[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Wednesday, June 26, 2013

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all.  I hope that, by God's matchless grace and His providential care, that your day is going well or went well.

Today we are going to have a mini Bible study with questions and answers regarding certain portions from the Old Testament Book of Jeremiah, so I suggest that, if you wish to follow this mini study, that you get that particular book, if possible.  Below you will find the verse, then the question and then the Bible teacher's answer to that queery.  (Most probably the Bible teacher is Robert Rathbun, editor of the Gospel Messenger magazine and pastor of the First Baptist Church of Lowell, MA USA.

Jeremiah 31:29
This verse says, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." What does this proverb mean?

The proverb is a denial of personal responsibility.  The persons who say it mean, "What is happening to us is our fathers' fault, and there is nothing we can do about it." Ezekiel 18 explores this issue and makes it clear that, while a previous generation's actions may have an impact on today, each individual is responsible to God for his or her own choices and will certainly be rewarded or punished on the basis of his or her own acts.

Jeremiah 36:30
Jeremiah predicted that Jehoiakim would not have any son sit on David's throne.  But 2 Kings 24:6 says Jehoiachin reigned after him.  The Bible's rules say that, if a prophet's words do not come true, he is a false prophet.  This surely is a discrepancy.

Not at all.  Gleason Archer points out that the verb "yasab" (sit enthroned) in Jeremiah's prophecy implies being firmly established as king over a period of time.  Jehoiachin reigned only three months, and this during a frantic period when Jerusalem was under siege.  The chances are he was never officially king, and he certainly was not established as king.  At best, his reign was unofficial and does not violate the prophecy of Jeremiah concerning Jehoiachin's line.

Jeremiah 43:7-13; 44:30
Jeremiah predicted a Babylonian invasion of Egypt.  But there is no record that this happened.  So how can one argue that Jeremiah was not a false prophet?

There is no record of such an invasion in the Bible.  And critics have long pointed out that there was no mention in Egyptian or Persian sources of any Babylonian invasion of Egypt.  However, a cuneiform tablet has now been found and translated which describes an invasion of Egypt that took place in Nebuchadnezzar's thirty-seventh year, 569 or 568 B.C.  In addition, funerary texts now in the Louvre in Paris describe an invasion of the Nile Valley by an army of northerners.  These records from both Babylon and Egypt make it clear that the predictions of an invasion made by both Jeremiah and Ezekiel (29) were fulfilled.

And there we finish our mini Bible study.  Of course, there may be differing answers to the questions posed here based on one's doctrinal position which I don't wish to get into, but in reading these questions and answers over a period of several years, it is apparent that they are very plausible, so I hope your particular church doctrine doesn't deviate too much from answers given.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last and evil days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul