Jeremiah 35-37

We meet the Recabites....I didn't think we had encountered them before...a little tidbit:  We met Jonadab, son of Recab in 2 kings 10:15-28....he had helped Jehu (remember him?) in purging the Northern kingdom of Baal worship...so, this means he is probably a "good guy" on the side of the Lord.  In fact, we find out that there is a huge difference between the Recabites and the Isrealites..they keep vows they have made....Jonadab told his family not to drink wine and they didn't....the object lesson here is that God had Jeremiah tempt them with wine, knowing they would refuse the wine to honor the vows they had made.  God is going to reward the Recabites and punish the Israelites for not keeping their vows.

Chapter 36 is not chronological....we are dealing with King Jehoiakim when we had been dealing with King Zedekiah who was the last King of Judah...the Lord is trying to give Judah another chance, so He has Jeremiah dictate to a scribe, all the prophecy the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah......King Jehoiakim destroys the scroll by burning it up.   God has Jeremiah dictate another scroll showing King Jehoiakim that he cannot destroy the word of the Lord.   Therefore, the Lord was going to bring every disaster he prophesied since He saw that the King was not going to repent.

We see in Chapter 37 that Jeremiah is in prison (I wondered about that when I read 33: 1......remember that this isn't chronological for some reason).    King Zedekiah (back to him now!) wanted prayer blessings but would not listen to Jeremiah's words....Jerusalem looked to Egypt for help as the Babylonians approached and Egypt could not help.....Jeremiah's prophesy was true.  Babylon was going to capture the city.....Irijah arrests Jeremiah under the false reason of Jeremiah going to the side of Babylon....Jeremiah gets thrown into a dungeon. Finally, Zedekiah sends for Jeremiah and asks if God has spoken.  Jeremiah said that indeed, Babylon was still going to attack.....he asks what his crime is, and Zedekiah confines him to the courtyard (that we read about in 33:1).