Lamentations, Habakkuk, Obadiah

Jeremiah lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem, by Rembrandt 1630. Public domain.

2 Kings 23:39-25:30 History recap/outline

--On the death of king Josiah, his 23 yr old son Jehoahaz is made king
	After 3 mos Pharaoh-nechoh took him captive to Egypt, made Jerusalem tributary
--Pharaoh makes 25 yr old Jehoiakim, brother of Jehoahaz king in Jerusalem
	11 yr reign;  Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes him tributary
   After 3 years he rebels, Chaldees/Syrians/Moabites/Ammonites sent vs Judah
--at the death of Jehoiakim, his 18 yr old son Jehoiachin made king
	(Babylon has taken all Egypt’s holdings from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates)
	Reigned 3 mos, Nebuchadnezzar’s servants  besiege Jerusalem
	8th year of Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakim, the elites, the Temple & king’s treasures, & craftsmen: 
  10K carried away to Babylon.
  https://biblehub.com/2_kings/24-12.htm 
--21 yr old Zedekiah (Jehoiachin’s uncle) is made king by Nebuchadnezzar
	11 yr reign; rebels vs Nebuchadnezzar, 9th yr Jerusalem besieged by Babylonians
	11th year no bread/famine, city broken up, Chaldees are surrounding the city
	Zedekiah & soldiers flee, but he is captured, his army scattered
	Zedekiah’s sons killed in front of him, then his eyes are put out; he is taken to Babylon
--The Temple, the king’s house, and all the great houses in Jerusalem are burned, the walls broken
	The rest of the people in Jerusalem, and the fugitives that joined the Babylonians are carried 
   to Babylon.  The poor are left to work the vineyards.  Gedaliah is made governor.
   A conspiracy kills Gedaliah, the people flee in fear to Egypt.
--37th year of captivity, Jehoiachin is released from prison & lives on the king of Babylon’s allowance
	the rest of his life.

2 Chron 36 History recap/outline (there are a few differences to that above)
--the people make 23 yr old Jehoahaz king after Josiah’s death
	Reigned 3 mos, king of Egypt takes him captive to Egypt; makes Jerusalem tributary
--king of Egypt makes Jehoahaz’ 25 yr old brother Jehoiakim king of Judah/Jerusalem
	Reigned 11 yrs; Nebuchadnezzar carries him & the Temple treasures to Babylon
--8 yr old Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, reigns 3 mos; carried captive to Babylon
--Nebuchadnezzar makes 21 yr old Zedekiah (Jehoiachin’s brother) king of Judah/Jerusalem
	Reigned 11 years, wouldn’t humble himself before Jeremiah, speaking for the Lord
	Rebelled vs his oath & vs Nebuchadnezzar

14 ¶ Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.
15 And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

	Temple & king’s treasures, the king & princes taken captive to Babylon
	The Temple & palaces in Jerusalem are burned, the walls broken down
--Those who weren’t killed were taken captive to Babylon & served there until Persia arose
	Jeremiah’s prophecies fulfilled, the land enjoyed sabbaths, for 70 years
--1st year of Cyrus, king of Persia Jeremiah’s prophecies accomplished:
	The Lord inspired Cyrus to proclaim that God had given him the kingdoms of the earth
	And charged him to build God’s house in Jerusalem.  Whoever of the Jews wish to, can go.
	(it is most probable that someone presented Cyrus with God’s word/Jeremiah’s prophecies).

Lamentations, 5 chapters mourning the suffering of Judah & Jerusalem in the Babylonian conquest

Lam 1  The kingdom of Judah, Jerusalem as the capital, is likened to a bereft woman
1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!
2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers [allies and idols] she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.

4 The ways [streets/roads] of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. [Priests & virgins would be employed in celebrations/holy days.]
5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the Lord hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts [deer] that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

   In such a way the Lamentations continue, personifying Judah/Jerusalem as a woman remembering what life was like for her before her desolation, which the Lord allowed to come upon her for her wickedness.  “The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things . . .”, that is, her enemies have grabbed/looted all her treasures.  “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.”

