Ep. 179. Jeremiah 7-8 | Even the Stork Knows

EPISODE 179

EVEN THE STORK KNOWS: JEREMIAH 7-8

I don't know if we are as appalled as we ought to be by the arrogance of the rebellious people of Jerusalem. Think of the audacity; they "steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to idols" and then stand before God in his house only to declare, "We are delivered!" They have so little regard for God that they live according to their pleasures and then feel absolved simply by standing in the temple of the Lord.

The mistake we will likely make in a text like this is saying something like, "I know Christians are doing the same thing today." But I would point out that the people who behave in such a way as Jeremiah describes don't actually have a relationship with God. If you, or someone you know, behaves this casually toward their sin, then it is more likely that they don't have a relationship with God. It is more likely that they are not believers at all. We can't make a one-to-one correlation between the people of Israel and Christians. Not everyone who was of Israel was a person of faith. Indeed, the people Jeremiah is referring to here in chapter seven are not people of faith.

We know from 1 John 3 that those who practice their sin belong to the devil, and those who practice righteousness belong to God. Someone who sins as boldly as those mentioned here in Jeremiah is NOT a person of faith.

It is interesting to see here and then twice more in Jeremiah that God instructs Jeremiah not to pray for these rebellious people nor to seek forgiveness for them. This is absolutely contrary to the way many of us have been taught to think about God, but it is a good lesson for us to see that those who reject him are counted as his enemies. Of course, the immediate context here regards the people of Judah, so let's not make the text a bigger thing than that. We can confidently say that God told Jeremiah not to pray for or seek forgiveness for the rebels in Jerusalem. Does God ever make such statements about other people groups? That might be a question for another time.

The stork, swallow, and crane know their times and seasons, but this particular generation of Hebrews did not know the God they claim to serve. This was, in part, due to the Scribes being unfaithful in copying and preserving the words of God. We, too, ought to be careful to look critically at all things spoken of by those who claim to know and teach the truth of God. (Simpler Bible and me included)

ADDITIONAL READING: Isaiah 56:7; Matthew 21:13; 1 Kings 9:6-9; Jeremiah 14:11; Jeremiah 11:14; Deuteronomy 5:33; Jeremiah 25:4; 29:19; 35:15; 44:4; Isaiah 53:6