WWUTT 2344 Return to the Old Paths (Jeremiah 6:1-30)

God called Jerusalem to walk in the old paths. Go back to the words that were first spoken to you and follow in the way that you have been directed to go.

And so we must as well when we understand the text. This is when we understand the text, a daily

Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the word. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we feature

New Testament study, an Old Testament book on Thursday and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Jeremiah, we are on to chapter six today.

And I'm gonna try to cover the whole chapter if I can. What we've read thus far, we've read of Israel rejecting

God. Jerusalem specifically has rejected the Lord and here we're gonna see in this chapter that God has rejected them.

After hundreds of years of disobeying God, worshiping false gods, going after the practices of the pagans, now

God is going to bring an invasion against Judah. They will be defeated, which we read about here in the first eight verses.

And I'll explain here in a moment how this chapter breaks down. But let me go ahead and read these first eight verses.

Hear the word of the Lord. Flee for safety, oh people of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem.

Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise a signal on Beth -Hecharim, for disaster looms out of the north and great destruction.

The lovely and delicately bred, I will destroy the daughter of Zion.

Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her. They shall pitch their tents around her. They shall pasture each his place.

Prepare war against her. Arise and let us attack at noon. Woe to us for the day declines, for the shadows of evening lengthen.

Arise and let us attack by night and destroy her palaces. For thus says the

Lord of hosts, cut down her trees, cast up a siege mount against Jerusalem.

This is the city that must be punished. There is nothing but oppression within her. As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her evil.

Violence and destruction are heard within her. Sickness and wounds are ever before me.

Be warned, oh Jerusalem, lest I turn from you in disgust, lest I make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.

Now those first eight verses that I've read here, this is the announcement of the invasion and destruction of Jerusalem, including the siege that is going to be laid against it.

There will be siege works put up against the walls of Jerusalem. Now that had happened before.

That was when the Assyrians had come against Jerusalem, but they were unable to take her because God had come down and wiped out, what was it?

186 ,000 Assyrians in a single night so that the army was defeated by the hand of the

Lord and they were unable to come against Jerusalem and take it. But now this time, the Babylonians, the

Chaldeans are gonna be the ones that will come against Jerusalem and they will succeed in their laying siege to the city for God will take his providing hand off of the city and let them into the hands of their enemies.

So the next section here is then in verses nine to 15, God is gonna bring an indictment against Jerusalem for rejecting his word.

And in verses 16 to 26, they refuse to walk in God's ways.

So if they reject the word, they will reject the way that God instructs for them to walk in light of that word.

And then finally, verses 27 to 30, kind of a final punctuation on this chapter where Jeremiah's ministry proves itself to Judah who is now fit only for punishment.

So let me come back up to verse one. Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin. Now, all of this chapter really in the way that it's written moves rapidly.

So I think here that I can cover the whole chapter faster than I did through chapter five, which took us a few weeks.

So flee for safety, O people of Benjamin from the midst of Jerusalem, blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise a signal on Beth Hecarim for disaster looms out of the north and great destruction.

That of course is gonna be the announcement of Babylon's arrival. So the statement made here to Benjamin, remember that the

Southern kingdom consisted of Judah and Benjamin. It was called Judah, but the tribe of Benjamin, which was very small, was with Judah as well.

And so this statement is being made to Benjamin, not that the Benjamites were innocent, but it's as if to say to them, you are in close proximity.

Here's the destruction that's gonna be against Jerusalem. You don't wanna be near when it happens.

It's not saying that the Benjamites are spared because they have been innocent. It's just a statement of the severity of the conquering when it comes.

From the midst of Jerusalem, blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise a signal on Beth Hecarim.

Now these locations, we don't actually know where Beth Hecarim is. We know that Tekoa was about nine miles from Jerusalem to the

South. So most likely Beth Hecarim was also to the South. And it is to say that since this enemy is coming from the

North, you're gonna have to flee to the South. And that's the reference to these particular locations.

For disaster looms out of the North and great destruction. Verse two, the lovely and delicately bred

I will destroy. You guys have become soft. You think that you're sitting in luxury and that nothing will happen to you.

You are the ones that are going to be destroyed. Now there's an alternate reading to the second part of verse two, where it says there the daughter of Zion.

It could also be said, I have likened the daughter of Zion to the loveliest pasture.

That's another alternate reading there in the manuscripts, the early manuscripts that we have of Jeremiah.

There's actually a lot of alteration that's been made to Jeremiah over the years because after the exile, those documents ended up being corrupted.

So it was quite a bit of work to find the original, the earliest manuscripts of what

Jeremiah would have actually written. So because of that, because of the corruption that had happened a little bit later on, there are some phrases that are still debated over.

Did Jeremiah write that or was that something that was alternately said by someone else? So verse two is an example of that,

Jeremiah 6 .2. There's an alternate reading that could be understood there. I have likened the daughter of Zion to the loveliest pasture.