17 Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.  [There was just about nothing that was considered as disgusting to the ancients as a menstruous woman or her clothing.]
18 ¶ The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
19 I called for my lovers [allies & idols], but they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.  [They died in the famine associated with siege warfare.]

     Judah/Jerusalem is put to shame and laments that there is no one to comfort her.  All her enemies laugh at her troubles, and are glad for them.  She retorts that they will be just like her, punished for their sins/transgressions.

Lam 2  The Lord has finally had enough, and brings the curses He promised via Moses in The Law
“How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth the beauty of Israel, and remembered not his footstool [Jerusalem] in the day of his anger!”
     In grief/mourning the elders have put dust on their heads and dressed in sackcloth.  Their innards are full of grief.  Children cry for hunger in their mothers’ embrace.  Instead of teaching the people to repent and avoid calamity, the prophets pretended to vain and foolish visions, that would cause the people to be banished from their homeland.  
     “The Lord hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn  [that calls people to battle] of thine adversaries.”  Each night was divided into “watches” (shifts) for the soldiers—and now they are full of prayers/petitions/pleadings with the Lord for the sake of starving children in the streets.  Starving women become willing to eat their own infants (the unit of measure called a “span” is the widest that a hand can stretch out from tip of thumb to pinky, perhaps about 9”).

Lam 3 Lamenting all the Lord has done in consequence of wickedness, the prophet remembers that God is merciful and compassionate.
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 ¶ It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

    A man will put his face in the dust (in prayer), with the hope of God’s mercy.  He puts up with physical abuse from those who accuse him, trusting that “the Lord will not cast [him] off for ever . . .”

32 But though he [God] cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

    Like a good parent, God doesn’t delight in punishing the bad deeds of His children, yet He knows He must hold them  accountable, for their own sakes.
    Jeremiah asks rhetorically of God’s all-powerfulness.  Whatever He says, good or bad, will happen.  And why should a man complain at being punished for his own sins.  In suffering, God’s people ought to do some soul-searching and turn to the Lord, praying for His mercy/pardon/forgiveness.  Jeremiah recalls his experience in prison, and how he called on the Lord for help.  God listened to him then, so he calls on Him again to recompense his enemies.

Lam 4  A lament for the horrors of a besieged city.
    “The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!” Gold lasts, pottery is temporary. Gold is precious, pottery is not.
    Even mother whales give milk to their babies, yet women of God’s people have become as careless of their young as ostriches.  Young children go hungry and thirsty in the besieged city.  Those who used to eat all sorts of delicacies are now desolate.  Those who used to dress so fine sit in poop.  Sinful Sodom didn’t suffer this much, because it was destroyed quickly.  The people of Jerusalem, who used to have every sign of health are now skin and bones.  Those that were killed by the sword were better off than those dying of hunger, and women cook their own children to eat. No one would have believed that Jerusalem would be overrun so by its enemies.
     The prophets and priests (who should be the epitome of Justice) shed the blood of just/good/righteous people.  Thus the Lord caused that the conquering army gave the prophets and priests no special treatment (as they would be used to).   People waited for help from another nation (Egypt) in vain.  The conquerors hunt out and pursue those that flee to the mountains or wilderness, including the king (the Lord’s anointed), whom they thought would still be over them even in captivity.  
     Speaking ironically, Jeremiah invites Edom to be glad at Jerusalem’s destruction, because Edom will drink from the same cup and offer all she has to the conquerors.  There will at last come an end to Zion’s punishment, and it will be Edom’s turn to be punished for her sins.

