Today’s passage: Jeremiah 42:1-22

Helpful thoughts:

• Johanan, the captain who had tried to do what was right, wants to know the Lord’s will on what the remnant in Judah is to do next.
• In verses 5-6, the people pledge to obey the Lord’s instruction before they even hear it.
  • All of this looks really good so far…until it doesn’t.
• The command is clear, they are not to go to Egypt.  But God already knows what they will do.  He knows their hearts, their desires and their actions before they even do them.
  • In verse 10, God says He will relent (Put a stop to) the judgment Judah was under if they would obey and stay in the land.  The only way the judgment would continue is if they disobey and leave.

Questions to consider:

1. After the absence of any interaction with God in the previous chapters, what did Johanan’s request look like?  Why might we have gotten excited?  Was his request genuine?  Is everyone who claims Jesus a godly person?  How would we know, or how do we find out?
2. Since the people promised to obey whatever God says, if they choose to go to Egypt what will they have to claim?  They won’t want to break their vow, but they clearly understood the message…who will they have to blame to defend their decision?
3. How important are the doctrines of the authority, infallibility and inerrancy of scripture?  If we cannot trust the Bible, what can we know?  How do these truths concerning the Bible drive us to want to study it all the more?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 41:1-18

Helpful thoughts:

• Johanan and the captains, who tried to warn Gedaliah in chapter 40, were right.
  • The fact that they ate together in Gedaliah’s home means they had been invited!
• Ishmael was not doing these things to fight for Judah.  He was serving the Ammonites.
• Johanan had been concerned that if Gedaliah was killed, the remnant would scatter and leave Judah.  Many of these people, fearing the retaliation of Babylon, have now fled (Scattered) to Egypt.

Questions to consider:

1. The feel of this chapter is very grim.  Why does it make sense that things are this way?  What condition is Judah in during this time?
2. How might you feel if, even during the conquest of one empire, your fellow countrymen were fighting against your own for yet another enemy?
3. In the midst of all the chaos, where did they need to turn?  How can we have stability and peace even in the midst of chaos going on around us? (Philippians 4:11-13)

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 40:1-16

Helpful thoughts:

• This pagan captain had a better understanding of what God had done than the leaders of Judah.
• The captains and army of Judah that had spread out and hid from the Babylonians came out of hiding after the dust had settled.  They participated in an oath to serve the king of Babylon, not to revolt.
• Gedaliah is warned by one of these captains that there is an assassination being plotted.  We will see in the next chapter whether this was a good move…

Questions to consider:

1. How would Jeremiah have seen the Lord’s sovereignty on display in hearing this Babylonian leader declare the works of the Lord, free him, and send him on to his next ministry?  How would this experience have been incredibly sad (On account of Judah) but also reassuring (On account of the Lord)?
2. What might the Babylonian captain have been saying to Jeremiah when he suggested going to Gedaliah?  Jeremiah was allowed to go wherever he wanted, but there was a “suggestion”, from the Babylonians as to whom they wanted him nearby.  What do you think Nebuchadnezzar wanted Jeremiah to continue to do with or for Gedaliah?
3. What/who is absent from the conversation once the narration returns to Judah?  Who is the only person in this chapter who refers to the Lord?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 39:1-18

Helpful thoughts:

• The time has come.  Jerusalem is going to fall.
• Leaving the poor in Judah in charge of the vineyards and fields immediately elevated their standard of living.  The idea being, if their live were better under the Babylonians, they would be happy for things to remain that way.
• Jeremiah’s treatment at this time is given in further detail in the next chapter.

Questions to consider:

1. With all that the Lord had commanded leading up to this day, what should the king of Judah have done after verse 3?  What would true repentance have looked like in that moment?
2. How is the Ethiopian man, Ebed-melech, contrasted with King Zedekiah?  How was God consistent with both of them concerning His promises?  Which one of them was showing the fruits of being a child of God?
3. Verse 18 says that Ebed-melech had put his trust in the Lord.  How do we know he did?  How did his actions in the midst of potential opposition prove that out?  What came first, his actions or trust?  How does this correlate with Ephesians 2:8-10?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 38:1-28

Helpful thoughts:

• When people reject the authority of God and His word, they will call speaking the truth in love, “harm.” (Isaiah 5:20)
• When this man from Africa, Ebed-melech, went to free Jeremiah, he went with thirty other men.  This could be an indication of the struggle to free Jeremiah (Being stuck in the mire of the dungeon) or a preparedness to fight against those who had imprisoned him.
  • This man from Ethiopia was evidencing a greater faith and respect for the Lord than the Jews.  His faith was evidenced by his actions.
• Jeremiah pleads with the king to hear God’s word and obey the Lord.  Zedekiah, in a moment of honest clarity, tells Jeremiah his struggle.  He fears people more than he fears the Lord (Verse 19).

