1. [8:23 in Heb.] Who will let my head [become] water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that day and night I can bewail the mortally wounded of the daughter of my people?
Though the trampling out of YHWH’s judgment is like a winepress, and therefore a thing of joy in most cases, this is Israel that is being judged; it holds no joy for Yirmeyahu, nor for YHWH. (v. 18)
2. Who will let me have a travelers’ lodge in the wilderness, so that I can leave my people behind and go away from them? Because all of them are adulterers—an assembly of the treacherous!
Though this is the only heritage Yirmeyahu had ever wished to have, he cannot stand to remain in his home, because lying has come to be so normal that no one can trust anyone anymore:
3. “They even bend their tongues [as] their bow; lies have prevailed in the Land instead of faithfulness, because they proceed from evil to evil, and Me they are not [intimately] acquainted with,” says YHWH.
Or, their bow is a lie; it is not for faithfulness that they are valiant in the Land. A lie cannot exist on its own; it can only be the bending, twisting, or corrupting of something real and true.
4. Let each one be on his guard against his fellow, and do not trust any brother, because any brother may indeed detain [you], and any neighbor may walk with an informer,
Detain: literally, take by the heel (i.e., hold you back; related to Yaaqov’s name); Aram., every brother surely lurks in wait.
5. and any man may deceive his fellow [for sport], and the truth they will not tell. They have trained their tongue to speak lies; they tire themselves out to commit perversity!
Trained: in the sense of exercising, like an athlete.
6. “Your dwelling place is in the midst of craftiness; through craftiness they refuse be [intimately] acquainted with Me,” declares YHWH.
Your dwelling place: Aram., their assembly-houses. LXX: There is usury upon usury, deceit upon deceit.
7. “Therefore, this is what YHWH of Armies says: ‘Look here! I will melt them down and scrutinize them, because what [else] can I do because of the face of the daughter of My people?’
Melt them down and scrutinize them: LXX, try them by fire and prove them. The face: Aramaic, the sins.
8. “’Their tongue is an arrow used for slaughtering; he speaks craftily. With his mouth, one promises his neighbor safety, but in his innermost [heart] he sets his ambush.
Craftily: or, misleadingly. There is nothing left to be said in their defense:
9. “’Shouldn’t I hold them accountable for these things?’ says YHWH. ‘Or shouldn’t My soul avenge itself on such a nation as this?’”
10. I will take up wailing and a song of lamentation in regard to the mountains, and a dirge on account of the beautiful meadows of the wilderness, because they are burned away, without even a man to pass through them, nor do they hear the voice of cattle. Everything from the bird of the skies to the beast has fled away; they are gone.
Voice: LXX, sound of life. In regard to: or, upon.
11. “I will even allow Yerushalayim [to become] a heap [of ruins], a lair of dragons, and I will let the cities of Yehudah [become] desolate, without inhabitant.”
Dragons: Aramaic, jackals. Compare the description of Babylon in Rev. 18:2, because Yehudah had let itself become like Babylon.
12. Who is the learned man who can understand this, and to whom the mouth of YHWH has spoken, so that he may make it clear on what account the Land is being destroyed, burned away like an uninhabited land that no one passes through?
13. So YHWH says, “On account of their forsaking My Torah which I set before them and not obeying My voice or walking in it.
14. “[Instead], they have been walking after the stubbornness of their own heart and after the Ba’alim, as their fathers taught them.”
15. So this is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: “Here I am! I will make this people eat wormwood, and make them drink the water of hemlock.
Make them eat wormwood: LXX, feed them with trouble.
16. “And I will scatter them among the nations that neither they nor they fathers have been familiar with, and I will send the sword after them until I have finished them off.”
17. This is what YHWH of Armies says: “Show yourself to have foresight, and call for the women who chant a dirge to come, and send for the wise women to come,
18. “and have them hurry and take up a mourning song over us, so that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids flow with water,
19. “because a sound of lamentation is heard out of Tzion: ‘How devastated we are! How extremely shamefully we have acted, because we have left behind a Land since our dwelling places have thrown us out.’”
Devastated: LXX, wretched; Aramaic, plundered. Our dwellings have thrown us out: or, they have cast down our dwelling places; LXX, we have abandoned our tabernacles. YHWH warned that if our ancestors lived like the nations that inhabited Kanaan before them, the very Land itself would spit them out (Lev. 18:28; 20:22), and this is what was happening here.
20. For listen to the word of YHWH, O women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth, and now teach your daughters a song of mourning, and each [teach] her neighbor a dirge,
21. because death has come up through our windows, entering our citadels to cause the nursing babies to be cut off from the streets, and the young men in their prime from the open plazas.
22. “Speak!” This is what YHWH says: “Even human corpses will fall like fertilizer on the surface of the field, and like the swath of fallen grain after the reaper, but there will be no one to gather.”
23. This is what YHWH says: “Do not let a wise [man] boast in his wisdom, nor let the strong [man] boast in his strength, nor let the rich [man] boast in his wealth,
Boast: means to rave about something even to the point of appearing foolish. When the lights are really turned on, all will see that living for oneself is the real foolishness, but in the era when such philosophies have precedence in the public eye, walking the most straightforward, simple way will be what is called foolish. And that is what we must accept for His sake. (1 Cor. 1;19-2:16)
24. “but rather, let the one who boasts boast in this: pondering and knowing Me [by experience]—that I am YHWH, the One who brings about lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in the Land, because in these things I have taken pleasure,” declares YHWH.
Yeshua echoed this concept when He told His disciples not to rejoice because the demons were subject to them, but because their names were inscribed in Heaven. (Luke 10:20) What is called wisdom now is usually just knowing the way the system works and capitalizing on it. But all of this knowledge will be thrown into disarray soon when He shakes all that can be shaken. (Haggai 2:6) If we think we know anything, we have not yet begun to have true knowledge (1 Cor. 8:2), because we know in part (1 Cor. 13:9), i.e., by contrasting one thing with another, and by fragmenting things into manageably-sized increments. But the only true knowledge is to connect directly with the Source in which all of the parts hold together. This consolidates our debts and infinitely simplifies life. (Compare Micha 6:8) Justice: or judgment, right legal ruling. Asking Him, as we do in the shakharit prayers, to “restore our judges as at the earliest times” seems extremely undemocratic, but it is the way of Israel. We must “be transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Rom. 12:2) so our reasons for boasting can be reset.
25. “Behold, days are coming”, declares YHWH, “when I will bring punishment upon everyone
who is circumcised while [still having] the foreskin:
While still having the foreskin: or, in their uncircumcision; LXX, I will visit upon the circumcised their uncircumcision. Aramaic, whose deeds are like the deeds of the uncircumcised.
26. “upon Egypt as well as upon Yehudah, and upon Edom and upon all the sons of Ammon and upon Moav, as well as upon all who cut off the corners, who inhabit the wilderness, because all the nations are uncircumcised, but the whole House of Israel is uncircumcised of heart.”
Cut off the corners: LXX, shaves his face round about--most likely a pagan ritual, since Israel is specifically forbidden to do this (Lev. 19:27, in the context of 19:9 which speaks of not cutting down—a related word--the corners of the fields so that the poor and sojourners would have something to eat). The lying mentioned all through this chapter is a symptom of this unwillingness to expose one’s true heart.
CHAPTER 10
1. Listen to the word that YHWH is speaking to you, O House of Israel!
To you: This is for us today, as the House of Israel in exile.
2. This is what YHWH says: “You shall not learn the ways of the nations, nor should you be terrified by the omens of the heavens [just] because the nations are terrified by them,
Learn the ways: or, be goaded into, become expert in. There will be many signs in the heavens in the coming years, and they will indeed cause great dismay and huge changes in the topography of the earth, the economy, and the safety of many people. But we also need to remember that these are the things that will lay the physical foundations for the Messiah’s Kingdom to come. We must ride their tidal waves as the ark did, and not fear being inundated by them, because YHWH is in control. But we should also not utilize other Gentile customs, or operate in their manner (Mat. 10:5):
3. “since the customs of the peoples—[they] are a vapor, because one has cut a tree from a forest, the achievement of the hands of a craftsman with an axe.
Customs: or rulings, prescriptions—i.e., the remedy they prescribe for the problems they face, as well as the decrees they make. They told us to cut down a tree and put it in our house, but YHWH says this kind of idea is a mere vapor: untrustworthy, always changing, having no substance, compared to the reality that is YHWH.
4. “They will brightly beautify it with silver and gold; they stabilize it with nails and hammers so it will not wobble.
Doesn’t this sound just like a Christmas tree? It also refers to idols made from trees:
5. “They are shaped out of one piece like a post, and they cannot speak at all; to be carried along they have to be picked up, because they cannot take a step. Do not be afraid of them, because they can’t do [any] harm, [but] neither is it in them to [do anything] beneficial.
Contrast the presence of YHWH as depicted by the pillar of cloud and fire in the wilderness. Israel moved when it moved, not vice versa. He spoke, and Israel could not control this, but held Him in awe.
6. “Insomuch as there is none like You, YHWH—You are great, and Your Name is shown to be distinctive by [Your] ability to [really] accomplish [things]--
7. who would not stand in awe of You, O King of the nations? Because it is fitting for You, since among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like You.
Anyone used to the ways Israel was being seduced by would have instantly seen how unique YHWH was! He could do things none of the other “gods” could do.
8. “They, however, are [both] equally brutish and dull-hearted; he [too] is a tree instructed in vain things.
They: the idols as well as the ones who make them, but here, also Israel and Yehudah as well.
9. “Silver beaten out into thin plates is brought from Tharshish, along with gold from Ufaz, the workmanship of a craftsman and the hands of a refiner. Their apparel is blue and purple, all of them the work of skillful [men].
Blue and purple: the same shades used for many articles in the Tabernacle, for they were trying to take YHWH’s place. Tharshish: Aramaic, Africa, but usually thought of as the westernmost extremity of the known world. Ufaz: thought to be another name for Ofir, which means “reducing to ashes”.
10. “But YHWH is [the] true Elohim; He is the living Elohim, and an eternal King. The earth will tremble from His anger, and the nations will not be able to stand His indignation.
11. “On account of this you must tell them, ‘The elohim that have not created the heavens or the earth will perish from the ground and from under these heavens.
