Jeremiah 17:1-18, Hard Hearts and Deceitful

It is hard to know if this is one prophetic message or a series of messages. If it is a single message it is hard to find a theme.

^17:1 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars. ² Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees and on the high hills. ³ My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country. ⁴ Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever.”

If you write on paper or even carve in clay, it is possible to erase what you have written. But engraving is hard to erase, and so is Judah’s sin. Not only are they worshiping the fertility goddess and consort of Baal, they have instructed their children to do the same (Oh, parents, be careful what you teach your children). Consequently, God is going to strip them of their land and wealth, and give them over to their enemies to satisfy His anger.

⁵ This is what Yahweh says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from Yahweh. ⁶ That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

⁷ “But blessed is the one who trusts in Yahweh, whose confidence is in him. ⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

There are two kinds of people, the just and the unjust as Jesus calls them (Matthew 5:45), or as Jeremiah describes them, those who trust in Yahweh and those who trust in themselves. The one finds reward and the other destruction. Even though Judah’s sin is unerasable, Yahweh is encouraging them to turn from self-dependence to dependence on Him.

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ¹⁰ “I Yahweh search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” ¹¹ Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools.

Does it seem strange to us that our own hearts can deceive us, can be so sick that we are beyond cure? God knows our hearts thoroughly and He will judge in us the behaviors that spring from our sick hearts. In particular He will judge those who gained wealth by unjust means. Who have you abused to get your wealth?

¹² A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. ¹³ Yahweh, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living water. ¹⁴ Heal me, Yahweh, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.

Jeremiah gives words to Judah that she can use to come back to Yahweh.

¹⁵ They keep saying to me, “Where is the word of Yahweh? Let it now be fulfilled!” ¹⁶ I have not run away from being your shepherd; you know I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my lips is open before you. ¹⁷ Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster. ¹⁸ Let my persecutors be put to shame, but keep me from shame; let them be terrified, but keep me from terror. Bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction. (Jeremiah 17:1-18)

Jeremiah is still struggling with his role in God’s plan. The people are taunting him with the yet unfulfilled coming of the judgment he has promised, but he has not quit on God. He asks God to not be a terror to him, to not let him be put to shame, but for that to happen to his people, for God to fulfill what He has said He will do.

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Discussion Questions:

1. What things have surprised you that your children have learned from you?
2. Why does it seem so much easier to trust in humans than God?
3. What surprises have you gotten about your own heart?
4. What shepherding are you most tempted to run away from?