[23] haelohe nearby, says Yahweh, and not elohe far off? [24] Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says Yahweh. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says Yahweh. [25] I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, "I have dreamed, I have dreamed!" [26] How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back-- those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? [27] They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal. [28] Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says Yahweh. [29] Is not my word like fire, says the Yahweh, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
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These seven verses are taken from the middle of Jeremiah’s chapter twenty-three. According to my main study source – BibleHub Interlinear – the first eight verses are headed “David's Righteous Branch,” with verses nine through thirty-two headed “Lying Prophets.” These verse come under that heading; but, there are fifteen verse leading up to these seven, with three more following them. One verse that I would like to add to this commentary is verse seventeen.
The Hebrew written is this: “’ō·mə·rîm ’ā·mō·wr lim·na·’ă·ṣay , dib·ber Yah·weh , šā·lō·wm yih·yeh lā·ḵem ; wə·ḵōl hō·lêḵ biš·ri·rūṯ lib·bōw ’ā·mə·rū , lō-ṯā·ḇō·w ‘ă·lê·ḵem rā·‘āh .” This literally translates into English saying, “them saying say to those with contempt for me , has said Yahweh , peace you will have to you all ; and all walking according to the stubbornness of his own mind them saying , not will come upon you evil .”
In this, it should be noted that in Jeremiah 23 there are many times that Jeremiah wrote, “says Yahweh,” either as “nə·’um-Yah·weh” or “ā·mar Yah·weh.” This means Yahweh spoke through His prophet Jeremiah; but in this verse, where Jeremiah wrote “dib·ber Yah·weh,” he is referencing that said by ‘lying prophets and lying priests,” who (like the truthful Jeremiah) were expected to tell the people what Yahweh said. Here, Yahweh exposes those liars as “those (priests and prophets) saying (their divinely led inspirations) say to those (the people they lead) with contempt for me.” This means the liars do not believe in Yahweh, such that their seeing Yahweh as a worthless entity means they speak for Him, not believing He truly exists – because He never speaks to them, when they have told the people they are priests and prophets. Thus, the liars announce their lies as, “has said Yahweh.”
The lie that Yahweh here points out through Jeremiah is that which says the false priests and false prophets begins with the promise that says, “peace you will have to you all.” In that, “peace” (“shalom”) means “completeness, soundness, and welfare,” as the true meaning to “peace.” The meaning of “completeness” refers to the souls of those who are married to Yahweh and have become His Son reborn, so the “completeness and soundness” that comes to the souls is a return to be one with Yahweh – from whom they came. Birth into the worldly realm makes one incomplete or not whole, until those soul find the path that leads them to marry Yahweh and divinely unite with Him again. The lying priests and lying prophets do not understand that written in Scripture; so, they make things up to suit their needs.
The lesson the liars then preach is this: “No evil will come to you.” This is based solely on those of Judah, especially the leaders in Jerusalem, think they were born to eternal life, because their forefathers were true Israelites – those “Who Retained an inner Yahweh elohim.” This promise said all the people could do no wrong. The liars spoke that promise, with “all walking according to the stubbornness of his own mind.” That says their apparent sins could be excused as the right of God’s children to do as they please, as long as they confessed belief in God. Therein lies the lie that permeates all times, including in today’s branches of Christianity, where false priests take their lead from lying educators and lying organizational leaders, who all are “walking according to the stubbornness of their own minds.” To be led by a Big (lying) Brain and not a soul married to Yahweh, with Jesus as one’s Lord means there are a whole lot of people running around saying, “If Jesus were alive today, I am sure he would agree with my forgiveness of every sin under the sun, especially those I personally practice.”
There are nine use of the Hebrew letter samekh (“ס”), which appears singularly at the end of a run of verses. The seven verses selected for reading above begin after a “ס” and end with a “ס.” The final verses – thirty through forty – end with a samekh, meaning there are eight used to divide the first twenty-nine verses. A samekh is written at the end of a series of verses to denote the end of an important set of verses. These seven above are then the climax set of five sets of verses, with one verse (15) a subset, denoted by it ending with the letter peh (“פ”). Verse fifteen has Yahweh telling those like Jeremiah (true prophets and priests who stand because Yahweh raises them to speak for Him), the liars using His name will be “fed wormwood and made to drink the water of gall.” They are identified as “the prophets of Jerusalem” who “send forth profaneness (or pollution) into all the land.” The use of “פ” says shut up and do not say a word, as silence to ponder the meaning of “wormwood” and “water of gall” means they will be denied all spiritual food and everlasting waters.
In the seven verses, verse twenty-three begins by repeating use of “elohim,” in the form “elohe.” The word “elohim” alone must be seen as a statement of eternal spirits, gods, angels, and/or demons, as without an identification of Yahweh (as a “Yahweh elohim”) a soul equates to “elohe.” A soul is eternal and the natural lord over its body of flesh, from birth until death, unless possessed by another eternal deity made by Yahweh for the Creation. The literal translation says, “the elohe near at hand I says Yahweh ; and not elohe distant .” This then says the soul of the Son of Yahweh resurrected within a true prophet or true priest is then an extension of the hand of Yahweh in the flesh. Jeremiah was one such example. However, any soul that keeps the Son’s “elohe distant” or “far away” will be either self-important as a soul playing god or a soul possessed by a demon spirit (led by Satan). The implied question from these statements asks, who is speaking in the name of Yahweh? Is it a true prophet or true priest? Or, is it a liar?
