Jeremiah 23

The tumult and the shouting dies The captains and the kings depart— Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice An humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget—lest we forget! —Rudyard Kipling, “Recessional”

Kipling’s “Recessional” was published in 1897 when Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee was celebrated in Great Britain. The poem was a quiet warning to the British people to beware of overconfidence in their hour of imperial glory. Perhaps Kipling had the words of Daniel in mind: “The Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses” (Dan. 4: nkjv), or he may have been thinking of Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (nkjv).

Jeremiah wrote a more pointed “Recessional” for the kingdom of Judah as he described one king after another leaving the scene and marching off to shameful judgment. In the great days of David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, the nation had honored the Lord, but now Judah was rapidly moving toward defeat and disgrace. In these pivotal chapters, Jeremiah delivered four important messages to the leaders and to the people.

Godly King Josiah reigned for thirty-one years and sought to lead the people back to God. But the last four kings of Judah were wicked men, even though three of them were Josiah’s sons and one was his grandson (Jehoiachin).

Jehoahaz, or Shallum, succeeded Josiah and reigned only three months (Jer. 22:10–12; 2 Kings 23:30–33). Pharaoh Necho deported him to Egypt, where he died.

Jehoiakim, also called Eliakim, reigned for eleven years (Jer. 22:13–23; 2 Kings 23:34—24:6) and died in Jerusalem. He was followed by his son Jehoiachin, also called Jeconiah and Coniah, whose reign lasted only three months (Jer. 22:24–30; 2 Kings 24:6–12). Nebuchadnezzar took him to Babylon, where eventually he died.

The last king of Judah was Zedekiah, who reigned eleven years and saw the kingdom and the Holy City destroyed by Babylon (Jer. 22:1–9; 2 Kings 24:17— 25:21). He was blinded and taken to Babylon to die. As Kipling wrote, “The captains and the kings depart.”

Jeremiah disclosed the truth about those four kings, but then he made a promise about Messiah—the Righteous Branch (King) who would one day reign and execute justice in the land.

Zedekiah—callousness (22:1–9). The king had sent messengers to Jeremiah, but the prophet went personally to the palace to deliver God’s message. Zedekiah was sitting on David’s throne, in David’s house of cedar (2 Sam. 5:11; 7:2,7), benefiting from the covenant God had made with David (2 Sam. 7), and yet the king wasn’t serving the Lord as David had served Him. Jeremiah repeated what he had preached before (Jer. 21:12), that it was time for the king and his nobles to obey God’s law and execute justice in the land. They were exploiting the poor and needy, shedding innocent blood, and refusing to repent and turn to God.

In 2 Samuel 7, there is a dual meaning to the word house: a literal building (the temple David wanted to construct for God) and the royal house (dynasty) God established through David by His gracious covenant. These same two meanings are woven into Jeremiah’s message: God will destroy both the royal palace and the Davidic dynasty because of the sins of the kings. The royal house of cedar would be cut down and burned as the Chaldean soldiers went through the city like men chopping down a forest in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Jeremiah appeared to be giving the leaders a small window of opportunity: If they would repent and do justice, God would deliver the city and establish David’s throne (Jer. 22:4). Their hearts, however, were hard, and they would not listen. The ruins of Jerusalem would be a monument to their wickedness.

Jehoahaz (Shallum)—hopelessness (22:10–12). The death of godly King Josiah a decade before had brought great sorrow to the people. Even Jeremiah had written a lamentation honoring the dead monarch (2 Chron. 35:25). But there was no hope for the nation in looking back and weeping over a dead past. Nor was there hope in trusting that King Jehoahaz (Shallum) would be released from Egypt, where he was prisoner of Pharaoh Necho (2 Chron. 36:1–4). Apparently there was a pro-Jehoahaz party in Judah that pinned their hopes on his return, and perhaps some of the false prophets encouraged this expectation. Jeremiah, however, announced that Jehoahaz would never return to Judah but would die in Egypt.

Instead of looking to a dead past or trusting in a deposed leader, the people should have been dealing with the issues of that hour and looking to the Lord for His help. Josiah was dead; Jehoahaz was exiled; it was time for Zedekiah to follow the example of his godly father, Josiah, and lead the people back to the worship of the true God.

