1. Jeremiah 22:10-12, What trip to Egypt is the Lord talking about here?

It’s been a while since we read through II Kings, but in the 23^rd chapter of that book, we’re told the incident of which Jeremiah is speaking. Josiah, the righteous king, has just been killed by Pharaoh Neco. The first son of Josiah, Shallum or Jehoahaz becomes king. He was an evil man and the Lord used the same Pharaoh Neco to, first, imprison him, then allow him to die in Egypt, so that Jehoiakim (aka Eliakim) became the next king, the one Jeremiah is dealing with in our present study.

2. Jeremiah 22:30. Problem here. The sons of Josiah are in the royal blood line of David. That line was supposed to go to Jesus Christ, was it not? Here we are told that no descendant of Coniah (Jeconiah, grandson of Josiah) will ever sit on the the throne of David!

I Kings 11 actually describes the beginning of the fall of the Solomonic line, but not the Davidic line. Though kings can be traced from Solomon to Jeconiah, we come to a dead-end following that line. There were no more kings of Israel or Judah after this sorry excuse for a royal person “Coniah.” Still the lineage continues, and yet it dead-ends again, this time in Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus. But though one can make a case of legality here, it is not the lineage we should be looking at.

Solomon had a brother. His name was Nathan. Trace the lineage of David through Nathan, as does Luke, and you will come to Mary, and to Jesus. The blood line is intact. Jesus is the true “son of David” , and inheritor of the Throne of that David also.

3. Jeremiah 23:5. Who is the “Branch” that is coming?

Probably not by coincidence, the prophecy of Jeremiah suddenly turns from an heir-less Coniah to the heir of all things, Jesus. Though the trouble prophesied for 22 chapters is Babylon and local, the prophet suddenly swings into the end times when all the trouble is over and Jesus is ruling.

4. Jeremiah 23. Any comparisons between the “prophets” of Jeremiah’s day and the ones we see around us now?

• They speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord.
• “The Lord says, ‘You will have peace.’”
• God did not send these prophets, but they ran.
• God did not speak to these prophets, but they prophesied.
• “I had a dream, I had a dream.”
• People forget God’s Name because of these dreams.
• Tell your dream, let the person of the Word speak the Word. Like comparing straw to grain.
• The prophets keep saying, “the LORD says…”
• Stop saying, “This is the ‘oracle’ of the Lord!”

5. Jeremiah 25:30-38. After Jeremiah visits kings in his part of the world, he addresses a message to the entire earth, or so it seems. When is this prophecy to take place?

Clues. Always look for clues before a conclusion:

• The Lord will roar … against all the inhabitants of the earth.
• …the Lord has a controversy with the nations.
• He is entering into judgment with all flesh.
• …those slain by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other.

Could this be anything but the final judgment, executed by the Son of God at His return? Jeremiah is taken from the local scene to the final status of the nations he encounters. God has been angry with the nations for some time now, and only holds back His judgment to extend the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to all who have not heard.

6. Jeremiah 29:7. Can we learn something of God’s attitude toward pilgrim people here?

We too, like Israel, are a people who have not come to our final destination. We sojourn in a strange land, whatever the nation of our pilgrimage. In persecuted lands we are hated and abused. In prosperous free lands we are tempted to love this world too much and miss out on what is truly important.

But while we are here we are to bless the place of our abode. We are to pray for it. When God hears and answers our prayers for our nation, we too get blessed in the entire process.

That is what I pick up from this passage, with no desire to take away from it the literal and local meaning of the passage, that Israel will be carried captive into Babylon for so many years, that they might as well make the best of it!

7. Jeremiah 29:11. Is this verse to be used for all believers at all time?

This is one of those go-to verses of the prosperity preachers. I notice it is used extensively throughout the Christian world. The context is: First, serious judgment. First, punishment. First, you blew it! Because of that you will have an extended time when everything will seem strange to you. You will desire the land I gave you, but will not be able to experience it. You will wish for the old ways, but they will be gone. The Temple and all its beauty and meaning will be lost to you. This first.

But hang in there. I have a plan for you that is so good. Things will get back in order one day. And the reason [in the next verses] is that you are going to be seeking me with all of your heart, when you realize just how bad it is you have been. When I am confident that your heart is right, the blessings will flow.

Now if that is the meaning of today’s users of this verse, fine. But I fear this is just a blanket promise by a TV-type preacher to make his generic audience feel that everything is going to be rosy, regardless.