The book of Jeremiah is quite an emotional roller-coaster experience, especially when you hit chapter 30. In Yahweh's dealings with His people, His chosen possession, there is the intermingling of the language of consequences with covenantal language. In other words, the lovingkindness of Yahweh is constantly in the background, while meting out acts of justice, there is the holding out a future hope of restoration. When Judah was suffering under Babylonian attack, the city endured great terror (30:4–7, 12–15), but Jeremiah offered new hope in God’s compassionate plans of restoration (30:8–11, 16–24). God loved them and covenanted with them in the past, so if they would repent of their sins, God would build them up and plant them (31:1–14). In chapters 46-52, Jeremiah warned that judgment is not limited to the nation of Judah only because Yahweh sovereignly control the destiny of all nations. Creating alliances with stronger surrounding nations is no security for Judah. The solution...

Do we pay attention to product warning labels or do we gloss over them thinking that "we know better" and the warnings do not apply to us? The prophets of the Old Testament have the unpopular job of being heralds of warning and judgment, especially if they have to confront those who are in authority - the king and other corrupted prophets and priests. What made it even more frustrating for the prophet Jeremiah is the deception of the people prevented them from repenting. The people needed to acknowledge their sin and truly repent (3:11–4:4), but they refused to listen to God. The people were blinded by the false prophets who deceived them into believing that there would be peace (5:12–13; 6:13–14; 14:1–16). Since Jeremiah was only a youth when God called him (1:7), he had a long ministry runway - 40 years. However, not once did he see any real success in changing or softening the hearts and minds of his stubborn, idolatrous people. The other prophets of Israel had witnessed s...