Jehoiakim (Eliakim)—covetousness (22:13–23). During a time of international crisis, Jehoiakim was more concerned about building his own spacious palace than he was about building a righteous kingdom, and he even used unpaid Jewish slave labor to do it! It was against the law to hold back wages or to enslave fellow Jews (Ex. 21:1–11; Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14–15; James 5:1–6). The nation was decaying and dying while the king was admiring his palace, the spacious rooms, the large windows, and the decorated cedar paneled walls. Jehoiakim wasn’t much different from some modern politicians who profit from dishonest gain while they ignore the cries of the poor and needy.

“Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?” (Jer. 22: niv) asked the prophet. Then he reminded him that his father, King Josiah, lived comfortably and still did what was just and right. Josiah defended the cause of the poor, and God blessed him, but Jehoiakim thought only of himself. It didn’t worry him that God watched as he robbed the poor, killed the innocent, and oppressed the just in order to satisfy his craving for luxury.

Jeremiah moved from “him” (third person) in verse 13 to “you” (second person) in verse 15, and then he named the king in verse 18. He announced that the king’s burial would be quite unlike that given to his beloved father. The nation mourned Josiah’s untimely death, but the Jews wouldn’t weep when Jehoiakim died, nor would they bury him like a king. Who would pay for an expensive funeral just to bury a donkey? The carcass would be thrown on the garbage dump, where the scavengers and vermin would devour it (Jer. 36:30). Even Jehoiakim’s end would be in fulfillment of the covenant curses (Deut. 28:26).

Before going on to discuss the next king, Jeremiah paused to address the people of Jerusalem and describe their terrible plight (Jer. 22:20–23). The advance of the Chaldean army had crushed their allies (“lovers”), who also would be sent into exile. Like the desert wind, the Babylonian soldiers would “round up” Judah’s evil leaders and sweep them away. The king and his nobles, living carelessly in the cedar palace (“Lebanon”), would soon suffer terrible pain like a woman in travail. The Lord had warned them, but they felt so secure that they wouldn’t listen. The peace promised by the false prophets would never materialize. For the city of Jerusalem, it was the end.

Jehoiachin (Coniah, Jeconiah)—childlessness (22:24–30). The son of Jehoiakim, he reigned only three months and ten days before he was deported with the queen mother to Babylon and replaced by his uncle, Zedekiah (2 Chron. 36:9–10; 2 Kings 24:8–17). Jehoiachin was a wicked man, and Jeremiah 22: suggests that his mother was as much to blame as his ungodly father. Jeremiah had warned both the king and the queen mother, but they wouldn’t listen (13:18–19).

If the king were the very signet ring on God’s right hand God would casually take it off and hand it to the Babylonians (22:24–27). The signet ring was valuable because it was used to prove authority, identify possessions, and “sign” official documents, but Jehoiachin was useless to the Lord, fit only to be thrown away in Babylon.

The question in verse 28 is constructed in such a way that “no” is the answer expected. The people of Judah didn’t consider Jehoiachin a broken pot to be tossed away on the trash heap. In fact, one of the false prophets predicted that Jehoiachin would return to Judah, deliver the nation, and reign once again in power (28:1–4). God, however, had another plan for this evil man and his family; the king, his mother, and his sons were all deported to Babylon, where they died.

Jehoiachin had at least seven children (1 Chron. 3:17–18) by several wives (2 Kings 24:15), but none of them would sit on the throne of David. God declared that He would treat Jehoiachin as if the man were childless. Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, saw the Babylonians slay his sons, and it’s likely that he himself died before Jehoiachin was freed from prison (Jer. 52:10–11, 31–34). This means that Jehoiachin was the last surviving king in David’s line.

Of course, Jesus Christ is the “son of David” (Matt. 1:1; Rom. 1:3) and one day will restore the fortunes of Israel and reign from David’s throne (Luke 1:30–33, 67–79). The genealogy in Matthew 1 traces Christ’s ancestry through His legal father, Joseph. Since Jehoiachin is in that family tree (Matt. 1:11), however, none of his descendants can claim the throne because of the curse pronounced in Jeremiah 22:24–30. Our Lord gets His Davidic throne rights through His mother, Mary, whose genealogy is given in Luke 3:21–38. From Abraham to David, the lists are similar, but from David on, they differ. Luke traced the line through David’s son Nathan and thus avoided Jehoiachin, a descendant of Solomon. Jesus Christ has every right to David’s throne, and His future reign is what Jeremiah dealt with in the next section.