This verse (and only this) is written in Aramaic within the Hebrew text. The targum explains that it is a copy of the letter Yirmeyahu sent to the elders of the Exile who were in Babylon.
12. “He who made the earth by His [own] ability is arranging the habitable world by His [skillful] wisdom, and He has stretched out the skies through His intelligence.
Is arranging: Aramaic, completed.
13. “When He utters His voice [there is] a roaring of waters in the heavens; He causes [clouds of] mist to ascend from the extremities of the earth. He produces the lightning to send rain, and brings forth wind from His storehouses.”
Produces the lightning to send rain: scientifically, there is a connection. If a cloud is not sufficiently saturated to begin to form rain droplets on its own, the charge of electricity from lightning can break up the integrity of the molecular units of water vapor that are bound together and cause them to condense into liquid form.
14. All of humanity has been made unreceptive to knowledge; every refiner is put to shame because of the carved image, because his cast-metal image is a deception, and there is no breath in them.
15. Vanity they are—the labor of deluded ones. At the time when they are called to account, they will be destroyed.
Called to account: put to the test to see if they are really what they are said to be. Deluded ones: or, mockers, scorners.
16. Yaaqov’s share is not like these, because He is the one Who forms everything, and Israel is the tribe He has inherited as a possession; YHWH of Armies is His Name.
Yaaqov’s share: or portion, the One allotted to him. LXX, the One who formed all things, He is his inheritance.
17. Gather up your bag, you [women] who are sitting in the besieged [city],
18. because this is what YHWH says: “Indeed, this time I will sling out the inhabitants of the Land, and will cause them distress, so that they may find out.”
Find out: Israel still does not believe YHWH is so unique. Though He had given us every head start so we could avoid the trial and error that the Gentiles are left with, as He had with Adam and Chavvah, still Israel, of all peoples, was turning to chasing after wind! (v. 8) So He has to cast them out among the nations to show how bad it really is out there. Then, like the Prodigal Son, perhaps they will long for home.
19. Woe to me on account of my [being] crippled! My wound is weakening me. But I said, “Oh, this is [just] a disease, and I have to put up with it.”
Just a disease: Aramaic, my sickness; LXX, Surely this is your wound, and it has overtaken you.
20. My tent is devastated, and all my cords have been torn away. My children have left me, and they are not [here]; there is no one to stretch out my tent or set up my curtains again,
Tent… curtains: This is an allusion to the Tabernacle. They are not here: LXX, and my cattle are no more.
21. because the shepherds have become dull-hearted and have not been seeking YHWH, so no attention will be paid to them, and all those they feed will be dispersed.
22. The sound of a report: “Here it comes with a great shaking [of the ground] out of the land of the north, to turn the cities of Yehudah into a wasteland and a lair of dragons!”
23. O YHWH, I have recognized that a human being’s course [of action] is not in himself; a man who walks does not have [what it takes] to rightly direct his steps.
A human being’s course is not in himself: or, the way of Adam is not in him. Originally, Adam could go directly to YHWH and ask Him to direct his steps. He did not have to figure it out for himself. All He had to do was ask Abba. YHWH had no complaint about this dependency. But the Rival, bitter from being punished, convinced Adam and Chavvah that by experiencing evil within themselves, they could have within themselves what it takes to know right from wrong without having to go to YHWH for answers. So when YHWH began to remedy the curse, He created a nation that was NOT to be independent—not to have enough horses or chariots to win their battles by natural means, not to know how many fighting men they had, but trust YHWH to instill in each the desire to stand up for the truth and fill in where they were still lacking. Y’shua, who bore the curse away, said even He did not have in himself what it would take, but judged as He heard from His Father and acted only as He saw the Father acting. (Yochanan 5:19, 30) Paul, who carried the message of the remedy to exiled Israel, said he had determined to have none of the world’s wisdom—the security of knowledge about so many things—and know only Messiah and His remedy. That was what the foolishness of his preaching and the bizarre pictures many of the prophets acted out were meant to make us see. Autonomy is YHWH’s enemy. Disney’s advice to “follow your heart” is “the way that seems right to a man” but whose end is death. (Prov. 16:25) The heart is deceitful. (17:9) And Yirmeyahu got the point:
24. Correct Me, O YHWH—but in the right measure, not in Your anger, so that you will not diminish me.
In the right measure: Aramaic, with clement judgment. (The word does mean both judgment and justice, i.e., limited to what we deserve, not done according to whim, yet establishing what is in line with the Torah and unbendingly carried out.) Otherwise we will be decimated; there will not be much left. Yirmeyahu realizes he is so deformed that he needs to be trained back into the right shape a little at a time, not all at once, or he will break. YHWH remembers that we are weak (Psalm 103), so He exercises us. (Heb. 12:11) We can let His correction go either way. If we are willing to discipline ourselves, He will not meet us in a punishing mode (1 Cor. 11:31), but will be patient and train us step by step to simply learn how to walk before expecting us to go anywhere, and if we submit our way to Him and acknowledge Him in all our ways, He will direct our steps. (Psalm 37:5; Prov. 3:5-6)
25. Pour out your hot displeasure [instead] on the nations who have not acknowledged You, and on clans who have not called on Your Name, because they have devoured Yaaqov; they have both consumed him and finished him off, and have deflowered his beautiful abode!
Those who do evil hate the light and run from it, not even wanting to acknowledge that they have a need, let alone that it can be remedied. (Yochanan 3:19) They will keep squirming in the other direction when He wants to reset their fracture, so it will only get worse. Wrath (hot displeasure) is the built-in result when there is a breach in the wall and they will not let Him repair it; there are always enemies ready to rush in and plunder. But these “nations and clans (families)” include those within Israel who would not repent, for they are the ones who have really done the most to destroy Israel.
CHAPTER 11
1. The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH:
2. “Heed the words of this covenant, and speak to each [one from] Yehudah and to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim,
3. “and tell them, ‘This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,
4. “’“which I laid as a charge upon your ancestors in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt—out of the iron-smelting furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and carry them out according to all the orders I will give you, and you will come to serve as a people for Me, and I will come to serve as an Elohim for you’,
In other words, “Do everything I say, and I will remain with you.” Even David was afraid that, after all the righteousnesses he had done, YHWH might still take away His spirit of holiness from him on account of one wrong he had done. (Ps. 51)
5. “’“in order to put into effect the oath that I swore to your ancestors—to give them a Land gushing with milk and honey, as it is today.”’” Then I began to answer, saying, “May it be upheld, O YHWH!”
6. But YHWH told me, “Call out all these words in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim: ‘Listen to the words of this covenant, and carry them out,
7. “‘because over and over I have solemnly warned your ancestors in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until today, rising up early to warn, saying, “Listen to My voice!”
8. “‘But they did not listen, nor did they hold out their ear, but each one kept walking in the stubbornness of their evil heart. So I will bring upon them all the promises of this covenant which I ordered them to carry out, but they did not do [so].’”
9. Then YHWH told me, “A conspiracy has been discovered in the man of Yehudah and among the inhabitants of Yerushalayim!
Man: singular. Now Yehudah is united, acting as one man, but for the other side. The conspiracy is complete, so how can He withhold judgment any longer?
10. “They have turned back to the perversities of their ancestors who first refused to obey My words and went after other elohim to serve them. The House of Israel and the House of Yehudah have breached My covenant, which I cut with their forefathers.”
11. “Therefore, this is what YHWH says: ‘Here I am, bringing upon them trouble from which they will not be able to escape, and [though] they cry out to Me for help, I will not listen to them.
12. “‘Then the cities of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim will go and cry to the gods to whom they burned incense, but they are not at all [able] to rescue them in the time of their trouble,
13. “‘because you had as many gods as you had cities, O Yehudah, and you have set up as many altars to the shameful thing as there are streets in Yerusahalyim—altars to burn incense to Ba’al.’
14. “And you must not [go] behind this people to intervene for them, or lift up a supplication or prayer for them, because there is nothing in Me [that] will listen on the occasion in which they cry out to Me about their trouble.
Go behind this people: i.e., clean up after them, to make it look like what they had done was not so bad, no matter how much you love them.
15. “What is there [left] for My beloved in My house, [with her] organizing [so] many plots? Even the holy flesh has passed on from you, because you are triumphant when you do evil.”
LXX, “Why has My beloved wrought abomination in My house? Will prayers and holy offerings take away the wickedness from you, or shall you escape by these things?” She broke the marriage contract, so what is she even doing in My household any longer?
16. YHWH called your name, “A flourishing olive tree—beautiful, with well-shaped fruit.” To the noise of a great roaring, He has started a fire on it, and its branches are broken in pieces,
Well-shaped fruit: LXX, of goodly shade in appearance. Roaring: LXX, being lopped (off). Branches are broken: Perhaps this forms part of the background for Romans 11:17-19. Broken in pieces: LXX, worthless.
17. and YHWH of Armies, has pronounced evil against you in the rolling together of the House of Israel and the House of Yehudah, which they have done to themselves to provoke Me to anger, to burn incense to Ba’al.
Rolling together: i.e., into one bundle of sticks useful for nothing but to be burned. Y’shua says YHWH will have the inedible “crop” gathered for destruction before He harvests the beneficial crop. (Mat. 13:30)
18. As YHWH was letting me know, I made [it] known. Then You let me see what they were doing,
LXX: YHWH, teach me and I will know; then I saw their practices.
19. and I [was] like a docile lamb that is led away to be butchered, and I did not realize [it], because they had devised schemes against me: “Let’s cause wood to spoil in his bread, and let’s cut him off from the land of the living, so his name will no longer be remembered!”
Cause wood to spoil in his bread: LXX, put wood in his bread; Aramaic, Let us cast deadly poison into his food.
20. But YHWH of Armies, [You] who judge [with] righteousness, testing the kidneys and the heart, let me see You avenged of them, because to You I have laid bare my [legal] case.
Tests the kidneys and the heart: He scrutinizes both the emotions and affections (embodied in the kidneys, the seat of our “gut feelings” and the part of us that depicts discernment, flushing out what is useless) and the inclination of our will or determination (embodied as the heart).
21. “For this reason, this is what YHWH says about the men of Anathoth (who are demanding your life, saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the Name of YHWH, and you will not die by our hand’).
