“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this Word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, thus says the Lord to me: make for yourselves bonds and yokes, and put them on your neck, 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.” Jeremiah 27:1-3
Previously, the Lord gave Jeremiah visions of an almond tree blooming and a boiling pot tipping over. He led him to put a sash around his waist and then take it off and put it in a hole between rocks. The Lord led him to a potter’s house to watch the potter do his work. He led him to lead others to a dump where there were broken shards of clay. Now, the Lord requires him to make bonds and yokes for six kings including his own king.
A yoke is a piece of equipment, most often a wooden bar, used to connect and control two animals, like oxen, to work together for tasks such as plowing fields or hauling loads. Here, the word yoke is plural as Jeremiah was to wear one yoke and send others to the messengers of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. Messengers had come to Jerusalem to meet with King Zedekiah of Judah. They came to Jerusalem to conspire against Nebuchadnezzar’s yoke. The Lord’s Word for them via Jeremiah was to wear his yoke. Serve him!
“The Babylonian Chronicles record that during this period he [Nebuchadnezzar] had to repel an attack by an enemy, put down a revolt among his own people and launch a military campaign against the Syrians. So with King Zedekiah as their ringleader, the downtrodden nations of the Middle East gathered in Jerusalem to plot the downfall of Babylon.” [1]
“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: 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.” Jeremiah 27:4-5
God created the universe by His great power. Jeremiah tells his king and the ambassadors that their gathering is pointless because God already appointed Babylon to rule over them. Psalm 75:6-7 says, “For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one and exalts another.” The next verse after these two, Psalm 75:8 says, “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed, and He pours it out; surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down.” This particular cup is full of God’s fury. God gives it to proud people who refuse to recognize and to profess their need of a relationship with Him the one true God.
“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.” Jeremiah 27:6
The Lord gave Nebuchadnezzar horses to carry his soldiers, oxen to pull his supply wagons, and livestock to keep his people well fed. Since God’s people and their neighbors rejected Him, He placed them under Nebuchadnezzar’s rule for a season. Nebuchadnezzar prefigures the antichrist of the last days before the Lord returns.
“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.” Jeremiah 27:7
Jeremiah’s message to Israel’s neighbors was that the God who authored them into existence, could decide their destinies. He did not have to consult them. It did not matter if they liked His decision or not. He was Creator. His decrees would stand. He declared, “All nations shall serve him, his son and his son’s son.”
Nebuchadnezzar had four successors: 1) Evil-Merodach his son; 2) Neriglissar his son-in-law; 3) Labosodarchod his daughter’s son; and 4) Belshazzar Evil-Merodach’s son. Neriglissar and Labosodarchod were not in the direct male line; so Jeremiah’s prophecy held good. The nations did serve Nebuchadnezzar, his son Evil-Merodach and his grandson Belshazzar.
“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.” Jeremiah 27:8
The yokes were for the dumb ox and stubborn donkey kings. They refused to serve God. They would not budge an inch. So, God sent sword, famine and pestilence against them. Sword, famine and plague are God’s typical triplets for plundering a nation’s prosperity.
“Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon.” Jeremiah 27:9
Jeremiah warned those who preferred a different message than God’s Word not to do so. God was the only one who cared for their everlasting souls. If the coming calamities were as cars about to crash into them, God was the voice shouting, “Look out!” “Move!”
