Jeremiah 11

 

 

 

As mentioned earlier, we are going to study the chapters of Jeremiah in the order presented in the table above. Accordingly, we are going to skip chapters 4-10 for a moment. The student is encouraged to read the verses in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles in order to understand the historical context. In this case, the student should read 2 Chron. 34:8-19 and 2 Kgs. 22:3-20 before Jeremiah 11.

 

The early years are the hardest to place in chronologic order but the story of Josiah’s dismay, upon finding the book of the law in the temple, that the people were in violation of their covenants is complimentary to the message of Jeremiah 11.

 

 

(See 2 Chron. 34:8-19 and 2 Kgs. 22:3-20)  Josiah has ordered a renovation of the temple.  He takes the temple tax, which the people are to bring annually (Lev. 27:1-8), and uses the money to make repairs.  During this process, the high priest Hilkiah finds “the book of the Law of the Lord.”  Now this is a strange thing: the high priest in the temple had no idea where the scriptures were—and they were the only set of scriptures for the whole nation!  Josiah didn’t have his own copy.  When the scriptures were read to him, he realized for the first time that the Jews had broken their covenants with God.  He rent his clothes and asked the prophetess Hulda for advice.

 

It’s a story of an entire nation forgetting their covenants, forgetting the Lord, and losing their way.  Not everyone had a copy of the scriptures.  Perhaps this event was the impetus for the creation of the brass plates that were in Laban’s library (1 Ne. 3:3).  We take for granted that we can all read the scriptures at our leisure.  Truly, it is a privilege to have such access to the word of the Lord.  The temple was run by tradition not by careful attention to the Law of Moses.  The High Priest had dropped the ball, the priests were not doing their job, and the leaders of the people (elders or pastors) had failed to remind the people of their covenants.  The whole system broke down and Josiah was trying to fix it single-handedly. 

 

 

And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated. (D&C 130:20-21)

 

There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all cursings are predicated—

And when we obtain any cursing from God, it is by disobedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

 

There are two sides to every coin. There is opposition in all things.  You can’t possibly have blessings for obedience without cursings for disobedience.  In this chapter, Jeremiah explains the consequences of breaking the covenant.

 

 

An oath is a one-way promise instead of the two-way promise of a covenant.  In a gospel sense, the oath comes from the Lord to the people and not the other way around.  God had sworn to Abraham that he would give the land to his seed (Gen. 12:7).  Other nations had to be destroyed in order for God to fulfill his oath but he did it (see Joshua). 

 

We are not to make oaths to God because we can’t always be sure we will keep them, “Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.  Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black” (Matt. 5:34-36).

 

 

“Amen is used also to assert the truthfulness of prophecy (for example, Jer. 11:5 [“So be it” in Hebrew is amen] or 1 Ne. 9:6), and may convey a devout desire that a spoken blessing in fact come to pass (see Rom. 15:33; 1 Kgs. 1:36).” (John W. Welch, “Word Studies from the New Testament,” Ensign, Jan. 1995, 30)

 

 

Before Moses departed from the children of Israel, before they crossed Jordan to inherit the land, Moses repeated the law and reinforced the covenant with which the children of Israel had covenanted with the Lord.  Then in very explicit detail, Moses described the blessings and cursings pertaining to the Law.  Jeremiah was commanded to warn the Jews that they would be cursed for disobedience to the covenant as described in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28:

 

 

 

 

 

 

   And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: (Deut. 28:15-68)

 

When light comes, if the people reject that light, it will condemn them, and will add to their sorrow and affliction.

 

If we live our religion we shall prosper, and if we live in the neglect of our duty, and continue to do so, there will be tribulation and anguish here, and the chastening hand of the Almighty will be on this people. (Discourses of Brigham Young, selected and arranged by John A. Widtsoe [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954], 226)

 

 

Does the Lord always hear our prayers?  We usually say, “yes,” but when you have broken your covenants, the heavens are sealed and the Lord no longer listens to your cries, “your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isa. 59:2).  On the other hand, if you keep the Sabbath and the Law of the Fast, “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.” (Isa. 58:9).