Men of Anathoth: priests (v. 1). Today it is pastors, “priests”, and rabbis who tell us not to use YHWH’s name. In Stefanos’ case, the extremely religious men even blocked their ears from hearing it mentioned. (Acts 7:57) Life: literally, soul. Anathoth means “answers to prayer”. But to whom were they really praying?
22. “For this reason, this is what YHWH of Armies says: ‘Behold, I am the one who punishes them. The young men in their prime will die by the sword; their sons and their daughters will die in the famine,
23. “and they will not have a survivor, because I will bring adversity upon the men of Anathoth—the year of their calling to account!”
CHAPTER 12
1. You are righteous, O YHWH, when I bring my case to You. Yet still, let me discuss procedures of justice with You. Why does the way of the wicked advance [so] rapidly to success? Those who act so treacherously are flourishing!
Flourishing: or, at ease; Aramaic, unconcerned. The wicked: in this case, Yirmeyahu’s audience. It seems unjust that YHWH has not punished them already. He does not understand, but in reality they are, as Y’shua said, receiving their reward now, and will have none left later.
2. You have planted them; they have taken root. They have started to grow, and have produced fruit. You are nearby in their mouth, but far away from their affections.
They are always talking about YHWH, but their minds are on themselves.
3. Yet You know Me, O YHWH. You have inspected me and tested my appetite for You. Pull them away like sheep for the butchering, and set them apart for the day of slaughtering.
4. How long must the Land mourn, and the glistening plants of the whole field dry up because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it? Beasts and fowls are swept away because they said, “He will not see what we are after.”
The whole field: everyone YHWH has planted in Israel. Swept away: or, captured.
5. “If you have run with the footsoldiers and they have worn you out, then how will you compete with horses? And you feel safe [only] in the tranquil Land, so how will you do when the Yarden rises up?
I.e., “You haven’t seen anything yet!” YHWH understands his concerns, but says, in essence, “They are not worth My time to punish; they will receive theirs when the rest do. This is not your battle; I have bigger fish for you to fry—your own family, who are priests, no less! I’ll take care of them; you do what I’ve given you.” The Aramaic targum identifies the foot-soldier as Nevukhadnetzar, to whom YHWH was kind, astonishing Yirmeyahu, but then asks how much more He can then be expected to reward his righteous ancestors.
6. “Because even your brothers and your father’s household have dealt treacherously with you; even they have summoned a filling-up [to come] after you. Do not believe them [just] because they speak agreeable words to you.
Your brothers: fellow Israelites and even priests (whom Yirmeyahu was begging YHWH to have mercy on) brought trouble on the rest of their countrymen by their sins. A filling-up: perhaps like the sin of the Amorites, which had not yet been completed in Avraham’s day, so his descendants had to wait to possess the whole Land. Y’shua also told the religious leaders of Yehudah to fill up the determined measure of the sins of their ancestors so YHWH could go ahead and judge them. (Mat. 23:32ff; compare 1 Thess. 2:16.)
7. “I have abandoned My house; I have cast off My share. I have delivered My soul’s most dearly beloved into the hand of their enemies.
8. “My heritage has become to Me like a lion in the forest; she has given out [things] about Me with her voice, so I have come to hate her.
9. “My heritage is the speckled bird of prey to Me; they birds of prey are upon her all around. Go ahead, gather all the living things of the field! Let them arrive [for that which they are] to devour.
Speckled bird of prey: the odd one in the group, which is persecuted by the others. Israel can never fit in with the nations, and when it tries, they only turn on her. LXX, a hyena’s cave; Aramaic, like a fowl that hovers. Of the field: that is, wild—a picture of being “of the world”. (Mat. 13:38)
10. “Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard; they have trodden down My parcel [of land underfoot]! They have turned My desirable tract [of land] into a deserted wilderness!
11. “They have changed her into a wasteland; she mourns over Me. The whole Land has been made desolate, because there is no man [who] lays it on [his] heart.”
12. Onto all the barren heights in the wilderness the despoilers have come, because a sword devours for YHWH from [one] end of the Land all the way to [the other] end of the Land. No [mortal] flesh has any peace.
13. They have sown wheat, but reaped thorns. Making themselves sick, they will not profit [from it at all]. They are disappointed by your produce because of the fierce anger of YHWH.
Aramaic: sowing in an untilled field. Making themselves sick: or, exhausting themselves.
14. “This is what YHWH says about all My evil neighbors who have touched the property that I have given to My people—to Israel—to inherit: “Here I am! I am uprooting them from their land, and will pluck the House of Yehudah from out of their midst!
Touched: or struck; Aramaic, damaged.
15. “And [what] will come about after I have pulled them up [is that] I will come back and have compassion on them, and will bring them back—[each] man to his inheritance and [each] man to his land.
Pulled them up: Aramaic, exiled them. I will come back: Aramaic, I will return in My Memra (Living Word); i.e., through Y’shua. (2 Cor. 5:19)
16. “And [what] will take place [is that] if they intently learn the ways of My people—to swear by My Name (‘As YHWH lives’), just as they taught My people to swear by Ba’al—then [that nation] will be built up in the midst of My people.
Swear: from the word for seven or “complete”, possibly because the oath would be repeated seven times.
17. “But if they will not obey, then I will uproot that nation—tearing it out and destroying [it]”, declares YHWH.
This correlates with what happens to the nations during Messiah’s Kingdom who do not attend the feast of Sukkoth in Yerushalayim. (Zech. 14:18)
CHAPTER 13
1. This is what YHWH told me: “Go and buy a linen waistband for yourself, and put it over your hips, but do not let it get into [any] water.”
Buy: or simply obtain, procure, or get. Linen: anciently, made from flax, not cotton. The root word means “disintegrate”, because the stalks were put into troughs until they degenerated enough to loosen the hull from the long, fine fiber inside. Modern methods have still not equaled the length of fibers they were able to extract in ancient Egypt. Waistband: or sash, which was tied around the waist and loins in such a way as to make a robe able to function like trousers, letting men move freely while they worked. Ephesians 6:14 reveals that this represents truth.
2. So I went and bought the wasteband as YHWH had said, and put it over my hips.
3. Then the word of YHWH came to me a second time, saying,
4. “Take the waistband that you bought—[the one] that is on your hips—and get up, go to [the] Ferath, and conceal it there in a crevice in the cliff.”
Ferath: the Euphrates River.
5. So I went and hid it at the Euphrates, as YHWH had commanded me.
6. And it came about that, at the end of many days, YHWH told me, “Get up, go to the Ferath, and get from there the waistband that I told you to conceal there.”
Many days: or, the great days, perhaps the “high holy days” at the end of the summer.
7. So I went to the Ferath and started digging, and took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it there. But, lo and behold, the waistband had rotted; it was not useful for anything.
It was rotten because it had not been allowed to touch water, the picture of YHWH’s word (Eph. 5:26). Y’shua taught that defilement comes from within (Mat. 15:11-20), and here we see that, though unaffected by other forces, this product of “disintegration” (note on v. 1) decayed on its own. It had also been seeking protection in Babylon. Babylon allowed Israelite religion to flourish, but still they were influenced by its ways. When the truth was hidden near the teachings of Babylon, it was ruined. One of Babylon’s customs was to never speak the name of their deity lest it pay them too much attention, and when Yehudah returned from captivity there, it had adopted this custom, rendering many blessings ineffective. (Contrast 12:16.)
8. Then the word of YHWH came to me, saying,
9. “This is what YHWH says: ‘In just the same way, I will cause the pride of Yehudah and the greater pride of Yerushalayim to rot.
Compare Hoshea’s words: “Israel’s pride is a witness in his face, so Israel (that is, Efrayim) will be tripped up by their crookedness; Yehudah has also stumbled along with them.” (5:5; cf. Ovadyah 3.)
10. “‘This wicked people, who refuse to obey My words, walking in the stubbornness of their heart, and who have been going after other elohim to serve and worship them, will become like this waistband, which cannot be used for anything,
Having convinced themselves that their lies were true, they would no longer feel guilty. They thought they could partake of these other things while keeping truth intact.
11. “‘because just as the waistband sticks close to a man’s hips, in the same way I have caused the whole House of Israel and the whole House of Yehudah to stay close to Me,’ says YHWH, ‘to come [to serve] as a people for Me, and for renown and for praise and for splendor! But they would not listen!’
Stay close: cling devotedly or intensely, like a child that does not want his parent to leave him. Renown and praise and splendor: Israel was designed for these things, but thought other pursuits were more valuable. Someone had radically “switched the price tags”! If they served Mammon, they could no longer be close to Him. (Mat. 6:24) When Israel does not fulfill its purpose as given by YHWH, it is indeed useless, because it has been separated from every other purpose and not trained for any other livelihood.
12. “So speak this word to them: ‘This is what YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, says: “Every bottle will be filled with wine!”’ Then they will say to you, ‘Don’t we [already] know [very well] that every bottle will be filled with wine?’
Bottle: or wineskin. They thought He was telling them nothing new, but He was hinting that an overfilled bottle, like a water balloon, would be more prone to burst when dashed against another. (v. 13-14) One too full of strong drink will not have the judgment to fight back coherently when attacked.
13. “Then tell them, ‘This is what YHWH says: “Here I am, filling to the fullest the inhabitants of this Land, even the kings that sit for David on his throne, as well as the priests, the prophets, and all those dwelling in Yerushalayim, [with] drunkenness!
14. “‘“And I will [surely] dash them to pieces, each [one] against his brother, both the fathers and sons alike,” declares YHWH. “I will not spare, nor look with pity, nor have mercy [to keep] them from rotting.”’”
Dash to pieces: i.e., like bottles. The word can also mean scatter, which is what YHWH did to all of Israel.
15. Listen and cup your ear; do not be haughty, because YHWH has spoken!
16. Give YHWH your Elohim due honor, before He brings darkness and before your feet stumble on the mountains [at] twilight. Indeed, [when] you were expecting light, He turned it into the shadow of death, and will make it like thick darkness.
17. But if you will not listen to it, my soul will wail and weep bitterly in hidden places from the face of [such] a lifting up [of the back], and my eye will drip with tears, because YHWH’s flock has been taken captive!
18. Tell the king and the great woman, “Humble yourselves! Take a seat, because the crown of your splendor has come down from your place of headship!”
