I Will Cause Them to Know

By Dan & Brenda Cathcart

The video version of this teaching is available at: https://youtu.be/0WYTet0mFa0

The scripture reading is Jeremiah 16:19-17:18

Over the last several weeks and months, as we have examined the prophecies and writings of the prophet Jeremiah, we have seen a continual pattern of judgment and redemption.  Our Haftarah portion this week, Jeremiah 16:19 through 17:14 is no different with one key exception. Unlike most of the book of Jeremiah, this section is in a poetic form.

Contained within this Haftarah are some often quoted verses, many of which are quoted by Yeshua as well as the disciples in their writings and letters.  Virtually every verse in this Jeremiah passage is also found in the Psalms.

This section of scripture contains the usual identification of the sins of Israel and Judah along with a promise of a future redemption.  But what is so special about this prophecy of Jeremiah?  And why was it so important to Yeshua and the disciples?

To understand this poetic prophecy from the viewpoint of the people of Jeremiah’s day, we have to read it in a broader context. God gave Jeremiah specific instructions about his own lifestyle and how he was to conduct himself. Jeremiah was to be a living example or sign to the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 16:1-4 NKJV 1 The word of the LORD also came to me, saying, 2 "You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place." 3 For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: 4 "They shall die gruesome deaths; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth."

Jeremiah was not to take a wife or to raise a family in this place because of the coming invasion by Babylon.  And the reason was that this invasion and judgment of God would be incredibly brutal. The people who are not taken in exile to Babylon would die a horrible death at the hands of the Babylonian army.  Those left alive would not even be able to follow the Torah statutes regarding the treatment and burial of the dead. Because of this, Jeremiah was also not to practice the mourning rituals, even for family members.

Jeremiah 16:5-8 NKJV 5 For thus says the LORD: "Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people," says the LORD, "lovingkindness and mercies. 6 "Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. 7 "Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother. 8 "Also you shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink."

God was soon to show the people of Judah and Jerusalem the power of His judgment.  They would be unable to receive His lovingkindness and mercies. Their population would be decimated, and their cities ravaged.  The LORD says that the people would come to Jeremiah wondering why he pronounced such an awful judgment against them.

Jeremiah 16:10-11 NKJV 10 "And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?' 11 "then you shall say to them, 'Because your fathers have forsaken Me,' says the LORD; 'they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law.

Even though they may not accept Jeremiah’s words of judgment, the reasons are clear.  They have a covenant with God to obey His commandments and they have continually ignored it and severely broken it, and it was time for judgment.

Leading up to the scripture of our Haftarah reading, Jeremiah speaks of a restoration of Israel.

Jeremiah 16:15 NKJV 15 "but, 'The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.' For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.

The actual Haftarah reading for this week begins with Jeremiah 16:19-21

Jeremiah 16:19-21 NKJV 19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction, The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, "Surely our fathers have inherited lies, Worthlessness and unprofitable things." 20 Will a man make gods for himself, Which are not gods? 21 "Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My hand and My might; And they shall know that My name is the LORD.

Verse 19 starts out with a near quote of Psalm 18.

Psalms 18:2 NKJV 2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Jeremiah 16:19-21 also speaks of the Gentiles coming to the LORD out of their idolatry. They will come seeking the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Gentiles will seek the very thing which the Jewish people have been rejecting! This may be a prophetic hint of the time after Messiah Yeshua when the Gentiles answer the call to repentance and receive salvation.

Acts 11:1 NKJV 1 Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.

Beginning with chapter 17, Jeremiah takes an abrupt turn, speaking again of the sins of Judah and the punishment. As we have seen, the more Jeremiah tries to get through to the people, the deeper into sin they seem to sink. The opening statement is rather strong and suggests that they are now beyond the point of no return or repentance.

Jeremiah 17:1-2 NKJV 1 "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; With the point of a diamond it is engraved On the tablet of their heart, And on the horns of your altars, 2 While their children remember Their altars and their wooden images By the green trees on the high hills.

Iron tools and diamond scribes are the instruments of carving into and shaping stone. Jeremiah is telling them that they have hearts of stone. Their sins are now indelibly inscribed on their hearts for all to see. Because of this state, is repentance now impossible for them? God does not leave living, breathing human beings without hope and the ability to repent, to change, and be forgiven.  In a Jewish midrash, this issue is addressed in a hypothetical conversation between the people and God.

“When Israel stood before God for judgment, they said before Him: ‘Master of the Universe, the heavens and earth testify against us regarding our sins… God replied: ‘I shall remove them’ Israel responded: ‘But still, our name is associated with disloyalty to You.’ To which God answered: ‘I will give you a new name.’ Again. Israel said: ‘But, You will remember!’ God retorted: ‘I will forget your earlier sins.’ Israel answers: ‘In Your heart, you will remember.’ God responds: ‘I will not take it to heart’. Israel responded [with the verse from out haftarah]: ‘But it is written before You, as it is written: The guilt of Judah is written with a stylus of iron.’ God responds: ‘Things that are written can also be erased and since I wrote it, I can also erase it!”[i]

Jeremiah goes on to describe what happens to their land after they are exiled to Babylon. The Promised Land, their heritage and inheritance will become plunder and treasure for their enemies.

Jeremiah 17:3-4 NKJV 3 O My mountain in the field, I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures, And your high places of sin within all your borders. 4 And you, even yourself, Shall let go of your heritage which I gave you; And I will cause you to serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever."

