Jeremiah 11

V.1-5

God recaps the Abrahamic covenant.  There are blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.

V.10

The Israelites turned their backs on God, refused to hear His words, and worshipped other gods.  God wanted them to repent, but they wouldn't hear His words.  Because He is just, God was forced to give them what they earned for themselves, which is death.

V.13

Judah had a false deity in every city and an altar to them on every street.  The worship of false gods was rampant.

V.14

God would not hear their prayers nor anyone's prayer for them.  Their sins forced God to turn a deaf ear to their prayers.

V.15

Israel was once a great olive tree, producing good fruit.  It now has broken branches.

V.18-23

Jeremiah's life was threatened by men at Anathoth.  Jeremiah pleaded with God for protection, which was promised to him in 1:8, 18, 19.

Jeremiah 10

V.1-16

These verses mock idol worship.  This could have been addressed to people already in exile who worshipped Babylonian idols instead of God.

V.2

Do not worship the heavens.  The Gentiles at the time were worshipping the creation rather than the Creator.  They worshipped the sun, the moon, the stars, and the skies.

V.7

Fear God, not idols.

V.11

This isolated verse was written in Aramaic - the language of Babylon:

Thus you shall say to them, "The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens." (Jeremiah 10:11 NASB)

V.23

Man is incapable of directing his life on his own.  We need God to direct us.  We get this direction from reading His Word and praying for wisdom.

V.24-25

Jeremiah asks God to correct him to, but in moderation, lest he be destroyed.  Jeremiah asks God to mostly punish the nations that introduced Israel to idol worship.

Jeremiah 9

V.1-3

These verses are from the mouth of The Lord.  He laments over 1. His people's suffering and 2. His people's sin.  The sins that He mentions are 1. Lies, 2. Adultery, and 3. Not knowing Him.

V.4-8

These verses elaborate on Judah's falseness.  They weary themselves in committing iniquity (V.5).  These people are clearly very different than the people who God cut a covenant with.  They refuse to know Him (V.6).

V.9

God has no choice but to end the covenant, as they clearly already have broken.

V.10

This weeping over the total destruction of Judah may be either God's or Jeremiah's, but it's most likely both.

V.12

God refers again to the supposed wisdom that the teachers of the Law in Judah claimed to have, rhetorically asking if they could explain why the desolation took place.

V.13-16

God gives the answer to His rhetorical question: because the people have forsaken His Law.  As new covenant believers, we can rest in the fact that Jesus has fulfilled the Law that Judah had forsaken.

V.23-24

Thus says the Lord, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23, 24 NASB)

Knowing God is greater than worldly wisdom, physical stature/health, and material wealth.  God exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness equally.  He is both kind and severe.  He is perfect in justice and in love.  That explains His dealing with Judah and it explains the new covenant of the Gospel for modern day Christians.  These verses harmonize and explain the covenants of Scripture well.

V.25-26

There were many nations in the Middle East at that time that were practicing circumcision - the sign of God's covenant with Israel.  God says that Israel is "circumcised and yet uncircumcised" because they haven't had their hearts circumcised.  God isn't looking for outward religious customs.  He wants our true reverent worship.

Jeremiah 8

V.1-3

Because of God's judgment of Judah's sin, after they have been conquered and murdered, their bones would be dug up and scattered by the conquerors in worship of false gods.

V.4-7

Judah did the opposite of repentance.  They turned away from God.  We should repent - turn our backs on our sin and trust in God.

V.8

Jeremiah criticizes "scribes" for claiming to be wise and having the Law within them.  These were most likely the priests in Judah - the men responsible for the interpretation and teaching of the Scriptures.

V.9

In reality, the scribes didn't understand the Law at all because they weren't obeying it.  As believers, we only understand God's Word if we obey it.  We are subject to God's judgment (outlined in V.10-13) if we neglect God's Word by not obeying it.

V.14-17

The approach of the enemy and the panic that it will bring.  This is God's judgment on Judah.

V.15

Those that listened to false prophets and teachers.  They listened to their message of peace, but there was none.

V.18-22

Jeremiah's words, but they are a dialogue between God and Judah.  God expresses His grief that His people are suffering.  He grieves over their worship of false gods.  He doesn't want them to suffer, yet He had to punish them because He is just and they broke the Law.  God cannot neglect one attribute in favor of another (He is just and merciful).

V.19b

The people of Judah are dismayed that their defeat.  The people believed that God's promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:11-16 guaranteed their constant favor and victory.  This was not the case at all because they had completely turned away from God.

2 Samuel 7:11-16 -  "...and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."

V.20-21

Jeremiah goes from speaking as God and Judah here to his own words.  He expresses lament over his people's sin and suffering.  Gilead, east of Jordan, was known for its aromatic plants used for medicinal cures.  Judah was in need of healing.

Applications:

1.  Never get so comfortable in the promises of God that you neglect your love for Him.

2.  Examine your behaviors to see if you are bearing fruits worthy of repentance. (2 Corinthians 13:5; Luke 3:8)

3.  Discern false teachers and do not listen to them.  Search the Scriptures to see if what they say is true. (Acts 17:11)

4.  Obey God's Word, don't just merely listen to it. (James 1:22)

5.  Regularly repent of your sins.