Great woman: either the queen or the king’s mother. Humble: or, lower.
19. “The cities of the Negev have been closed up, and no one is opening them. Yehudah has been taken into exile; all of it has been completely taken away!
20. “Lift up your eyes and see those who are coming from the [hidden place of the] north! Where is the flock that was given to you—your beautiful sheep?
21. “What will you say when He brings punishment upon you? For you goaded them into being captains over you, [serving] as a head! Won’t pangs seize you like a woman who is giving birth?
Captains: from a word for “teach”. Goaded them into being over you: Israel lured Babylon into ruling over it when King Hizqiyahu opened doors and gave it information about Israel that he should never have made known, tempting them to be greedy for what belonged to YHWH. (2 Kings 20:12-17; 1 Chron. 32:31) His great-great grandson Yehoyaqim let Yehudah become a vassal of Babylon as soon as it became a great power, and when he rebelled, Yehudah became an occupied nation. (2 Kings 24) In his son Yehoyachin’s day, Babylon besieged Yerushalayim and took away all the holy implements of the Temple as well as the royal treasures amassed since Shlomo’s day. Later Yehudah also invited the Greeks and Romans to rule over them in similar fashion by first becoming their allies in seemingly innocent pursuits.
22. “And since you are saying in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’, in the abundance of your perversion your skirts have been removed; your heels have suffered violence.
Happened: the emphasis in this Hebrew word is indeed on their thinking that this is merely a chance encounter with fate. Removed: also the word for being exiled. Heels: removing our covering of obedience exposes us to Amaleq, who attacked Israel’s rear guard, and Y’shua (part of Yehudah)’s having to have His heel bruised due to our sin. (Gen. 3:15; Yeshayahu 53:5)
23. “Can the Kushite change his skin, or the leopard [reverse] its spots? [Then] you, too--who are accustomed to doing evil--will be able to do what is right!
Kushite: someone with very dark skin. Accustomed: taught by practice; they have gone too far and will not be granted repentance, but have been turned over to their own delusion. We often take this merciful gift for granted, but in truth it is not guaranteed.
24. “So I will cause them to be scattered like stubble that is taken away by the desert wind.
25. “This is your lot, the assigned portion measured to you from [having been with] Me”, declares YHWH, “as you have forgotten Me and started trusting in what is fraudulent.”
Assigned portion…: LXX, the reward of your disobedience to Me.
26. “And I have also stripped off your skirts over your face, so your dishonorable [parts] may be looked on--
27. “your adulteries and your neighings, your [lewd] plotting [of] prostitution on the hills. I have seen your abominations in the field. Woe to you, Yerushalayim! After so long have you still not been purified?”
After so long…: Aramaic, you will not be clean again; now you have a respite, many days. Compare Lamentations 1:8-9 and Nachum 3:4-7.
CHAPTER 14
1. That which came—YHWH’s word to Yirmeyahu—concerning the matter of the droughts:
Droughts: an intensive form of the word for withholding, restraining, or making inaccessible. So this was something deliberate on YHWH’s part.
2. “Yehudah has [started] mourning and her gates have drooped; they are darkened [with ashes] for the Land, and the outcry of Yerushalayim has ascended.
“Gates” is an idiom for the government of a city, since the gates are where the elders sat to make decisions, including that of who could enter the city. Darkened: probably in mourning, but this may refer to the gates having been burned “to the ground”. LXX, her gates are emptied. Tzion mourns simply because her gates are desolate since no one is coming in for YHWH’s feasts. (Lam. 1:4) Indeed, in a drought, many aspects of the feasts, like the rich fruit and branches used at Sukkoth, would be unavailable.
3. “Even the nobles have sent their youngest [children] for water. They came to the cisterns, [but] did not find water. They returned with their containers empty. They were ashamed and humiliated, and covered their heads.
Nobles: those used to luxury, not such hardship. Youngest: or little ones; Aramaic, deputies. Cisterns: or pits that had been dug. Found no water: a picture of their spiritual condition, from which YHWH’s word was lacking. Were humiliated: or, blushed. Children would have more stamina to keep searching, but, still failing in their mission, would indeed be embarrassed to return home.
4. “On account of the ground being cracked open since there has been no rain in the Land, those working the land have become ashamed; they have covered their heads,
5. “because even the doe, having given birth in the field, has deserted [her young], because there was no vegetation,
6. “and the wild donkeys have stood on the barren heights and sniffed the wind like dragons; their eyes have failed because there was no grass.”
7. O YHWH! Though our perversities respond [in testimony] against us, act for Your Name’s sake, because many [are the times] we have turned away. Toward You we have become guilty.
8. Purification Pool of Israel, who brings him deliverance in the time of distress, why should You become like a stranger in the Land, or like a traveller who [merely] turns aside to find lodging for the night?
Purification pool: Heb., miqveh, used for ritual bathing, whereupon the one who descends under its waters receives the status of “clean”.
9. Why should You be like a man who is knocked unconscious, like a mighty man who is [nonetheless] unable to bring deliverance? Yet You are in our midst, O YHWH, and Your Name is proclaimed upon us! Don’t abandon us!
10. This is what YHWH says to this people: “Yes, they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check, and YHWH has not been satisfied with them. He will now bring their guilt to remembrance, and called [them] to account [for] their wanderings from the way.”
Loved to wander: or waver. Like those Eliyahu addressed (1 Kings 18:21), they could not choose between two opinions and stick faithfully to one or the other. They move back and forth as is convenient to them, especially if they are trying not to offend anyone. But this in itself offends YHWH, and proves they are fearing someone other than Himself. This is the main reason they are being punished, and the best thing for them is to be destroyed so that a remnant may actually recognize their guilt and return to Him. Therefore it will not help for Yirmeyahu to pray that they be spared:
11. Then YHWH told me, “Do not intercede for this people’s welfare.
12. “[Even] if they fast, there is nothing in Me [that will] listen to their screams, and though they raise an ascending offering with a grain offering, there is nothing in Me [that can] find them acceptable, because with the sword and with the famine and with the plague, I am bringing them to an end.”
Ascending offering: usually done as a way to request the forgiveness of sins. Acceptable: or pleasing, an object of delight or enjoyment.
13. Then I began to say, “Alas, Master YHWH! Notice that the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword, nor will you have famine, because I will give you true well-being in this place.’”
14. But YHWH told me, “The prophets are prophesying fraudulently in My Name; I neither sent them nor gave them orders. I never even spoke to them! [What] they are prophesying to you [is] a deceitful oracle, ineffective divination, and the deceitfulness of their own heart.
Deceitfulness: from a word meaning to throw off track, i.e., mislead. They themselves were misled, “the blind leading the blind”.
15. “So this is what YHWH says concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, though I did not send them, and those who are saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this Land’: By sword and famine will those prophets be brought to an end,
They had chosen to be prophets because it could bring them personal gain. No sword or famine: the teaching that believers will simply be “raptured” and escape both tribulation and death indeed gets many “warm bodies” into church doors, because it is the kind of message they want to hear.
16. “and the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown out into the streets of Yerushalayim due to the presence of the famine and the sword, and there will be no one to bury them—themselves, their wives, their son, or their daughters—and I will pour out their wickedness on them.
17. “So you must speak this word for them: ‘Let my eyes drip with tears night and day, and do not let them cease, because the virgin of the daughter of my people is broken in pieces with a great crash, a blow that wounds exceedingly!’”
Let my eyes: LXX, let your eyes.
18. If I go out [into] the field, there [they] are—those mortally pierced with the sword! But if I go into the city, there [I see] those made sick by the famine, because both the prophet and the priest have gone off to a land they are not familiar with.
19. “Have You utterly rejected Yehudah? Has Your soul abhorred Tzion? Why have You hit us when there is no [way] for us to be healed? We waited expectantly for peace, but there is nothing agreeable; for a time of healing, but--lo and behold, [sudden, overwhelming] terror!
20. “We acknowledge our wickedness, O YHWH—the perversion of our forefathers—because we have become guilty toward You.
Just as Yirmeyahu had to weep for those who would not weep, we have to repent for those who cannot repent, since they have already died.
21. “For Your Name’s sake, do not hold us in contempt! Do not let the throne of Your honor sink down! Remember, don’t nullify Your covenant with us!
Sink down: in disgrace. They think that because there is a drought, He is reneging on His promises to provide for His people, when in fact they are the ones who had not kept their part of the bargain for so many years.
22. “Among the [useless] vapors of the nations, is there any who can make it rain? Or can the skies provide heavy showers? Isn’t it You, YHWH our Elohim? So we will eagerly wait for You, because You [are the One] who accomplishes all of these [things].”
Useless vapors: often a term for idols, and understood that way by the translators of the Septuagint (LXX). But notice its significance as regarding clouds that cannot bring rain. Verses 19 through 22 seem to be YHWH’s mockery of what Yehudah, trying to escape the punishment they now realize they deserve, is saying to Him. But they have gone too far, and He has already say He does not want to hear any more from them.
CHAPTER 15
1. Then YHWH told me, “If Moshe and Shmu’el [themselves] would take their stand before Me, I could not have emotion toward this people. Send them away from in front of My face, and let them leave.
Moshe and Shmu’el were known for prevailing with Him in intercession (e.g., Psalm 106:23), but even Shmu’el was told to stop praying for King Sha’ul. Let them leave: i.e., do not stop them if they want to go. Alt., let them go: release them from your mind as well; if even these men who completely laid their lives down for Israel could not persuade Me to relent, how could you? You are only a beginner!
2. “And if they should say to you, ‘Where should we go?’, then tell them, ‘This is what YHWH says: “Those who are [marked] for death, to death [shall they go]; and those for the sword, to the sword; and those for famine, to famine; and those for captivity, to the captivity.
3. “I will appoint over them four categories”, declares YHWH: “The sword to kill, the dogs to drag off, the fowls the sky and the beast of the earth to devour and to destroy.
4. “And I will turn them into an object of horror for all the kingdoms of the earth on account of what Menashe the son of Hizqiyahu, the king of Yehudah, did in Yerushalayim,
Mensahe filled Yerushalayim with innocent blood, rebuilt the idolatrous worship centers his father had broken down, dealt with mediums, and sacrificed infants in the fire. He himself repented, but his influence continued to pull Israel downhill.