Lam 5  Jeremiah lists the things his people have suffered, and his belief in God, but ends on a sad note
   Jeremiah tells the things his people have suffered, asking “Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach . . .”  Strangers have taken their inheritances, the people are orphaned/fatherless (left without protectors/providers), their mothers widowed.  Instead of gathering wood and bringing water from the well, they have to pay for both.  They no longer have the benefits employees would, rather, they work like slaves.  They’ve paid the Egyptians & Assyrians for help with the money that could have bought them food.  
     The people of Judah suffer for the wickedness of their fathers.  Instead of being governed by people with the right to rule, they are ruled over by servants (of Nebuchadnezzar).  No one is delivering them from their fate.  They’ve suffered terrible famine.  Their women, even young women, were raped.  Princes were hanged by their hands.  The elders/elderly were given no respect.  Young men and children were set to work grinding grains and gathering wood (chores they would have thought beneath them).  The elders no longer sit at the gates of the city (a sign of wealth/leisure and honor/importance), and the young men no longer party or dance to the music.  All joy is ceased and turned to mourning.  Instead of living like kings, they are full of woes, suffering because of their sins.  Their hearts are faint, their eyes dim (vs bright with hope/energy/anticipation . . .)  Their precious Zion is become a wilderness where foxes live.  Jeremiah pleads,

19 Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.
20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
21 Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

    But then he laments, “thou hast utterly rejected us; thou art very wroth [angry] against us.”
Thus ends this set of Jeremiah's writing. It doesn't mean that it's the last he thought or wrote.


The Book of Habakkuk
     “He spoke often of an imminent Babylonian invasion (Habakkuk 1:6; 2:1; 3:16), an event that occurred on a smaller scale in 605 BC before the total destruction of Judah’s capital city, Jerusalem, in 586 BC. The way Habakkuk described Judah indicates a low time in its history. If the dating is to remain close to the Babylonian invasion, Habakkuk likely prophesied in the first five years of Jehoiakim’s reign (609–598 BC) to a king who led his people into evil.”  https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-minor-prophets/habakkuk 
     The book of Habakkuk has only 3 chapters.  He bemoans the wickedness of his time, “Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.”  He speaks of the rise of the Chaldeans (Babylonians).  While their king thinks his god has given him his power, Habakkuk says that God is using him as a form of correction for His people.  He uses fishing metaphors to capture the attention of his hearers/readers.  As far as God’s character/nature, he says, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?”  In other words, though God is too pure to countenance evil, yet He postpones judgment/punishment (until the time is right).  Habakkuk describes himself as a watchman on the tower.  God tells him to write his vision, and when it is time, it’s truth will be revealed.  The conqueror is greedy to expand his empire, but “Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!”
    Highlights:  “the just shall live by his faith,” and “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
     The third chapter is a prayer/psalm, which some have thought indicates he could have been a Temple priest.  (see reference cited above).  In his psalm of praise Habakkuk refers to God’s hand in Israel’s history, especially in the Exodus.  No matter what disasters occur, Habakkuk says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.”

The Book of Obadiah
    The book of Obadiah is the shortest in the Old Testament, only 1 chapter.  “The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom . . .”  The time is unreferenced, except that the Edomites thought to profit by the calamities befallen the Jewish nation.  The Lord through Obadiah promises that Zion/the House of Jacob will one day be delivered and re-possess their lands, and the kingdom of Esau/Edom will be destroyed.  The rule of the enemies of the Jews will be overturned.  Holiness will return to the Jewish nation.

Jeremiah–part 2, Jer 11-19

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem by Rembrandt, 1630 https://www.rembrandtpaintings.com/jeremiah-lamenting-the-destruction-of-jerusalem.jsp

