In Jeremiah 1:4,5,10 we find the Almighty speaking to the young prophet concerning his two-fold commission: “Before I formed you in the belly I knew you ; and before you came out of the womb I sanctified you (set him aside for holy use); and I ordained you a prophet among the NATIONS …. See, I have set you this day over the NATIONS and the KINGDOMS, to root out, to pull down and to destroy, (then) to build and to plant.” What I will now relate to you comes from the 36th through the 38th chapters of Jeremiah. Please read those chapters for more information. I will summarize them in the following postings.

God gave Jeremiah a message for the Kingdom of Judah. It was the same message He had spoken to the entire kingdom of Israel (all 13 tribes) before the 10 northern tribes were defeated and enslaved. “It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I will do to them, that they might turn from their evil ways that I might forgive them of their sins.” We find that their major sin was the worship of the “Queen of Heaven” written about in Jeremiah 7:18/44:17,18,25. The Jews had embraced a heathen female deity (the moon goddess of fertility) to whom they made buns which they sacrificed to her during their worship of her each Spring. Their worship included the use of eggs, chicks and rabbits. Anciently she was called Astarte, who was the wife of Baal, the sun god also known as Tammuz (see Ezekiel 8 & 9). Within the churches of today’s “Christian nations” she is known as Easter and is worshiped on “Easter Sunday” each spring. This holiday was decreed by Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicea in 324 A.D. At that time he decreed that “the church” would no longer celebrate Passover, but would instead celebrate Easter and would do so on Sunday to appease the sun worshipers who had been forced to join the Catholic Church. Now back to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah’s scribe–Baruch–had written God’s Words spoken by Jeremiah on a scroll which he delivered to King Jehoiakim, which he cut up and burned. Fortunately, God had told Baruch to make more than one copy (Jer. 36:32). Later, Zedekiah–Jehoiakim’s grandson–assumed the throne. Jeremiah’s message to him was the same–lead the nation to repent and turn back to God or be killed by the Babylonians. Zedekiah rejected God’s Words and had Jeremiah thrown into prison where he was beaten repeatedly (Jer. 37:15). Eventually he was thrown into a dry well to die (Jer. 38:6). Soon afterwards the Kingdom of Judah (the Jews) fell and were enslaved in Babylon. At this time the Babylonians killed Zedekiah and all of his sons, as well as all of the nation’s leaders (Jer.39). Jeremiah had overseen the “root(ing) out,” “pull(ing) down” and “destroy(ing)” of the monarchy which seemingly ended with the death of the king and his sons. It was now time for him to fulfill the second part of God’s commission–to “build and to (re)plant” the monarchy somewhere else. Recall that Zedekiah had two daughters–members of the royal monarchy. Thereby monarchy still lived, just as God had promised David. L.J.