Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"The men who have transgressed My covenant"
Text: Jeremiah 34:18
THE JUDGMENT OF THE LORD
The covenant of Zedekiah and the slave owners was deliberately broken. The covenant breakers had profaned God’s name! The judgment of the LORD was now revealed.
“Therefore thus says the LORD:
‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty,
every one to his brother and every one to his neighbour.
Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the LORD —
‘to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine!
And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth.
And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant,
who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me,
when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it —
the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests,
and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf —'”
Jeremiah 34:17-19
1. “Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty,
every one to his brother and every one to his neighbour'”
a) Obedience to the LORD was the key issue.
b) The slave owners should have kept their covenant-word and set their slaves free.
2. “‘Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the LORD — ‘to the sword, to pestilence,
and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth'”
a) They did not fully understand what was at stake.
b) They had wickedly broken the covenant made in God’s name.
c) A play on the word “liberty”.
i) Some would have argued that they were at liberty to do what they wished.
ii) If this argument holds true, then God would also give them liberty but of a different kind.
iii) In God’s covenant, if the people obeyed Him, He would especially protect them.
d) The “liberty” to do what they please would end in disaster for them.
i) They will die by the sword.
ii) Or die by the pestilence.
iii) Or famine.
e) God will deliver them:
i) To trouble.
ii) To the kingdoms of the world.
3. “And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it — ”
a) The covenant was sealed with a sacrifice.
b) A calf was cut in two.
c) The people walked between the two halves.
d) The symbolic meaning was clear.
They would be cut in half if they deliberately broke the covenant!
4. “The princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests,
and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf — ”
a) A list of people who entered into this covenant was listed.
b) The royal princes, the eunuchs, priests and people all swore to keep this covenant.
c) They then deliberately broke the covenant. They would suffer dire consequences!