The Mystery of Ephraim

The list of kings of Judah towards the end; in successive reigns, as Josiah (reign 640–609), Jehoahaz (reign 609), Jehoiakim (reign 609–598), Jehoiachin or Jechonias (reign 598–597), and Zedekiah (reign 597–586)

Jeremiah 33

¹ Moreover the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying,

² “Thus saith the Lord the maker thereof, the Lord who formed it to establish it, the Lord is His name: — the Lord isn’t his name, the Lord is a title; Yehovah is his name (more at the end)

³ ‘Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.’ — some copies read it, “things reserved” as the Targum says; and so Rashi, who interprets it of things future, of things reserved in the heart of God;

— which thou knowest not; until revealed; canst be known without further revelation; that by these great and hidden things are not meant the destruction of Jerusalem, nor the seventy years’ captivity, nor return from that, nor things which Jeremiah had been made acquainted with time after time, and had prophesied of them; but something not revealed as yet…

⁴ For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the siege mounds and by the sword: — the Targum says, “which they pulled down, and threw up mounts to strengthen the wall, against those that kill with the sword.”

⁵ ‘They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in Mine anger and in My fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid My face from this city. — and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from the city; had no pity for it, showed no mercy to it, gave it no help and assistance, or protection, having withdrawn his presence from it. So the Targum says, “I have caused my Shekinah to depart from this city, because of their wickedness.”

⁶ Behold, I will bring it health and cure; and I will cure them and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.

⁷ And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to cease, and will build them as at the first. — and I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return… mention being made of the return of the captivity of Israel, or the ten tribes, as well as that of Judah, shows that this prophecy does not relate to the return of the Jews from their seventy years’ captivity in Babylon; but is to be understood to be yet in the future;

— according to the Septuagint of Ezekiel 4, the captivity of Judah is 40 years whereas the captivity of Israel will be 190 years.

⁸ And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against Me; and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against Me.

⁹ And it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them; and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I provide unto it.’ — and they shall fear and tremble, for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it; that is, they shall fear the Lord, and tremble at his word; not with a slavish, but filial fear, which is consistent with joy and gladness.

¹⁰ “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Again there shall be heard in this place (which ye say shall be desolate, without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast),

¹¹ the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, “Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good; for His mercy endureth for ever” — and of those who shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captives of the land, as at the first, saith the Lord.

— such wild partyings the likes of Paris Hilton’s would ease and instead they would ask, “Why hath the Lord pronounced all these evils against us? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?”

¹² “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘Again in this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof shall be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.

¹³ In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the South, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that counteth them,’ saith the Lord.

¹⁴ “‘Behold, the days come,’ saith the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. — behold, the days are coming; there shall come a time when he will verify every good word which he hath spoken to, or concerning his people. 

¹⁵ In those days and at that time will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.

¹⁶ In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith she shall be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.’

¹⁷ “For thus saith the Lord: ‘David shall never be in want for a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; — David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; or, “there shall not be cut off unto David a man” and this is to be understood of the temporal kingdom of David, which has mysterious been preserved from even a long time ago.

¹⁸ neither shall the priests, the Levites, be in want for a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.’” — neither shall the priests the Levites for want a man before me… although the work of the Levitical priesthood has been abandoned long ago, their line, clan or tribe had mysterious been preserved.

¹⁹ And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying,

²⁰ “Thus saith the Lord: ‘If ye can break My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season, — thus saith the Lord, if you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night… the same with the ordinances of the sun, moon, and stars, Jeremiah 31:35; the original constitution and law of nature, settled from the beginning of the world, and observed ever since, in the constant revolution of day and night; and which was formed into a covenant and promise to Noah, after the deluge, that day and night should not cease, as long as the earth remained,

²¹ then may also My covenant be broken with David My servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites the priests, My ministers.

²² As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David My servant and the Levites who minister unto Me.’”

²³ Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

²⁴ “Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord hath chosen, He hath even cast them off’? Thus they have despised My people, that they should be no more a nation before them. — with respect to the two families, these two families being the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah; they “despised My people,” claiming that they had rejected God and then Jesus and hence our well-accepted paganized “Christians” are the chosen of God; hence the birth and prominence of the replacement theology today;

— replacement theology is the view that our modern Ishtar- and Mithras-worshipping church is the new or true Israel that has permanently replaced or superseded Israel as the people of God.

