure you've noticed by now. In chapter 36, God tells Jeremiah to write down everything he's told him, 22 years worth of information. He calls in Baruch the scribe, and Baruch writes it all down. God wants the people to hear it all, but Jeremiah has apparently been banned from going to the temple, probably because of that temple sermon he preached in chapter 7. So he sends Baruch on the mission in his place.
After they've spent a year or so writing everything down, Baruch takes the scroll to the temple and reads it aloud. Word gets out about what's happening, and the officials send for Baruch and his scroll. They want to hear it for themselves.
When Baruch reads the scroll to them, they're aghast. They really seem to believe Jeremiah's prophecies and warnings. And on one hand, they're like, we have to tell the king. But on the other hand, they know he probably won't respond well. So they tell Baruch to make sure that he and Jeremiah go into hiding because they're pretty sure this is not going to go over well. And they're right.
First, the king gets a Bible recap from his servants and he's like, that's great, but I want to know what the actual words are. Read the actual words to me. So they bring the scroll in and read it to him and bit by bit, he cuts it up and throws it into the fire.
One of the popular beliefs in the ancient Near East was that words have the power to make things happen. So the king isn't just showing a complete lack of repentance. He's also trying to play God by destroying the words in hopes that it will prevent the disaster from taking place. We'll see how well that works out for him. The officials who originally heard Baruch read the scroll are there with the king as he's burning it. Three of the five of them object and try to get the king to stop and pay attention, but he's arrogant and unrepentant.
Then he sends people to find Jeremiah and Baruch. But according to 36.26, the Lord hid them. After the king destroyed a year's worth of work, God tells Jeremiah to go back to his typewriter and start all over again. And this time Jeremiah expands the scroll by adding a few new things, which would obviously include the story we just read. Then God goes on at length about the judgment he'll bring on the king as well, including that he won't have a son to succeed him.
In chapter 37, we see God fulfilling that promise by having the king of Babylon appoint Zedekiah to be the new king of Judah. But as we already know, Zedekiah isn't any better. Around this time, Babylon has besieged Jerusalem. But then another army shows up on the scene, Egypt. So the Babylonians back off a bit. This seems like a good thing in the king's eyes.
He sends some of his guys to ask for Jeremiah's prayers, but Jeremiah sends back bad news that this is only a temporary reprieve and Babylon is going to kick things back into high gear again soon. While all this is happening, Jeremiah decides to take a road trip, but a soldier assumes he's trying to join the Babylonians in their fight against Jerusalem. And Jeremiah is like, hey, I know how this looks. I'm the guy who keeps telling everyone to surrender to Babylon because they're going to win, but this is all just a misunderstanding.
But no one believes him. They beat him and throw him into prison over motives they've assumed and misunderstood. But true to form, Jeremiah persists in following and submitting to God nonetheless. From time to time, the king secretly sins for Jeremiah and asks him for wisdom and insight. And Jeremiah always delivers the truth humbly. In fact, his posture brings him favor with the king, who moves him to a better prison and feeds him even in the midst of a local famine.
My God shot today was seeing how vigilantly God preserves his word. God wants people to hear what he has to say. He wants to be known. And nothing can thwart his efforts to communicate with mankind. Not only has he been repeating the same words to the people over and over again, but he also has Jeremiah write the scroll again after it's destroyed. Mark 13 and Matthew 24 say, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
The building you're in right now will someday be rubble. The car you drive will eventually stop running, even if it's a Camry. But these words you spent time reading today, this God you're invested in knowing, he and his word are forever. You're investing in something eternal. You're building into something that will last.
I don't know how long it took you to read these three chapters today and to listen to this podcast, but I promise it has good return on investment because he's not just eternal. He's where the joy is. Did you know we have the Bible Recap Podcast in Spanish? And starting September 6th, we'll also have it in book form. The podcast and the book are both called La Sinopsis de la Biblia. How great would it be to do TBR with one of your Spanish-speaking friends?
When you pre-order today, we'll also give you the free Spanish versions of our Priority Time PDF and our Names of God PDF as a thank you for pre-ordering. For more info, click the link in the show notes or visit thebiblerecap.com and click on the Español link.