04 – Jeremiah 16-17 Idolatrous Ways & Deceitful Hearts

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

Written by Cory Collins