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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible Department podcast. Powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. Let's be honest, a lot of us are still treating digital ministry like it's a backup plan from 2020. But discipleship isn't just happening on Sundays anymore. People need gospel centered connection every day of the week. And if you're stuck juggling five different platforms, one for giving, another for sermons, something else for events, it's no wonder engagement feels off. That's not ministry. That's a mess. Subsplash changes that one platform. Everything you need. Media, giving, events, messaging, your app, your website built specifically for churches. No hacks, no workarounds, just clarity and simplicity. Because every day you wait, families scroll past your sermons, new guests click away from clunky sites, and real people miss real moments with Jesus. Don't waste another summer stuck in digital survival mode. Use it to get ahead, simplify, upgrade, get back to what matters. Head to subsplash.combible-dept and schedule a free no pressure demo. And let this be the summer your church gets focused and fully equipped. Family. Welcome to day two 16. We're in Jeremiah chapters 12, 13, and 14 today. Buckle up, we got a lot to talk about today. I'm gonna give you a lot of context clues, like, always gonna walk you through as many nerdy nuggets as I can. And like, always gonna leave you off with a timeless truth. Cause we are not just studying history here, we're actually learning history in order to study the character and the nature of God. And the way that God related to his people actually tells us a lot about who he is for all of eternity. And that is timeless. So if you have done the reading, my job is to help bring the text to life. So if you've already done the reading for the day, which is Jeremiah chapters 12, 14, then hopefully the stuff that I have to say is going to make perfect sense and is going to help you to understand and comprehend and interpret the reading. Even better. If you haven't done the reading, go ahead, stop the video, pause the audio and go do the reading. Today we're reading Jeremiah chapters 12, 13, and 14. And with no further ado, let's jump into our context clues. All right, I'm gonna give you a ton of context that's actually gonna Be helpful for today, but also gonna be helpful for the remainder of the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah's life is going to span a lot of kings. Okay. And so just kind of want to wrap your head around the last five kings of Judah and like their stories. Okay. Just want to take a couple of minutes. This will help with our reading today. But really, this is going to help you understand this entire time period and the entire book of Jeremiah, because the further and further we get into the book of Jeremiah, the more and more this context or this history is going to be really important. So, last five kings of Judah, number one. I'm just going to list them and then we'll explain who they all are. Okay, last five kings of Judah, you got Josiah, Then you got Jehoahaz, then you got Jehoiakim, then you got Jehoiachin, and then you got Zedekiah. All right, last five kings of Judah. One more time, Josiah. Jehoahaz, who is Josiah's son. Then we got Jehoiakim, which is also Josiah's son. And then we got Jehoiachin, which is gonna be Josiah's grandson, Jehoiakim's son. And then we got Zedekiah, who is also Josiah's son. Okay? So out of the last five kings of Judah, three of them are going to be the. Well, three. These three are all going to be sons of Josiah. So Josiah, big, big deal. Probably the best king or the most righteous king since David. He's following in his great grandfather's footsteps, if you remember. You probably remember this because you're a Bible nerd, that his great grandfather is a man by the name of. Drumroll, please. Hezekiah. Okay, so Hezekiah was a righteous king. Incredible. King Isaiah was prophesying during the reign of Hezekiah. Hezekiah had a son named Manasseh. Manasseh had a son named Ammon. Ammon had a son name Josiah. And so Josiah is going to be. Remember, Josiah's going to find the book of the law. It's going to be great. So let's kind of talk through. How is it that Josiah is going to get multiple sons on the throne. First thing, Josiah is going to rebel against Assyria, okay? And he's going to be hoping that the Babylonians are able to defeat the Assyrians. And so instead of trusting the Lord, he is going to fight against Egypt, who's coming to help Assyria. So Egypt is going to come help Assyria defeat the Babylonians. Josiah wants the Babylonians to win. Why? Because he's enslaved to the Assyrians. And the enemy of my enemy is my friend, okay? So he wants the Assyrians to lose. And Egypt is an ally of Assyria. And so Josiah's going to try to cut off Egypt's ability to get to Assyria's aid to that is not going to go well. So Nico, who is the pharaoh of Egypt, is going to defeat Josiah at Megiddo, and Josiah's going to die. Okay? So this king, dead Niko, isn't going to take Josiah's son Jehoahaz hostage, okay? He's going to take him to Egypt, which is going to mean Jehoia Kim is going to get on the throne, Josiah's next son. Okay, so Josiah, this first son, is taken hostage to Egypt as a repercussion for Josiah rebelling against the Assyrian empire. And that means Jehoiakim is going to be on the throne. And then Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakim is going to reign. The Bible also refers to this guy as Jeconiah. Okay, so also, let me give you their other names. There's a help, okay, because the Bible is going to give multiple names for these guys. Okay, so Josiah's son, Jehoiahaz. The Bible also refers to him as Shallum. S H A L L U M He only reigns three months. He's taken hostage to Egypt. Next boy, Jehoiakim. The Bible also refers to him as Eliakim. Okay? Eliakim reigned for 11 years. Jehoiachin, who the Bible also refers to as Jeconiah, is only going to reign for three months. And Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon is going to deport this guy, okay? He's going to get. He's going to get out of there. He's going to get deported, and then his uncle Zedekiah is going to get set up as a puppet king on the throne of Judah. All right? Those are the last five kings of Judah. Knowing these last five kings, like, honestly, I want you to be able to just go ahead and say, josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah. Just let it roll off your tongue, okay? Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah, last five kings of Judah. And Jeremiah is going to live to see the very, very last king of Judah, which is Zedekiah. Well, actually. Well, well, well. The very last king of Judah is a man by the name of Jesus. Okay? So after Zedekiah, we're going to get a long pause and then we're going to get the true Messiah and his name is Jesus and he's still on the throne. I need a good amen at church. All right, let's go. That's all the context. Okay? If you need dates, okay, 609bc is when Josiah's going to die, and that is when Pharaoh Nico is going to take Josiah's son Jehoahaz hostage in Egypt, and that is when Jehoyah Kim is going to become king. Couple Years later, in 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is going to defeat Assyria. So Josiah was hoping that that would happen in 609 BC that is actually going to happen four years later in 605 BC massive date that you really need to know, because that changes everything for the political climate of the people of Judah. 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeats Assyria and becomes the New World empire. That happens at Carchemish. Babylon takes Judah as a vassal. Why? Because they were a vassal to Assyria. Okay? And so if I take, if I'm Babylon and I defeat Assyria, I get all of Assyria's land, I get all of Assyria's property. And so Judah goes from being a vassal of Assyria, the Assyrian empire, to being a vassal of the Babylonian empire. At this point, a small number of young nobility are going to get taken back to Babylon. This is going to include Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Okay, this is like we're talking about like pre exile. And then in 597 BC, Jehoiakim is going to rebel against Babylon with Egyptian help. And Nebuchadnezzar is going to siege Jerusalem the first time. And Jehoiakim is going to die during the siege. And his son Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah becomes king and surrenders to Nebuchadnezzar. And then the next round of exile is going to start. Okay? Jehoiachin, most of the royal family, the court, and many of the priests, including Ezekiel, are going to off to Babylon. Okay? Artisans and nobility and wealthy people are all going to be taken off to Babylon. And then in 586 BC, Zedekiah, who is Jehoia Chin's uncle, is finally going to get taken off to Babylon. The temple is going to get destroyed. Jerusalem is going to burn to the ground, and Nebuchadnezzar is going to take everybody. Okay, so tons of context. All right, let's dive into some nerdy nuggets for the day Jeremiah chapter 12. Jeremiah is complaining. Why is he complaining? He's complaining because he's experiencing persecution. Nobody wants to hear what Jeremiah's got to say. Jeremiah is going to prophesy beyond a shadow of a doubt. Guys, Babylon is coming. We don't need to fight back. We just need to surrender. We are going off into captivity. This is it. God's done. God's done playing games. Other people are going to be prophesying. No, that's. That's actually not the truth. And of course whatever's popular is going to be accepted. And Jeremiah's words are not popular. And so Jeremiah chapter 12 is his complaint. And then God's response. We're actually going to get into his complaint and God's response as our timeless truth. Let's jump into Jeremiah chapter 13. Now, if you're reading Jeremiah chapter 13 in the New International Version of the Bible, the NIV, then you're probably going to be confused because When Jeremiah chapter 13 starts in the NIV, it says this, verse 1. This is what the Lord said to me. Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water. So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist. The niv, for whatever reason, is going to translate this Hebrew word as belt. That is not a good translation. Let's go to the NRSV. Okay, so we're moving from the NIV to the NRSV. Chapter 13, verse 1 says this. Thus said the Lord to me, Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth. Well, that's not a belt. It's very different. Okay, a loincloth is underwear. So not. It's not a belt. It's a linen loincloth. And put it on your loins, not your waist, but your loins. But do not dip it in water, meaning don't clean it. I want you to wear some underwear and I don't want you to clean them. This is fantastic. If you're reading the niv, it just says belt, and it says, don't dip the belt in water. Well, why would I dip my belt in water? That doesn't make sense. It's not about dipping the belt in water. It's about putting your underwear in water and cleaning them. So Jeremiah's not allowed to clean his underwear? Well, that's. Whatever. Okay, why should we care? Jeremiah, your underwear, your business. That's none of our business. You know, Keep you and your underwear to yourself? No, actually. Well, this is a prophetic act. And not only can he not clean his underwear? But he's got to walk. Where does he need to walk? Now, if you're reading the niv, it says verse three. Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time. Take the belt you bought, AKA underwear that you are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath. Where's Perath? Is that down the street? Is that around the corner? Is that the bodega? Where's Perath? I don't know where Perath is, but if you're reading the nrsv, we can start reading right there in verse three. And the word of the Lord came to me a second time saying, take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing and go now to the Euphrates. The Euphrates? Dude, that's like. That's like in somewhere in between. Depending on where Jeremiah is in Judah, that could be anywhere between 400 to 700 miles. So my man's going to walk all the way to the Euphrates in his underwear and he can't clean them. This is fantastic, man. Yo, let me tell you something. I'm not trying to be an Old Testament prophet, ok? Isaiah's got to be naked. Ezekiel's got to lay on one side for like a couple of years. Jeremiah's got to walk all the way to the Euphrates in his dirty underwear. So this is, this is fascinating. Ok, next. So I went and I hid it. So now not only does he have to go to the Euphrates, but he has to hide the underwear there in a cleft of the rock. So hey man, go to the Euphrate. Does he bring an extra pair of underwear? We don't know. But he has to hide his dirty underwear in the cleft of a rock. And then if you're reading the NIV, this is not 100% clear, but he has to wait a year. So his underwear, sweaty. I'm assuming these are sweaty, gross underwear at this point. He's been. He's walked all the way to the Euphrates in his underwear. He now he goes back home. I don't know if he goes back home with no underwear. Does he get it? Does he get new underwear? I don't know. The text doesn't tell us. But then the Lord commanded me to go back. Okay, so verse six. And after many days the Lord said, now go back to the Euphrates and take from there the underwear that I commanded you to hide there. Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the loincloth. Of the place where I had hidden it, but now the underwear were ruined and good for nothing. Yeah, I mean, I would imagine, dude. I mean, you wore underwear for a long time, 700 miles walking in your underwear. They got dirty. You weren't allowed to clean them, and you had to hide them in a rock. Yeah, these underwear. And yeah, also, mind you, like ancient underwear, not like underwear today. I mean, it's not like this is not Hanes, not Fruit of the Loom, okay? It's not like moisture wicking ain't no dry fit, okay? You're not wearing. You're not Adidas underwear, okay? So we got. It's literally a loin cloth, okay. That you tie it. They kind of like think about a sumo wrestler, right? They tied around their waist, and they, you know, they took it. You took it. You get it. You. You get. You get where it needs to be tucked. All right? So now he has to go. He's got to retrieve the underwear. And this all a message, verse 8. Then the word of the Lord came to me, thus says the Lord, just so I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own will and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. For as the loincloth clings to one's loins, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord, in order that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise and a glory. But they would not listen. Okay, so what is the message here? The message is that the loincloth is to be placed on the most intimate part of your body. And God, Yahweh is saying, judah and Israel were to me the most intimate people of all the nations. And they did not take that responsibility. They didn't accept that responsibility. Well, they didn't live out who they were supposed to be. And so now they're ruined. It's not that I made them dirty. Actually, their relationships with other gods made them dirty. And they're beyond cleaning. They are totally ruined. Okay, so the significance is that loincloths are the most intimate parts of clothing. And of all the nations of the earth, Judah was the most intimate with God, but now Judah was unclean. So why would God wear Judah anymore? God would not. And then the next significant thing is that the underwear, Jeremiah's underwear, are buried at the Euphrates. And signifying the Exile, meaning Judah would go into exile beyond the Euphrates, into Babylon. And then the final picture would be the loincloth, rotted and completely useless, which Judah had become. Absolutely useless. So this is beyond a sermon illustration at this point. This is a lived out illustration. Okay, this is probably taken Jeremiah over a year of his life. He's walked 700 miles all the way to the Euphrates. He's hid this underwear, all to communicate to the God's people, you were precious to me. Our relationship was intimate. But you've taken that which is intimate and you have made it disgusting. You've made