Jeremiah 2

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Jeremiah’s First Prophecy of Judgment

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Judah left her first love and the Fountain of Living Waters.

  2. Judah turned to the immorality and idolatry of foreign nations.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Don’t look for water in broken cisterns!

QUESTIONS

  1. This portion of Jeremiah’s prophecy took place prior to Judah’s captivity which began in what year and where?

  2. At what point in Israel’s history noted in this chapter did the people turn to the gods of pagan nations?

  3. What were the two specific evils the Israelites had committed?

  4. In addition to her spiritual adultery, what was the terrible sin Israel had committed in the area of civil affairs?

  5. What two nations had Israel turned to for help rather than turning to God?

ANSWERS

  1. The captivity in Babylon took place during the time of Jeremiah’s prophecy and began in 586 BC.

  2. The people of Israel turned to the gods of pagan nations when they entered the land God had promised to them, after he had cared and provided for them in so many ways as he brought them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness. While they had sinned during this time, they had not as a nation turned to foreign gods.

  3. The people had committed the two evils of turning away from the Lord, the fountain of living waters; and had turned to cisterns of their own choosing, broken cisterns which could hold no water.

  4. In the area of civil affairs, Judah had actually put innocent people to death. They compounded their evil ways by still claiming to be innocent of sin before God.

  5. Israel had turned to Egypt (waters of the Nile) and Assyria (waters of the Euphrates) for help rather than to God, even though this took place after the “young lions” of Assyria had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and had “roared at” Judah.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Read Jeremiah 2:23-25 and 2:31-33. What wickedness is described here, and how would you describe similar evil which is prevalent in our country / world today?

  2. The people of Judah knew there was a source of living water in the Lord. However, they still turned away to meet their needs (thirst) with cisterns which did not quench their thirst. In what ways has our own nation turned from the Lord, and what self-made cisterns have been made in the name of the “freedoms” of human secularism?

CHALLENGE

  1. Are you willing to identify the broken cisterns in your own life . . . and turn back to the Lord as the true source of satisfaction and fulfillment?

KEY VERSES

  • “Why do my people say, ‘We are lords; we will come no more to you?’” Jeremiah 2:31



Jeremiah, Old Testament, TalksDeb HarmsJeremiah 2