Jeremiah 17
THE sin of Judah might be a trifling matter to them, as they asked Jeremiah why God should have pronounced such evil upon them (chapter 10:10), but it was written with a style of iron, with the point of a diamond, engraven upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of the altars, while their children remembered their altars and their groves.
"The tablet of the heart'' is within, hidden from sight, and there SIN was written, not, however, on the hearts of Judah's children only. God has made use of this expression, "tablet of the heart", four times in His Word: twice in Proverbs (3:3 and 7:3), where the believer is taught what should be written on it—weighty words to which we do well to give earnest heed—and in 2 Corinthians 3:3,3Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. (2 Corinthians 3:3) where the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer's heart is spoken of. A record for God to see is thus in every human heart; what does what I have written tell?
The horns of the altar were its corner projections and the only intended use of them indicated by the Scriptures was for the blood of sin offerings to he put there, —on both the altar of incense and that of burnt offering (Leviticus 4), thus maintaining before God the ground of communion and of the forgiveness of sin, the atoning blood of a Substitute. There, now, was Judah's sin written
"Their altars and their groves'', in verse 2, refers to the worship of idols, carried on by the people at the same time as the professed worship of the true God. The "groves" were not groups of trees, as might be supposed, but shrines, made of wood and erected under trees; it is thought that they were images of gods or goddesses.
God's "mountain in the field" was Jerusalem (verse 3 ). Verses 5 to 8 contrast in the clearest way "the man that trusteth in man," with "the man that trusteth in Jehovah." These are God's statements, and unalterably true, and there are many instances of their truth in the lives of our acquaintances.
There is much in Scripture about the heart: it is mentioned nearly eight hundred times in the Old Testament, and 158 times in the New. The first place where it is found in the Bible is in Genesis 6:5:
"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
That was 1,740 years, approximately, before Jeremiah wrote what we have in verse 9; since then, more than 2,500 years have passed. Has the human heart improved, think you, or grown worse with the lapse of twenty-five centuries since Jeremiah wrote?
Verse 11: The translators slightly missed the sense here, The correct reading is, "As the partridge sitteth on eggs it hath not laid, so is he that getteth riches and not by right; he shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.'
Verses 19-27: The Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, was the peculiar possession of Israel; the nations around them did not observe the day, and so it was a continual temptation to God's earthly people to give it up. But it was to them a command (Exodus 20:8-118Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: 10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8‑11)), and a sign of relationship under covenant between God and themselves (Exodus 31:10-1710And the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office, 11And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do. 12And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 13Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. 14Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. (Exodus 31:10‑17)) enjoined again and again in Exodus and Leviticus, and once more in Deuteronomy 5:12-1512Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. 13Six days thou shalt labor, and do all thy work: 14But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. 15And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12‑15) (see Ezekiel 20:12-2412Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. 13But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. 14But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. 15Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; 16Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. 17Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness. 18But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: 19I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; 20And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. 21Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. 22Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. 23I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; 24Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. (Ezekiel 20:12‑24)). It is evident that the Sabbath meant little to God-rejecting Judah; the message Jeremiah was given to deliver would show by its acceptance or rejection (it was rejected) whether they would turn back in heart or not. Only a God of infinite mercy and unwearied patience would have offered them another opportunity for repentance.
Messages of God’s Love 10/21/1934