Day 57 ~ The Northern Tribe is part of the Remnant

We hop around in the timeline of the last few kings of Judah in the reading today. This would be a good section to read in a chronological bible. This section also has quite a bit of message of hope to the southern and the northern kingdoms. Someone finally talks about the northern tribes (Israel / also referred to as Ephraim) and provides some hope for them as well as the southern kingdom.

• Jeremiah 26 - threats against Jeremiah's life were real. Another Godly prophet, Urijah was hunted down and killed for word from God.
• Don't resist Babylon's rule. Babylon has already carted some Hebrews off from Jerusalem, as well as some of the temple articles, eventually they will all be taken off. But, they will eventually be restored.
• Chapter 28 - Hananiah was making predictions in God's name, but he was a false prophet (in fourth year of Zedekiah's rule he predicts that within 2 years Babylon would bring back all that they had taken from Jerusalem.) This goes against what Jeremiah has been speaking. The Lord strikes down this false prophet. (obviously wrong, see 32:1)
• 29 - captivity will be 70 years from the original group taken captive, then a remnant will return to Jerusalem
• 29:10-13 explains this promise, encapsulating an oft-quoted passage of hope - "For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." 29:11 is the passage that I quoted in my college yearbook.
• 29:22 - Nebuchadnezzar's chosen method of torture is exposed - roasting in the fire. Were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo in captivity under Nebuchadnezzar? We'll find out later, I'm sure.
• 30:3 - hey, some news about the northern kingdoms - Israel and Judah will be returned.
• 31:9 - was Ephraim the firstborn of the 12 sons who became the tribes of Judah? No, Reuben was the first born, but he lost his inheritance to Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (1 Chronicles 5:1), thus the phrase "Ephraim is my firstborn". Chapter 31 spends many of the verses on the return of the northern kingdom as well as the southern kingdom.
• 31:31 - New covenant coming - a personal intimacy - :34 - knowing God, not just knowing about Him
• 32:7 - do you remember the rights of redemption of property - see Leviticus 25:25, or revisit Boaz and Ruth. Jeremiah redeems a piece of property with the aid of his right-hand man and scribe (Baruch). All this while in jail, and apparently the paperwork on closing a property took alot of time and witnesses 2500 years ago, too.
• 32:17 - song - Ah, Lord God, Thou has made the heavens...
• 34:12ff - slavery rules - limited to 6 years (slavery invoked to repay debt)
• 35 - going back in time here, Jeremiah's been in jail under Zedekiah, but chapter 35 goes back 3 or 4 kings to Jehoiakim.
• Rechabites? This is all a bit confusing. But I think the idea is that they heeded Jeremiah's word.
• 35:3 - did Jeremiah have a son? was this before God told him not to get married or have children?
• 36:5 - Baruch acts on behalf of Jeremiah - he goes and reads the scroll that he had transcribed for Jeremiah in front of the princes - because Jeremiah is confined. Confined where? In jail? But not in jail like he was in chapter 35 under Zedekiah, because Baruch reads the scroll in the presence of the prince Zedekiah (36:12). Jeremiah and Baruch made a good team.
• 37:1-2 - Zedekiah becomes king to fulfill the prophecy from 36:30 that Jehoiakim's line would end.
• 37 - Jeremiah is accused of being a spy for Babylon and imprisoned, but transferred to Zedekiah's jail. Are we caught back up to chapter 32 now? Anyway, Zedekiah has his doubts that Jeremiah is a spy and asks him to speak frankly to him about God's plans. But he doesn't believe it.
• What is worse than being a hated prophet in a city under seige? Being imprisoned in a cistern with no food in a city under seige.