Jer 11—God offers a renewal of His covenant under the Law of Moses
     The Lord tells Jeremiah to go to the men (people) of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and offer/proclaim/remind them of His covenant to obey Him/His commandments—which if they did, they would be His people, He would be their God, and they would be given a land flowing with milk and honey:  symbolizing a prosperous land, producing abundant agriculture (animals & crops, the basis of any nation’s prosperity).  Otherwise, they will be cursed.  It is a reiteration of the Exodus covenant, which included a blessing and a cursing—the natural consequences of obeying the Law of God given through Moses, or the disobedience/rejection of God’s laws.  For what reason does God give commandments?  Because in His wisdom/intelligence and compassion, He knows and tells us what will bring us happiness, peace, and prosperity, and what will bring our downfall/destruction/misery.
     A couple notes:  Jeremiah is to speak to the men, because they had charge/responsibility of/for the nation and its people (including their families, wives and children).  In our culture we are more likely to speak of consequences rather than of curses, it’s a difference in our way of understanding life, the world, and even of God.  
     The people not only didn’t obey, didn’t listen, went after their own disparate goals, they conspired/agreed to do so.  They were the ones who broke the covenant/sacred contract, so God is not obligated to fulfill His promises to them.  He will allow bad/”evil” things to come, which they will not be able to escape (in olden times people considered anything bad as “evil”).  Where is God’s mercy?  God has worked with His people, been merciful to them, for hundreds of years—enough is enough.  It is not Merciful not to be Just.  A parent who is endlessly giving “2nd chances” (and 3rd, 4th, etc) is essentially an enabler, and isn’t doing his/her child any favors.  A good parent must set boundaries and stick by them.  Of course, mistakes can be made and repented of, if it is true repentance.  But to pretend to repent merely to get a reprieve isn’t really repentance.  Repentance means a change of heart, a change of behavior.  Of course, we are imperfect beings, and God has offered means to make atonement for those imperfections, as much then as now.  
     When God doesn’t help the people of Judah they will go to their false gods, who can’t help them.  Every city has had its favorite god, and Jerusalem has had altars to different gods in every street, and worse yet, to the particularly evil Baal (Jezebel’s god).  
     Again, God tells Jeremiah not to pray for the people.  He’s not going to listen to their false pleas.  He likens them to an adulterous wife with many lovers, who rejoices in them.  He likens the nation to an olive tree that will be broken down and burned.  He was the one that planted the tree, and He will be the one who will take it out, because of their worship of Baal.
     Jeremiah speaks of his personal experience, in that God showed Him all this, and because he has spoken God’s word, they conspire to “sacrifice” him to their own devices (leading him like a lamb or bull to the slaughter).  They intend to cut him down like a tree, so that he will not be remembered (perhaps that he will have no descendants).  Jeremiah prays that God, who judges righteously, and tests every person’s heart (intentions, character, what one values and desires, as well as faithfulness to Him), will hear his cause, which he has laid out, and punish his adversaries for their wickedness—who tell him not to prophesy in the name of the Lord, or they will kill him.   God answers Jeremiah that He will indeed punish them, in particular the men of Anathoth.  Their young men will be killed in war, and their children will die from famine.  The men of Anathoth (Jeremiah’s hometown) will have no descendants.  
https://bibleatlas.org/anathoth.htm about Anathoth

Jer 12—God will punish Jeremiah’s kin for betraying him
     Jeremiah acknowledges God’s righteousness, and yet, he wonders why wicked people prosper, and treacherous ones are happy.  Perhaps we have all wondered, or felt that frustration.  Jeremiah says, You know me, you know my heart . . . “How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, [God isn’t going to punish us, in the end].”  It sounds like they were suffering a dearth/drought, and God was not revoking it.
     Jeremiah uses figurative words that perhaps would have been proverbial in his time, that if someone is weary from running along with footmen carrying a VIP’s litter how can they keep up with a horse-drawn carriage?  Likewise, if one trusts in the peace of the river (Jordan), what will one do during the season of flooding?  This seems to have some reference to the betrayal of Jeremiah by his kin, “though they speak fair words” they harbor ill for him.
     Jeremiah, and/or God, has turned his back on his people/kin.  They are like a lion roaring after him with threats of devouring him, so he renounces his inheritance (see the end of the previous chapter).  He likens his inheritance to a speckled bird, referring either to a small songbird (or possibly an imperfect specimen not suitable for a sacrifice unto the Lord, but the next sentence seems to make it about the former).  Other, presumably larger, birds fly about her menacingly.  Wild beasts come to devour her.
     Many pastors (who should be tending the flock or fields) have destroyed them, or have oppressed the people (pastors and flocks used as a metaphor, like today, for the religious leaders and their congregations).  These leaders don’t take it to heart when they despoil the people.  In consequence, the whole land from one end to the other will be spoiled/destroyed by conquest.  In another figure the Lord speaks of the leaders of the people sowing wheat (as they suppose to get rich thereby), but will reap thorns.  All their efforts will go for nought (nothing), and their revenues will be embarrassing.  This because the Lord is angry at them.  God will pluck His people out of their land, but He will again have compassion on them, and return them to their heritage/inheritance.  He is speaking, in particular, of the leaders/pastors of the people, who instead of teaching the people of God, have taught them of Baal.  If those leaders would turn to God, and turn the people to God, they will be prospered among the people.  If not, God will destroy the entire nation (God will allow the conquest of the nation, but it’s actually the people and their leaders who have destroyed the nation morally, which causes the material destruction of the nation.)
   
