Jeremiah 14 study notes

13:1–24:10 Section

Jeremiah shared God’s judgement messages again and again in many ways. Some he shared through an action of prophecy. This was the case with the linen belt and the clay jar from the potter. It was also the case with how Jeremiah wasn’t to get married or have children.

Other messages Jeremiah spoke as poems or simply when talking with someone. This was the case when he spoke with Pashhur and the officials sent by Zedekiah. God compared his people to many different things in his messages. This gave his people pictures to help them understand what he wanted to say. He compared them to wineskins, clay being shaped by a potter and baskets of figs. He compared them to a prostitute and to a wife who wasn’t faithful to her husband. In that picture, God was the husband. The people and leaders of the southern kingdom were the wife. Worshipping false gods was how they were unfaithful to him.

God compared the leaders to shepherds. In that picture, the people were God’s sheep. The kings, priests and prophets were shepherds who destroyed and scattered them. Sometimes God sent his messages with a sign. This was the case when God didn’t let it rain for a time. False prophets shared messages that weren’t from God. Their messages were lies about peace and good times. This made God very angry.

Jeremiah shared God’s messages faithfully. God had warned Jeremiah that the people and leaders would fight against him. This happened many times. People refused to listen to Jeremiah and they made fun of him. They made evil plans against him, beat him and put him in prison. God had promised to be with Jeremiah. God had promised to save him from those who treated him badly. But Jeremiah was suffering terribly. He felt that God had tricked him when he promised to be with him. Yet Jeremiah remained faithful to God as he suffered. In this way he was like Job.

Jeremiah was honest with God when he prayed. His prayers were like the poems and songs in the book of Psalms. They included cries for help and complaining. Jeremiah also praised God and talked about how he trusted in God. The message of hope in chapter 23 talked about a king from the family line of David. He wouldn’t be like the greedy kings of the southern kingdom. He would follow God’s rules for kings recorded in Deuteronomy 17:14–20. This king was called a godly Branch. Isaiah had prophesied about this Branch as well (Isaiah 11:1–3).

Jews came to understand this message of hope as a prophecy about the messiah. New Testament writers came to understand it as a prophecy about Jesus. Jesus is the Branch who makes people right with God.

14:1–22

This chapter is a conversation between the Lord, Jeremiah, and the people. It began because a severe drought affected the land.

14:2–3

During a drought, no crops were sold in the markets at the Jerusalem gates. People could not store previous harvests for long, so starvation threatened them. Cisterns built to collect water dried up, and without rain, no water was available for drinking or cooking meals. As a result, a great cry rose from Jerusalem.

14:4–6

Both people and animals suffered during the drought.
The farmers covered their heads with rough burlap to show shame, humiliation, and mourning.

14:7–9

The people admitted their sins but did not change their bad behavior. They tried to trick God into helping them by doubting his love, wisdom, and power, while still claiming to be his chosen people.

14:10

The Lord's response to their selfish prayer addressed the main issue. Their wickedness had ruined their status as God's people, making their prayer pointless. God's judgment would continue.

14:11–12

For the third time (see Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14), God told Jeremiah not to pray for the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Fasting would be pointless because the Lord had decided to ignore them. The priests' burnt and grain offerings, which the Lord had given Moses as a way to worship him (see Leviticus 1–2), would be wasted because the Lord would not accept them. Instead, the Lord would respond with war, famine, and disease.

14:13–16

the prophets: The government of Judah had a group of prophets who supported the king's religious views. The Lord often condemned these prophets, along with the officials and priests. Here, the Lord revealed them as impostors and described the consequences for them and the people they advised.

Jeremiah 14