By Dan
& Brenda Cathcart
The video
version of this teaching is at: https://youtu.be/wBqQyDgnPic
The
scripture reading for this teaching is: Jeremiah 7:21-8:3, 9:23-24
Our
Haftarah reading this week is perhaps one of the saddest passages in all of
scripture. The prophet Jeremiah is
delivering a sharp rebuke from God to the inhabitants of Judah and
Jerusalem. The people had gone far
astray into idolatry and adopted the worship practices of their neighbors. They
had forsaken the covenant that God had made with them and rejected the prophets
that God had sent to them.
Jeremiah 7:21-24 NKJV 21 Thus says the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and
eat meat. 22 "For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the
day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or
sacrifices. 23 "But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice,
and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways
that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.' 24 "Yet they did
not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of
their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
They had
perverted the sacrificial system and at best were just going through the
motions in their offerings and sacrifices to God. They may have been doing what
was commanded and bringing the proper sacrifices, but were they doing it for the
right reason? Were the offerings coming
from their heart in love for God?
The Torah
portion for this week is from Leviticus 6:1-8:36 and largely deals with the regulations
surrounding the sacrificial system and starts out with the sin offering. The
people that Jeremiah addresses in this Haftarah were sinning in virtually
everything they were doing! The words of Jeremiah to the people of Judah and
Jerusalem in indicate that the people were bringing the sacrifices as commanded,
but without sincerity. That is their heart wasn’t in it.
The Hebrew
word used in this passage for burnt offering is Olah, #5930 meaning
ascent. It is from a root word meaning
to go up. Their offerings and sacrifices were to go up to God. But by just
going through the motions of the sacrifice, it is clear that they had no
interest in what it meant for their offerings to go up to God. And their
actions showed they had no interest in keeping the covenant that God made with
them. God subsequently rejects such offerings.
This was a
continuing theme throughout the history of the nation of Israel, not just in
Jeremiah’s day. God sent his prophets to
admonish the people and remind them of their covenant relationship with God.
And being a prophet was not an enviable office to find one’s self.
Jeremiah 7:25-27 NKJV 25 "Since the day
that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even
sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending
them. 26 "Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened
their neck. They did worse than their fathers. 27 "Therefore you shall
speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call
to them, but they will not answer you.
As we
further explore the words of Jeremiah in this Haftarah, I am struck with the
thought that many of the people encountered by Yeshua and the apostles in their
time faced the very same issues. The Temple worship practices were supposed to
be about life, yet many of the Scribes and Pharisees of Yeshua’s day had turned
Temple worship into a practice of lifeless ritual.
Jeremiah
goes on to pronounce a condemnation of their attitudes and lifeless practice.
Jeremiah 7:28-31 NKJV 28 "So you shall say
to them, 'This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God
nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their
mouth. 29 'Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the
desolate heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His
wrath.'
Jeremiah is
making some serious and important comments on the sacrifices. The sacrifices were central to the worship of
God. But many times Jeremiah’s words here and those of other prophets are
misunderstood. Many modern-day teachers
assume that God, speaking through these prophets, is saying that He does not
want their sacrifices. But these prophets would have been the first ones to
advocate for bringing the sacrifices because they were a central part of the
Torah. What is it exactly that God wants from His people? This is a question
that they could easily answer. They had
the words of Moses.
Deuteronomy 5:29 NKJV 29 'Oh, that they had
such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My
commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!
Jeremiah
identifies that the people were not just treating God with indifference, they
were in complete rebellion against God! Jeremiah identifies four areas where
this rebellion is manifest in them. First is in their heart. Their hearts were
deceitful and corrupt. They had not
allowed God to give them a new heart.
In the
Hebrew culture and context, the heart is the central part of the real person.
Because of the sin nature, inherited from Adam, sin and rebellion is the
natural state. Paul wrote about this in
Romans:
Romans 7:15-18 NKJV 15 For what I am doing, I
do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I
hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law
that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells
in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for
to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
Paul is
saying that the entire makeup of a person is changed by the changed condition
of their heart when it is turned to God.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV 17 Therefore, if anyone
is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all
things have become new.