5. “for who will take pity on you, O Yerushalayim? And who will lament you? Or who will go out of [their] way to ask about your welfare?
6. “‘You have left Me alone’, declares YHWH. ‘You have moved backward, so I will extend My hand against you and destroy you. I have become tired of feeling sorry [for you].’
Backward: to the Egyptian tendencies He had worked so long and mercifully to train out of them.
7. “So I will scatter them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the Land; I will bereave them [of children] and make My people lost since they are not turning back from their [own] ways.
8. “Their widows are piling up for Me [higher] than the sand of the seas. I have brought for them a despoiler at noonday, against the mother of a young man [in his prime]; I have caused anguish and alarm to fall upon her suddenly.
Piling up: the connotation is “like bones”. (Compare Yehezqel/Ezekiel 37.) Higher than the sand: their sins supersede the fact that they are children of Avraham. Instead of giving them so many descendants, he will give them many childless widows.
9. “The one who gave birth to seven [now] has been enfeebled. She has given up [on] her life; her sun has gone down in the middle of the day. She has become disconcerted and ashamed, and I will give those who are left of them to the sword before the face of their enemies,” declares YHWH.
10. Alas for me, my mother, that you have given birth to me, a man of controversy and a man of discord for the whole Land! I have neither lent at interest nor been lent to, yet everyone is treating me as despicable.
A man of discord for: LXX, at variance with. Treating me as despicable: or, cursing me (no matter what I do).
11. YHWH said, “If I do not set you free to prosperity… If I do not cause you to encounter the enemy at a disagreeable moment and at a time of distress…
If I do not…: A common Hebraic form of swearing an oath. I.e., I will certainly do this.
12. “Can one break apart iron—iron from the north—or bronze?
Iron from the north: The Hittites, from due north of Israel (modern-day Turkey), were the best ironworkers of that day.
13. Your wealth and your treasure-store I will give [away] as plunder, not for a price but [as a recompense] for all your sins, even within all your territories.
Your: He reverts to the use of the plural object after speaking to Yirmeyahu personally in v. 11.
14. “Then I will make you cross over with your enemies into a land you are not familiar with, because a fire has been kindled in My anger; it will be lit upon you.”
15. O YHWH, You understand! Remember me, and look after me; let me be avenged of those who persecute me. In Your slowness to anger, do not take me away! Recognize that on Your account I have endured taunting.
16. Your words were found, and I fed on them, and Your word was for me the joy and gladness of my heart, because Your name is proclaimed over me.
Fed on them: Aramaic, I received Your words and confirmed them; LXX: …endured taunting from those who set at naught Your words; consume them, and …
17. I did not sit in the inner circle of mockers, nor did I triumph. In the presence of Your hand, I sat alone, because You had filled me with denunciation.
Denunciation: i.e., in his prophecies. (Aramaic)
18. Why has my pain become constant, and my wound incurable—refusing to be healed? You have indeed become for me like disappointing waters that cannot be trusted!
Disappointing waters: like the many streams in Israel that are only seasonal, and give out once the rain run-off stops flowing. It is as if one settled beside them in the rainy season, then found that it was not a true river.
19. Therefore, this is what YHWH says: “If you turn back, I will bring you back; you will remain in front of My face. And if you remove what is valuable from what is vile, you will serve as My mouth. They may turn back toward you, but you must not turn back toward them.
If you turn back: We must take the first step to show our willingness. Remain in front of My face: or, stand/endure before me. But the “you” here is singular, so He is addressing Yirmeyahu, not all of Israel. He himself needed to repent for the complaint in the last verse, which made him as guilty in YHWH’s eyes as the rest, though he was offered an open door to repent, unlike them. Valuable: precious, costly, rare, prized, weighty. They may turn back: or, Let them turn back. Yirmeyahu himself is to be an example of this removing what is valuable from what is vile (or worthless, or what is being shaken), which is really the definition of holiness. When someone refuses to allow himself to be holy, we must leave them behind, or we will lose our holiness in the process. However, if they truly repent, we must be ready to welcome them back. But they must come on the terms of the higher standard; we cannot lower the standard in order to include them. We could also apply this to the corporate level; if a body such as the church has allowed itself to be defiled, how could we stay within it, once a higher step has become available to us?
20. And I will set you up as a wall of reinforced brass to this people. When they fight against you, they will not [be able to] prevail against you, because I am [the one] with you to deliver you and to rescue you,” declares YHWH.
21. “And I will rescue you from the hand of a wicked [one], and redeem you from the palm of a ruthless [tyrant].”
CHAPTER 16
1. Then the word of YHWH came to me, saying,
2. “Do not take a wife for yourself, nor will you have sons or daughters in this place,
In this place: Thus this does not mean Yirmeyahu never had a wife or children anywhere else later in life.
3. “because this is what YHWH says about the sons and about the daughters who are being born in this place, and about their mothers who are giving birth to them and their fathers who begot them in this Land:
4. “‘They will die deaths [from deadly] diseases. They will be neither mourned nor buried; they will serve as fertilizer on the surface of the ground. Or, they will be finished off by the sword and by famine, and their bodies will be food for the fowls of the sky and for the beast of the earth.’
Not buried: This would grate on the sensitivities of Hebrews who are used to burying as soon as possible. YHWH is saying that things have become so bad that His followers should not try to salvage the community He had created, but let its fermentation have the fullest effect so that later generations could find usefulness in it and bear fruit thereby. As He did so once to Yehudah, He is doing so now with the Church, which was a framework He had worked within for a time, but has now become so paganized, compromised, and corrupt that the best thing to do with it is let it rot and start over—yet He is starting over not with something never seen before, but by recreating the community that preceded both Yehudah and the Church: a united Israel.
5. “Because this is what YHWH says: ‘Do not enter the house of wailing, nor go to lament or express condolence, because I have gathered away My peace from this people,’ declares YHWH, ‘along with the mercy and compassions.
Y’shua likewise told those He sent to withdraw their peace from a house where they were staying which proved unworthy. (Mat. 10:13) Mercy: Aramaic, my loyalty.
6. “‘Both [the] important and [the] insignificant in this Land will die. They will not be buried, nor will [anyone] mourn for them, nor cut himself, or shave himself bald for them,
Cutting oneself and shaving oneself bald on behalf of the dead are forbidden by Torah anyway. (Deut. 14:1) But apparently they were practicing it. Important and insignificant: Aramaic, the big and the tender. No one will mourn: so many will die that there will not be enough mourners left for all of them.
7. “‘nor will [they] break [bread] for them in mourning to comfort him on account of the dead, nor will they give them to drink the cup of consolation for his father or his mother.’
8. “You must not even go into the banqueting-house to sit with them to eat or to drink,
Compare Eccles./Qoheleth 7:2.
9. “because this is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: ‘Here I am, causing the voice of gladness and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride to cease from this place before your eyes and in your days.’
Our presence even at such seemingly-harmless events is our endorsement. His absence was a sign that We partake of those with whom we partake of food. Eating together, scripturally, is a sign of unity with another person, which is why YHWH commands us to eat together at the Temple on certain occasions. (e.g., Lev. 7:15) The Essenes were so scandalized by the corruption in the priesthood that they stopped frequenting the Temple altogether, though they knew it was the right place. Even our parents’ influence (represented by their food) can affect us adversely if holiness is our goal; even things in the church that feed those who are starving may not be acceptable to the mature. Voice of gladness…: This is a refrain repeated often throughout Yirmeyahu. Prophets would sing out their prophecies with their own distinctive styles.
10. “And when you announce all these words to this people, what they will say to you is, ‘On what account has YHWH pronounced all this great calamity against us? And what is our crookedness, and what is the offense by which we have sinned against YHWH our Elohim?’
Like Malakhi’s audience, they do not even know enough of Torah to know what they are doing wrong. (Mal. 1:6-7; 2:17; 3:8)
11. “Then say to them, ‘On account of [the fact] that your ancestors forsook Me,’ declares YHWH, ‘and walked after other elohim, served them, and bowed down to them, but Me they forsook, and did not guard My instruction.
Not guarding His instruction constitutes how they forsook Him.
12. “‘But you have caused more evil to be done than your ancestors, because here you are, each walking after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so as not to show Me any [interested] attention.
We are safer at a distance from YHWH than being right beside His fire if we are not part of His fire. (He would rather we be hot, but being cold is better than being lukewarm, Rev. 3:16) Following one’s own heart is in YHWH’s eyes worse than idolatry, because it indicates that we are not even worshipping something outside ourselves, but are worshipping our very selves. If we are not listening to YHWH, it means we think we already have enough information to guide us in how to act.
13. “‘So I have thrown you out from upon this Land into the land that neither you nor your ancestors have been familiar with, and you will [certainly] serve different elohim day and night, [from] which I will not grant you [any] consideration.’
Any consideration: favor, pity, or reprieve; that is, there will be no room given to repent, and the punishment will include being subject to the merciless treatment of the pagan deities that they had asked to serve.
14. “‘Because of this, the days are coming,’ declares YHWH, ‘when it will no longer be said, “[As] YHWH lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the Land of Egypt”,
Because of this: the casting out from the Land is what made the larger exodus possible.
15. “‘but rather, “[As] YHWH lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north, and from all the lands into which He had caused them to be banished.” Indeed, I will bring them back onto their Land, which I gave to their ancestors.
Bring them back: or, allow them to return. This exodus will so supersede the earlier one, that people will all but forget it in comparison! And this process has begun today. The House of Yehudah has been coming back for over fifty years, but only recently have the other tribes begun realizing that this applies to us as well.
16. “‘Here I am, sending out numerous fishermen,’ declares YHWH, ‘and after they have indeed fished for them [and caught them], I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from upon every mountain and every hill or from the holes [bored into] the rocky cliffs,
Fishermen: This is what Y’shua was alluding to when he told the literal fishermen who followed him that he was now sending them out as fishers of men. (Mat. 4:19) After they have fished: This is the stage we have reached in the present day, for YHWH is taking many who were missionaries out of the Church, and thus terminated the first stage of the job. Y’shua’s parable of the dragnet clarifies what the “hunters” will do. They will sort out the unclean from the clean--those in the gathered-out congregations that are”kosher”--fit for the Master’s use. The Hebrew form of the word “hunt” is not the form that indicates “hunt for themselves”, i.e., to enjoy the provision as their own sustenance. Thus they will not be professional evangelists or pastors who make this their livelihood, but will be doing it only for YHWH. Holes bored into the rocky cliffs: where YHWH had told Yirmeyahu to hide away his waist-sash (13:4).