it gross. And because of that, our relationship is totally ruined. I cannot place you where you used to be. Jeremiah puts these underwear on. That would be absolutely ridiculous. And in the same way God can no longer wear Judah in an intimate way that he's been wearing them in the past. They are going into exile. So if you're reading Jeremiah chapter 13, especially if I know most people read the NIV, then I wanted to do a lot of our nerdy nuggets today around this chapter so that it would actually make sense to you. Next, let's do Jeremiah chapter 14, because in Jeremiah chapter 14, Jeremiah is going to address the fact that there's a drought in the land. A drought means that there's no water. No water means that there's no crops. No crops means that there's a famine. A famine means people are not just dying of thirst, but dying of hunger. Okay, now I want to give you context for why there's a drought. Deuteronomy 28:18, Deuteronomy 28:22, 23, Deuteronomy 28, 38, 42, Deuteronomy 29:19 and Deuteronomy 29:22:28 all spell out very clearly that if the people of God, if the people of Israel, the people of Judah, God's chosen people, the 12 tribes, if they worship other gods, then God will send a drought. This is clearly laid out. So what's happening in Jeremiah is. Jeremiah's just going, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The God of the covenant is visiting the covenant curses on you. In the same way that there are covenant blessings, there are covenant curses. And this is laid out clearly in Deuteronomy chapter 28. I'm actually going to read one of these for you. Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 22. Family, the wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos, is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold. Literally. Today I walked into a Barnes and Noble And I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble or you can go to a Books a Million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of Scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy. Ted Day all right, back to the episode. Hey, are you looking for a really cool gift or just solid tools to support your faith in daily Life? Check out Mr. Pen. They've got no bleed Bible pens and highlighters that actually work on thin Bible pages. Journaling Bibles, Bible tabs and faith based journals. Even school supplies for parents, teachers and students. Mr. Penn was started by Christian teachers in Louisiana on a mission to serve the schools in their local community. And now They've got over 100,000 five star reviews on Amazon. I'm a huge fan of their Bible highlighters and pens. Super smooth and gentle enough to write notes in the margin of your Bible. Whether you're digging into scripture or stocking up for Back to school, Mr. Penn has you covered. Shop the best Bible journaling supplies on the market and fantastic gifts for the ladies in your life@mrpenn.com that's m r p e n.com and guess what? Our audience here at the Bible Department gets a special discount. Use code DEPARTMENT10 at checkout to get 10% off your entire order. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought. Here we go. Keyword drought. With blight and mildew which will plague you until you perish. Verse 23. The sky over your head will be brow bronze the ground beneath you iron. So bronze and iron means the the earth has become a furnace, and a furnace can't give rain, right? The heavens aren't giving rain, they're closed up. And that means the earth. Because the earth is not receiving any water. It's closed up. Let me read one more to you. Verse 38 of chapter 28. You will sow much seed in the field, but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. Verse 39. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes because worms will eat them. Verse 40. You will have olive trees throughout your country, but you will not use the oil because the olives will drop off. Verse 41. You will have sons and daughters, but you will not keep them because they will go into captivity. Verse 42. Swarms of locusts will take over your trees and the crops of your land. So drought. Jeremiah is prophesying that this drought is actually a fulfillment of the covenant curses that can be found in Deuteronomy chapter 28 and Deuteronomy chapter 29. All right, so also, let me help you with what, what Yahweh's perspective is on rain and drought. Okay, I'm going to read this to you from my notes. The idea behind drought was that rain was the default position. If everything is okay, it rains. Yahweh made a world in which it rains so that crops can grow and humans and animals can drink. Today, we would say God made the water cycle. Okay? That's how we would describe it today. But the normal baseline feature of the Earth is that it rains. That's how the world works without any outside intervention. God does not make it rain. Rather, he made a world in which it rains. I know in church we love to say God makes it rain. No, God doesn't make it rain. God has set the Earth in a system where rain happens naturally. This is in complete contrast to the pagan world. In the pagan worldview, BAAL was the rain and storm God. He's essentially the Canaanite version of Thor. So it was his job to make it rain. He had to actively make it rain, as opposed to Yahweh, who just set up a system where it just naturally rains. Okay, BAAL has to make it rain every day. He has to remember to send the rain. And if he doesn't remember to send the rain, you have to remind him to