 

 

How bad was the idolatry?  How pervasive was the perversion?  How widespread was the wickedness?  It’s pretty bad when you go from worshipping the one true God to as many gods as there are cities in the land.  It’s pretty bad when there is one altar in Solomon’s temple for true worship, but the streets of Jerusalem are as numerous as the altars of Baalim.

 

 

“The olive tree had occupied first place in agriculture throughout Israel's history to the time of Jesus, and it even provided one of the country's designations: a land of olive oil. (See Deut. 8:8.) It thrives well in the hill country and needs no irrigation. It can endure long periods of drought, and little care is needed until the harvest. The upper side of the olive leaf is dark green, while the underside is covered with miniature whitish scales, giving it a silvery sheen. ‘Israel was called an olive tree leafy and fair [see Jer. 11:16] because they [Israel] shed light on all.’

 

“Olive oil was used anciently for culinary, cosmetic, funerary, medicinal, and ritual purposes. Its most important use, though, was to provide light. It provides the clearest, brightest, and steadiest flame of all the vegetable oils. In one of Jesus' last recorded parables, he described a procession of young women (members of God's kingdom) going out to meet the bridegroom (the Messiah). Lamps were required for brilliancy and beauty. The oil for the lamps was symbolic of spiritual preparation on the part of the members of his kingdom, those who desire to participate in the marriage feast, which symbolizes his coming in glory:

 

The kingdom of heaven [is] likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. . . . [When the bridegroom came,] all those virgins arose, and trimmed [prepared] their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. (Matt. 25:1-8.)

 

“In early Israelite history, olive oil was used for sacred functions. Objects and persons set apart for the work of God, such as prophets, priests, and kings, were anointed with consecrated oil. With the Messiah (Hebrew, mashiah, meaning "anointed one"), the roles of prophet, priest, and king come together. Jesus, citing a messianic prophecy in Isaiah (see 61:1), told those attending the synagogue in Nazareth, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach’ (Luke 4:18).” (D. Kelly Ogden, Where Jesus Walked: The Land and Culture of New Testament Times [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1991], 85)

 

 

The words, “lamb to the slaughter,” “remind us of the image of Christ as the Suffering Servant (Isa. 53:7) and that were quoted by the Prophet Joseph Smith as he went to Carthage (D&C 135:4).”  (Kent P. Jackson, ed., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 4: 1 Kings to Malachi [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993], 230)  Old Testament imagery often uses the prophet as a type for Christ.  For instance, when Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord, he heard the voice of the Lord, “saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I; send me.” (Isa. 6:8)  Isaiah’s call to be a prophet was a type for Jehovah’s call to be the Redeemer, “And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man:  Here am I, send me.” (Abr 3:27)

 

Similarly, Jeremiah is a type for Christ.  As the Sanhedrin plotted the murder of Christ (John 11:47-54), they were just as the men of Anathoth who plotted Jeremiah’s murder, “they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”  Jeremiah was like a lamb to the slaughter; Jesus was like a lamb to the slaughter.  The difference is that there was a ram in the thicket for Jeremiah in that he escaped the wrath of his enemies, not so for Jesus or other faithful prophets.

 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killeth the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered [thee]…  behold, your house is left unto you desolate. (Matt. 23:37)

 

 

“The widespread hostility to and rejection of divine messages made it a hard time to be an authentic prophet. Even the priestly men of Anathoth, Jeremiah’s hometown, repeatedly made attempts on Jeremiah’s life, saying, ‘Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that thou die not by our hand.’ (Jer. 11:21.) The plotters even involved his brothers and the house of his father. (See Jer. 12:6.)

 

“Jeremiah was horrified at the variety of plots being made against him: ‘I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living.’ (Jer. 11:19.)” (Keith H. Meservy, “Jerusalem at the Time of Lehi and Jeremiah,” Ensign, Jan. 1988, 25)