The Lord Promises Peace
The word of the Lord went to Jeremiah a second time while he was still shut up in the court of the guard.
Thus says the Lord who made the earth,
the Lord who formed it to establish it–
the Lord is his name:
Call to me and I will answer you,
and will tell you great and hidden things
that you have not known.
-Jeremiah 33:2-3
Concerning the city, the Lord was still bringing the Chaldeans against it and would strike them down with his anger and wrath because of all their evil. However, the Lord was about to change that.
Behold, I will bring to it health and healing,
and I will heal them and reveal to them
abundance of prosperity and security.
-Jeremiah 33:6
The Lord would restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first.
I will cleanse them from all the guilt
of their sin and rebellion against me.
-Jeremiah 33:8
The city would become a name of joy, a praise and glory before all the nations of the earth who would hear of all the good the Lord would do for them. They would fear and tremble of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.
Give thanks to the Lord of hosts,
for the Lord is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
-Jeremiah 33:11
The Lord’s Eternal Covenant with David
The days were coming when the Lord would fulfill the promise He made to the houses of Israel and Judah. In that time there would be a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he would execute justice and righteousness in the land.
In those days Judah would be saved, and Jerusalem would dwell securely. And the name by which it would be called was: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
David would never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priests would never lack a man in the presence of the Lord to offer burnt offerings, burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.
The word of the Lord went to Jeremiah and told him that if the covenant with the day and with the night could be broken, then the covenant with David would be also. As in, the day and night will always come at their appointed time, so that covenant can never be broken, as with the covenant with David.
“As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.” -Jeremiah 33:22
The Lord continued to Jeremiah and said, “Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose?’ Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight.
Thus says the Lord: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have mercy on them.”
Zedekiah to Die in Babylon
Jeremiah was told to go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and to tell him that the Lord was giving the city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he would burn it with fire.
He would not escape from his hand, but would surely be captured and delivered to him. He would see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face, and he would go to Babylon.
Zedekiah would not die by the sword though, but would die in peace. As spices were burned for his fathers, the former kings who were before him, the people would burn spices for him too and lament for him.
King Zedekiah then made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to make a proclamation of liberty to them, that everyone should set free their Hebrew slaves, male and female, and no one would enslave a Jew, his brother. They obeyed and set them free.
But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves they had set free, and brought them into the subjection of slavery again.
The word of the Lord went to Jeremiah and said how He too had made a covenant with the people when He brought them out of Egypt; saying at the end of seven years each one would have to set free their fellow Hebrew who was sold to them. But their fathers had not listened either.
They briefly had repented and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord by proclaiming liberty and making a covenant before God. But then they turned around and profaned His name when each took back their slaves.
Therefore, they had not obeyed the Lord by proclaiming liberty to their slaves, the Lord would proclaim to them liberty to the sword, pestilence, and to famine. They would become a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
They would be made like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts. They would be given into the hands of their enemies and to those who sought their lives. Their dead bodies would be food for the birds and the beasts.
Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials would be given into the hand of their enemies and to the army of the king of Babylon which had withdrawn from them. The Lord would command them to go back to the city and they would fight against it, burn it, and destroy it. The cities of Judah would be a desolation without inhabitance.
The Obedience of the Rechabites
Jeremiah was told to go to the house of the Rechabites and speak with them. He told them they were to go to the house of the Lord. Jeremiah was to take them into one of the chambers and offer them wine to drink.
Jeremiah set before them pitchers full of wine and cups and told them to drink the wine. They responded with saying they do not drink wine, for their father had commanded them not to. Neither them, nor their wives, sons, or daughters would drink any wine forever.
They did not build houses, sow seeds, or plant and have vineyards as was commanded by their father. They lived in tents all their days so they could live many days in the land where they sojourned.
But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, they went to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and the army of the Syrians. So, then they lived in Jerusalem.
The Lord told Jeremiah to tell the people this story and compare it to their relationship with God. They were to listen and receive His instructions and obey just as the Rechabites did with their father’s command.
The Lord spoke to the people persistently, sending His servants and prophets telling the people, “Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.”
But the people would not listen. So the Lord would send upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that He had pronounced against them, because He had spoken and they had not listened. He had called to them and they had not answered.
To the house of the Rechabites, the Lord told them that because they had listened to their father and obeyed all that they were told, they would never lack a man to stand before the Lord.