PERSONAL STUDY AND TEACHING IN JEREMIAH – PART 1 – PROBLEMS IN OUR GENEALOGY; ARE WE TO BLAME?
PART 1 – Jeremiah 1:1-3
CHAPTER 1
{{Jeremiah 1:1-3 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.”}}
[A]. FROM THE HIGHS TO THE LOWS
Jeremiah begins his prophecy with his brief personal details. He was a priest living with a group of priests in Anathoth and he lived through the reigns of the last three kings of Judah, and the messages from the Lord kept coming during these times. Personally, I am impressed with Jeremiah so much and in some ways can relate to him in suffering. I admire his faithfulness, his devotion to the Lord and his desire for a truly honest ministry.
Josiah was the best king apart from David of all the kings of Judah but his sons, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, were evil kings and as a result of them, caused much death and misery to Judah in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Of all the kings of Judah whose biographies we read in Kings and Chronicles, Josiah is the only one where not the slightest blemish is recorded. The record of the war with Pharaoh Neco is a bit vague as to motive. He was a man who walked with God in the same way as David did.
I would like to think there was a good communication between Josiah and Jeremiah but scripture mentions nothing apart from one mention in the book of the Chronicles where Jeremiah made a lament for Josiah when he died. {{2Chronicles 35:25-26 “Then JEREMIAH CHANTED A LAMENT FOR JOSIAH and all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and they made them an ordinance in Israel. Behold, they are also written in the Lamentations. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his DEEDS OF DEVOTION as written in the law of the LORD.”}}. There is no reference in 2 Kings. Jeremiah saw evil under Josiah’s sons and suffered their rejection and persecution. At one time, as detailed later on in the book, in chapter 36, Jehoiakim treated the word of God with contempt, consigning it piece by piece to the fire.
The succession of the latter kings of Judah is a bit more complex than the opening verses in Jeremiah suggest, if you did not know the history. When Josiah was killed in battle against Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, the people of Judah took Josiah’s son, Joahaz, and made him king. Joahaz was 23 years old when this happened, and because Josiah was 39 years old when he died, this means he became Joahaz’s father about the age of 16. Neco was unhappy about that appointment, and deposed Joahaz after three months and appointed his brother, Eliakim as the king of Judah and changed his name to Jehoiakim, the fellow mentioned by Jeremiah.
{{2Chronicles 36:2-4 “Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Then the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Joahaz his brother and brought him to Egypt.”}}
[B]. ARE EVIL SONS THE FAULT OF THE FATHER?
Jehoiakim was 25 when he became king, so it seems Josiah became his father at 14 to 16. Seems strange to us in our day, but maybe the custom was to have offspring quickly in case some died and you needed the succession.
Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years until Nebuchadnezzar came and bound him in bronze chains, and took him to Babylon. Then Jehoiachin, his son, was made king in his place. He would have been Josiah’s grandson. Jehoiachin was 8 years old when he became king, but reigned only for 3 months and 10 days. Now the most interesting thing is, that it is said of Jehoiachin that he did evil in the sight of the Lord. Remembering that this person was only 8 years old, God still classifies him among the wicked kings of Israel and Judah. People talk about the age of accountability and the innocence of children. I am not going to explore that but we clearly have an 8 year old who did evil before God and will be responsible for that.
Nebuchadnezzar ordered that Jehoiachin be sent to Babylon and Josiah’s son, Zedekiah, was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar as king. He was 21 years old when he was made king, and was about 8 or 9 when his father, Josiah, died. The book of 2 Chronicles says this about him – {{2 Chronicles 36:12-13 HE DID EVIL IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD HIS GOD. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the LORD, and he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God, but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel.”}} He was an evil man who brought untold misery on the people because of his proud, rebellious heart. We have seen the evil men who came after Josiah, sad as it was, because they were his offspring, but each person will stand before God accountable for his and her own actions, and one’s lineage will not count in the judgement. The men above were the ones that Jeremiah had to deal with.
Why is it that a godly man can produce evil sons? Is that anyone’s fault? Is it related to upbringing or environment? We see so clearly where some of the good kings of Judah produced some very wicked sons, and other, rarer cases, when a godly son came from a wicked father. There are two special examples in the Judean kings, that of Hezekiah and Josiah. Hezekiah’s father was Ahaz, a most wicked man, whereas, his son was one of the most godly kings of Judah. However, Hezekiah’s own son was Manassah, the most wicked, vile king in Judah’s royal line. Josiah was the grandson of Manassah and his father was the wicked Amon but Josiah was so godly. As we know Josiah’s own sons were wicked. A more dedicated and righteous (both) prophet and judge than Samuel is not seen in the Bible, and yet Samuel had two of the most wicked sons, Joel and Abijah. Joel and Abijah did the unthinkable by taking bribes and perverting justice (1Samuel 8:2-5). Notwithstanding, the virtuous nature of Samuel is not questioned or marred (1Samuel 16, Psalm 99:6, Hebrews 11:32).