²⁵ Thus saith the Lord: ‘If My covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, —”Not so” the Lord says;

²⁶ then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; for I will cause their captivity to cease, and have mercy on them.’” — “Well, here’s God’s response: ‘If my covenant with day and night wasn’t in working order, if sky and earth weren’t functioning the way I set them going, then, but only then, you might think I had disowned the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David, and that I wouldn’t set up any of David’s descendants over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But as it is, I will give them back everything they’ve lost. The last word is, I will have mercy on them.’” (MSG)

~~~

More on God’s name, Yehovah.

God’s name is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎ YHVH Yehovah, which are embedded in the Masoretic text over 6000 times, yet when translated into our English language most had been translated as Lord, or LORD, which are titles, but not his name. His name is יהוה‎ Yehovah, or YEHOVAH (but there are no capital letters in Hebrew).

It wasn’t until 1524 that Gian Giorgio Trissino, an Italian Renaissance grammarian, invented the letter J that this new letter started to take a hold in the writings of western Europe. Even in 1611 when the English Bible the King James has our subject of study by the prophet Jeremiah, he was known as Ieremiah. So Jehovah is a very late comer.

The following verses with the LORD erred in translation. His name Yehovah should be used:

I am the LORD; that is My name. And My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Isaiah 42:8

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32

“I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not. I said, ‘Behold Me, behold Me,’ unto a nation that was not called by My name. Isaiah 65:1

When we call our God, the LORD, we err, because his name is not the LORD, which is a title. His name is YEHOVAH! May We all ask for his forgiveness, and may Our merciful God forgive us all.

Jeremiah 34

In this chapter, because of their breach of covenant to let servants go free, it is another cause of the taking and burning of Jerusalem; of the captivity of Zedekiah king of Judah; and of the destruction of the whole land.

¹ The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities thereof, saying,

² “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

³ And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.

⁴ Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah. Thus saith the Lord of thee: Thou shalt not die by the sword, — yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah… which, though a king, he ought to hearken to the Lord;

— thus saith the Lord of thee, thou shalt not die by the sword: of Zedekiah king of Judah of a violent death; and therefore fear not to deliver thyself and city into the hands of the king of Babylon; for Zedekiah fears he would put him to death immediately.

⁵ but thou shalt die in peace; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings who were before thee, so shall they burn incense for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, “Ah, lord!” For I have pronounced the word, saith the Lord.’”

⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,

⁷ when the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah. — and against all the cities of Judah that were left; unconquered by him; when he invaded the land, he fought against, and took, and ravished all the cities that lay in his way; and it seems there were none that stood out against him but Jerusalem, now besieged by him, and two others, mentioned below;

— against Lachish, and against Azekah; for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah; two cities that had been fortified by Rehoboam, II Chronicles 11:9; and were still standing besides Jerusalem, which as yet had not fallen into the army of Babylon.

⁸ This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty unto them: — this is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, which he recorded as faithfully as he had received it, after that the King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, entering into a solemn agreement with them, to proclaim liberty unto them, according to the Lord’s ordinance which permitted the Hebrews to keep the members of their own nation as bond-servants for only six years, since in the seventh year they must all be given their liberty, Exodus 21:22;

⁹ that every man should let his manservant and every man his maidservant, being a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free, that none should be served by them, to wit: by a Jew, his brother. — cause or compel them to be bond-servants, to wit, of a Jew, an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, for the Law concerned these only, not the slaves of another nationality.

¹⁰ Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant and every one his maidservant go free, that none should be served by them any more, then they obeyed and let them go. — they hearkened, and let them go free. That is, they conformed to the obligations of the covenant, which they had entered into at the instigation of their princes.

¹¹ But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids whom they had let go free to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. — but afterwards they turned, having cold feet… from the law of God, and their own agreement, and returned to their former usage of their servants; they changed their minds and measures.

¹² Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

¹³ “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,

¹⁴ ‘At the end of seven years let go every man his brother, a Hebrew who hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee.’ But your fathers hearkened not unto Me, neither inclined their ear. — this is another sin of Israel, the year of release, a release of a slave, and release of debt; the release of the land, a year of rest;

— but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear; to obey the laws of God, and particularly this concerning servants. This is not to be understood of the fathers with whom the covenant was first made, and to whom this law was first given; but their posterity in later times, who yet lived long before the present generation, and so might with great propriety be called their fathers; and by which it appears that this law had been long neglected.

¹⁵ And ye had now turned, and had done right in My sight in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and ye had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name.

¹⁶ But ye turned and polluted My name, and caused every man his servant and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

¹⁷ “Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ye have not hearkened unto Me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim a ‘liberty’ for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

¹⁸ And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before Me when they cut the calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof—

¹⁹ the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf—

²⁰ I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of them that seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven and to the beasts of the earth.

²¹ And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army which has gone up from you.

²² Behold, I will command, saith the Lord, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.” — and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire; they fought against it by shooting arrows from their bows, casting stones from their engines and by beating down the walls with their battering rams; with which making breaches, they entered in and took the city; burnt the temple, palaces and other houses with fire; of all which see the accomplishment in Jeremiah 52:4;

— and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant: many of them were already; the king of Babylon having taken, ravaged and plundered them before he came to Jerusalem; and whither the inhabitants of them, that escaped the sword, fled for security; and others of them, that were not, now should be made desolate upon the taking of Jerusalem,

— as Lachish and Azekah, Jeremiah 34:7; which should fall into the hands of the enemy, and the inhabitants thereof be forced to flee into other countries, or would be carried away as captives; so that they would be but few, if any, to dwell in these two cities.

~ by Joel Huan on November 17, 2021.

Posted in Jeremiah