17. “‘because My eyes are on all their journeyings; they are not concealed from My face, nor is their crookedness hidden from before My eyes.
18. “‘But first I will repay their crookedness and their sin doubly, because they have profaned My Land with the corpses of their detestable things, and have filled My property with their disgusting things.’”
Detestable things: i.e., non-kosher animals they had eaten, the unburied bodies of their loved ones (v. 4), as well as the empty “bodies” of their idols. Doubly: Each of the two Houses of Israel has a different number of years of punishment assigned to it (Y’hezq’el/Ezekiel 4). Yehudah’s was much shorter than Israel’s, being only 40 years, and when doubled, 80. Thus their return to the Land began much earlier. Israel’s was 390 years, and when doubled, it is 780 years. From the time of the final exile in 722 B.C.E., this comes out to 46 C.E., the time Sha’ul/Paul turned his attention toward the “Gentiles”, which in this case specifically meant those who had “undone their circumcision”—the Northern Kingdom which had mingled with the Gentiles whose company they preferred, and whose punishment was thus to become Gentiles. Hoshea 1 also mentions two sentences that seem to be running concurrently: that of “no mercy”, and that of “not being a people”. By the time the first sentence for the Northern Kingdom was up, Y’shua had already come and made amnesty available to individuals from the House of Israel to again become part of the Commonwealth of Israel even in their continued exile, a theme Paul (Eph. 2:12ff), Kefa (1 Peter 1:1; 2:11), and Yaaqov (James 1:1) all highlighted. Yirmeyahu continues on this same theme:
19. O YHWH, my strength, my stronghold, and My refuge in the day of distress, to you Gentiles will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Truly our parents have inherited falsehood—a vapor, in which there is no benefit!”
Ends of the earth: can also mean “final [days] of the earth”. Falsehood: includes the sense of being a disappointment. Vapor: a breath, or vanity—something of no substance. Gentiles: By the first century, Jews spoke of only fellow Jews as “men”; others were counted on the same level as dogs. But this presented one problem: they could not relegate their exiled relatives, the other tribes, to this category, so they spoke of them as “Gentiles” since they had become like a mixture between man and animal. (See notes on 3:17; 4:2) Everything the Apostles wrote about the “Gentiles“ must therefore be taken with this possible interpretation in mind. Hoshea’s second sentence (not being a people), which was not doubled (as in v. 18), but extended sevenfold (Lev. 26:24) to 2,730 years, is now at an end, and many who thought we were Gentiles are realizing that though YHWH allowed us some degree of mercy through Yeshua, have still had many wrong understandings about YHWH, and are now being called to jettison many theological concepts and rediscover what it means to be Israel and to know YHWH (v. 21) as YHWH and not as a man. No benefit: something you cannot “cash in”, but at the root, something which does not help you ascend; it keeps us on the same level where we are. Falsehood: a sham, something meant to deceive. What our parents DID give us served to obscure what they did NOT give us—the Torah, which they said would kill us! So to ascend again, we must call on the merits of our fathers’ fathers, to whom it was given, since we want to be more like them than our more immediate ancestors.
20. Can humanity make elohim for itself? Yet they are not elohim!
Or, can Adam act as an elohim for himself? This is a rhetorical question proving that the advice our first parents (v. 19) were handed was indeed a vaporous falsehood.
21. “This being the case, here I am, bringing them to admit [it]; this time I will cause them to recognize My hand and My excellency, and they will realize that My Name is YHWH.”
Recognize: or simply, see. My excellency: including how much greater I am than they—the very focus of the first lie, as well as His strength, as exhibited previously in the exodus from Egypt. “In that day His Name will be one” (Zkh. 14:9)—not substituted by translations from other languages which most often actually stem from the names of pagan deities. His true Name is becoming well-known again as the curse is lifted. May we never profane it again.
CHAPTER 17
1. “Yehudah’s sin is recorded with an iron pen; with a diamond stylus it is engraved on the tablet of their heart and on the horns of your altars,
Right after speaking of the Gentiles’ repentance (16:19), YHWH holds Yehudah to the same standard, since they are committing the same sin—idolatry (16:20). (Compare Rom. 1,2)
2. “while their sons remember their altars and their Asherim by the flourishing trees on the high hills.
Iron tools are not to be used on YHWH’s altar (Deut. 27:5), so what they are remembering is not His altar, but others of their own making. Asherim: a linguistically improper term, for it is a masculine plural, whereas the singular form is Asherah, which is feminine. The proper plural would be asheroth. We do find that term used 3 times in Scripture, but Asherim is used 16 times in Scripture. Joseph Good says it seems to be a "marriage of the names" of two gods. The amulets associated with Asherah were themselves shaped like a womb. They were highly stylized, with sexual features emphasized. Some of the "groves" were phallic symbols that did not represent Asherah, but were said to be "for" her—i.e., her consorts. So the masculine form of her name is used for them. As "Artemis (or Diana) of the Ephesians", she is mentioned in Acts 19:28. Idols were more often meant to convey functions and attributes of the gods than their appearance. (They were pictograms, not portraits.) Some were life-sized and of wood, sometimes overlaid with silver or gold, with eyes of precious stones. A.L. Oppenheim explains that the "deity" was considered present in the image if its paraphernalia showed certain crucial features. Its spirit was “made present” by a rite called "opening or washing the mouth". It was “fed” twice a day, and outfitted in splendor, lavishly clothed in blue and purple. (10:9) They did not worship the image itself, but the god they believed was in it. In a sort of "mystic unity", the statue "became" what it represented. The deity therefore both was and was not the idol. Fornication with the priests was counted as having relations with the god itself, and Eli’s sons brought this practice into Israel.
3. “O, my mountain on the plain! Your wealth—all your treasure-store I will give [away] as plunder; your cultic platforms in sin throughout all of your territories.
My mountain: here, Israel, which stands out to Him from among all other nations.
4. “And you (on your own) will even let it drop from your inheritance that I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in the land you are not familiar with, because you have kindled a fire in My nostril[s]; it will be kept burning forever.”
Let it drop: from the same root as the release in the fiftieth year, when debts are all canceled and inherited lands returned to the owners who have had to sell them to pay debts. (Lev. 25:10-11). This time it would “fall” to their enemies instead of to its original owners.
5. This is what YHWH says: “The warrior who trusts in humanity, who lets flesh constitute his arm, and who turns away from YHWH, is under a curse,
Warrior: or simply, strong or great man. Flesh: muscle, i.e., human strength, which is perishable. His arm: a concrete way of describing what a man relies on.
6. “because he will be like a [forlorn] shrub in the Aravah, and will not notice when prosperity comes, but will inhabit the parched regions in the uninhabited area of the Land of Salt.
Shrub: identified variously as a heath, juniper, wild tamarisk (LXX), or thistle (Aramaic). The root word indicates “something to be razed, stripped off, or wiped away”—almost like a rootless tumbleweed. Land of Salt: in the Aravah (part of the Great Rift Valley south of where the Yarden flows), this has to mean the area around the Dead Sea, which is full of salt and mineral residue, the remnants of S’dom’s overthrow.
7. “The warrior who trusts in YHWH, and whose object of confidence is YHWH, is blessed,
8. “and he will be like a tree planted over waters and [that] sends out its roots onto an aquifer. He will not even notice when heat comes, and his leaves will [still] be luxuriant. He will not be concerned in the year of drought, nor will he stop producing fruit.
Luxuriant: LXX, shady. Note the extreme contrast with v. 6.
9. “The heart is more insidious than anything [else], and it is woefully incurable; who can decipher it?
Insidious: sly, slippery, deceitful; it will lie to you even more than haSatan will! Contrast this with today’s popular philosophy of “following your heart”.
10. “I, YHWH, thoroughly examine a heart and scrutinize the affections, [so as] to give to each man [what] his habitual manners [of life deserve], according to the fruit of his practices.
Affections: often rendered “mind”, but this literally says “kidneys”—specifically the organ that performs the function of discerning and choosing what to retain and what to dispose of, so in ancient times it was seen as the seat of thoughts and emotions (the gut reaction we cannot control, and thus what shows what we really fear). How do we process Torah? Do we turn it into a burdensome religion or see it as a door to freedom, understanding, and harmony with everything around us? Habitual manners: paths or ways—i.e., the course he continues on. Practices: or actions, accomplishments—what we actually get done. (Mat. 21:28ff) One of the ways He tests us is by what our children remember (compare v. 2, where what stood out to them from what their parents said or did was not YHWH’s festivals, but the Christmas tree!)
11. “The one who produces wealth but not by just [means] is a partridge [that] broods but does not hatch [the eggs]; at the midpoint of his day it will abandon him, and later [in] his [life] he will be [called] a fool.”
The Aramaic for the first section is: Like the partridge which gathers eggs which are not his own, and hatches the broods which will not follow him; LXX, gathers eggs it did not lay. Both are allowed by the Hebrew, but it could simply mean “heaps up [and sits on eggs] but does not bring forth young” for whatever reason—loss, abandonment, destruction, or infertile eggs. Whichever way, no “partridge family” results! Since it seems to be of its own doing, it may refer to the jealous male trampling the eggs which are holding the female’s attention. Not by just means: or, by measure or judgment. What people think of as unjust may vary with the times, so we have to define it by Torah, which includes stealing, gaining interest from fellow Israelites, using unequal weights and measures (different standards for different people), and any form of not doing to our neighbor what we would want him to do for us. Sustainable wealth, which does not disappear in the midst of life, comes through wisdom or skill (Prov. 8:18), humility, which is clear, grounded thinking (Prov. 22:4), and the fear or respect of YHWH (following His rules about how to treat our neighbor rather than disregarding his welfare when an occasion to get rich quickly comes along (see v. 5 above). A more recent proverb says “Ill-gotten is ill-spent”, and so we see millionaires who are still in debt, because they have tried to keep up appearances to flaunt their wealth, and they end up no better than the rest of us, but mocked because they could not make so much money last a lifetime. And cheating others will make everyone want to stop doing business with them, so soon they will run out of money and have no one to sell to, whereas those who treat their customers well will have loyal trading partners even in hard times. Righteousness (walking the narrow edge) keeps us in balance and versatile so we can maintain firm footing when things inevitably change. By following Torah we will not overreact when we are wronged. We will not have to sue, because the right judgment for each situation is already prescribed, and restores equilibrium between people who have to continue living with one another.
