The iron pen represents the unyielding nature of Judah's sin. The diamond point represents the lasting impact of their sin. The tablet of the heart symbolizes a deep inscription. The horns of the altars represented religious practices tainted by sin. Engraved means their sin is not easily erased.
Sin was engraved in their hearts like chiseled letters in a stone. They were insensitive to God and to one another. What did abandonment of God do for them? Prodigal behavior brought prodigal pain. They exchanged fullness and favor for hunger and insult.
In 2 Corinthians 3:3, it is written, “Clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”
The goal of God is to replace sin’s graffiti on our hearts with the Word of God inscribed by His Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah 17:2: “While their children remember their altars and their wooden images by the green trees on the high hills.”
Instead of forsaking the idols of their fathers, the children kept them up. Proof their sin is graven on their hearts and altars. The Hebrew word for “grove” is Asherah (Astarte).
The Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary: “Astarte is the Hellenized (Greek) form of Ashtoreth. Astarte relates to the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, with shared associations with fertility, sexual love, and war. Ishtar is identified with Egypt’s Isis.” How crazy is it that in the 21st century, people who identified as Isis killed people who believe in the God of the Bible.
Jeremiah 17:3: “O My mountain in the field, I will give as plunder your wealth, all your treasures, and your high places of sin within all your borders.”
The Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary notes that Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains. The picture here is, “You rely on your high position, but I will make my mountain to become as if it were in a flat field.” Their defenses will fail them.
Once, Jesus cursed a fig tree. It dried up. In this context, Jesus said in Mark 11:20-23, “Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” The mountain that needed to be removed at that time was Jerusalem’s unbelief in Messiah.
Jeremiah 17:4: “You, even yourself, shall let go of your heritage which I gave you. And I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you do not know. For you have kindled a fire in My anger which shall burn forever.”
The Jews will not be able to hold onto their heritage no matter how hard they try to do so. The fire of the Lord’s anger would refine them as a smelter’s fire removes dross from gold. What no caring prophet could do with words, God would do with pain.
Jeremiah 17:5-6: “Thus says the Lord: cursed is the man who trusts in man, and has made flesh his arm, and from the Lord whose heart he turns. He has been as a naked thing (Hebrew – “heath” with neither fruit nor seed) in a desert, and does not see when good comes, and has inhabited parched places in a wilderness, a salt land, and not inhabited.”
When people depart from God, curses follow. Rebellion against the Creator is the devil’s enterprise. He wants us to think that the whole concept of God is below our dignity.
The Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary says that unbelievers “shall not see when good comes” because they wither in the heat of unbelief while believers draw life from a hidden source (the Lord) as a tree’s hidden roots draw water from a river.
Psalm 118:8 says, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.” Hebrews 3:12: “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”
Trust (reliance) on the Lord is the exhortation of Psalm 1 which uses a tree planted by water as a metaphor for a person who meditates on the Law of the Lord day and night. He is drawing from the source of life.
Jesus speaks of branches producing good fruit because they are connected to Him (the Vine) and cared for by the husbandman (the Father).
A tree by the water appears in Revelation 22:2, “In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?”
The word “deceitful” stems from the Hebrew word “supplant.” In Hosea 12:3, the Lord says they were the offspring of Jacob who supplanted his brother Esau. They had his deceit but not his faith. They supplanted “trust in God” with “trust in man” but God was not fooled.
In Proverbs 28:26, it is written, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoso walks wisely shall be delivered.”
“The heart is deceitful.” In “The Art of War,” Sun Tzu (544-496 BC) states that all warfare is based on deception. Some deceptions that he used to win wars included: Misinforming and misleading his enemy; posturing as weak where he was strong; posturing as strong where he was weak; appearing to retreat when he was attacking; always masking his true intentions.
The disciples asked Jesus to give them the sign of His return and the conclusion of the world. In Matthew 24:4, Jesus answered, “Watch out that no one deceives you.”
Those who deceive others are being deceived. The devil is robbing them of God. In 2 Timothy 3:13, Paul wrote, “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Hitler’s heart told him that only the strong should survive. His heart led him to massacre over 15,000 handicapped people. He influenced others to embrace eugenics, euthanasia, infanticide, abortion, and racial extermination. Richard Weikart, in his book entitled, “From Darwinism to Hitler,” concluded that Hitler built his ethics on Darwinism. [1]
Margaret Sanger’s heart told her that certain people were unfit for life. Sanger said birth control was “nothing more or less than the facilitation of the process of weeding out the unfit [and] of preventing the birth of defectives.” She is considered by many to be the mother of the modern abortion movement. [2]
Genocidal studies specialist, Dr. James Waller, states that prior to genocidal events, one group of people begins to dehumanize another. In Rwanda, the Tutsis began to dehumanize the Hutus. After that, the Tutsis massacred 800,000 Hutus in 30 days. Abortionists dehumanize the unborn. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 73 million abortions occur globally each year.
The devil is bold. He will lay an obvious trap and tell people that it is not a trap. He nudges his prey forward by saying, “You will be fine. You can beat the odds.” Then, laughs at the fool.
Satan’s lie is, “Sin yields pleasure and God is too loving to punish it.” God’s truth is, “The wages of sin is death and God is too righteous not to punish it.”
Jeremiah 17:10: “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
God’s Word helps us to discern where our heart is with God. Hebrews 4:12 says that “the Word of God is alive and active... It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Jeremiah 17:10: “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind…” Proverbs 17:3 says, “The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tries the hearts.”
Have you had a heart checkup with the Lord recently? With whom do I need to be more generous? Which of my friends am I most likely to envy? Who do I need to listen to more carefully? In what ways can I be more courteous? With whom have I rejoiced this week? Am I too focused on me?