A question was asked in the title of this study – Are we to blame for the way our children turn out? Godly parents torture themselves if they have a wayward son or daughter, or worse still, a criminal one. There is stigma attached to that, and society can be quite judgemental. We feel as if we have failed. Parenting is a difficult matter these days, nothing like it was 100 years ago. Decency has departed from society and our nations are awash with drugs, the occult, demonic contemporary music, a destructive education system and delusions everywhere based on globalism. Bringing up children is like walking through a minefield.
It can be disturbing also for some at the other end of the age line. “My father was an alcoholic and I am worried I might turn out like that.” “My mother was a gambler who sent the family bankrupt. Will I be like that when I get older?” Sin is the root of all these evils but Christians have a new nature in Christ and the old has passed away. The new has come.
A verse in proverbs can be unsettling in these circumstances – {{Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old he will not depart from it”}}, for in life we don’t always see that happening. Sometimes we see the opposite and it can be unsettling and confusing. There is an unnamed article on the internet in regard to this verse and I quote it – [[“The Proverb containing the statement, "Train up a child in the way (literally, "a way," dm) he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it", is what scholars call a general Proverb (there are proverbs that are absolute and allow no exception, see Proverbs 6:32). Proverbs 22:6 falls into the same category as, "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord" (Proverbs 18: 22). While Proverbs 18:22 is often true, there are recognised exceptions, Proverbs 21:9. In like manner, Proverbs 22:6 is not meant to be understood as an absolute statement, containing no exceptions to the rule. To apply 22:6 to the spiritual and allow no exceptions is to create a circumstance of ineludible biblical contradiction.”]] (end quote)
Jeremiah is the prophet of the exile, and saw all the misery, and recorded some of it in his Lamentations. Zedekiah, because of his rebellion against Babylon, through the order of Nebuchadnezzar, watched as all his sons were put to death, and that was the last he saw, for then they put out the eyes of Zedekiah and took him bound to Babylon. As for Jehoiachin, the 8 year old, 2 Kings records what happened to him in Babylon – {{2Kings 25:27-30 “Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison, and he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon. Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and had his meals in the king’s presence regularly all the days of his life, and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.
Jehoiachin spent 37 years in prison before his release, and then he was exalted. It must have been the practice in Babylon to have had thrones for the exiled or captured kings. 37 years in prison when you are sent there at the age of 8 or 9 is an ordeal, but did it make any difference to this man described as evil, even when he was 8? What a long time for reflection and did the life of his grandfather Josiah, have any impact on him? We will never know in this life.
The events of life are very tenuous. We are told not to boast of the coming day for we do not know what that day may bring. The rich man boasted of tomorrow – {{Luke 12:19-20 and I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink and be merry,”’ but God said to him, ‘YOU FOOL! This very night your soul is required of you, and now who will own what you have prepared?’”}}
I knew of a man once who worked all his life at a mining company and then retired aged 65 to work on his dream. He and his wife quickly established a little business where they hired out plants to businesses, collected them and rehired. I remember the sign on his truck where there were two artist’s pictures saying “FROM US” and “FROM YOU”. It was very clever. The “from us” showed a healthy pristine pot plant but the “from you” showed one the worse for wear.
Sadly, only after a couple of months, the man suddenly died. We are not guaranteed even one more day and it is absolutely necessary to have your life in order, and here I speak of the spiritual life. Are you a Christian, or are you thinking of waiting a few more years? It does not work that way. While God calls you, you must respond for God may not give you the chance again.
And you, Christian, who swish around in the shallows of life – what are you doing for the Lord? What do you have to offer when you appear before the judgement seat of Christ? The Lord is almost ready to return to take His redeemed people home. The time is short, so it is necessary you get real for the Lord.
I fear too many will enter heaven by the skin of their teeth to use that expression, but come as paupers because they have nothing or very little to show for the Lord. Don’t be one of them. Give your life over completely to the Saviour who owns you. How you must disappoint your Lord. Now is the time for action, not tomorrow for we do not know what the morrow may bring.
