Jeremiah 35 – 37

Jeremiah 35 – 37

In this passage, we are introduced to the Recabites, whom the Lord tells Jeremiah to invite in and offer wine. He does this, not just offering wine, but putting out cups and jugs of wine. They refuse to drink the wine because their ancestor Jehonadab son of Recab gave them commands never to drink wine, nor build houses or plant crops or vineyards, but to always use tents. The promise was if they followed these commands, they would live long, good lives in the land. They followed these instructions to the letter, but when the Babylonians were attacking, they feared them and decided to move to Jerusalem.

The Lord gives a message to Jeremiah which compares the difference in the way the Recabites obeyed their commands with the way the people of Judah and Jerusalem did not.

In chapter 36, the Lord tells Jeremiah to write down all of his messages against Israel, Judah and the other nations beginning with the very first message up to the very last. The Lord was trying to get the people to repent so he could forgive their sins and wrongdoings. Jeremiah dictated these messages to Baruch son of Neriah. Since Jeremiah was a prisoner and unable to go to the Temple, he sent Baruch to read them to the people who were there. Eventually, some of the officials felt the king should hear. The king was not impressed. As the scroll was read to him, he burned it up, section by section. As Jeremiah says, “N either the king nor his attendants showed any signs of fear or repentance at what they heard. The king even went so far as to order that Baruch and Jeremiah be arrested.

The Lord told Jeremiah to get another scroll and write everything just as he did before and to deliver it to King Jehoiakim of Judah, indicating he would have no heirs to sit on the throne of David, that the Lord would punish him and his family and attendants for their sins.

Tomorrow, we’ll be reading Jeremiah 38 – 40, Psalm 74 and Psalm 79.

Until next time…