Messiah the King—righteousness (23:1–8). Jeremiah denounced all the leaders (“shepherds”) of Judah for the ruthless way they treated the helpless people (vv. 1–4). Instead of leading the flock in love, they drove it mercilessly and exploited it. The shepherds didn’t visit (“care for”) the sheep, but God would visit the leaders with punishment. Because the leaders disobeyed the law and refused to trust God, they destroyed the nation and scattered the flock among the Gentiles. God, however, promised to regather His people and transform the remnant into a nation. (The word remnant is used nineteen times in Jeremiah.) A remnant did return to Judah after the captivity, rebuild the temple, and restore national life.

Jeremiah, however, promised a much greater regathering of the Jews—a greater miracle than their deliverance from Egypt (vv. 7–8; see 16:14–15). God will call His people from the nations of the world, gather them in their land, purge them, and then send them their promised Messiah (Jer. 30; Isa. 2:1–5; 4:1–6; 9:1–7; 11:1–12:6; Zech. 12—14). David’s “family tree” might have been cut down, but a “branch” (shoot) would grow from the stump and become Ruler of the nation (Isa. 11:1; 53:2).

In contrast to the unrighteous kings Jeremiah had been describing, this King will be righteous and rule justly. The kingdoms of Israel (northern) and Judah (southern) will be united into one nation; they will experience salvation and they will live in peace and safety. The name of this King is “Jehovah Tsidkenu— The Lord our Righteousness” (see Jer. 33:15–16). According to 1 Corinthians 1: and 2 Corinthians 5:21, this exalted name applies only to Jesus Christ. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, His righteousness is put into your account and you are declared righteous before God. This is called “being justified by faith” (Rom. 3:21—5:11).

No matter how dark the day may be, God sends the light of hope through His promises. The godly remnant in Judah must have been encouraged when they heard Jeremiah’s words, and the promises must have sustained them during the difficult days of the captivity. The return of the Jews to their land after the captivity was but a foreshadowing of the great worldwide regathering that will occur in the last days when “He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:31).

What God said, as recorded in Jeremiah 14:14, summarizes this entire section: “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart” (nkjv). Jeremiah focused on three areas in their lives that were especially abhorrent.

Their disgraceful conduct (vv. 9–15). True prophets know how serious it is to be called by God to declare His word, and they accept the responsibility with fear and trembling. When they see self-styled prophets living like sinners, it grieves them. No wonder Jeremiah had a broken heart and trembled like a drunken man! He realized what the false prophets were doing to the people and the land, and it made him sick. “Horror [indignation] hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law” (Ps. 119:53).

The false prophets were committing adultery and thronging the houses of prostitution (Jer. 5:7). Then they would go to the temple and pretend to worship Jehovah (23:11), turning God’s house into a den of thieves (7:9–11). But the word adultery also includes their worship of idols, turning from the true God (to whom Israel was “married”) and being unfaithful to their covenant promises.

The false prophets had led the northern kingdom of Israel astray (23:13), and now they were leading the southern kingdom of Judah astray (v. 14). Baal was the Canaanite rain god to whom the Jews were prone to turn for help in times of drought (1 Kings 17—18), and his worship included “sacred prostitution.” Jerusalem was becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah— cities so wicked God had to destroy them (Jer. 20:16; Gen. 18—19).

The land was suffering a severe drought (Jer. 23:10; see chap. 14) because the false prophets led the people to violate the terms of their covenant with God. The Lord promised to send the early and latter rains if they obeyed Him (Deut. 11:10–15; 28:12), but He also warned them that He would make the heavens brass and the earth iron if they disobeyed Him (11:16–17; 28:23–24). “Because of the curse the land lies parched” (Jer. 23: niv). But the sinners refused to escape, even though God had promised to judge them in due time (vv. 12, 15).

