Thursday after TeTzaveh

Thursday after TeTzaveh

Weekday Reading

Jeremiah chapter 29 & 30

Jer 29:1 Now these are the words of the letter that Yirmeyahu the prophet sent from Yerushalayim to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the Kohanim, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nevukhadnetzar had carried away captive from Yerushalayim to Bavel,

Jer 29:2 (after that Yekhonyah the king, and the queen mother, and the eunuchs, [and] the princes of Yehudah and Yerushalayim, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, were departed from Yerushalayim),

Jer 29:3 by the hand of El`asah the son of Shafan, and Gemaryah the son of Chilkiyah, (whom Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah sent to Bavel to Nevukhadnetzar king of Bavel), saying,

Jer 29:4 Thus says YHWH Tzeva’ot, the Elohim of Yisra’el, to all the captivity, whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Yerushalayim to Bavel:

Jer 29:5 Build you houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.

Jer 29:6 Take wives, and father sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply you there, and don’t be diminished.

Jer 29:7 Seek the shalom of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to YHWH for it; for in the shalom of it shall you have shalom.

Jer 29:8 For thus says YHWH Tzeva’ot, the Elohim of Yisra’el: Don’t let your prophets who are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; neither listen you to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.

Jer 29:9 For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: I have not sent them, says YHWH.

This is a letter to people in exile from Eretz Israel. In our day and age, it would be for those of 10-Israel who have been assimilated into other nations, often Christians. They settled, they built, they carried on life for generations, and now the time of their exile is nearing its end.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 29:10 For thus says YHWH, After seventy years are accomplished for Bavel, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says YHWH, thoughts of shalom, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end.

Jer 29:12 You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Jer 29:13 You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.

Jer 29:14 I will be found by you, says YHWH, and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says YHWH; and I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive.

This refers to the Ingathering, the Feast of Sukkot, which will inagurate the Messianic Kingdom. Again here, the “70” years for them becomes 7 years for our time – the Tribulation.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 29:15 Because you have said, YHWH has raised us up prophets in Bavel;

Jer 29:16 thus says YHWH concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who haven’t gone forth with you into captivity;

Those who were not assimilated in captivity are the House of Yehudah – in this case, Rabbinic Judaism is the primary target.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 29:17 thus says YHWH Tzeva’ot; Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can’t be eaten, they are so bad.

Jer 29:18 I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an object of horror, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them;

Jer 29:19 because they have not listened to my words, says YHWH, with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear, says YHWH.

And this has most certainly been the fate of the Jews, who, during their own years of exile prior to the creation of the State of Israel and the Law of Return, were oppressed and persecuted throughout Europe and the world.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 29:20 Hear you therefore the word of YHWH, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent away from Yerushalayim to Bavel.

Jer 29:21 Thus says YHWH Tzeva’ot, the Elohim of Yisra’el, concerning Ach’av the son of Kolayah, and concerning Tzidkiyahu the son of Ma`aseyah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nevukhadnetzar king of Bavel; and he shall kill them before your eyes;

Jer 29:22 and of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Yehudah who are in Bavel, saying, YHWH make you like Tzidkiyahu and like Ach’av, whom the king of Bavel roasted in the fire;

Jer 29:23 because they have worked folly in Yisra’el, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn’t command them; and I am he who knows, and am witness, says YHWH.

Certainly these prophecies apply to these specific historical figures. They may also be a foreshadowing of persons during the end times who are high up in the government of the State of Israel.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 29:24 Concerning Shemayah the Nechelami you shall speak, saying,

Jer 29:25 Thus speaks YHWH Tzeva’ot, the Elohim of Yisra’el, saying, Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are at Yerushalayim, and to Tzefanyah the son of Ma`aseyah, the Kohen, and to all the Kohanim, saying,

Jer 29:26 YHWH has made you Kohen in the place of Yehoiada the Kohen, that there may be officers in the house of YHWH, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.

Jer 29:27 Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Yirmeyahu of `Anatot, who makes himself a prophet to you,

Jer 29:28 because he has sent to us in Bavel, saying, [The captivity] is long: build you houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them?

