Jeremiah 11, Broken Covenant and Conspiracy

Jeremiah had been preaching the Lord’s message during the time of king Josiah’s reforms. In repairing Yahweh’s temple in Jerusalem, the covenant of Yahweh with His people had been discovered and Josiah was moved to bring Judah into compliance with the covenant (2 Kings 22,23). He forced changes in the worship of Yahweh while tearing down idolatrous worship sites. His reforms did not change the peoples’ hearts.

^11:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh: ² “Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. ³ Tell them that this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘Cursed is the one who does not obey the terms of this covenant— ⁴ the terms I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.’ I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. ⁵ Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.” I answered, “Amen, Yahweh.”

God used Egyptian enslavement to make Israel malleable to trusting Him, delivered them out of Egypt, and brought them to the land of Canaan to dispossess the wicked inhabitants and form their own nation under covenant with Him. He had the people rehearse the covenant with its blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Deuteronomy 27:15-26  records this rehearsal of the curses: “cursed is everyone who…makes an idol (v.15), dishonors father or mother (v.16), moves a neighbor’s boundary stone (v.17), leads the blind astray (v.18, i.e., takes advantage of the weak), withholds justice from the immigrant, orphan or widow (v.19), sleeps with his father’s wife (v.20), engages in bestiality (v.21), commits incest (v.22), sleeps with his mother-in-law (v.23), kills a neighbor (v.24), takes a bribe to kill an innocent person (v.25), does not uphold God’s law in general (v.26). And the people all said to each curse, “Amen!” God instructs Jeremiah to replay this for the people, as well as the promise of blessing in the land flowing with milk and honey should they obey, and Jeremiah says the “Amen!”

⁶ Yahweh said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them. ⁷ From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, “Obey me.” ⁸ But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.’”

But Israel is not saying the “Amen” to this covenant renewal, showing that the outward conformity to Josiah’s reforms is hiding an evil heart. The consequences God listed and the Israelites had accepted all those years ago, included phase one discipline, wasting disease and  poor harvests; phase two, no rain; phase three, multiple afflictions, wild animals attacking to reduce the population; phase four, enemy attacks, plague, defeat; phase five, enemy siege, destruction and exile from the land. Israel, the northern kingdom separated from Judah, had already reached phase five and been exiled from the land. Judah was next.

⁹ Then Yahweh said to me, “There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. ¹⁰ They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant I made with their ancestors. ¹¹ Therefore this is what Yahweh says: ‘I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. ¹² The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes. ¹³ You, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’ ¹⁴ “Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.

Judah is still worshiping Baal, in every town and on every corner. Jeremiah need not intercede for them because it is too late.

¹⁵ “What is my beloved doing in my temple as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your punishment? When you engage in your wickedness, then you rejoice.” ¹⁶ Yahweh called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken. ¹⁷ Yahweh Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the people of both Israel and Judah have done evil and aroused my anger by burning incense to Baal.

The people make a show of offering the right sacrifices to Yahweh, an evil scheme by which they think they can outwit Yahweh. But the thriving olive tree they used to be is now fruitless and good only for burning.

¹⁸ Because Yahweh revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. ¹⁹ I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.” ²⁰ But you, Yahweh Almighty, who judge righteously and test the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for to you I have committed my cause.

²¹ Therefore this is what Yahweh says about the people of Anathoth who are threatening to kill you, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh or you will die by our hands”— ²² therefore this is what Yahweh Almighty says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. ²³ Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”

Unbeknownst to Jeremiah, a plot was hatched to assassinate him and end his despised prophecies. It was the people of his own hometown who plotted this. Yahweh revealed the plot to him, and Jeremiah prayed that God would bring punishment upon the conspirators, which He promised to do.

—

Discussion Questions:

1. What curses have you seen come upon your nation for her rejection of God?
2. What reforms do you recall happening, if any, whether sincere or insincere?
3. How have you tried to “prophesy” against the idolatry of your people?
4. Why do you think God revealed the plot against Jeremiah to him?