Jer 13—Can a leopard change its spots?
     Prophets anciently often used theatrics to make their message powerful in the minds of the people.  The Lord instructs Jeremiah to dramatize the relationship between Himself and Israel by taking a piece of intimate clothing and burying it in the bank of the Euphrates River, later digging it up again, and showing how it has become worthless.  Likewise, Israel was close to the Lord:  “This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.”  'Girdle' is a term that could mean something like a loincloth.
     Using wine as a metaphor, Jeremiah speaks of Jerusalem as being so drunken that even fathers & sons will be slammed together in destruction.  Next is the warning that Israel should turn to God, rather than stumble around in the darkness looking for light, but finding the shadow of death.  “But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.” [God weeps for our suffering, even (or moreso) when it is the consequence of our own bad behavior/choices.  He pleads with the king & queen to humble themselves before they are forcefully humbled, when armies from the north come and carry away their people captive like stolen flocks.  They’ll be hurting like a woman giving birth.  When you ask, Why? You can know that the greatness of your iniquities has uncovered you to shame.  
     Famous saying:  Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?   If so, then even you that are accustomed to behaving badly can become good.   Jeremiah uses the metaphor of the stubble of a harvested field blown away in the wind to the wilderness, and the visualization of a person caught with their skirts up in an adulterous act.  Remember that in those days even men wore robes/skirts.

Jer 14—Jeremiah pleads to God vs a serious drought
     A description of famine due to drought:  
--the people mourn
--the wealthy send their young ones out of town into the countryside for water, but they find none
--the ground is parched for lack of rain
--farmers are embarrassed/ashamed by the failure of their crops
--domesticated animals leave their newborns to die in the field because there is no grass/feed for the females to produce milk to nourish their young
--donkeys sniff for water/grass from upon the hills, but there is none
     Jeremiah prays/pleads for mercy, though Israel has sinned.  “O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble . . .”, don’t just be a visitor or a sojourner that only stays for a night!  We are called by Your name, don’t leave us!   The Lord answers that the people have loved to stray from Him, and He will recompense them for their sins.  He tells Jeremiah once again not to pray for them.  He will not listen to their cries, nor take notice of their fasts and offerings.  They’ll be devastated by war, famine, and disease.
     Jeremiah replies that the prophets are promising the people peace and no famine.  The Lord disavows those prophets who speak lies in His name.   He denies that He has sent them; they are deceivers.  The Lord says that those who say there will be no war and famine will be consumed by war and famine.   Those that listen to them (eg rulers/leaders) will be tossed (dead) into the streets, and no one will bury them, not even their families.  The Lord enjoins Jeremiah to tell them, “Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach [as in the wall of a city breached/broken through in a siege], with a very grievous blow.”  If he goes into the country, he sees those killed in fighting, if he comes back into the city he sees people dying of famine.  The prophets and priests are to be carried away to a foreign land.  [A nation weakened by drought/famine would be easy prey for a marauding army, if they have their own supply line secure.]
     Jeremiah again pleads with the Lord:  Have You utterly rejected Judah?  Do you loathe Zion/Jerusalem?  Why have You hit us so hard that we can’t be healed?  We looked/hoped for peace, and there’s nothing good in sight.  We looked for healing and see only trouble.  “We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.  Do not abhor [hate] us, for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.”  Jeremiah is pleading with the Lord that for His own reputation He shouldn’t abandon His people.  Jeremiah continues, None of the foolish/false gods of the Gentiles can cause rain [remember the showdown between Elijah and wicked queen Jezebel’s priests].  Even nature is subject to the will of God in giving rain.  Jeremiah affirms “therefore we will wait upon thee . . .” for God is the Creator of all.  Jeremiah's we doesn't mean everyone.