In his
letter to the Colossians, Paul identifies a different kind of circumcision
which is a sign of a changed heart.
Colossians 2:11 NKJV 11 In Him you were also
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
The people
who Jeremiah addressed did not repent and turn their hearts to God. Had they
done so, the nation would have been spared the judgment and the people would
have carried out the moral and ethical teachings of the Torah!
The next
part of the body that Jeremiah alludes to is the feet in verse 24 where he
says:
Jeremiah 7:24 NKJV 24 "Yet they did not
obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their
evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.
The people
were “walking” in their own council.
This also is what Paul spoke of in Romans. They were following their own
evil desires found in their hearts. In this verse Jeremiah says that they
walked backward and not forward. Physically walking backward is not
normal. But Jeremiah was speaking of a
spiritual backwardness. We are not made to travel in that manner either. When we don’t travel with God and walk in His
righteousness, our lives are not normal.
All one has to do, is look at the society around us today! Every where
we look, life is backward!
Rabbi J.H.
Hertz in his commentary on this Haftarah captures the essence of this idiom:
“…to desert the path of faithfulness and
righteousness, no matter under what new or attractive name, is always to go
backward.”[i]
In the same
verse 24 of our reading, Jeremiah also refers to their ears or their hearing.
This brings to mind the Hebraic concept of hearing God as expressed in the word
“Shema”, Number 8085 in the Strong’s Hebrew lexicon, meaning to hear
intelligently with attention and obedience. Shema implies much more than simple
physical listening. It is a deep
understanding that is manifested in obedience. The people of Jeremiah’s day
were not listening to God but were obedient to the desires of their own hearts.
In addition
to illustrations involving their feet, ears, and their hearts, Jeremiah also
mentioned them being stubborn or stiff-necked and they did not speak the will
of God. God’s words were not on their
lips.
The people
of Jeremiah’s day were walking examples of what it means to be totally depraved. Every part and every aspect of them was
affected by their sin. In this Haftarah,
we see Israel as an illustration of how sin affects humans. Not everyone in
Israel was unrighteous. There are plenty
of examples of righteous Israelites living among the most depraved and backward
times in the nation’s history. But the rejection of God and His covenant
naturally leads to idolatry.
Jeremiah 7:30-31 NKJV 30 "For the children
of Judah have done evil in My sight," says the LORD. "They have set
their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. 31
"And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of
the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I
did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
The people
not only rejected God, but they defiled His house! They setup abominations in the House of God!
Jeremiah goes on to give them a stern warning.
Jeremiah 7:32-34 NKJV 32 "Therefore
behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when it will no more be
called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter;
for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. 33 "The corpses of
this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the
earth. And no one will frighten them away.
Even
through this severe judgment and destruction, the people may not have turned
back to God. Jeremiah continues with another description of their idolatry.
Jeremiah 8:1-3 NKJV 1 "At that time,"
says the LORD, "they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and
the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the
prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 2
"They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of
heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they
have walked, which they have sought and which they have worshiped. They shall
not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth.
3 "Then death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those
who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have
driven them," says the LORD of hosts.
It seems
that even in this massive devastation, the people still rejected God and
engaged in worshiping their idols! God had chosen the Children of Israel, the
seed of Abraham, to be His chosen people.
God had given them the Torah and a special revelation of who He is, His
very presence was with them, at Sinai, in the Tabernacle, and in the
Temple. God had made a covenant with
them, not only for their salvation but for the salvation of all of the peoples
of the world! They turned their backs of Him time and again! The apostle Paul
also speaks of this level of spiritual depravity in this letter to the Romans.