12. An honorable throne, elevated since the earliest [time], is the site of our sanctuary.
Aramaic: Punishment shall be exacted of him before the One whose Sh’khina is upon the throne of glory in the heavens on high… corresponding to the place of the House of our Sanctuary. This shows how ancient is the tradition that the heavenly throne sits just above the site of the Temple, based on Psalm 122:3.
13. O YHWH, Purification Pool of Israel, any who forsake You will be ashamed; those who depart from me will be inscribed in the earth, because they have forsaken YHWH, the Source of living waters.
This is part of the liturgy for the festival of Sukkoth, and is quoted in the Mishnah in reference to atonement on Yom haKippurim, which precedes Sukkoth by only a few days. Living waters: freshly-flowing, non-stagnant waters, which are essential if ritual purification is to take place. Inscribed in the earth: Contrast having one’s name written in heaven. (Luke 10:20) If it is not, present rewards are the only ones we will ever know; the name of the wicked will decay (Prov. 10:7), and thus one day be no more. This verse is what Yeshua was alluding to one Sukkoth by writing on the ground the names of those who had brought the woman taken in adultery to him for judgment. (Yochanan 8) By trying to trap him in his words, they proved they had turned away from YHWH, for just the previous day (Yoch. 7:37-38), in the Temple during the water-pouring ceremony on the greatest day of Sukkoth (v. 10), in the Temple (the site of YHWH’s sanctuary, v. 12), he had proclaimed himself the one anyone could come to if he was thirsty for living water (required for ritual purification), because his “take” on Torah was the most straightforward, yet the least burdensome. And, true to this verse, they turned away and departed in shame, beginning with the oldest, who had heard the liturgy more often and recognized the connection. After the Day of Coverings, when the gates are closed, there may yet remain some grace, but if someone is still unrepentant by the end of Sukkoth, he has sealed his choice. These supposedly-holy men refused what Yirmeyahu chose to partake of:
14. Heal me, O YHWH, and I will be healed; deliver me, and I will be delivered, because You are [the object of] my praise.
And I will be: or, so I may be. All of us have turned away from Him at one time or another, but we do not wish to forsake Him completely, so we need to bring these words of repentance back to Him, knowing we cannot accomplish the entire remedy by ourselves, so we need to make sure He gets the credit. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
15. Here they are indeed, saying to me, “Where is YHWH’s word? Please let it come!”
Where: the term used is a rhetorical one, so we need to see the sarcasm in their question.
16. But I have not pressed [to be free] from shepherding after You, nor have I longed for the day of [being] incurable. You know that what went forth from My lips was right in front of Your face.
Yirmeyahu was frustrated by trying to shepherd YHWH’s flock, but he did not give up or take pleasure in the coming judgment (Aram.) because his audience was so stubborn. But he now realizes that they are indeed incurable.
17. Do not be a cause of terror to me; You [Yourself] are my refuge in the day of trouble!
18. Let those who persecute me be ashamed, but do not let me be put to shame! Let them be shattered, but don’t let me be shattered! Bring on them the day of trouble, and crush them with a double crushing!
Ashamed: or disconcerted.
19. This is what YHWH told me: “Go and stand in the Gate of the Sons of the People, by which the kings of Yehudah enter and leave, and in all of the gates of Yerushalayim,
20. “and tell them, ‘Listen to the word of YHWH, O kings of Yehudah, as well as all of Yehudah, and all the inhabitants of Yerushalayim who come in by these gates!
21. “‘This is what YHWH says: “Restrain yourselves, and do not carry a load on the Sabbath day, nor bring them in by the gates of Yerushalayim,
Restrain yourselves: or, beware for [the sake of] your lives, for they were even breaking one of the most basic commands. We ask YHWH to open the gates for us when we come to worship YHWH, but our baggage--our personal burdens--are to be left outside; perhaps they will not even be there anymore when we come out on the other side of the Sabbath! We need to count everything as already finished, with nothing still needing to be done, when we enter His courts. (Heschel; compare Mat. 5:24) The Sabbath is not for serving the creation, but for creatying the Kingdom.
22. “‘“and do not take a load out from your houses, nor do any work at all, but set the Sabbath day apart as sacred, as I commanded your ancestors.”’”
Work: not the word for service to others, but livelihood, business, or craftsmanship which is for the purpose of benefiting yourself.
23. But they did not obey or hold out their ears, but [instead] stiffened their neck so as neither to [be able to] hear nor receive correction.
Hold out their ears: as if they could not understand, but wanted to. One cannot “walk circumspectly” (aware of the dangers on all sides) if he is stiff-necked and only looking at the path he has chosen to walk.
24. “Now this is how it will be if you listen to Me [and] obey,” declares YHWH, “by refraining from bringing a load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but set the Sabbath day apart as sacred by not doing any work on it:
He asks so little, and offers such great rewards! If we do just this one thing, He says, we can start over and the Messiah can come as well! This is why the rabbis teach that if every Jew (substitute Israelite!) were to simultaneously keep the Sabbath just once, the Messiah would be obligated to come.
25. “Then kings and princes who sit on the throne of David will enter the gates of this city riding on chariots and horses—they, their princes, the men of Yehudah, and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, and this city will be inhabited forever.
26. “And they will come from the cities of Yehudah, from the [suburbs] surrounding Yerushalayim, from the land of Binyamin, from the Sh’felah, from the mountainous area, and from the Negev, bringing ascending [offering], grain tributes, and frankincense, and carrying thank offerings [into the] House of YHWH.
Sh’felah: the foothills or lowland west of Yerushalayim and east of the coastal plain.
27. “But if you will not obey Me [by] keeping the Sabbath day separate and refraining from carrying a load while entering at the gates of Yerushalayim on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire within her gates, and it will devour the palaces of Yerushalayim, and it will not be quenched.
Palaces: from a word meaning elevated; as seen from archaeology, the highest buildings in many cities were the palaces and temples (where unauthorized ones were built). Interestingly, Rabbi Heschel describes the Sabbath as a “palace in time”. Since they did not respect this palace, the physical ones were taken away as well.
CHAPTER 18
1. The word that came to Yirmeyahu
from YHWH:
2. “Get up and go down to the potter’s
house, and there I will let you hear My
words.”
3. So I went down to the potter’s house,
and at just [that moment] he was
producing a work on the stone [wheel]s.
Wheels: literally simply “stones”, but set
together in a particular way to be usable
for forming vessels of pottery. They move
in a circle--related to the word for
YHWH’s cycle of “festivals” (chagim).
4. But the article he was forming from clay was damaged in the potter’s hand, so, going back, he made it into a different article, according to what was right to make, in the potter’s eyes.
Was damaged: or ruined; LXX, fell. If the clay is not kneaded properly, a small bubble, lump, or bulge can remain in the clay can make it impossible to center the clay to form it into a particular vessel, since this anomaly has a ripple effect while the wheel spins, and makes the whole vessel lobsided. If it becomes ruined like this, it all collapses, and cannot be straightened out; the only thing left to do is throw it away, or flatten it again and start over. This is a lot more work, but the covenant demands that He study the clay itself to see what shape would be more appropriate according to the material he is working with. Often it is tossed into a bucket with other bad clay and reshaped together. This is like the Northern Kingdom, which was tossed out among the other nations until it was ready for YHWH to rework into a people again.
5. Then the word of YHWH came to me, saying,
6. “Am I not able to do to you like this potter [did], O House of Israel?” says YHWH. “After all, in My hand you are just like clay in the potter’s hand, O House of Israel.
We are dug out of the mire (a Hebrew word that is often used to represent the world at large), and set up on the rocks where He can form us. (Psalm 40) We cannot question His choices or why He forms us the way He does. (Yeshayahu 29:15-16; 30:14; 41:25; 44:21ff; 45:7-10; Romans 9:15ff) Efrayim, too, thought it was bad when He started applying the pressure. (Hoshea 7) But the proper response to His shaping us is, “O YHWH, You are our Father! We are the clay, and You are the one who forms us; we are all the workmanship of Your hand.” (Yesh. 64:8). We are not our own, but He has chosen to use us for His purposes. What He most wants to build from the clay vessels that we are now (2 Cor. 4:6ff) is a mold for the golden vessels that will result after He burns away our impurities—an unpleasant experience, but not one we cannot bear, since He applies a predetermined degree of stress to make us come out just right. (1 Kings 7:46; Yaaqov/James 1:2; 1 Kefa/Peter 1:6; 1 Cor. 10:12ff) For this to be accomplished, we have to remove the things that are in our vessels which stand in His way (2 Timothy 2:20ff, and trust His judgment. If we do not, He will have to pour caustic materials in to eat away what has hardened onto the inside of the pots, so that there is hope that they can be used after all. If we do not submit to it, we will be put on the shelf.
7. “[The] moment I [may] promise concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to root out or pull down or cause it to vanish,
8. “then that nation turns back from its evil against which I have spoken, then I will relent from the trouble that I planned to cause for it.
Nin’veh is the salient example of this, in the book of Yonah.
9. “But the moment I promise concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build it up or to establish it,
10. “then it does what is wicked in My eye to avoid obeying My voice, then I will be sorry regarding the pleasantness with which I promised to benefit it.
Compare Y’shua’s parable of the two sons (Mat. 21:28-32) and the branches that boast arrogantly that they have been grafted in to replace others that were broken off. (Romn. 11:16-24)
11. “So now, please speak to the man of Yehudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, saying, “This is what YHWH says: ‘Indeed I am fashioning trouble for you, and devising a plan against you. Each of you, turn back from his evil course, and make your directions and practices right!’
Fashioning: the same word as for “potter” above (literally, the one who fashions or shapes). Remember, his audience are priests, who already know what is right.
12. “Yet they have said, “Give up [any] hope [of that], because we’re going to walk after our own plans, and [each] man will carry out the stubbornness of his wicked mind.”