Whenever a nation needs healing, it’s usually because God’s people aren’t obeying and serving Him as they should. We like to blame dishonest politicians and various purveyors of pleasure for a nation’s decline in morality, but God blames His own people. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14).

Their dishonest message (vv. 16–32). To begin with, the false prophets offered the people a false hope (Jer. 23:16–20). “The Lord says: You will have peace. … No harm will come to you” (v. 17 niv; see 6:13–15; 8:10–12). Of course, this was a popular message, and the frightened people grabbed it and held on to it. But the false prophets hadn’t heard that message in God’s council; they made it up out of their own hearts. Instead of peace, a storm was brewing from the Lord (23:19). God was about to vent His holy anger on His sinful people, and when they finally understood His purposes, it would be too late to stop the whirlwind.

Not only did the false prophets give the people a false hope, but they also ministered under a false authority (23:21–24). God hadn’t spoken to them, yet they prophesied. God hadn’t called them, yet they ran with their message. If they were truly prophets from God, they would have lived godly lives and encouraged the people to turn from their wickedness. Instead, they taught a popular “theology” that made it convenient for people to be religious and still live in sin.

Jehovah wasn’t a local deity like the pagan idols, but a transcendent God who reigns above all things and fills heaven and earth (vv. 23–24). Nor was He blind like the idols (Ps. 115:5), unable to see the sins of the people. “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?” (Jer. 23:24). Because they listened to the false prophets, the people believed lies about God, and what we believe about God determines how we live.

Finally, the false prophets were speaking under a false inspiration (vv. 25–32). They depended on dreams and delusions of the mind, and they even plagiarized messages from one another! Compared to the nourishing wheat of the Word, their messages were only straw; you couldn’t eat it, build with it, or even be warmed by it.

The message of the true prophet is like a hammer that can tear down and build up (see 1:10) and even break the hardest rocks (23:29). The Word is like fire that consumes waste and purifies whatever it touches. Jeremiah had the Word burning in his heart (20:9; see Luke 24:32) and on his lips (Jer. 5:14). He was God’s assayer, using the fire of the Word to test the lives of the people (6:27).

There are false prophets and teachers in our world today (2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1–6), people who claim to know God’s will because of their dreams, their study of astrology, or their special “spiritual” gifts. Some of them have invaded the church (Jude 3–4). Whatever anyone says who claims to be speaking for the Lord must be tested by the Word of God. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20).

Their disrespectful attitude (vv. 33–40). The key Hebrew word in this section is massa, which means “a burden.” Jeremiah used it to refer to bearing burdens on the Sabbath (Jer. 17:21–27), but in this context it means the burden of the message that the Lord places on His prophets (Nah. 1:1; Hab. 1:1; Mal. 1:1). For this reason, some scholars translate it “oracle,” but “burden” is perfectly acceptable (see the niv and nasb, both of which put “burden” in the margin).

God cautioned Jeremiah not to encourage the careless attitude of the priests, people, and false prophets when they asked him, “What is the burden of the Lord?” The phrase “burden of the Lord” was almost a cliché; it was used to poke fun at God’s true prophet. (The phrase “born again” often gets the same kind of treatment.)

Why should the false prophets ask for an oracle from the Lord when Jeremiah had already told them what God wanted them to hear? If they hadn’t obeyed what God already commanded, why should He tell them more? Their attitude toward God’s message was careless and disrespectful; they weren’t taking seriously God’s message or God’s messenger. The false prophets had distorted the truth to make it mean what they wanted it to mean, and yet they called their messages the “oracles of the Lord.”

Jeremiah was to reply, “You are the burden” (v. 33 niv margin). The Living Bible catches the spirit of the passage: When one of the people or one of their “prophets” or priests asks you, “Well, Jeremiah, what is the sad news from the Lord today?” you shall reply, “What sad news? You are the sad news, for the Lord has cast you away!” (Jer. 23:33)

A worldly church puts an emphasis on fun and entertainment and forgets about tears. We now have Christian comedians who generate laughter for thirty minutes and then tack on the gospel and give an invitation. While there’s a proper place for humor in the Christian life, the church today needs to hear the words of James: “Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:9–10 nkjv). The church isn’t taking God’s Word seriously at an hour when the world is in serious trouble.