But again, it's to say that you've grown soft and you think that you're safe in your luxury, but this destruction will come upon you and you will not escape it.

Verse three, shepherds with their flocks shall come out against her. They shall pitch their tents around her.

They shall pasture each his place. Now, if it's understood in verse two that the daughter of Zion is the loveliest pasture, then it is the envy of other kingdoms and other peoples.

And indeed that was the case. This was a very rich and luxurious land that God had given to the

Israelites and they took it for granted. They took advantage of God. And so God is bringing this judgment against Jerusalem so that the shepherds and flocks of other people are gonna come and pitch their tents and they will be able to dwell in the land because the

Jews will be driven out of it. Prepare war against her, verse four. Arise and let us attack at noon.

Woe to us for the day declines for the shadows of evening lengthen. This is all to say darkness is coming upon you rapidly.

Arise and let us attack by night and destroy her palaces. That's the enemy speaking, coming against Jerusalem.

So now verse six, for thus says the Lord of hosts, cut down her trees, cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.

This is the city that must be punished. There is nothing but oppression within her. So here you have the enemy saying, well, let's go and attack.

Let us attack by night and destroy her palaces. And now God's response is, okay, do it.

And here's how, even giving them guidance in how they can destroy Jerusalem because this is what

God means to happen. This isn't the will of the people. It is the will of God that this punishment would come against Jerusalem.

There's nothing but oppression within her, he says. As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her evil.

Oh, what a devastating statement that is. The thing that you love, the cistern that you love to drink from, the storm that you think is fresh on your lips, it's the evil that you love.

Violence and destruction are heard within her. Sickness and wounds are ever before me,

God says of Jerusalem. Be warned, lest I turn from you in disgust, lest I make a desolation, an uninhabited land.

So this destruction is going to come against Jerusalem. It will totally annihilate you if you don't turn from your sin and turn back to God.

So you still have the mercy of God that's being spoken about here, an opportunity for Jerusalem to repent.

So now in verses nine to 15, we read of how Jerusalem has rejected the word of God.

Here is verse nine. Thus says the Lord of hosts, they shall glean thoroughly as a vine, the remnant of Israel.

Now, oftentimes when that word remnant is used, it's in reference to the faithful of Israel, whom

God preserved. He didn't wipe them out because they were the ones who from the heart were genuinely for the

Lord. In this particular case though, it's not a reference to the faithful. It's a reference to those who survive this destruction that's coming upon them because look at what

God says here. They shall glean thoroughly as a vine, the remnant of Israel, like a great gatherer, pass your hand again over its branches.

So in other words, there's gonna be a group that survives, come at them again, so that you may glean from them, take more from them, so that this punishment may be thorough.

Verse 10, to whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised.

They cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn.

They take no pleasure in it. They don't love God's word. They don't listen to what it is that God has said.

They have rejected his word and therefore his way, as we will see in the next section. So verse 11, therefore,

I am full of the wrath of the Lord. I am weary of holding it in.

Pour it out upon the children in the street and upon the gatherings of young men also. Both husband and wife shall be taken.

The elderly and the very aged. You see the totality of this judgment that is coming against Jerusalem.

From the youngest to the oldest. Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, declares the

Lord. Now that's what Judah and Israel did when they came into the land.

They seized cities and lived in houses that they did not build. But now that very thing is gonna be done against them because they disobeyed

God. For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain.

And from the prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. Even those who have the word of God, who should be teaching that word to the people, even they have not fulfilled the job that God had appointed them to do.

And instead they use their position to feed themselves. They are greedy for unjust gain.

Verse 14, they have healed the wound of my people lightly saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace.

And this is not merely talking about peace between nations. Of course that peace hasn't been there.

There's been conflict that's been going on there for even centuries up to this point. So there's been conflict that Jerusalem and Judah, they've been in conflict with other people and lands around them.

But this is specifically saying peace with God. There are those, the priests and the false teachers who have been saying, there's peace.

We are at peace with God. God is not angry with us when that's not true at all.

I remember several years ago, there was a billboard in Orlando, Florida and there on a major highway in Orlando, one of the interstates, a mega church had put up this big billboard that said,

God is not angry with you. And R .C. Sproul, whose church was in Samford, which was just a little bit to the north of Orlando, he said,

I know one thing, if God is mad about anything, he's mad about that sign. Because the scripture says that God is a righteous judge who feels indignation every day.

His heart hates the wicked as said in Psalm 5. So yes, God is angry at sin.

In fact, Jesus coming and dying for us was because God is angry at sin.

It was to satisfy the wrath of God that is burning against all the unrighteousness and ungodliness of men.

So that in Christ Jesus, who died for us to take God's wrath upon himself with his death on the cross, if we believe in him, we are no longer under God's wrath, but we are in his grace and love.

As said in John 3 .36, he who has the son has life. He who does not obey the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

So when we look at Christ's death on the cross, we see God's anger towards sin, but we also see his grace and his love toward those who turn to him for forgiveness.

There is a way for us to be forgiven our sins, to not perish under the wrath of God that we all deserve because of our rebellion against God.

But the only way to be saved is by faith in Jesus. So let's continue on here as God continues to pronounce this judgment upon Jerusalem, who with deaf ears will not listen to the word of the

Lord. Verse 15, were they ashamed when they committed abomination?

No, they were not at all ashamed. They did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall.

At the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the

Lord. And again, this is in the midst of their priests and their teachers saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace.

Only those who believe in Jesus have peace with God. That his wrath is not upon us anymore.

His wrath has been satisfied. We have peace with God and now fellowship with him. But these people are not even ashamed of the wickedness that they have done before God.

And they will be punished for this. They shall fall among those who fall at the time that I punish them.

And so now the next section, verses 16 to 26, this is the effect of those who have refused to listen to the word of the

Lord. Now they don't even walk in his way. Thus says the Lord, stand by the roads and look and ask for the ancient paths.

Some translations read that as old paths. You've probably heard that expression before.

It comes from this passage right here, Jeremiah 6, 16. Ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and find rest for your souls.

But they said, we will not walk in it. Where do we find the ancient paths?

We go to God's word. And then we can hear and see and know what it is that God expects of us to do.

But those who reject the word reject his way also. It's in Romans 15, four that we are told for what was written in former days were written for our instruction that through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.

And also we have from this word, how we are to walk. But the people have rejected the word and they do not walk in the way.

Verse 17, I set watchmen over you saying, pay attention to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, we will not pay attention.

Therefore hear O nations and know O congregation what will happen to them.

Hear O earth, behold I am bringing disaster upon this people the fruit of their devices because they have not paid attention to my words.

And as for my law, they have rejected it. What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land.

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.

Therefore thus says the Lord, behold I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble.

Fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish. They'll burn frankincense and they would burn sweet cane so that it would lift up a fragrant aroma to God.

And there was probably in the hearts of this people this idea of like, hey, if we do this and we lift this fragrant offering then

God won't notice our sin whether or not they were consciously thinking about that or not. But God says, what is that to me?

I don't smell the sweet aroma of your God fearing hearts.

I smell the stench of your wickedness and your sin that you persist in and go about in thinking nothing will happen to you.

Peace, peace when there is no peace. Verse 22, thus says the

Lord, behold a people is coming from the North country. A great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.

They lay hold on bow and javelin. They are cruel and have no mercy. The sound of them is like the roaring sea.

They ride on horses set in array as a man for battle against you,

O daughter of Zion. We have heard the report of it. Our hands fall helpless.

Anguish has taken hold of us. Pain as of a woman in labor. Go not out into the field nor walk on the road for the enemy has a sword.

Terror is on every side. O daughter of my people put on sackcloth and roll in ashes, make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

I have made you a tester of metals among my people that you may know and test their ways.

They are all stubbornly rebellious going about with slanders. They are bronze and iron.

All of them act corruptly. The bellows blow fiercely. The lead is consumed by the fire.

In vain the refining goes on for the wicked are not removed. Rejected silver they are called for the

Lord has rejected them. And that is the conclusion of the judgment that God pronounces upon Jerusalem that we have here in Jeremiah chapter six.

This will bring an end to a part. The opening of Jeremiah where God has first called

Jeremiah, that's what we had in chapter one. And then what he was to say to the people, there were calls of repentance and there was promises of judgment.

And since the people have rejected God, here is the judgment that he is gonna bring against them for God has rejected them.

And that's what we have to the conclusion of chapter six. When we pick up next week, God willing, in chapter seven, we've got quite a bit of narrative that we're gonna pick up on in this next portion of the book of Jeremiah.

Let us fear God in a reverent and holy way, knowing that he is judge and he is the one who tests the minds and heart of every person.

Let there not be sin that you keep silent and keep suppressed as long as nobody else sees it that I must be pretty good.

And you have said in your heart, peace, peace, where there is no peace. Turn from your sin to the

Lord Jesus Christ, be forgiven your sin and made right with God that we may escape the day of judgment and live with him in fellowship now and forever in his kingdom and glory.

Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read, the guidance that you've given according to your word and teach us and help us to walk in the old paths, in the ancient ways that your ancient word has scripted out for us, the ways that we can walk in pleasing obedience unto the

Lord. Now, no one can truly obey God without your Holy Spirit within us.

And so we ask for forgiveness for our sins that by followers of Jesus Christ, we have your

Holy Spirit and can walk in your ways in a way that is pleasing and acceptable to you.

May we be living sacrifices unto the Lord. Romans 12 one, holy and acceptable to you.

And this is our spiritual act of worship. It's in Jesus name we pray, amen. This has been,

When We Understand the Text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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