Jeremiah; No burdens on the sabbath (ch17)

The middle portion of the book of Jeremiah is dominated by prose narrative describing the prophet’s actions in Jerusalem during the twenty years covered by the reigns of the last two kings of Judah.

Ch7 may be part of this prose narrative, together with occasional paragraphs in later chapters, but this form of narrative really takes hold from ch17 v19 onwards. The most annoying aspect of the narrative is that all the stories are completely out of sequence, as though somebody dropped a sheaf of papers on the ground and then collected them up without bothering to shuffle them into order. In the past, I’ve done separate threads describing Jeremiah’s relationship with Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, but this time round I’ll just take the chapters as they come.

V19 “Go and stand in the Benjamin Gate”.
This gate, also called “the north gate”, appears to have been the main gate of the city in those days, so people must have approached Jerusalem by the northern road. “By which the kings enter and by which they go out.” It was also the gate where the kings sat as judges to hear judicial complaints, in accordance with the ancient traditions of Israel, as we learn from other episodes. David nearly lost his throne because he got lazy about performing this duty to his people.

“And in all the gates of Jerusalem.”
This is a sabbath message. It is not clear whether Jeremiah goes to a different gate each week, or spends one sabbath doing a circuit of all the gates, or sends deputies to proclaim the message at the others.

He has a message for all those entering the gates on this day, whether kings or inhabitants of Judah or inhabitants of Jerusalem. They are not to carry on commercial business by carrying burdens through the gates on this day, or bringing burdens out of their houses, or doing any other kind of work.

If they do keep the sabbath day holy, as he commanded their fathers, then the city will prosper. Prosperity will take the form of kings and princes and the inhabitants in general being able to ride around the city on horses and in chariots. The city will be inhabited for ever. People will be coming in from the country side bringing an abundance of offerings for the house of the Lord, because their farms will prosper.

But if they pollute the gates on the sabbath instead of keeping the day holy, then the Lord will kindle a fire at those same gates, and that fire shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and will not be quenched,

V23 inserts the report that nobody listened to what Jeremiah was saying.

a reply to: DISRAELI

I have read your posts prior but never commented. They are very informative and I appreciate reading them. Today I comment:

It is important to note that throughout this chapter there is reference to nearly every one of the commandments being broken by Judah. The gate was indeed the entrance, and it is through that gate that everyone must pass. But even more importantly it is significant that so many sins were being committed that the Lord felt it worthy to point it out, and literally remind the people of the consequences of sin. God considered breaking the Sabbath a great sin. But: It is important to read the entire chapter and take it in context.

Note that the egregious sin of the “shedding of innocent blood” is mentioned here in this chapter. How quaint. So they were causing their children to “pass through the fire”. Breaking the Sabbath. Lies, Thefts, Idols, etc. Jeremiah must have been sorely disillusioned by the acts of the people. He was indeed appalled at their godless behavior. Imagine how Jehovah must have felt?
Further, if Jeremiah wept over Israel, how much more should we weep for America? We lie. We Cheat. We steal. We covet. Our Idols abound. Adultery? Uh huh. We do not appoint a day of rest for our God, and yes, we do cause our children to pass through the fire. [Abortion] Why aren’t we upset like this prophet? I suspect some of us are. A stark comparison
DavidsHope/D’Andrew

a reply to: DavidsHope
That's why the book is so long. So much sin to complain about.