Jeremiah 15 – The Message on the Drought & What Does God Want?

Finger Pointing UpI quit trying to figure women out a long time ago, it’s  a lost cause.  So I’m not even going to figure You out entirely.  From walking with You all these years I’ve learned what type of God You are and that’s all I need to know because I know there is nothing better than You.

Jeremiah 15
The Message on the Drought

1 Khirbet Suggar
Khirbet Suggar
Ruins of a Roman/Byzantine village on the western edge of Kziv creek. In the site are traces of buildings, sheepfold, installations, and traces of a church. On the hillside are stone quarries and rock-hewn tombs.

1 Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

“Cast them out of my sight” – the people are so wicked that God refuses to hear prayers offered on their behalf.  They are beyond divine help.

2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.

3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.

“Four kinds” – not the same four as in v. 2, but an elaboration of three of the fates awaiting the corpses of those killed by the sword.  The 70th century B.C. vassal treaties of Esarhaddon present similar curses:

“May Ninurta, leader of the gods, fell you with his fierce arrow, fill the plain with your corpses and give your flesh to the eagles and vultures to feed on … May dogs and pigs eat your flesh.”

4 And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

2 Keshet Cave
Keshet Cave
A large natural cave that overlooks the Bezet creek, a famous rappelling place. The caves around the site are prehistoric sites and were in use also in later periods.

Manasseh…that which he did in Jerusalem” – Manasseh, good King Josiah’s grandfather, was the most wicked king in Judah’s long history.  His sins were a primary cause of Judah’s eventual destruction.

5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?

15:5-9 – a poem concerning the forthcoming destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.

6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.

7 And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.

8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.

9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.

3 Miilya Kings castle
Mi’ilya (King’s castle)
A Greek Catholic village in the west upper Galilee, built over the ruins of the 12th C Crusader fortress. The fortress first belonged to the Crusader King Baldwin III, and was called the “King’s fortress” , then owned by the De Milly family. The site was a large Biblical city, identified with “Aloth”.

10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.

15:10-21 – the third of Jeremiah’s confessions, including in this case two responses by the Lord, vv. 11-14, 19-21.

11 The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?

13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

14 And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.

15 O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.

16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.

4 Miilya Oil press
Mi’ilya – Oil press
An ancient oil press located in Mi’ilya, a Greek Catholic village in the west upper Galilee. The structure was part of the Crusaders fortress.

“Sat alone” Jeremiah never married and he attracted only a few friends.

18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?

19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.

20 And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brazen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

What Does God Want?

Many people do not believe we are able to give anything to God.  I mean, He’s God and can have anything He wants right?  Wrong, He can’t have anything He wants because that’s not the way He is.  He’s not a greedy or pompous, that’s the devil and the democrats.  Our God is a loving and giving God. 

5 571Let me give you a hyperbole:

There’s this man, this trillionaire that has a house in every city in the world, cars, trucks, jets, helicopters, servants, a dozen companies that make him a few billion a year, and even a couple tropical islands.  Everyone in his family had passed away years ago accept for his son.

He had created the companies so people would have jobs, he bought the houses in each city so if anyone needed help he and his son could rush over to help them, and the islands were vacation sites for anyone to use free of charge.  Most people didn’t recognize the trillionaire’s hospitality for what it was, the fact that he just loved people.  

Most people only saw that he had more money than they did and they despised him because of it, and he knew this, but it didn’t matter because every now and then he would see a smile he put on someone’s face and that kept him going.

When his son turned 18 years old he moved out and moved into this small town because it had a college that he read about and really liked.  The college wasn’t known by many, but the son didn’t care, he wasn’t looking for fame.  He wanted the knowledge that the college taught, the knowledge that would allow him to help his father help people in more ways.

It made the trillionaire sad to see his son leave, but he had to let the boy go otherwise it would have been selfishness on his part, besides, in the end they would be together again helping more people have better lives. 

The son got a job at a fast-food burger place, he worked hard and studied hard so he didn’t have much time to talk to his dad, but every morning, every afternoon and every night he made enough time to email him a quick message to let him know that he loves him and he was always on his mind.

6 571The trillionaire’s birthday is in three days and his son promised he would be there.  In the morning, like every morning, the trillionaire rushed to his computer to see the message from his son, and he was really excited this morning because this was the day when his son would tell him what time he would arrive, but there was no message. 

Every ten minutes he would check his messages and it never came.  The trillionaire was very sad, but figured his son was just too busy that day or maybe he was going to surprise him and show up early.

The next morning he rushed to his computer to see the message, but there wasn’t one.  There wasn’t one from his son, but a different one.  The trillionaire open it up and he was informed that his son had been murdered the night before.

Tomorrow is his birthday and you were invited to attend, what could you give the trillionaire that he doesn’t already have?  What would make him the happiest?  You can’t replace his son, but there are two things that would make him a very happy man.

1.  Send him a message every day.

2.  Tell all your friends what a great son he had.

If you haven’t figured it out, the trillionaire is God and His son is Jesus Christ.7 571

It is true that there’s nothing that God needs, but there is something He wants and that is us.  There is nothing more important to Him than us.  He wants us to give our heart and soul to Him (Matt 22:37).  He won’t take it from us, that’s not the type of God He is, that’s something people and the devil would do.

People say that God can’t be love or He wouldn’t allow bad things to happen, to name a few:

  • The Holocaust
  • Roman-Catholic Sex Abuse
  • Great Chinese Famine
  • Forced Extinction of Species
  • Fanatical Terrorism
  • Khmer Rouge Regime
  • World War One
  • World War Two
  • The Black Death
  • The Holodomor
  • The Crusades
  • The Presidency of Obama

8 571First off, God didn’t cause any of the above events, we did that and that is our freewill.

Second, it makes no sense why God would love us so much, but He does.  He loves us so much that Jesus died for us to pay for our filthy and disgusting ways (Rom 45:8-9; 1 Cor 6:20).  Our greed, selfishness, perversion, and the list goes on and on.  If you can understand why Jesus loves us so much to do that then you can start questioning why God does what He does.

Men can’t even figure out women, it’s like trying to find the end of a circle.  Women can’t understand men either, but that’s just because they think there’s something to figure out.  If we can’t figure out ourselves why try and figure out God?

God, to show us how much He loves us, how much He wants us to come to Him, belittled Himself and came down here as a human being and let us beat and crucify Him.  That makes no sense to our little finite minds?   If you figure that out then maybe you can figure out women.

Until you figure God out you should do what Jesus asked us to do:

Thinking“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.9 571

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing hem in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  Amen” (Matt 28:18-20).

But I’m wondering, what do you think about that monk that lives on the Hill?

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