Jeremiah 17:11: “Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end, they will prove to be fools.”
Proverbs 15:27 says, “He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.”
In Mark 12:40, Jesus warned us against those who devour widows’ houses, are deceptive actors, and make long [fake] prayers.
Titus 1:11-12 says, “There are many insubordinate… idle talkers and deceivers… whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.”
2 Peter 2:1, 3 says, “False prophets and false teachers by covetousness exploit you with deceptive words. For a long time, their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction doesn’t slumber.”
Jeremiah 17:12: “A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.”
The people who derive their strength and holiness from the throne of God are blessed indeed.
Hebrews 12:2 urges us to “look to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” He is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Jeremiah 17:13: “Oh Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. ‘Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.”’
Names written in the dust are blown away by the wind. Names written in heaven are eternal.
In John 8:3-6, Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. They said to Jesus, “In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. Her accusers disappeared. Jesus likely wrote down the sins that the woman’s accusers were guilty of.
In John 8:10-11, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
In Luke 10:20, Jesus urged His disciples to rejoice that their names were recorded in heaven.
Jeremiah 17:14: “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise.”
Heal me! Save me! Jeremiah had been wounded by those he tried to save. They plotted to destroy him. “You are the One I praise!” He continued to praise the Lord.
Psalm 34:19 says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
Jeremiah 17:15: “They say to me, where is the Word of the Lord? Let it come now!”
They mocked. They did not want to face reality.
Those who mocked Jeremiah saying, “Where is the Word of Lord” compare with the mockers in the last days that Peter spoke of in 1 Peter 3:3-4, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’”
Jeremiah 17:16: “As for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd who follows You, nor have I desired the woeful day. You know what came out of my lips; it was right there before You.”
The Lord, by His Spirit, helped Jeremiah with two miracles. One, not to behave as a hireling when the proverbial wolves attacked him. Two, not to desire woes upon ungrateful sheep.
In Acts 20:24, Paul testified, “Trials don’t stop me. I do not count my life dear to me. I want to finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God.”
In 2 Corinthians 2:17, Paul wrote, “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the Word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.”
Jeremiah 17:17: “Do not be a terror to me. You are my hope in the day of doom.”
Jeremiah did not want the Lord to be to him as He was to the people in the days when Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai. Exodus 20:18 says, “being afraid, they stood at a distance.”
Jeremiah 17:18: “Let them be ashamed who persecute me, but do not let me be put to shame. Let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of doom and destroy them with double destruction!”
Jeremiah asked God to repay his persecutors with double destruction. His prayer is answered in Revelation 18:6: “Pay her back even as she has paid and give back to her double according to her deeds. In the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.”
In Psalms 70:2, David prayed, “Let those be ashamed and humiliated who seek my life. Let those be turned back and dishonored who delight in my hurt.” One day, after many fights, he was crowned king.
Jeremiah 17:19-20: “Thus, the Lord said to me: go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; and say to them, ‘Hear the Word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.’”
The gate was where buyers and sellers gathered. His goal was to speak to as many people as possible. Acts 5:20 says to, “Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this life.” Proverbs 1:20 says of wisdom, “Wisdom shouts in the street, she lifts her voice in the square.” In Revelation 2:29, Jesus said, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Jeremiah 17:21-22: “Thus says the Lord: take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.”
How many times did Jesus tell Peter that he should forgive a brother who sinned against him? In Matthew 18:22, Jesus said to Peter, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’’ That is 490 times which is the number of years that God forgave the Israelites for not keeping the Sabbath year rest.
In Ezekiel 20:12, it is written, “I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”
Their obsession with material wealth and sinful pleasure led them to disregard the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is a reminder that one day this current cursed world will be no more, and we will return to paradise with God. Revelation 14:13 says that we will rest from our labors.
Jeremiah 17:23: “But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction.”
In Proverbs 29:1, God says, “He, that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”
Jeremiah 17:24-25: “And it shall be, if you heed Me carefully, says the Lord, to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it, then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall remain forever.”
God promised that they would enjoy international trade deals and royal visitations. Jerusalem would last forever. People from the countryside would enjoy abundant crops and bring their offerings and their praises to God into the city. The “carrying of no burdens” refers to not bringing merchandise into the city for selling on the Sabbath Day.
The Lord wants Christians to gather for fellowship in God’s Word, prayer and worship. In Hebrews 10:24-25, the Lord said, “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Jeremiah 17:26: “And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the lowland, from the mountains and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord.”
Hebrews 13:5 says, “Through Him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His Name.” The Lord considers praise and professions of faith in His Name as pleasing offerings unto Him.
Jeremiah 17:27: “If you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.”
Genesis 2:2 says, “On the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” God set the example for us. We honor Him when we follow His example.
God promised to set Jerusalem’s gates on fire if they disobeyed Him. He would destroy their marketplace that was defiled by their disobedience.
The Word of God in Jerusalem – kings bring wealth in. The Word of God not in Jerusalem – kings take wealth away.
They didn’t listen or obey the Lord. 2 Kings 25:9 says, “He [Nebuchadnezzar] burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire.” In fact, the city was turned into rubble.
In Hebrews 12:25, the Lord says, “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.” In Revelation 20:15, says, “Anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
In Jeremiah 17 the Lord calls us to let His Spirit inscribe His Word on our hearts, and to live by it.
Attached is a link to a power point version of this article which I have recorded on my YouTube channel:
[1] From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany was released in 2004 (paperback edition in 2006) with Palgrave Macmillan in New York, a major publisher of historical scholarship, from dustjacket
[2] Google resources
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