Jer 15—the Lord to Jeremiah respecting the evils of King Manasseh and Jeremiah’s own cause
     The Lord says, Even if Moses or Samuel (the epitome of righteous leaders who had pull with God) pled for the nation, His mind wouldn’t change for the sake of the people.  If the people ask, Where shall we go?  Tell them those slated for death to death; those for the sword (death in battle) to the sword, those for famine to famine, those for captivity to captivity.  People will come to 4 ends:  death in battle (by the sword), or predators/scavengers—dogs, birds, or beasts (either from war or famine).  And they will be scattered to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of what king Manasseh did.  Jeremiah’s calling came during the reign of good King Josiah, who was after wicked King Manasseh.  But after Josiah the people returned to the wickedness of King Manasseh, led by their pastors/rulers.
     Who will have pity on Jerusalem, or bemoan her, or ask after her welfare?  The nation has forsaken the Lord, and He is weary of their pretenses to repentance.  God will destroy them and take away their posterity because they haven’t really changed their ways.  He will fan them in the gates of the land, perhaps a reference to the fan of a metallurgist getting the fire superheated to melting temperatures.  There will be more widows than the sand of the sea, and even women with as many as 7 sons will lose them all to the sword (warfare).  
     Jeremiah speaks of his anguish in being born as a controversial person.  Though he has neither lent nor borrowed, it seems like everyone curses him.  (Perhaps one reason God forbad Israelites to lend with interest to their fellow Israelites was because of the bad feelings that tend to ensue between borrowers and lenders—each cursing the other as being dishonest/robbers).  But the Lord promises good things for Jeremiah’s posterity, and that even his enemies will come to him in time of affliction.  
    Then the Lord returns to bad news for the nation of Judah, that it will be conquered, and its riches be despoiled, because of sin.  The people will be taken captive to a land they haven’t heard of.  He returns to the analogy of fire, as a symbol of His anger.
     Jeremiah pleads again for himself.  In that the Lord knows him, would He remember him, avenge him of his persecutors?  He pleads for the Lord’s longsuffering/mercy, that he be not carried away captive, because he has suffered reproaches for God’s sake.  Jeremiah internalized God’s word, “and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.”  Jeremiah reminds the Lord that he did not join those who mocked Him or His ways/commandments, and was alone because of it.  He was indignant with those mockers.  He cries out, Why must I be wounded and in perpetual pain, without healing?  God, wilt Thou be a liar and like a dried up spring?
     The Lord responds, If you’ll come back to me, I will bring you back again [perhaps out of their clutches] to stand before me.  If you separate the good from the bad, you will be able to speak for me.  They can come to you, but don’t you go to them [perhaps God is speaking of the king’s court].  I will make you like a brass fence/wall, and though they fight against you, they will not prevail, “for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord…I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.”
     Possibly Jeremiah, in his efforts to persuade the powerful of his day, got caught up in their life.  Perhaps God was telling him to bring those who would listen into his circle, and not to return to those who would not listen.  They might come to him, but he was not to return to their company.  Eventually, when the end did come, Jeremiah was indeed saved from captivity, because he was known for his opposition to those in positions of power in the nation of Judah (Jer 39:11-18).

