Week 24 - Jeremiah 23-25, 1st John 2 (June 11 - 17)
Notes
JEREMIAH 23:25-26: DREAMS
“I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? (Jeremiah 23:25-26)
Dreams were a really common vehicle for prophecy in the ancient world. God speaks to / meets with people in dreams; Jacob (Genesis 28:12) and Joseph (Genesis 37:5-11) come to mind first. Also, consider that the end of Jeremiah's ministry is occurring in Judah either at the same time or just a handful of years before God uses Daniel to interpret dreams while a captive in Babylon. In the book of Jeremiah, we learn that there were prophets using dreams to prophesy good for the nation of Judah when God had spoken no such thing. You can just imagine how frustrating it would be for Jeremiah to carry a message from the lord of judgment and guilt, only to have a competing prophet claiming to have a dream in which God told them that good things are coming to Jerusalem.
Later in this chapter, God clarifies that it is the prophet who "has my word" that should be trusted - not the prophets who are having dreams. Jeremiah had God's word because God was speaking through him, not only as a prophet but also as one speaking the word of God (Bible) to him through the Holy Spirit. There are Christian teachers who will instruct the believer to seek dreams or signs to determine God's will for a certain decision. I think those teachers are misleading the faithful, and I would point them to the story of Jeremiah the prophet. God has given us his word, it is precious and more-than-enough for us. "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever" (Isaiah 40:8). You may find yourself in the position of these prophets who were competing against Jeremiah one day, believing that you have received a dream from God. Remember, then, that no dream can supersede or change God's word, that the dream must serve the Word, and not the other way around.
JEREMIAH 25:12 & 29:10: 70 YEARS
One of the more famous prophecies of Jeremiah is God's promise that God will restore his people after 70 years. This promise occurs in each of the two passages above, and we read of it already when Daniel mentioned it in Daniel chapter 9.
Though the expression "seventy years" could denote generally an individuals life span, as it does in a statement of Esarhaddon of Assyria, it can also make reference to a specific span of time. The period of seventy years was approximately from the destruction of the temple in 587 BC to its rededication in about 515 BC. It could also represent (Joel's preferred reading) the time that elapsed from the initial subjugation of Israel under Nebuchadnezzar in 605 to the first return of exiles according to Cyrus's decree in 535... Little is known of Palestine during the exile and partial reoccupation of the land. The largest deportation followed the destruction of Jerusalem in 586, but only the leading citizens went into exile. Signs of destruction have been found throughout Judea, but not everything was destroyed. The peasants continued their life in the area, and some even worshiped amid the ruins of the temple (Jeremiah 41:4-5). Judah became a Babylonian province, with headquarters at Mizpah, north of Jerusalem (IVP Bible Background Commentary)
Jeremiah 25:26: where is “Sheshak”?
God is passing around the cup of his wrath in chapter 25, but a king of a new country is mentioned in verse 26 (or is it?)
26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other—all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshak will drink it too.
Good luck finding this kingdom on a map or a history book. None by that name exists. we can confidently identify it with Babylon because these two names are used in parallel in Jeremiah 51:41. But why doesn’t Jeremiah just write “Babylon”? Because he is using a word game! Check out this study of “Sheshak” in the New American Commentary:
click here to learn more about the “Atbash” code employed here by Jeremiah
Finally, all kings of the north and all other kingdoms on the face of the earth not already named would drink of the cup of God’s wrath. Then as a final and climactic addition, Sheshach (NIV spelling; Sheshak is preferable) is named for judgment. Sheshach is an athbash for Babylon. An athbash is a cryptogram formed by substituting the last letter of the alphabet for the first, the next to the last for the second, etc. It could be compared to z-y-x for a-b-c. Thus ššk becomes bbl, the consonants for Babylon. Earlier scholars believed Jeremiah used the cryptic name for Babylon out of fear for his life if the Babylonians learned that he announced judgment on them. This explanation must be rejected since Babylon is mentioned frequently elsewhere in Jeremiah (e.g., 25:8–14). It is mentioned in 51:1 with Leb Kamai, an athbash for Chaldea, i.e., Babylon. Babylon is also mentioned in 51:41 with the athbash Sheshach. It would also have been an insult to the intelligence of the Babylonians to suggest that they could not decipher such a simple athbash since the athbash as a cryptogram was widely known. Nicholson says there is new evidence that Sheshach was not an athbash but a genuine name for Babylon.42 If the evidence is correct, it does not explain the meaning of the name. Perhaps the reversal of the letters implied something sinister.
F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations, vol. 16, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 229.
1st John 2: Exhortation to different groups
We read a unique passage in 1st John 2:
12 I am writing to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
14 I write to you, dear children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
Check out this note on that passage from the IVB Bible Backgrounds commentary
“I am writing” is probably not intended to convey a sense different from “I wrote”; it was common to vary style to make one’s writing more interesting. One could write “I have written” in a letter one was presently writing; grammarians call this convention an “epistolary aorist.”
Some argue that “fathers,” “young men” and “children” (John does not exclude women from consideration here but employs the language categories of his day, which used masculine forms for mixed groups) could refer to different stages of progress in the Christian faith; see comment on 2:1. More likely is that John offers age-appropriate instruction; in antiquity, some writers addressed different kinds of moral instruction to different age groups to which particular points were most relevant (e.g., Isocrates, Ad demonicum 44; the Greek philosopher Epicurus in Diogenes Laertius 10.122; cf. Prov 20:29; 2 Tim 2:22).
Fathers (a title often accorded older persons) held positions of honor and authority, and were respected for their wisdom (e.g., Diodorus Siculus 1.1.4; Tosefta Avodah Zarah 1:19). Children were in positions of learning and lacked status and authority. Young men were generally associated with strength and vigor (cf. Jn 20:4; 21:7-8; Job 33:25; Prov 20:29); here they had overcome the evil one by participating in Christ’s victory (1 Jn 4:4; 5:4) over sin (3:10-12). Although some ancient writers often considered young men more vulnerable to particular temptations (passions such as anger and especially sexual immorality), John expresses his confidence in them.
Keener, Craig S.. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (p. 709). InterVarsity Press.