“This Covenant,” meaning the Book of the Law found in the temple by Hilkiah the high priest. The Book of the Law had disappeared. It was found five years after Jeremiah’s call to the prophetic office. [1]
Hilkiah the high priest was Jeremiah’s father. Yet, God gave His Word for Judah to Jeremiah.
“Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God, that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.’ And I answered and said, ‘So be it, Lord.’” Jeremiah 11:3-5
Cursed is the man who does not OBEY the words of this COVENANT. The covenant between God and Israel was the Law that He gave to Moses on Mount Sinai.
God delivered them from an iron furnace. It is difficult to break out of an iron container. A furnace is a hot place to work. The iron furnace of Egypt compares with Revelation’s lake of fire. God promised to bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey which compares with Revelation’s paradise.
What was God’s expectation of Israel? Obey GOD’s voice! DO ALL that He commanded!
It was as though God was giving humanity another opportunity via Israel after Adam and Eve failed to obey His voice and do His commandments.
What happened after Adam and Eve sinned? God said to Eve, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” Their sin yielded curses. [2]
Judah’s exile from the Promised Land in days of Jeremiah was a curse yielded from breaking covenant with God. The judgments in the Book of Revelation are sin yielded curses.
Below are lists of covenant keeper blessings and curses according to Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Revelation.
These judgments come forth in waves with pauses between them to give people opportunity to repent and change to avoid the next wave... “Men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the Name of God, which has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory.” [3]
After Israel defeated the city of Ai, read all the words of the Law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a Word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel.” A good leader keeps his followers mindful of God’s promises. [4]
“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: hear the words of this covenant and do them.’” Jeremiah 11:6
Jeremiah did what the Lord asked him to do. He offered his voice to proclaim God’s Word.
“I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, obey My voice. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore, I will bring upon them all the Words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.” Jeremiah 11:7-8
The Lord kept His promise that He made to Israel via Moses, “It shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” [5]
“And the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.’” Jeremiah 11:9
The conspiracy was against God and against God’s servant Jeremiah.
Judas Iscariot conspired with the priests of Jerusalem against Jesus Christ. “He said to them, ‘What will you give me, and I will deliver Him unto you?’ And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.” He exchanged the Savior for silver... an extremely bad decision. [6]
Demonically inspired leaders conspired against the Apostle Paul as well. “When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.” [7]
During Jeremiah’s day, The people formed a deliberate conspiracy against God, and against God’s messengers.
“They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers. Therefore thus says the Lord: behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them.” Jeremiah 11:10-11
Solomon wrote, “A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.” There is no remedy because the Lord will no longer rescue him. [8]
“Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.” Jeremiah 11:12-13
They were brazenly opposed to God. God had done many miracles for them. They did not praise Him. They did not love Him. To not love God is to break the first and greatest commandment. They honored all sorts of objects and names, but not God’s.
“So do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.” Jeremiah 11:14
Their opportunity to repent and to be spared from exile was over.
Jesus told the Apostle John of a false prophetess in Thyatira. He said, “I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.” [9]
It is good to take God at His Word and not to doubt Him.
“What has My beloved to do in My house, having done lewd deeds with many? And the holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice.” Jeremiah 11:15
God’s beloved behaved as a harlot with many false gods. She was defiled.
Paul wrote, “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.” [10]
“The Lord called your name, Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit. With the noise of a great tumult, He has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken.” Jeremiah 11:16
David referred to himself as a green olive tree in the house of God. God’s fire is kindled on the broken branches of the Green Olive Tree because they are fruitless. They are dead branches. John the Baptist told his listeners, “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” [11]
“For the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.” Jeremiah 11:17
The Lord anticipated faith and love from them. They offered Him nothing.
“Now the Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their doings. But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.’” Jeremiah 11:18-19
The Lord revealed a scheme to Jeremiah. A plot by his neighbors against him. They wanted to destroy him and his fruit. He is the tree. His teaching is the fruit. They wrongly assumed that if they slew God’s messenger that they would thwart God’s Word from coming to pass.
David once caught wind of a plot against him. He asked the Lord if it was true. “’Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.’ And the Lord said, ‘He will come down.’” [12]
Sometimes I pray that God will sabotage saboteurs, conspire against conspirators, deceive deceivers and destroy destroyers. They are fighting against God’s effort to save people.
Once, when a sorcerer named Elymas withstood Paul’s effort to lead a Roman proconsul to faith in Jesus, Paul cursed him, saying, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.” Elymas lost his sight immediately. “Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.” [13]
“But, O Lord of hosts, You who judge righteously, testing the mind and the heart, let me see Your vengeance on them, for to You I have revealed my cause.” Jeremiah 11:20
Eternal souls hung in the balance. Kings, princes, priests and false prophets tried to silence Jeremiah, but people needed to hear the Word of the Lord.
God’s answers the prayers of His persecuted people. “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained.” “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her [Babylon – the evil empire that persecuted them].” [14]
“Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the Name of the Lord, lest you die by our hand.’ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine. And there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their punishment.” Jeremiah 11:21-23
The men of Anathoth were priests. Some of them had doubtlessly served under Jeremiah’s father, Hilkiah the High Priest. But their sins against God and His people were so grave that God promised to punish all of them until not one of them remained. They would die young.
They had persecuted, imprisoned, and threatened to kill Jeremiah, but after Jerusalem fell, Jeremiah stood. They were destroyed and Jeremiah remained alive.
Beloved, some people are very hateful toward God and towards you, God’s messenger, but remember this, “The Lord knows those who are His.” He is able and desirous of preserving you and the message that He has given you. Keep speaking God’s Word. Great will be your reward in heaven, especially when you see some of your listeners there.
The picture below compares the Old Testament pattern of salvation, sanctification and glorification with the New Testament pattern.
[1] 2 Kings 22:8-23:25
[2] Genesis 3:17-19
[3] Revelation 16:9
[4] Joshua 8:26, 35
[5] Deuteronomy 28:15
[6] Matthew 26:15
[7] Acts 23:12
[8] Proverbs 29:1
[9] Revelation 3:21-23
[10] Titus 1:15
[11] Psalm 52:8; Matthew 3:10; John 15:6
[12] 1 Samuel 23:11
[13] Acts 13:10-12
[14] 2 Timothy 4:14
[15] Revelation 6:9; 18:20
[16] 2 Timothy 2:19; Matthew 5:12
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