Questions to consider:

1. Why do you think the world looks at submission to God as harmful?  What do we have to acknowledge and confess, what do we have to give up, in order to follow Christ?  Then…what do we gain?
2. If we know that God’s word is truth, and if we know the world will call good “evil”, why do Christians so often go to the world in times of need, such as in counseling, “self-help”, finances, leadership, etc.?  If the Bible is not sufficient for these things, what should we make of verses like 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and 2 Peter 1:3?
3. Zedekiah heard and understood what the Lord had said and yet, he still wasn’t ready to obey.  What was missing?  Whom did he fear?  How does a healthy fear and loving God take our knowledge of the truth to the next step of obedience and righteous living?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 37:1-21

Helpful thoughts:

• The leadership and the people did not want to obey God, but they wanted God to obey them.  What was worse, when the Chaldeans/Babylonians left Jerusalem (Temporarily), they probably thought what they were doing had “worked.”
• The double-mindedness of the people is on display in wanting Jeremiah to be imprisoned (Even if on false charges) and yet to be available to communicate the word of the Lord to them.
• God is not manipulated.

Questions to consider:

1. What is the major problem on display when verse 2 and verse 3 are compared?  What wouldn’t the king, the king’s servants and the people of Judah do?  What did they want God to do?  How does that happen?  How might that happen in our own lives today?
2. When what we want the most is relief from pressure, what all will we do to achieve it?  What all will we decide is “good” if the only qualifier is whether it relieved the pressure?  How do we compare that with Romans 8:28-29?  Is pressure always “bad?”
3. What had brought the pressure on Judah in the first place?  What did they actually need to do?  Why is verse 2 so important in understand the downward spiral of Judah?  If there is a downward spiral in your own life, or the life of someone you love, is the main problem a pressure coming from the outside?  What might we need to do that would allow us to have hope even in the midst of pressure?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 36:1-32

Helpful thoughts:

• You may have noticed, these events are not being recorded in perfect chronological order.  The last few chapters have been bouncing around from king to king, not in order.  More likely, they are recorded in this order for thematic reasons.
• This fasting would have been scheduled to try to get God to prevent Judah from being defeated.  It should have been a time for the people to be receptive to God’s ministry to them through Jeremiah.  Some were receptive (The princes), others were not (The king and his servants).
• If the king had called the fast, it certainly seems strange that he would also destroy God’s word without fear.  He wasn’t getting the results he wanted.

Questions to consider:

1. Why didn’t the king’s men find Jeremiah and Baruch (Verse 26)?  When are we “safe” and when are we in “danger” in following the Lord?  Who ended up being the one who was not “safe” (Verses 30-31)?
2. What motives could have been behind the idea to call a fast in Judah during this time of crisis?  What results would the people have desired depending on what their motives were?
3. How do these events help us to understand that full meaning of God’s promise to Isaiah when He said His words would never return void and always accomplish what He purposed (Isaiah 55:11)?  When we share the Gospel with others, are we only ever successful when they repent and get saved?

Today’s passage: Jeremiah 35:1-19

Helpful thoughts:

• The Rechabites were Kenite nomadic people who were descended from Moses’ father-in-law (Judges 1:16).  They had traveled into the Promised Land with Israel.
• This passage is not telling the Jews that they were supposed to live in tents and never drink wine or plant vineyards like the Rechabites.  The point was to show that there are people who here instructions from humans and obey them.
  • The Rechabites had obeyed a man’s instructions for generations.  Israel disobeyed God over and over.
• God’s fulfilled promise to the Rechabites is evidenced in Nehemiah 3:14 where the Rechabites participate in the rebuilding of Jerusalem after Israel’s return from exile.

Questions to consider:

1. Why might it seem easier for us to obey people than to obey God?  Why are we prone to fear people more than God?
2. Assuming the best, Jonadab had good reasons to instruct his descendants to follow these rules.  What motivates the good, loving God of the universe to instruct His children?  Why does it make perfect sense to obey God?  Why do we still struggle to do it?
3. What do we learn about God when we consider how illogical and rebellious we are to disobey Him, and yet, He still sent Christ to die for us?  How great is the love, mercy and grace of God?  How are these attributes a great motivation to follow Him today?