Jeremiah 27 Commentary
Serve Nebuchadnezzar or Perish
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KEY THOUGHT: “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live! [Jeremiah 27:12b NKJV]
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Jeremiah 27 NKJV
Symbol of the Bonds and Yokes
27 In[a] the beginning of the reign of [b]Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord to me: ‘Make for yourselves bonds and yokes, and put them on your neck, 3 and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 And command them to say to their masters, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel—thus you shall say to your masters: 5 ‘I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me. 6 And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him. 7 So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them. 8 And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the Lord, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9 Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your [c]dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.” 10 For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish. 11 But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land,’ says the Lord, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’ ” ’ ”
12 I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live! 13 Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you; 15 for I have not sent them,” says the Lord, “yet they prophesy a lie in My name, that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”
16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, the vessels of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon”; for they prophesy a lie to you. 17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste? 18 But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon.’
19 “For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, concerning the Sea, concerning the carts, and concerning the remainder of the vessels that remain in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— 21 yes, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem: 22 ‘They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them,’ says the Lord. ‘Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.’ ”
Footnotes
a. Jeremiah 27:1 LXX omits v. 1.
b. Jeremiah 27:1 So with MT, Tg., Vg.; some Heb. mss., Arab., Syr. Zedekiah (cf. 27:3, 12; 28:1)
c. Jeremiah 27:9 Lit. dreams
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 27 Commentary
This should be quite some scene! You would easily understand why government officials weren’t too happy with the prophet Jeremiah!
Envoys from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon are in Jerusalem to see King Zedekiah, but Jeremiah has his own agenda!
By order of the higher office, that of the King of kings, Jeremiah interrupts normal protocols and delivers the word of the LORD to the envoys. And it isn’t all positive! They are to submit to the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar.
From the Book of Isaiah, we know the nations in question have fallen under the same judgment as Israel, for similar offenses before the LORD. Yes, punishment is coming for the nations, but there is a better option. The LORD wants the nations, including Israel, to go for this option: enslavement under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar.
Simply put, the LORD doesn’t want a cut-throat kind of punishment. Let the nations experience trouble and enslavement; who knows, they might just have a change of heart and repent. We see a lot of compassion even in the wrath of God!
Yes, there is wickedness. But let not wickedness be the last word. Restoration is possible. The LORD is thinking about it. There is a plan for it. The saint can know the God of Jeremiah whose interests go beyond Israel’s borders. He is the God of creation, everything, and every man and woman, regardless of time and space. The message is the same. And so the LORD ignores political etiquette and orders Jeremiah to deliver this all-important message.
But Jeremiah’s message isn’t the only one. Other messages proclaim peace and stability, but they are false.
In a world of the gospel, there exist countless counter-gospel messages that seek to keep humanity away from thinking about their fate.
It is safe. It has always been this way. There is more to be done before we can think about eternity. Thoughts like these keep us away from the gospel. It’s always part of the plan! Let humanity stay away from salvation!
There was a virtual world during Jeremiah’s time. It was created by the false prophets, the diviners, interpreters of dreams, the mediums, or the sorcerers. Today these groups have advanced and have more acceptable and respectable titles. But only the word of the LORD is true. The LORD does what the LORD wants. The LORD allows what the LORD allows. The LORD is in charge.
This chapter contains both historical and biographical material. Jeremiah’s ministry spans a long period of time in terms of the number of kings who ruled in Jerusalem.
The material in this chapter covers the last years of Zedekiah’s reign. He should have known better. The LORD’s word through Jeremiah was true for his brothers and a nephew who reigned before him in quick succession. Zedekiah had facts on the table!
Check it again and see that faith isn’t air! We have facts to look at.
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