do so by making sacrifices. Therefore, if you wanted rain, you had a sacrifice to baal. So what does it mean for Judah if it doesn't rain? Well, if the system God has set up doesn't work, then something must be wrong. God must have intervened in order to stop it from working, AKA stop it from raining. This should therefore get their attention and make them turn to Yahweh. The irony of this is that instead of turning to Yahweh whenever it doesn't rain, what do they do? They always go to BAAL to try to get it to rain, which only makes Yahweh more upset, which only causes more drought. So anytime there's a drought, it means there's idolatry. And instead of turning away from their idolatry, repenting and returning back to God so that it can reign, so that the normal course of life can proceed, they think BAAL has the power to make it rain. They sacrifice to baal, which only makes the drought worse because BAAL is nothing and BAAL has no power. And Baal's not the one that makes it rain. It's God's system that makes it rain. This is essentially humans worshiping nature, which is not a new idea today. We would call that pantheism. Right? In this worldview, this is just called making a God out of a natural thing. They made a God out of the rain, and his name is baal. That's going to help us to really understand Jeremiah chapter 14. All right, let's end with our Thomas truth. Jeremiah chapter 12, verse 5 says this. If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? In Jeremiah chapter 12, Jeremiah is going to complain. This message that you've given me is unpopular. Everybody persecutes me, like, my life sucks. Like. And we're going to get into more detail on how difficult Jeremiah's life really is, especially tomorrow. Jeremiah's personal life is difficult. He's experiencing so much persecution because of the message that God's given him. He's a true prophet, but he doesn't get recognized as a true prophet. All the other people who are prophets have way better things to say. Jeremiah's life is very difficult and he complains to the Lord. And God's response to his complaint is this. If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how could you compete with the horses? It's not like God responds to Jeremiah and says, man, you're right. I'm sorry. Let's lighten the load. No. God says the persecution only gonna get worse. So if you're complaining about this level of persecution, what are you gonna do when the persecution gets worse? If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? That's a timeless truth that oftentimes we go to God complaining about an issue. And instead of God fixing the thing that we're complaining about, God says, buckle up. Cause if you think the lion and the bear is bad, wait till you meet Goliath. And if you think Goliath's bad, wait till you meet King Saul. And if you think Saul's bad, wait till you have to deal with yourself, David, and you realize that you are your own worst enemy. God does not say, you know what? Let's take away all the obstacles, because you're complaining about it. God actually says, whoa. Are you complaining about racing against people? If you. If you get worn out racing against people, how are you going to do when you race against horses? God doesn't hear our complaints and think to himself, let's. Let's remove the obstacle. God actually gives you perspective and helps you to go. No, you actually need to increase your stamina because it's only gonna get worse. God says to Jeremiah, persecution's only gonna get worse, buddy. So buckle up and don't get worn out racing against people, because one day, you're gonna have to race against horses. Man, I wish I could tell every single person right now, are you complaining about how much time you don't have? Wait till you get married. And then. I wish I could tell every married person you're complaining about how much time you don't have. Wait till you have kids. Whew. Are. Are you really complaining? If you're complaining at this level, wait till you get to the next level. If. If you think that this is hard, it's only going to get worse. I love to tell single people all the time, you think that marriage is gonna fix your lust problem. Yeah. Right. If you can't develop discipline now, it's gonna be way harder to develop discipline once you're married, because the temptation to cheat or the temptation to be unfaithful is actually stronger. It's actually worse once you get married, not better. It's not easier. So I think that this verse. Oh, man, it's the Thomas truth. God doesn't say to Jeremiah what Jeremiah wants to hear. God says to Jeremiah what Jeremiah needs to hear, which is, buckle up, buddy. It was only gonna get worse. And so you may wanna get your stamina up while you're racing against people, because one day you're gonna have to race against horses. And if you can't keep up today, you're definitely not gonna be able to keep up then. And that is our timeless truth for today. Tomorrow we got day two, 17, and we're gonna be in Jeremiah chapters 15, 16, 17, and 18. We got four chapters tomorrow if you're on a streak. I'm so proud of you. Even if you're not. I'm proud of you too. How about you do the reading for tomorrow, and I'll see you right here tomorrow as we continue our trek through the book of Jeremiah. Love you. Peace thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department Podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram at the Bible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.