Romans 1:18-20 NKJV 18 For the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who
suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is
manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of
the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse,
Paul is
saying that the creation itself reveals the living God of the universe! And
people are without excuse because of this revelation. Jeremiah and the apostle
Paul are on the same page here. Both speak of a people who reject the
revelation of God, letting their own sin rule their lives. They replace the
true God with one of their own design. Much like we spoke of in last week’s
teaching where a man carves his own god from a piece of wood that he also used
for cooking and heat, then bows down to it.
Death is
the ultimate consequence for the people whom Jeremiah addressed. In verse 32 of
our Haftarah reading, Jeremiah mentions two places that we should take a closer
look at. The first is Topheth. This is
apparently a place within the Hinnom Valley where idol worship took place,
specifically the sacrifice of children to Molech.
2 Kings 23:10 NKJV 10 …Topheth, which is in the
Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter
pass through the fire to Molech.
The second
place is the Hinnom Valley itself. It is to the West and South of Jerusalem in
the time of Jeremiah and runs together with the Kidron Valley on the South end
of the City of David. The Hinnom Valley had been associated with idol worship
for a long time.
2 Chronicles 28:3 NKJV 3 He (King Ahaz) burned
incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the
fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out
before the children of Israel.
The prophet
Jeremiah speaks perhaps the saddest words to be found in the Bible in verse 34
Jeremiah 7:34 NKJV 34 "Then I will cause
to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice
of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice
of the bride. For the land shall be desolate.
Not only will
the entire land be left desolate, but the streets of Jerusalem, the city of
God’s name will be desolate of joy and life! Jeremiah uses the imagery of a
wedding feast to contrast the kind of sadness that will envelope the city at
that time.
The rabbis
who originally formulated and codified the Haftarahs, understood that it would
not be wise to end the reading without the promise of restoration and
consolation. To finish off, the reading skips ahead.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 NKJV 23 Thus says the LORD:
"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in
his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories
glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I
delight," says the LORD.
The people
who Jeremiah addressed in this Haftarah were trusting in their own ways. It
clearly demonstrates that they were serving themselves and not God. This
misplaced trust got them into serious trouble. We certainly see these same
patterns in our world today. Not only does much of our society today reject
God, they don’t even pretend to follow His ways as did the people of Jeremiah’s
day in going through the motions with their sacrifices and offerings. In many
circles the mere mention of God will be met with open hostility. And beyond that there is confusion of
identity.
Jeremiah
says that we are to understand and know God. We can only accomplish this true
knowledge by allowing God to implant it on our hearts. This is a knowledge that
only comes from a deep and abiding personal and covenantal relationship with
the creator. It is through His grace and
loving kindness that we receive the gift of life. Again, I am reminded of the words of Paul,
this time in his letter to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV 8 For by grace you have
been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9
not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should
walk in them.
The message
from both Jeremiah and from Paul is clear. The people of Jeremiah’s day and
those of Paul’s day were sinners and needed a fundamental change in their lives
in order for them to achieve the righteousness that God had intended for them
to live out. Through Messiah Yeshua, we can live with a changed heart, we can
walk in His ways, see our fellow man through God’s eyes and we can speak boldly
of His righteousness and His kingdom.
Study
Questions:
1. Discuss the connection of
this teaching to the Torah Portion Tzav, Leviticus 6:1-8:36.
2. Discuss the similarities, as
well as the differences of situation in this Haftarah reading with other times
in Israel’s history where the people disobeyed and turned to idolatry.
3. Jeremiah 7:29 at first reading
may seem oddly out of place in Jeremiah’s admonition of the people. How should the people have understood this
verse? What does it mean to “Cut off
your hair and cast it away?”
4. Jeremiah describes a
devastation and destruction of Jerusalem in this Haftarah. How does this description compare with other
prophets? How does it apply to prophesy
yet to be fulfilled?
5. In what were the people
boasting in this Haftarah? How does this
relate to Paul’s teaching about boasting?
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?
Extra Credit:
In the Ephesians 2:8-10 quoted at the end of this teaching, what
specifically was Paul referring to by the “good works which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them?”
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