Jeremiah 17

But Jeremiah says that the heart is beyond cure; where then is there hope? The answer: our hope is in God. David prayed: Create in me a pure heart, O God (Psalm 51:10). Only God can create in us a pure heart. Our hearts are dead because of our sins; only God can make us alive (Ephesians 2:1,4–5). And He does so by sending us His Holy Spirit; it is the Spirit who gives us a new birth, a new life (John 3:5; 7:37–39). It is His Spirit who renews our heart (see Psalm 51:7–17 and comment). And it is His Spirit who searches our heart and reveals to us the sin that is there, the sin that we can’t see on our own (see Psalm 139:23–24 and comment).

11 Jeremiah gives an example of how man’s deceitful heart leads him astray: when one gains riches by unjust means, those riches will desert him; the gain he thought would be permanent will turn out to be temporary, and he will turn out to have been a fool.

12–13 Jeremiah reflects on the glory of God’s throne—that is, the temple and, in particular, the ark of the Testimony (Exodus 25:21–22). Those who turn away from God will be written in the dust—not in the book of life (Revelation 20:12; 21:27); they will be destined for death.

14–18 Here Jeremiah prays on his own behalf. His ministry of being the Lord’s shepherd has brought him much persecution. His prophecies about the fall of Jerusalem have not yet come true, and so he is being accused of being a false prophet (verse 15). Prophets were proven true only when their prophecies were fulfilled (Deuteronomy 18:21–22). So Jeremiah asks God to bring on the day of disaster, to bring down double (full) destruction upon his persecutors, the people of Judah (verse 18).

Keeping the Sabbath Holy (17:19–27)

19–23 One of the most visible signs that people were keeping God’s covenant was their keeping of the Sabbath (see Exodus 20:8–11; Isaiah 56:2 and comments). Indeed, keeping the Sabbath holy was a sign of the covenant (Exodus 31:12–17). How well the people of Judah kept the Sabbath was a measure of their overall spiritual condition. That is why the Lord tells Jeremiah to remind the people of the importance of keeping the Sabbath and, in particular, the importance of not doing any work on the Sabbath, such as carrying a load⁶⁴ (verses 21–22).

24–27 The Lord promised that if Judah’s people kept the Sabbath holy and thereby demonstrated their obedience to all of His commands, then there would always be a king sitting on David’s throne,⁶⁵ and the city of Jerusalem would be inhabited forever (verses 24–25). Then God’s people from all over Israel would continue to bring their offerings and sacrifices to the Lord’s house, the temple in Jerusalem. But if they failed to keep the Sabbath (and all other commandments), then Jerusalem would be destroyed (verse 27).