Jer 16—the Lord tells Jeremiah not to have a family in the wicked land, that is to be destroyed
     The Lord tells Jeremiah not to marry and have a family where he was, for they would die terrible deaths, unlamented and unburied.  They would be like excrement, killed by sword and famine, their bodies food for birds and beasts (scavengers).  The Lord tells Jeremiah not to mourn for the dead:  “for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, even lovingkindness and mercies.”  The Lord lists the cultural ways of mourning at the time, indicating there would be none left to do so.  The Lord tells Jeremiah not to go to feasts, including weddings, “For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth [merriment], and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.”
     The Lord lets Jeremiah know ahead of time what people will say when he passes on what He tells him:  Why is the Lord pronouncing all this terrible stuff on us?  What have we done that’s so bad?  Jeremiah is to say, Because your forebearers have forsaken me for other gods, and not kept my law, and you have done worse than them.  Therefore, I [God] will throw you out of this land [the Land of Promise], to a land neither you nor your ancestors knew, and there you will have to serve their gods, and I won’t do you any favors.  
     One day, instead of saying, The God who brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt still lives, they’ll say “The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.  Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” 
     The Lord sees all the people’s wicked ways, and He promises to requite them double for their sins, because they have defiled the Promised Land, and filled it with “the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.”  No doubt the evidence of idol worship, including child sacrifice.
     Jeremiah replies, “O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction,” the Gentiles from the ends of the earth will say it’s because they inherited lies and foolishness [a false faith/religion].  But God counters rhetorically, Should a person make his own false gods?  They will know my power and what I do, and that I am [the True God].

Jer 17—Jeremiah’s teaching and prayer, particularly a re-emphasis on the Sabbath
     This chapter continues regarding the sins of the kingdom of Judah, and its consequences, as well as Jeremiah’s prayer for God’s help and grace, and God’s call for Jeremiah to stand at the gates of the city and reteach them about keeping the Sabbath holy.  But here are some other gems/highlights:

5 ¶ Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.  [deep roots provide water to the tree even through drought]
10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.  [The Lord tests our mettle, not that He needs to know what we are made of, but that we need to know.]
11 As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.  [presumably a partridge caught for food]
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

Jer 18—God is like a potter, totally in charge, but He will change His intentions according to behavior
     The Lord sends Jeremiah to a potter’s shop, and likens Himself to the potter, in that He has total power over the pot.  And yet, even after He has pronounced bad things for a wicked nation, if they repent, He will change how He treats them.  Likewise, if He has promised good things to a nation, but that nation go bad, He will refuse to bless them.
     The Lord appeals to Judah & Jerusalem (and to every person) to return from their wicked ways.  They say, Our lot is hopeless, so we’re going to rely on our own devices.  Rhetorically the Lord asks whether it would make sense for a person to forsake a fresh spring in the mountain, implying that God’s people have forsaken the living waters that spring from Him.   Because they have turned from Him, causing people to whistle and shake their heads at His inheritance, the Lord will blow them away.  [As in previous instances, the Lord intends to wipe out the old inhabitants and start rebuilding afresh.  Examples:  the Flood, Abraham, Sodom & Gomorrah, the Canaanites, the Children of Israel wandering for 40 years in the desert until all the older generation had passed away . . . ] 
     Jeremiah recounts the opposition he has been facing, then prays to the Lord to witness what his enemies say and to remember that he prayed for them, that the Lord would turn away His anger from them [compare Matt 5:11 & 44].  Now he prays that as God has foretold, His will be done, in recompense for the way they have treated His prophet [not merely as a man, but as the mouthpiece of God].

Jer 19—with a pot as a teaching device/visual aid, Jeremiah is sent to prophesy destruction
     Jeremiah is to get a pot from the potter, take it and the elders of the people and priests, and go to the valley of the son of Hinnom.  There he is to prophesy desolation because of “the blood of innocents; They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal … Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.”   The famine in the siege to come will be so bad that people will eat their own children and friends.  Then to punctuate the point, Jeremiah is to break the earthenware bottle in front of his audience.  Refer back to Jeremiah 7.