SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/26/2014
10:07 AM
My Worship Time Focus: God
Discloses the Fate of the Kings PT-4
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
22:24-30
Message of the
verses: Today’s SD is the last
sub-point under this main point that we have been looking at for four days
now. It is interesting to me, yet not at
all surprising to me that Jeremiah was able to see into the future on who these
kings would be, even though they were all related to David. We will be looking at a king named Jehoiachin
who is called Coniah in today’s SD.
Jehoiachin (Coniah, Jeconiah)—childlessness (Jeremiah
22:24-30): “24 "As I live," declares the LORD,
"even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring
on My right hand, yet I would pull you off; 25
and I will give you over into the hand of those who are seeking your
life, yes, into the hand of those whom you dread, even into the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 “I will
hurl you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not
born, and there you will die. 27 “But as for the land to which they desire to
return, they will not return to it. 28 “Is this man Coniah a despised,
shattered jar? Or is he an undesirable vessel? Why have he and his descendants
been hurled out And cast into a land that they had not known? 29 “O land, land,
land, Hear the word of the LORD! 30 “Thus says the LORD, ’Write this man down
childless, A man who will not prosper in his days; For no man of his
descendants will prosper Sitting on the throne of David Or ruling again in
Judah.’"”
Before I begin to say something about these verses I have
to say something that I have been thinking about for a few days, and that is
what Dr. Wiersbe wrote about in an endnote several days ago. He stated that the word “house” not only referred
to the temple, but also to the house of David, which was seen in 2 Samuel
chapter seven when God told David that He would build a house (dynasty) for him
because David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Lord. What I have been thinking about is that when
we come to the New Testament and look at the genealogy of our Lord Jesus
Christ, both in Matthew and in Luke we see that it goes back to David even
though from the time when Judah went into captivity there had been no kings on
the throne of Israel or Judah. The next
King will be the Lord Jesus Christ and He will reign in the 1000 year kingdom
after He returns in glory at His second coming after the tribulation
period. I think that the thing that I
was thinking about was that the kingdom through David continued on even though
there was no kingdom after the exile in 586.
Jehoiachin was the son of Jehoiakim and he not only had a
wicked father, but also a wicked mother and he reigned for only three months
and ten days and then both he and his mother were taken to Babylon and his
uncle Zedekiah was made king over Judah.
I am not sure how much of a kingdom was left at this point, but at any
rate Zedekiah was made king over what was left.
Second Chronicles 36:9-10 and also Second Kings 24:8-17 tell this story.
In verse twenty-four we read that the Lord says “even
though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on My right
hand, yet I would pull you off.” A
signet ring was used to the one who has it as a sign of power. We read in the book of Genesis that Joseph
was given the signet ring of Pharaoh so that he could do the kings
business. Now I want to quote an endnote
by Warren Wiersbe to help us better understand this verse: “Zerubbable, a grandson of King Jehoiachin
was one of the Jewish leaders who helped the exiles return to the land after
the Captivity and reestablish their government and worship. He was a representative of the Davidic line
though he didn’t reign as a king. The
Lord ‘reverses’ the curse and said that Zerubbable was to Him like a signet
ring (Hag. 2:20-23), which means he was chosen and precious to God.
When we look at verse twenty-eight we can see that the
answer to the question purposed there would be no, for the people of Judah did
not see Jehoiachin as a broken piece of pottery, but one of the false prophets
said that he would return from Babylon and again rule over Judah. God had other plans for this wicked man and
his mother as they both died in Babylon.
It is interesting that Jehoiachin had seven children by
several wives, but God said that he was going to treat him as being childless
as none of them would set on the throne of David and they didn’t. Dr. Wiersbe writes “Zedekiah, the last king
of Judah, saw the Babylonians slay his sons, and it’s likely that he himself
died before Jehoiachin was freed from prison (Jer. 52:10-11, 31-34). This means that Jehoiachin was the last
surviving king in David’s line.”
As I listened to verse twenty-nine and read it I wondered
what the repeated word “land” meant. In
the KJV it is the word “earth” repeated three times and Calvin has this to say
about these three repeated words: “The
Prophet more fully confirms what I have lately referred to; and the repetition
was not superfluous in exclaiming "earth" three times, for as the
hardness of iron is overcome by the repeated strokes of the hammer, so the
Prophet repeated the word "earth," that he might subdue that
perverseness in which the Jews had so hardened themselves that no threats of
God moved them. He did not adopt this vehemence, as rhetoricians do who aim to
appear eloquent; but it was necessity that constrained him thus to assail that
refractory people, who would have otherwise turned a deaf ear to what we have
observed and read. By this preface, then, the Prophet especially shews that he
spoke of God’s dreadful judgment, and also reminded the Jews of the certainty
of this prophecy, though they were persuaded that the kingdom would never fall.
Hence in this repetition we see that there is an implied reproof, as though he
had said that they were indeed deaf, but that it was to no purpose, for they
would be constrained to see the fulfillment of what they did not then believe.
Earth, earth, earth, hear, he says. {1}”
Just a quick note and that is we do have one more
sub-section under this main section that we will look at in our next SD, and
that has to do with the Messiah, the King of Righteousness and it comes from
chapter twenty-three and verses 1-8.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I look Romans
8:28 where it says “And we know that God causes all things to work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose,”
I can see this happening in the nation of Judah, as God would bring good even
out of what was going on in Judah during the times of Jeremiah. He will do this for my life too, even though
it is a painful process at times.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord even through times of troubles
and temptations that He will work it out for my good and His glory.
Memory verses for the
week: Philippians 2:5-7
5 Have this attitude in
yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form
of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 8 but emptied
Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness
of men.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “1000 Years.”
Today’s Bible question: “How was Elijah fed at the brook Cherith?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/26/2014 10:58 AM
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