Jeremiah 25a. Judah in the Middle.
As I said previously, these chapters are made up of separate sermons that were preached by Jeremiah and transcribed by Baruch. Then the scribe and perhaps other editors arranged them in some order, but not necessarily in chronological order.
Case in point: This prophetic ‘word’ in Chapter 25 that we will look at today came to Jeremiah during the reign of King Jehoiakim who was the father of King Jeconiah. Remember, Jeconiah was the target audience for the sermon in the last chapter. So, we have moved from the son in Chapter 24 to the father in Chapter 25. This sermon does not follow chronologically from the previous one.
What, then, is going on here? There is agreement among scholars that Chapter 25 is the center of the collected scrolls of Jeremiah (John Goldingay, 2021, The Book of Jeremiah, pages 533-538; Christopher J. H. Wright, The Message of Jeremiah, 2014, pages 270-272). And so this chapter is like a summary of material rewritten as a climax to the first half of the book.
One obvious measure is that this is number 25 out of 52 chapters in the whole collection. Second, this seems to be a turning point in the theme of Jeremiah’s preaching. Before Chapter 25, Jeremiah prophesied severe warnings about disaster in the near future. After Chapter 25, Jeremiah’s sermons offer more glimpses of hope, but only after Judah suffers the punishment of defeat and exile.
Finally, the text refers to the date that Jeremiah started to preach, the date Nebuchadnezzar rose to power, and the date that the king of Judah burned the scroll of Jeremiah’s early sermons. (Jeremiah immediately tasked Baruch with rewriting what had been burned and that is what you have been reading). That slap in God’s face by the king of Judah marked the last straw for the nation.
Jeremiah 25:1-3. The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah (that was the first year of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon), which the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah to this day, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.”
The events cited provide us with dates that are also confirmed by other sources. The first year of the reign of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon was 605, and that was also the fourth year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah. So, this particular word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in 605 BC.
By that time Jeremiah had already been preaching for 23 years. He began in the 13th year of King Josiah (the reformer king) which would have been about 627 BC (depending on how dynasty years are measured). How has his ministry been going? So far, Jeremiah admits, his preaching has been in vain.
“Father McKenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear. No one comes near” (from “Eleanor Rigby” [1966]), based on Paul McCartney’s father who was an Anglican priest).
At this point in the narrative, Jeremiah realizes that the die has already been cast and all the pieces are in place: the rise of Nebuchadrezzar ruling the new empire of Babylon, along with the rule of a self-centered king in Judah who prefers the gains of corruption and greed to the values God demands, and a people who in general enable the king and thus create an abusive society with an exclusivist elite. God through Jeremiah has warned kings, priests, other prophets, and the people of Judah. They have refused to listen to the true word of God. Now there is no stopping the disaster at hand; it has been a long train coming (Bob Dylan, 1979).
Jeremiah 25:4-7. And though the LORD persistently sent you all his servants the prophets, you have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear when they said, “Turn now, every one of you, from your evil way and wicked doings, and you will remain on the land that the LORD has given to you and your ancestors from of old and forever; do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm. Yet you did not listen to me,” says the LORD, “and so you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.”
“To your own harm.” This is an important lesson from Jeremiah. From God’s perspective, the reason for maintaining a close relationship with God is to develop a character shaped by the character of God; that is, with God’s values, God’s qualities, and God’s behavior (love, empathy, mercy, and forgiveness). These things build an honorable person who contributes to a godly community. We follow God not because God is a despot who will kill us if we don’t. We listen and follow God because it is good for us and good for society.
“Turn from your evil ways” and “do not go after other gods.” Why? Not just because God says so, but because in the long run it is good for you and it is good for the ones you love, and even for the ones you do not love. (Jesus said, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
Carefully following God is also good for you because the promises of God are conditional, not unconditional. This is made clear by the clashing news that the land that God promised to Judah’s ancestors forever was about to be abandoned to the enemy in this generation. Judah has not lived up to their part of the bargain just as the northern kingdom of Israel did not live up to their part of the bargain. Israel as a nation is now gone and other people now live in what was the Promised La; Judah is about to topple.
Jeremiah 25:8-11. Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts (armies): “Because you have not obeyed my words, I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the LORD, even for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all these nations around; I will utterly destroy them and make them an object of horror and of hissing and an everlasting disgrace. And I will banish from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
Boom! That's it. The bubble burst; and their world will never be the same.