When God said to serve Nebuchadnezzar, He meant to do as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did in the Book of Daniel. They submitted to Nebuchadnezzar’s God given authority, but they did not worship the image that Nebuchadnezzar set up for his glory. They preferred to die physically rather than to deny God and lose their souls eternally.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s loyalty to God prefigures the mindset of the saints in the last days. Revelation 13:7 says, “It was granted to him [the antichrist] to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.” He overcame their earthly bodies but not their eternal souls. Revelation 12:11 says, “They overcame him [the accuser of the brethren] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
“For they [the false prophets, diviners, dreamers, soothsayers, sorcerers] prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish. 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’” Jeremiah 27:10-11
The words “serve” and “till,” (cultivate) are from the same Hebrew root word. God was essentially saying if you serve Babylon’s king, the land will serve you. [3]
“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!’” Jeremiah 27:12
“By now it was becoming increasingly apparent that breaking away from obedience to God never brings freedom; instead, it brings slavery to some harsh taskmaster. The gentle yoke of obedience was to be replaced by the brutal yoke of oppression, service to God by servitude to Nebuchadnezzar.” [4]
“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? 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; 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.” Jeremiah 27:13-15
Why do we ever listen to the words of liars and not to the Lord’s? It was the serpent’s lies to our first parents, Adam and Eve, that robbed them and us of paradise. When the condemned thief next to Jesus on the cross asked Jesus to remember him in His kingdom, Jesus replied to him in Luke 23:43, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” The devil robs people of paradise. Jesus restores people to paradise.
“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.’” Jeremiah 27:16
The “vessels of the Lord’s house” had been carried away to Babylon during the reigns of Jehoiakim and Jeconiah. (2 Chronicles 36:5-7; 2 Kings 24:13)
“Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste? 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.” Jeremiah 27:17-18
The false prophets, diviners, dreamers, soothsayers, and sorcerers could have prayed day and night but God would not have answered them. Not the Word of the Lord, but the words of the devil were in them! Some people say, “Have faith,” but do not qualify, “Faith in who or what?” A person can be sincere but be sincerely wrong. I can have a faith in a hen to lay an egg, but not to save my everlasting soul. Only God can do that!
We are in a spiritual warzone. The Apostle Paul tells us the kind of weapons that we need to win. I have listed highlights from Ephesians 6:11-20 below to sum them up...
“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, 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— 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: 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.” Jeremiah 27:19-22
As of yet, the pillars, the sea, the carts and vessels of the temple were still in Jerusalem, but the Lord let King Zedekiah know that the Babylonians were coming back. This time they would loot the temple and burn it down. The pillars, the sea and ten carts of the temple were made with bronze. Some of the temple vessels were made of gold, but others were bronze. The sheer quantity of bronze used for these items was “beyond measure.” The two bronze pillars at the front of the temple stood 27 feet high with decorative capitals on them adding an additional 4.5 feet to their height. The sea was a massive, circular basin used by the priests for washing. The sea rested on the backs of 12 bronze oxen. The Babylonians broke up the larger items up and carried all these treasures away to Babylon. (2 Kings 25:8-17)
In Jeremiah 7:3-4, the Word of the Lord to the people of Jerusalem was, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.”
The people were trusting that by entering a building that they built with their hands for God that this would satisfy God. Not so, the Lord was looking for conformity to His image! God made us in His image. We lost that image when our first parents sinned. He is speaking of the image of His nature. The fruit that God was seeking from them was the fruit of His presence in them, namely, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23) God restores His image in us when we believe in and profess Jesus Christ as our Savior from sin and are born anew by His indwelling Holy Spirit.
In Matthew 26:59-61, the accusations brought by two false witnesses against Jesus was that He had said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.” Jesus was referring to His death and resurrection.
Prior to being stoned by religious leaders, the Christian martyr Stephen proclaimed in Acts 7:48, “the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands.”
In Acts 17:24-25, Paul told his Athenian listeners, “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.”
What are our finest buildings and our most extravagant rituals to God? He created and sustains the whole universe! But forgive! Wow! Forgiving one another pleases God. Love! Amazing! God loves it when we love one another! Believe! Miraculous! Jesus marveled at the Roman Centurion’s faith in Him. (Matthew 8:8-10) These things please God because they require us to be in a relationship with Him.
[1] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 392
[2] According to Pherecydes in Clement of Alexandria [Miscellanies, 567]
[3] Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 393
Previously, the Lord gave Jeremiah visions of an almond tree blooming and a boiling pot tipping over. He led him to put a sash around his waist and then take it off and put it in a hole between rocks. The Lord led him to a potter’s house to watch the potter do his work. He led him to lead others to a dump where there were broken shards of clay. Now, the Lord requires him to make bonds and yokes for six kings including his own king.