Jer 29:29 Tzefanyah the Kohen read this letter in the ears of Yirmeyahu the prophet.

Again, this is obviously a very specific message to a historical person – but again, it may also be a foreshadow of some person and some letter in the end times.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 29:30 Then came the word of YHWH to Yirmeyahu, saying,

Jer 29:31 Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus says YHWH concerning Shemayah the Nechelami: Because Shemayah has prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;

Jer 29:32 therefore thus says YHWH, Behold, I will punish Shemayah the Nechelami, and his seed; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people, neither shall he see the good that I will do to my people, says YHWH, because he has spoken rebellion against YHWH.

The “good” will be the Ingathering at Sukkot. Whomever this man is, and whatever is in the letter that he sends in the last days, Elohim will cut him off from his people, and his descendants will not survive the Tribulation to enter the Messianic Kingdom.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 30:1 The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, saying,

Jer 30:2 Thus speaks YHWH, the Elohim of Yisra’el, saying, Write you all the words that I have spoken to you in a book.

Jer 30:3 For, behold, the days come, says YHWH, that I will rescind the captivity of my people Yisra’el and Yehudah, says YHWH; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.

Though 10-Israel had already been “missing” for hundreds of years when Judah was taken captive to Babylon, Elohim still knows where their descendants are and who they are. This promise is clearly for the Messianic Age.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 30:4 These are the words that YHWH spoke concerning Yisra’el and concerning Yehudah.

Jer 30:5 For thus says YHWH: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of shalom.

Jer 30:6 Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child: why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

Jer 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Ya`akov’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

The “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” is another name for the Tribulation.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 30:8 It shall come to pass in that day, says YHWH Tzeva’ot, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds; and strangers shall no more make him their bondservant;

Jer 30:9 but they shall serve YHWH their Elohim, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.

He will be one of those included in the Parousia, along with Isaiah and many righteous people of the patriarch’s times.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 30:10 Therefore don’t you be afraid, O Ya`akov my servant, says YHWH; neither be dismayed, Yisra’el: for, behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity; and Ya`akov shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

Jer 30:11 For I am with you, says YHWH, to save you: for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.

Again, this doesn’t mean nothing bad happens to descendants of Israel – many bad things DO happen. That is their punishment for refusing to obey.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 30:12 For thus says YHWH, Your hurt is incurable, and your wound grievous.

Jer 30:13 There is none to plead your cause, that you may be bound up: you have no healing medicines.

Jer 30:14 All your lovers have forgotten you; they don’t seek you: for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased.

Israel’s “lovers” are those with whom she has treaties, alliances, and agreements for security and protection during the end times.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 30:15 Why cry you for your hurt? your pain is incurable: for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased, I have done these things to you.

Jer 30:16 Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, everyone of them, shall go into captivity; and those who despoil you shall be a spoil, and all who prey on you will I give for a prey.

Jer 30:17 For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says YHWH; because they have called you an outcast, [saying], It is Tziyon, whom no man seeks after.

Jer 30:18 Thus says YHWH: Behold, I will rescind the captivity of Ya`akov’s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling places; and the city shall be built on its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited after its own manner.

Jer 30:19 Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

Jer 30:20 Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them.

This implies, of course, that after hasatan is released from the pit once the first 1000 years of the kingdom are over, that there will be nations who follow him and attempt to oppress Israel.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 30:21 Their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to me: for who is he who has had boldness to approach to me? says YHWH.

Jer 30:22 You shall be my people, and I will be your Elohim.

Jer 30:23 Behold, the storm of YHWH, [even his] wrath, is gone forth, a sweeping storm: it shall burst on the head of the wicked.

Jer 30:24 The fierce anger of YHWH shall not return, until he has executed, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall understand it.

The “latter days” are fast approaching. It is important that we read and understand the events that will happen in those days. Elohim’s calendar is our guide, the prophets fill in the details. We are to “watch and wait” and not be caught unawares, like lazy servants.