Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Jeremiah: Judgment Against Specific People

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

This is kind of a weird category...but it is worth looking at as it covers religious leaders, government leaders, and the people who follow them.

Back to the beginning, we cruise along to the next verse mentioning 'desert' in Jeremiah that we haven't already talked about elsewhere...with context, and the actual verses mentioning desert in bold, as usual:

So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.  But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn the bonds.  Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.   -- Jer 5:5-6

This is what the LORD says, "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will not see prosperity when it comes.  He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives." - Jer 17:5-6

Concerning the prophets:  My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble.  I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words.  The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the desert are withered.  The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly.  "Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness, " declares the LORD.    - Jer. 23:9-11 

The leaders, who have rebelled against God's law; the people who follow them, trusting in the leaders to be their protection and guides; the prophet and priests who abuse their office, teaching what benefits themselves instead of the truth.  My friends, if this is not a description of current events I don't know what is.

Jeremiah was flat out accused of treason because he didn't fall in line with them. The people got so far away from what God had instructed that they could no longer tell when a real prophet was among them, giving them real instructions that would be for their own good.  And, to be honest, it wasn't one hundred percent the fault of the citizens of the land that they had gone so far into error because their government and their religious leaders were all corrupted.  They didn't have access to the scriptures as individuals; they could only go on what they were told.    If the leaders led them astray, they had very little chance to see their error.

But we have free access to the scriptures.  We have the Holy Spirit to guide us.  What's our excuse?

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Jeremiah: Judgment Falls on the Nation

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

As I said in the last post, Jeremiah's 'desert' verses deal primarily w/ judgment.  So, I kinda went through and divvied up the judgment verses according to the object of the judgement, if that makes sense.

The first group kinda falls under the category of 'the nation/people'...it's pretty vague, and it may overlap with other categories, but I didn't want to try to cover all of them in one post, so work with me here. ;-)

At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse;  a wind too strong for that comes from me.  Now I pronounce my judgements against them."  Jer. 4: 11 - 12

I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its town lay in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.   - Jer 4:26

I will weep and wail for the mountains and take up a lament concerning the desert pastures.  They are desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle is not heard.  The birds of the air have fled and the animals are gone.  - Jer 9:10

What man is wise enough to understand this?  Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it?  Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross? The LORD said, "It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law.  Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them."  - Jer 9:12-14

"It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares. Over all the barren heights in the desert destroyers will swarm, for the sword of the LORD will devour from one end of the land to the other; no one will be safe.  They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.  So bear the shame of your harvest because of the LORD's fierce anger.   - Jer 12:11-13

Amazing.  I didn't pick those verses because they made a narrative; I picked verses that sort of applied to the land/ nation/ people and wrote them in order.

Go back and read them again.  There is a narrative there.

Judgement is proclaimed against the people.

Jeremiah laments the waste that has been laid to the land and asks for explanation.

God replies that it is because the people abandoned his law and began following the stubbornness of their own hearts and false gods; the withering drought that destroyed the harvest, the events that ruined the towns were all part of his devouring sword.  Not just nature responding to unknown conditions, not just turns in history, but events and conditions actually brought about by the judgment of God.

'Desert' is judgment against the collective group of people who rejected God's laws.  Desolation, if you will.

Would such a narrative fly today?  Or do today's high-minded thinkers see such passages in the Bible and say, "Oh, look, how cute...the primitive people are ascribing these events to a deity.  How quaint." 

If God isn't God and the Bible isn't anything remarkable, sure.  But...if God is God, and the Bible is His word, then primitive ol' Jeremiah wasn't just being an ignoramus.  He actually heard the words of God, the judgments and their reasons.  If there is a correlation between various disasters and a moral decline/ rejection of God's law, then maybe we should consider that as a cause for destruction and desolation we see around us?

Just sayin'.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Jeremiah: Defilement

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi     

I counted 22 verses containing the word 'desert' in the book of Jeremiah...and almost ALL of them are pronouncements of judgment against nations.  Mostly against Judah/Israel, with a smattering of pronouncements against Babylon and one or two against other nations.

So...be prepared for some heavy weather comin'.

But the first verse in Jeremiah that mentions desert is 2:2...

"Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:  'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you followed me through the desert, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,' " declares the LORD.  -- Jer. 2: 2 - 3

What was.  The way things used to be.  The rest of chapter 2 describes what has happened since that time; the falling away.

What is.

"How can you say, 'I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals'?  See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done.  You are a swift she-camel running here and there, a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving -- in her heat who can restrain her?  Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her."   - Jer. 2:23-24

"You of this generation, consider the word of the LORD:  'Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness?  Why do my people say, 'We are free to roam; we will come to you no more'? " - Jer 2:31

"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again?  Would not the land be completely defiled?  But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers -- would you now return to me?" declares the LORD.  "Look up to the barren heights and see.  Is there any place where you have not been ravished?  By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert.  You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness."  - Jer. 3:1 - 2

It is kinda...creepy...that the rebellion of Israel is described in sexual terms. A she-donkey in heat... a prostitute looking for business.  And it is also interesting that such rebellion is described as defiling the very land on which the nation exists..

Jeremiah's reaction is to want to run away, get away, be done with them

Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people. - Jer. 9:2 

If you read through the first few chapters of Jeremiah, there's  a lot more detail given in all the verses that DON'T mention the desert.  But...how interesting is it that the verses that mention the desert kind of provide a synopsis of the situation?  Israel once followed God and were protected by Him; they deserted him and went after what satisfied their appetites, defiling even the land and filling God's prophet with grief and abhorrence.

Consequences will follow.

And that'll preach today, y'all.  That'll preach today. And the people today would listen about as well as the people of Jeremiah's day listened to him.

Will we face the same sort of consequences? 

The one thing that doesn't turn up in the verses about 'desert' is the call to repentance; the people were implored to return to God and repent and prevent the judgement. But they would not, and the judgment came.

Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Isaiah:Restoration

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The last group of  'Desert' verses in Isaiah is also the largest...six verses/passages that encourage the people that, even though there is exile, restoration is coming.

The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted;  citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.  Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.  My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.  -- Is. 32: 14 - 18

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.  Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.  The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution  he will come to save you."  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.  Then will the lame leap like a deer; and the mute tongue shout for joy.  Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.   Is. 35:1 - 6

"The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst.  But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.  I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys.  I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.  I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.  I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it."  -- Is. 41:17 - 20

Let the desert and its towns raise their voices;let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.  Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops.  Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands.  The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. -- Is. 42:11 - 13

"See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.  The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland,  to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise."  -  Is. 43: 18 - 21

This is what the LORD says: "In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inherintances, to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'  They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.  They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them.  He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water."  -- Is. 49:8 - 10

Oh, there is so much more about restoration in those chapters that I really had a hard time limiting the selections to the context around the 'desert' verses.  You can go read them yourself, if you choose.  

And, of course, it's possible to assign these verses to different timelines...anything from the return of the captives from Babylon, to the coming of Messiah, to the return of the Jews and recreation of the nation after the diaspora to the final triumph of God over all evil. And they can also be applied to the literal desert or a spiritual desert. But the immediate audience was the Jews in exile in Babylon, so whatever other applications these verses have, that one is the first and foremost for them: God had not forgotten his people and he would bring them back.  Indeed, he was still with them even when they went through the judgment and the exile.  

It is no different now; his ultimate design is always restoration, and the ultimate destiny of the desert is to blossom into fertile green fruitfulness.