Give up hope: or, it’s hopeless; i.e., we have a whole economy built on the worship that is going on now. Think of how many people would be out of jobs if we changed things! (cf. Acts 19:27) We can’t upset this! Though we have all these examples of our forebears’ How different is this from, “I know it’s right to keep the Sabbath and not Sunday, but I’d lose my job if I did!”? These well-off clerics had too much to lose, even though they would have been well-rewarded for being the servants they were meant to be in Israel. But they feared something besides YHWH. Such people usually say, “He knows My heart”, but we have seen (17:9) that our hearts are deceitful and that our hearts are revealed through our deeds.
13. “Therefore this is what YHWH says: ‘Please inquire [as to] who among the nations has heard [things] like these! The virgin of Israel has done a very horrifying thing!
14. “‘Does the snow of Levanon desert the rock of the field? Or are the cold waters that flow from a foreign [land] displaced?
LXX, Will fertilizing streams fail to flow from a rock…? Cold waters: LXX, water violently impelled by the wind.
15. “Because My people have forgotten Me! They have [started] burning incense to empty nothings, and they have caused them to stagger in their journeyings from the eternal ways to walk on the paths [more often] trodden—a road that is not lifted up,
Paths more trodden: A road that is not lifted up: LXX, impassable paths. Alt., a bypath, and not on a highway. Nogah HaReuveni translated it, “The paths of the world have made them stumble onto byways, on a road not paved.”
16. “to turn their land into a wasteland, a constant [cause for] whistling. All who pass through it will be awestruck and shake his head.
Whistling: from appalled surprise at what has become of it. Seventeen centuries after the Jews were exiled, Mark Twain made a famous comment that not even a chicken could scratch out a living in it.
17. “Like an east wind, I will cause them to be dispersed in the face of an enemy; I will show them [My] back and not [My] face on the day of their calamity.”
East wind: or ancient spirit.
18. Then they said, “Come, let’s devise schemes against Yirmeyahu, because [the] Torah is not going to be lost from a priest, nor advice from the wise, nor a word from a prophet! Come on, let’s conquer him with the tongue, and not pay attention to any of his words.”
Conquer: or, wound, destroy.
19. Pay attention to me, O YHWH, and listen to the voice of my opponents!
20. Should evil be repaid in the place of [what is] beneficial? Because they have dug a pit for my soul! Remember [that] I stood before You to promise [what is] beneficial toward them, and to turn Your hot rage away from them!
He kept asking YHWH to forgive them when YHWH said not to, but changed his tune once they started plotting against him.
21. So give their children over to the famine! And pour them out toward the hand of the sword! Let their women be bereaved [of their children] and become widows! And let their men be murdered by death, their young men [in their prime] struck down by the sword in battle!
This is a custom-ordered massacre! (Compare Psalm 109; Yeshayahu 13:16) He sees that the Land continues to be defile as the Kanaanites before them had, and so it needs to be emptied out and re-conquered. Remember, these were his own nephews and nieces he was asking to have killed, because though He interceded on their behalf, they did not uphold him. This man who hears from YHWH understands justice, though in our modern world, he seems so intolerant and un-Christian. To treat a cancer, you sometimes have to remove other cells as well. Chemotherapy operates in the hope that the cancer cells will die off before their host dies. This is why it has taken so long to cleanse the people of Israel and prepare the new man in YHWH’s image for Him to inhabit as a Temple.
22. Let an outcry be heard from their houses because You have caused a marauding band [of raiders] to come upon them suddenly, because they have dug a pit to capture me, and buried traps for my feet!
23. And You, O YHWH, are familiar with all of their plotting against me for [my] death. Do not cover over their guilt, or let their sin be wiped away from in front of Your face! Rather, let them be those who are made to totter in Your presence. Deal with them at the time [when You are] angry!
CHAPTER 19
1. This is what YHWH said: “Go and acquire a potter’s earthenware jar, as well as [items] from the elders of the people and from the eldest of the priests,
2. “and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom which [is] an opening of the Potsherd Gate, and call out there the words that I will tell you.
Potsherd gate: where they dumped broken pottery that could be used for nothing else. Yehudah (“Judas”) hanged himself on a tree overhanging this valley, then fell down into it. He considered himself of no further use to Y’shua, in contrast to Kefa, who repented with bitter weeping.
3. “Then say, ‘Listen to the word of YHWH, O kings of Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim! This is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: “Here I am, causing a calamity to come upon this place which will [make] the ears of anyone who hears it tingle,
4. “‘“since they have forsaken Me and treated this Place as strange, and burned incense to other elohim which neither they, their ancestors, nor the kings of Yehudah have been familiar with, and have filled this place with the blood of innocent [people]!
Strange: or foreign; compare Hoshea 8:12, where Efrayim calls the Torah a “strange thing”, which was the reason for the Northern Kingdom’s exile. Now Yehudah is doing the same.
5. “‘“They have also rebuilt the cultic platforms of Ba’al so [they could] burn their children with fire as ascending offerings to Ba’al—[something] that I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it even cross My mind!
Cross My mind: literally, come up onto My heart. Thousands of tiny bull-idols and Ashtaroth from the period of Hebrew occupation have been found in Yerushalayim. Archaeologist Gabi Barkey located it at the juncture of the three valleys that frame Yerushalayim. A complete graveyard of earthenware ossuaries marked “for Ba’al” have been unearthed at the Tofeth with children’s bones in them, including babies.
6. “‘“Therefore, indeed, days are coming,” declares YHWH, “when this place will no longer be called Tofeth or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but rather, the Valley of the Slaying.
Tofeth means “spitting”; i.e., a byword whose name people loathe even to mention. Though Yoshiyahu had taken special pains to defile this place when bringing his reforms (2 Kings 23), the practice was started up again. After 586 B.C., the Valley of Hinnom (Ge-Henna in Greek) is referred to as a perpetually-burning rubbish heap. After such an awful usage, no one wanted to use it for anything but garbage.
7. “‘“I will also bring the plan of Yehudah and Yerushalayim to nothing in this place, and make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who are seeking their lives, and I will give their dead bodies as food to the fowls of the air and the beast of the earth.
Plan: or counsel, advice, purpose. They had their positions structured as they wanted them, and, like Kayafa the high priest in Y’shua’s day, would rather be rid of YHWH’s prophet than disrupt the status quo. Israel is not to make firm plans, only to be responsible about our decisions. We are to be flexible, not stiff-necked, ready to break camp and move when the pillar of cloud or fire starts moving. We cannot know until the aviv barley is ready when the year will begin; we cannot set the dates for the festivals until the new moon is seen. Israelites are tent-dwellers, who can go with the flow, and ascend the steps to YHWH’s courts more quickly. Beast of the earth: or land. There is a secondary fulfillment of this slaughter in the last days when the blood flows up to the horses’ bridles in the Tofeth, also the site of Messiah’s tribunal. (Yoel 3:12-17; Rev. 14:20; 19:18) The Sheep and Goats judgment will also take place here. (Mat. 25:31ff) The remains of those who transgressed against YHWH will still be visible here for the pilgrims who come up to Yerushalayim for the Millennial feasts to see (Yeshayahu 66:24) The valleys then will undoubtedly be deeper, as the Temple Mount is raised to be the highest of hills. (Micha 4:1)
8. “‘“And I will turn this city into a wasteland and a [cause for] whistling; all who pass through it will be awestruck and will whistle over all the blows that ravage it.
9. “‘“And I will have them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each will eat the flesh of his companion in the siege and the [dire] straits [into] which their enemies who seek their life will press them.’”
10. “Then you must shatter the jar in the sight of the mortals who are walking with you,
11. “and tell them, ‘This is what YHWH of Armies says: “In the same way I will shatter this people and this city, just as one can break the potter’s vessel, which can never be repaired again. And they will bury [them] in Tofeth since they have no other place to bury them.
12. “‘“Indeed I will do just that to this place,” declares YHWH, “and to its inhabitants, and give this city over [to become just] like Tofeth.
13. “‘“Then the houses of Yerushalayim and the households of the kings of Yehudah will become like the defiled site of Tofeth, for all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the armies of heaven and for [the purpose] of pouring out libations to other elohim.”’”
14. Then Yirmeyahu came from the Tofeth, where YHWH had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the [enclosed] court of the House of YHWH, and said to all the people,
15. “This is what YHWH of Armies, the Elohim of Israel, says: ‘Here I am, bringing to this city and upon all its towns all the trouble that I have threatened against it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to listen to My words.’”
THE WRITINGS OF THE PROPHET
Yirmeyahu
(Jeremiah)
INTRODUCTION: Yirmeyahu, traditionally called Jeremiah in English, was a priest, and therefore from the tribe of Levi, and a reluctant prophet due to his young age. He prophesied beginning almost 100 years after the fall of the Northern Kingdom (Israel), just after Yoshiyahu’s widespread reforms, and just prior to the fall of the Southern Kingdom (Yehudah). The reigns spanned were the fifth-last and (skipping the three-month reign of Yehoakhaz) the final three kings of the Southern Kingdom. (Yehoyachin is not mentioned in 1:3, but he reigned for three months between the reigns of Yehoyaqim and Tzidqiyahu.) The time frame was 628 B.C.E.—about 60 years after Yeshayahu’s death--and from 609 through 586 B.C.E. (2 Kings 22-25; 2 Chron. 34-36) During this time Yoshiyahu was killed for meddling in Pharaoh Nekho’s military affairs, his son Yehoachaz was taken to Egypt, Nevukhadnetzar of Babylon made Yehudah a vassal, Yehoyaqim rebelled and was then plagued with Chaldean, Aramean, Moavite, and Ammonite raiders, Nevukhadnetzar again besieged Yerushalayim, Yehoyaqim surrendered and was taken captive to Babylon along with the temple and royal treasures (to be imprisoned 37 years, then treated well by the Babylonians until he died, as per 52:31). Tzidqiyahu was installed in his place, until he too rebelled and Yerushalayim was burned and the walls broken down. This particular Yirmeyahu is also mentioned in the 2 Chronicles 36 account, but that this was a common name in his generation is evident from several others mentioned throughout the books of Kings, Chronicles, and Nechemyah, including the grandfather of King Yehoakhaz.
Asherah pole found at Hatzor
7:21-8:3, followed by 9:22-23, is a haftarah (companion passage) for Torah Portion Tzav.