A yoke is a piece of equipment, most often a wooden bar, used to connect and control two animals, like oxen, to work together for tasks such as plowing fields or hauling loads. Here, the word yoke is plural as Jeremiah was to wear one yoke and send others to the messengers of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. Messengers had come to Jerusalem to meet with King Zedekiah of Judah. They came to Jerusalem to conspire against Nebuchadnezzar’s yoke. The Lord’s Word for them via Jeremiah was to wear his yoke. Serve him!
“The Babylonian Chronicles record that during this period he [Nebuchadnezzar] had to repel an attack by an enemy, put down a revolt among his own people and launch a military campaign against the Syrians. So with King Zedekiah as their ringleader, the downtrodden nations of the Middle East gathered in Jerusalem to plot the downfall of Babylon.” [1]
“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: 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.” Jeremiah 27:4-5
God created the universe by His great power. Jeremiah tells his king and the ambassadors that their gathering is pointless because God already appointed Babylon to rule over them. Psalm 75:6-7 says, “For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one and exalts another.” The next verse after these two, Psalm 75:8 says, “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed, and He pours it out; surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down.” This particular cup is full of God’s fury. God gives it to proud people who refuse to recognize and to profess their need of a relationship with Him the one true God.
“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.” Jeremiah 27:6
The Lord gave Nebuchadnezzar horses to carry his soldiers, oxen to pull his supply wagons, and livestock to keep his people well fed. Since God’s people and their neighbors rejected Him, He placed them under Nebuchadnezzar’s rule for a season. Nebuchadnezzar prefigures the antichrist of the last days before the Lord returns.
“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.” Jeremiah 27:7
Jeremiah’s message to Israel’s neighbors was that the God who authored them into existence, could decide their destinies. He did not have to consult them. It did not matter if they liked His decision or not. He was Creator. His decrees would stand. He declared, “All nations shall serve him, his son and his son’s son.”
Nebuchadnezzar had four successors: 1) Evil-Merodach his son; 2) Neriglissar his son-in-law; 3) Labosodarchod his daughter’s son; and 4) Belshazzar Evil-Merodach’s son. Neriglissar and Labosodarchod were not in the direct male line; so Jeremiah’s prophecy held good. The nations did serve Nebuchadnezzar, his son Evil-Merodach and his grandson Belshazzar.
“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.” Jeremiah 27:8
The yokes were for the dumb ox and stubborn donkey kings. They refused to serve God. They would not budge an inch. So, God sent sword, famine and pestilence against them. Sword, famine and plague are God’s typical triplets for plundering a nation’s prosperity.
“Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon.” Jeremiah 27:9
Jeremiah warned those who preferred a different message than God’s Word not to do so. God was the only one who cared for their everlasting souls. If the coming calamities were as cars about to crash into them, God was the voice shouting, “Look out!” “Move!”
When God said to serve Nebuchadnezzar, He meant to do as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did in the Book of Daniel. They submitted to Nebuchadnezzar’s God given authority, but they did not worship the image that Nebuchadnezzar set up for his glory. They preferred to die physically rather than to deny God and lose their souls eternally.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s loyalty to God prefigures the mindset of the saints in the last days. Revelation 13:7 says, “It was granted to him [the antichrist] to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.” He overcame their earthly bodies but not their eternal souls. Revelation 12:11 says, “They overcame him [the accuser of the brethren] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
“For they [the false prophets, diviners, dreamers, soothsayers, sorcerers] prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish. 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’” Jeremiah 27:10-11
The words “serve” and “till,” (cultivate) are from the same Hebrew root word. God was essentially saying if you serve Babylon’s king, the land will serve you. [3]
“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!’” Jeremiah 27:12
“By now it was becoming increasingly apparent that breaking away from obedience to God never brings freedom; instead, it brings slavery to some harsh taskmaster. The gentle yoke of obedience was to be replaced by the brutal yoke of oppression, service to God by servitude to Nebuchadnezzar.” [4]
“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? 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; 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.” Jeremiah 27:13-15
Why do we ever listen to the words of liars and not to the Lord’s? It was the serpent’s lies to our first parents, Adam and Eve, that robbed them and us of paradise. When the condemned thief next to Jesus on the cross asked Jesus to remember him in His kingdom, Jesus replied to him in Luke 23:43, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” The devil robs people of paradise. Jesus restores people to paradise.
