Jeremiah 22 (HCSB)
Judgment against Sinful Kings
1 This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and announce this word there. 2 You are to say: Hear the word of the Lord, king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David—you, your officers, and your people who enter these gates. 3 This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Don’t exploit or brutalize the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you conscientiously carry out this word, then kings sitting on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this palace riding on chariots and horses—they, their officers, and their people. 5 But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by Myself”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“that this house will become a ruin.”
6 For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah:
You are like Gilead to Me, or the summit of Lebanon, but I will certainly turn you into a wilderness, uninhabited cities.
7 I will appoint destroyers against you, each with his weapons. They will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire.
8 “Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city?’ 9 They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God and worshiped and served other gods.’”
A Message Concerning Shallum
10 Do not weep for the dead; do not mourn for him. Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away, for he will never return again and see his native land.
11 For this is what the Lord says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of his father Josiah: “He has left this place—he will never return here again, 12 but he will die in the place where they deported him, never seeing this land again.”
A Message concerning Jehoiakim
13 Woe for the one who builds his palace through unrighteousness, his upper rooms through injustice, who makes his fellow man serve without pay and will not give him his wages,
14 who says, “I will build myself a massive palace, with spacious upper rooms.” He will cut windows in it, and it will be paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion.
15 Are you a king because you excel in cedar? Didn’t your father eat and drink and administer justice and righteousness? Then it went well with him.
16 He took up the case of the poor and needy, then it went well. Is this not what it means to know Me?
This is the Lord’s declaration.
17 But you have eyes and a heart for nothing except your own dishonest profit, shedding innocent blood and committing extortion and oppression.
18 Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
They will not mourn for him, saying, “Woe, my brother!” or “Woe, my sister!” They will not mourn for him, saying, “Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!”
19 He will be buried like a donkey, dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.
21 I spoke to you when you were secure. You said, “I will not listen.” This has been your way since youth; indeed, you have never listened to Me.
22 The wind will take charge of all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your evil.
23 You residents of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when labor pains come on you, agony like a woman in labor.
A Message concerning Coniah
24 “As I live,” says the Lord, “though you, Coniah son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, I would tear you from it. 25 In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the Chaldeans. 26 I will hurl you and the mother who gave birth to you into another land, where neither of you were born, and there you will both die. 27 They will never return to the land they long to return to.”
28 Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot, a jar no one wants? Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast into a land they have not known?
29 Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord!
30 This is what the Lord says:
Record this man as childless, a man who will not be successful in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 13a, 17a): In these two verses, You tell us about the man who selfishly and unrighteously builds up his own home and life. This has been me for so long, Father. For most of my life, to include the majority of my faith walk with You, I have been stuck in my selfish ways. I have very rarely obeyed Your commands or given praise to You for the things that I have achieved or obtained in my life. Please forgive me for this, Father. Forgive me for living so selfishly and self-righteously through this life. Help me to remember that everything I am and have is because of You and that You could quite easily take it all away if You wanted to do so. Thank You for being so generous to me with Your love and grace.
PROMISE (verse 22b): You make a powerful promise in the second half of this verse. You promise us that we will be ashamed and humiliated because of all of our evil ways. Although this is more of a “parent’s discipline” type of promise, it is a necessary one and I thank You so much for this. Thank You for loving me so much that You are always fully honest and transparent with me about the things that will occur if I do or do not follow Your will for my life. Thank You for always putting things in such a way that I am typically able to understand it rather easily. Help me to take this promise to heart so that I can remember it fully when the times come that I am considering another evil act.
ATTITUDE (verse 17a): Help me to no longer live in this selfish attitude of my heart, Father. I often live in the “woe is me” as well as the “how will this benefit me” mentality. Please forgive me of this, but also help me to soften my heart so that the attitudes of the Spirit pour into me so much that they overflow out of me. Help me to be far less selfish in this life, Father, so that I may begin to glorify You more and more inside and out; both in my thought life and my actions. Help me heart become more like Jesus’ heart, so that I care about others more than my selfish desires.
COMMAND (verse 5): Once again, Father, Your command here is quite simple yet oh so difficult for me to follow. You command us to obey Your words, else ruin will come. Help me to be better at not only knowing Your words, but also embracing them internally so they dwell so deeply into my heart and soul that they pour out into my actions in this life. Remind me of Your words daily, so they are not lost on me as I struggle to walk in this broken world quite a bit. Thank You for constantly reminding me, Father, because I need that consistency in my life else I will fail and stray rather easily.
EXAMPLE (verse 13-14, 17): In these verses You give us a great example of how not the live—do not live like Jehoiakim. He lived a very selfish life in these verses where his focus was on his wealth and material items so he could essentially “show off” to everyone how wealthy and powerful he was. No matter how You bless me in this life, help me to live a more humble life than I have been, but also far more humble than Jehoiakim did in this Scripture. Help me to praise You in all that I receive in this life, so that I may show glory to You through all of that. Remind me that all that I am and all that I receive is because of You and that I should always reflect gratefulness towards You, while living with those blessings in a humble way.
*DAILY NOTE: Although Jeremiah 22 gives a lot of background story and such, it did still speak to me quite a bit and I thank You for that, Father. Sometimes giving me a story to provide an example of how I am to live is the best way for me to truly understand things. Showing me the way Jehoiakim lived and how severely You disapproved of his way of living spoke loudly to me, because I often have done very similar in my life. Reaching for the big things to “show off” in a sense to make me feel like I’m successful in the view of the world, when their opinions of me shouldn’t matter at all. There’s only one opinion that should matter to me and that is from You, Father. Thank You for opening my eyes to this through the example provided from Jehoiakim’s lavish lifestyle.
*GENERAL NOTE: I always "sandwich" my quiet time with God in prayer and do it in a location that I will not have any distractions so that I can be focused on my quiet time with God. Do not worry about how short or long your journal entries are for that day's quiet time. Just focus on the actual quiet time and relational conversation with God through the Holy Spirit and His Word. The journaling is an enhancement to your quiet time conversation with God, but also to allow you to reflect on things later as you can look back on your journal entries later when you do the chapters again in the future to see how you have grown. See the FAQ for more detail on how I do my quiet time.
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