This one last warning about their impending exile is immediately followed by a reminder of perhaps why they faced this exile.  In Whom are they placing their trust?  In man or in God!

Jeremiah 17:5-8 NKJV 5 Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD. 6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited. 7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Verse 8 is a paraphrase from Psalm 1:3

Psalms 1:3 NKJV 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

The sages say that the heart is the first to stray from the LORD.  Once the heart departs from the ways of God, the rest is sure to follow. The LORD is our source of nourishment and water, the necessities of life. When we follow the ways or desires of our flesh, the life-giving water is sparse like a desert. The LORD knows the heart. He sees through the facade of our lives to the truth within us.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 NKJV 9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? 10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

David also speaks of God testing the hearts of men in Psalms7:9

Psalms 7:9 NKJV 9 Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, But establish the just; For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.

The apostle Paul addresses this very thing in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 2:3-7 NKJV 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who "will render to each one according to his deeds": 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

This same judgment will be seen again at the end of the age. God will again search our hearts.

Revelation 2:23b NKJV 23b "… and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

We must come before God in all humility and sincerity. King David wrote in Psalm 139:23-24

Psalms 139:23-24 NKJV 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

Jeremiah’s next statement seems to be addressing their corrupt financial dealings and dishonest gain.

Jeremiah 17:11 RSV 11 Like the partridge that gathers a brood which she did not hatch, so is he who gets riches but not by right; in the midst of his days they will leave him, and at his end he will be a fool.

At the end of Psalm 55, David speaks of the deceitful hearts of men that will cause their lives to be cut short.

Psalms 55:23 NKJV 23 But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction; Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; But I will trust in You.

This speaks of rampant covetousness. Merrill F. Unger in his commentary on Jeremiah 17 writes:

“She (Judah) is compared to a partridge who “gathers a brood which she did not hatch”. For a little while she struts in great pomp with her illegitimate brood, but the fledglings soon desert their foster mother at the very time she needs them most to foster her ego. She is left looking like the fool she is.”[ii]

In much the same way Judah’s ill-gotten wealth will be taken from them in exile.

The Haftarah closes out with a profound warning about those who forsake the LORD.

Jeremiah 17:12-13 NKJV 12 A glorious high throne from the beginning Is the place of our sanctuary. 13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed. "Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth, Because they have forsaken the LORD, The fountain of living waters."

Again, we see the allusion to the life-giving water which the LORD provides. This passage, in particular verse 13, is strongly suggested that this is the very scripture which Yeshua actually wrote in the ground when he was confronted by the Scribes and Pharisees when they brought to him a woman, whom they say was caught in the act of adultery. Since Yeshua actually stooped down to write something in the dust of the ground not once but twice, He may have also written the names of these Scribes and Pharisees!

John 8:3-6 NKJV 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

This is a story which we have taught on before with an entire study lesson in our book “Shadows of the Messiah in the Torah, Volume 1.” In essence, the corrupt Scribes and Pharisees confronting Yeshua on this day were not so innocent themselves.  They had forsaken God and had deceitful hearts just as Jeremiah described in our Haftarah reading. Like the people of Jeremiah’s day, many among the Jewish leadership and the people in Yeshua’s time were also corrupt, with hearts of stone, and not following the Torah.

Our haftarah this week ends at verse 14 but it would be good to continue to the end of the poetic passage.

Jeremiah 17:14-18 NKJV 14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise. 15 Indeed they say to me, "Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now!" 16 As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You, Nor have I desired the woeful day; You know what came out of my lips; It was right there before You. 17 Do not be a terror to me; You are my hope in the day of doom. 18 Let them be ashamed who persecute me, But do not let me be put to shame; Let them be dismayed, But do not let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of doom, And destroy them with double destruction!

Jeremiah prays for his own deliverance and for the deliverance of all of Israel.  In this prayer Jeremiah says that through all the persecution, he has remained faithful to God. He has been a good shepherd, faithful to all that the LORD has given him. We too are given a task to perform. We are called to be not only disciples of Yeshua, but also apostles, which simply means “sent ones.” Whatever task we are sent to do, the lesson we can learn from Jeremiah is to always be faithful to God; To not let our hearts stray away from the LORD and His ways. He is always faithful to keep His covenant with us and will always be ready and willing to accept our repentance.

Study Questions:

1. Discuss the connection of this teaching to the Torah Portion Bechukotai, Leviticus 26:3-27:34.

2. Jeremiah says that Judah had forsaken the LORD in Jer. 16:11. In what way was that generation written in the Earth as described in Jer. 17:13-14? How does this compare to the scribes and Pharisees that brought the woman caught in adultery to Yeshua to be judged?

3. Compare the description of the man who trusts in God with Jude’s description of those who “have crept” into the body of believers unnoticed.  What do we need to watch for?

4. What are some of the other Psalms or scriptures that are quoted or paraphrased by Jeremiah? Why do you think he quoted these Psalms?

5. This teaching quoted a Jewish Midrash about a conversation between God and Israel. In what way do we have similar “conversations” with God? What can we learn about this tendency in ourselves and people in general?

6. What new insight did you gain from this teaching? How do you respond to this new insight? How will you realign your life based on this new understanding?

Bonus: Why do you think Jeremiah used a poetic form in this haftarah?

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[i] Midrash Tanaim 32:1 Hoffman edition pp. 180-1

[ii] Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, AMG Pub. P. 1391