“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.’” Jeremiah 27:16
The “vessels of the Lord’s house” had been carried away to Babylon during the reigns of Jehoiakim and Jeconiah. (2 Chronicles 36:5-7; 2 Kings 24:13)
“Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste? 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.” Jeremiah 27:17-18
The false prophets, diviners, dreamers, soothsayers, and sorcerers could have prayed day and night but God would not have answered them. Not the Word of the Lord, but the words of the devil were in them! Some people say, “Have faith,” but do not qualify, “Faith in who or what?” A person can be sincere but be sincerely wrong. I can have a faith in a hen to lay an egg, but not to save my everlasting soul. Only God can do that!
We are in a spiritual warzone. The Apostle Paul tells us the kind of weapons that we need to win. I have listed highlights from Ephesians 6:11-20 below to sum them up...
Be strong in the Lord
Be strong in the power of His might
Put on the whole armor of God
You are up against spiritual forces of wickedness
S T A N D
Gird your waist with truth
Put on the breastplate of righteousness
Put on the footwear of the Gospel of peace
Take the shield of faith
Wear the helmet of salvation
Take the sword of the Spirit which is God’s Word
Pray always in the Spirit
Persevere in watchfulness
Pray for the saints
Pray for boldness to speak the Gospel
“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, 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— 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: 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.” Jeremiah 27:19-22
As of yet, the pillars, the sea, the carts and vessels of the temple were still in Jerusalem, but the Lord let King Zedekiah know that the Babylonians were coming back. This time they would loot the temple and burn it down. The pillars, the sea and ten carts of the temple were made with bronze. Some of the temple vessels were made of gold, but others were bronze. The sheer quantity of bronze used for these items was “beyond measure.” The two bronze pillars at the front of the temple stood 27 feet high with decorative capitals on them adding an additional 4.5 feet to their height. The sea was a massive, circular basin used by the priests for washing. The sea rested on the backs of 12 bronze oxen. The Babylonians broke up the larger items up and carried all these treasures away to Babylon. (2 Kings 25:8-17)
In Jeremiah 7:3-4, the Word of the Lord to the people of Jerusalem was, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.”
The people were trusting that by entering a building that they built with their hands for God that this would satisfy God. Not so, the Lord was looking for conformity to His image! God made us in His image. We lost that image when our first parents sinned. He is speaking of the image of His nature. The fruit that God was seeking from them was the fruit of His presence in them, namely, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23) God restores His image in us when we believe in and profess Jesus Christ as our Savior from sin and are born anew by His indwelling Holy Spirit.
In Matthew 26:59-61, the accusations brought by two false witnesses against Jesus was that He had said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.” Jesus was referring to His death and resurrection.
Prior to being stoned by religious leaders, the Christian martyr Stephen proclaimed in Acts 7:48, “the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands.”
In Acts 17:24-25, Paul told his Athenian listeners, “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.”
What are our finest buildings and our most extravagant rituals to God? He created and sustains the whole universe! But forgive! Wow! Forgiving one another pleases God. Love! Amazing! God loves it when we love one another! Believe! Miraculous! Jesus marveled at the Roman Centurion’s faith in Him. (Matthew 8:8-10) These things please God because they require us to be in a relationship with Him.
[1] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 392
[2] According to Pherecydes in Clement of Alexandria [Miscellanies, 567]
[3] Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 393
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