These graphic messages came when a great calamity had begun (16:10). This may have been the time when Jehoiakim rebelled against Babylon (602 BC) after first submitting to Nebuchadnezzar for three years. In response to Judah’s rebellion, Babylon sent punishing raids. The armies of Babylonia, Aram, Moab, and Ammon swept across the land (2 Kg 24:1-2), providing a foretaste of the awful devastation that would follow in 597 and then 586 BC.
Jeremiah 16-17 Idolatrous Ways & Deceptive Hearts
Jer 16 Prohibitions & Promises
16:1-9 Removal
No marriage or family, mourning or funerals, merriment or feasting.
16:10-13 Reason
Rejecting God, serving idols, walking … stubbornness, evil hearts.
16:14-18 Restoration
A new Exodus, after just payment for detestable practices.
16:19-21 Reassurance
Confidence even in calamity: Jeremiah’s personal refuge in God.
Gentiles to leave idols for the power, might, and name of the LORD!
Jer 17 Causes & Consequences
17:1-4 Engraved Idolatry
17:5-8 Misplaced Trust
17:9-10 Deceptive Hearts
17:11 Dishonest Gain
17:12-13 Departure – from God’s Throne
17:14-18 Rejection – of God’s Prophet
17:19-27 Violation – of God’s Sabbath
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