seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Jeremiah 23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. 3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.
5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will raise up for David[a] a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The Lord Our Righteous Savior.
7 “So then, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ 8 but they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”
a. Jeremiah 23:5 Or up from David’s lineI am dividing this chapter..... I see Jesus here and I don't want to put Him in the same group as the false prophets coming up in the next few verses. Besides.... a Jesus siting is important.
This is from the easy English site.
The LORD promised a king who would be like a branch. It would grow from the roots of a tree that had fallen down. Isaiah used a similar description (Isaiah 11:1). That new king would be fair and he would rule wisely. Like David, he would rule over Judah. 'The Branch' became the name for that ideal king for whom the people hoped (Zechariah 3:6; 6:12). Zedekiah's name means 'the LORD shows that I am right’. His behaviour was very different from his name. He did not do right and fair things. But the king, whom the LORD promised, would be fair. And he would make people in a right relationship with the LORD. By his death, Jesus Christ made it possible for people to have a right relationship with the LORD (2 Corinthians 5:21).
These verses repeat Jeremiah 16:14-15. They are a promise. In the past, the LORD had brought the Israelites out from Egypt. In the future he would bring them out from the north. And also from all the countries where they were in exile. That would unite the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel again. Ezekiel prophesied that future unity. (Ezekiel 37:19-22).
This is a big deal to me. The original "Promised Land" has been split. There was Israel to the north and Judah to the south. Jerusalem, and God's Temple, were located in Judah. A king of Israel decided he didn't want the descendants of Jacob [Israel] taking off for Jerusalem for any Jewish tradition.... so he built a bunch of fake temples and filled those fake temples with a bunch of junk for the people to fawn over and worship. Meanwhile down in Judah.... close to the real Temple.... the people were enslaved by their own people.... in violation of their own laws.... kings were mean... they even sacrificed their own children to a fake god. God had no good person left from David's family to rule the people. God told them having a king to rule in a theocracy was a bad idea.... but those stupid humans insisted..... and now..... there is a problem.
Not to worry..... Christ is coming to save Judah.....
I have a good example of this "new branch" mentioned here. Back during Hurricane Floyd..... a tree was blown over. It fell into the ravine.... so we didn't have to remove it. The tap root.... the longest root that supports all the roots.... was still there.... even tho it was exposed.... a while after the storm.... a new tree started to grow out of the tap root. A fresh branch..... healthy.... and secure. David's tap root was still there..... even though the apples had grown rotten....