Verse twenty-four is then accurately translated above, as it is Yahweh asking the same question Adam and Eve found out the answer to, after they had sinned in Eden. There can be no hiding from Yahweh, as there is no place where his is “secret.” The illusion of secrecy comes when one’s back has turned to Yahweh, so one can no longer see Him or feel His presence watching over one’s soul. The element of Yahweh asking, “do I not fill heaven and earth?” must be understood as metaphor for “soul” [“heaven”] and “flesh [“earth”]. Yahweh sent each and every “soul” (an eternal spirit, thus heavenly) into its body of flesh (prechosen as the “earth” a “soul” would fill); so, would He not know everything that would take place afterwards in the combination of that soul in its flesh?
In verse twenty-five Jeremiah wrote of Yahweh saying, “I have heard , what they have said the prophets who prophesy in my name lies saying , I dreamed I dreamed .” When we find the first-person construct repeated, where “I” says nothing about Yahweh, this says the liars are self-concerned. Whereas Jeremiah wrote so many times – in this chapter alone – “says Yahweh,” to say, “I have dreamed” or “I dreamed,” the “I” says Yahweh had nothing to do with their dreams. They saw figments of their imagination, while playing gods.
In verse twenty-six, Yahweh asked through Jeremiah, “how long will exist in the inner man (or mind, heart, will) of the prophets prophesying lies ?” In the use of “bə·lêḇ,” a construct of “leb,” the ‘heart-mind-inner man-will must be read as intending to ask about “how long will their souls exist?” As “prophets prophesying lies,” the damage done to their souls will be everlasting, with punishment due. Then, Yahweh repeated a construct of “leb,” asking, “and indeed the prophets of the treachery of their own hearts (souls) ?” This says these liars will bring about their own condemnations.
Verse twenty-seven is a very important statement that most assuredly applies to the liars that have permeated the various denominations of Christianity, since the Great Schism. The translation above puts it rather clear, as Yahweh saying through Jeremiah that the liars would: “plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal.” The literal translation says, “those thinking , to make forget my people my name , by their dreams , that they will count everyone his neighbor ; which they forgot their fathers my name for Ba’al .” This needs an in-depth breakdown analysis.
First, the focus is placed on “thinking,” which is a product of the brain, not the soul led by Yahweh’s Spirit. Big Brain syndrome is a fatal disease to the soul. Then, Yahweh says those Big Brains will plot, “to make forgotten my people my name.” The misconception made by a Big Brain is “my people” are Jews (the remnant name for the captive people of Judah and Jerusalem). Yahweh’s “people” are those souls in human flesh (“people”) who have married Yahweh, receiving His Spirit and joined with the soul of His Son (Adam-Jesus). The “name” is “Yahweh,” not anything lesser (such as “the Lord”). In the same way that the lost Jews of Judah and Jerusalem would cease calling Yahweh by His “name,” allowing for foreign gods that all were demon philosophies under Satan, as generic “baals” (a word meaning “lord”), the liars of today’s churches memorize English translation that replace “Yahweh” with “the Lord” (a.k.a. “the Baal”). To know the ”name” of Yahweh, one has to be a soul married to Him, as His wife-soul, who takes on her Husband’s “name” in divine marriage. A fully devoted wife-soul never forgets the “name” Yahweh.
When Yahweh then say, “by their dreams,” here again is an imagination that comes from the death of mortal sleep. The liars have fanciful imaginations that “think” their bad translations speak the truth to them; so, they can manipulate those bad translations (remembering all the forms of “elohim” and “adonay” are all shown in English translations as an interchangeable “God,” equal to “the Lord”) to fit their hidden agendas. Unfortunately, Yahweh already said, “He can see you plotting and preparing your lies in your hidden secret places, because Yahweh sees all and everything.” Only fools “think” they can get by with lying in Yahweh’s “name,” with their only excuse being, “I do not believe there is a God. Only fools believe in God; so, let me get rich lying to fools who do believe in God and believe I can speak for God and Jesus.”
When Yahweh then say one of their lies will be to define “everyone to be counted as one’s neighbor,” just look at how many lying priests and church organization leaders have turned their buildings into gathering places for political indoctrination. Illegal immigration brings people of mixed faiths together, with priests today claiming all are God’s children. Those are lies, which are based on their wild imaginations. Not once has anyone truly talked with Yahweh and heard His instruct a true prophet to allow those who hate you and want to destroy your religious beliefs into your midst. You love an enemy by allowing that enemy to live afar from you. Absence makes the heart grow fonder; and, fonder means the release of hatred. Bringing oil and water together – two elements that do not mix – will only find conflict and eventual separation. The true meaning of a “neighbor” is one’s soul being joined with the soul of Yahweh’s Son, who is “elohe near at hand, not elohe far away.” The soul of Yahweh’s Son is the only “neighbor” a true prophet is told to always love as oneself.
When the last segment of verse twenty-eight says, “which they forgot their fathers my name for Ba’al,” this element of physical lineage rejects those who mistake the meaning of “my people” as being a bloodline of Jews. Physical “fathers” that long before rejected Yahweh and worshipped Baals (read 1 Kings 18:20-40, which tells of Elijah against the 450 priests of Baal allowed into the Northern Kingdom by Ahab and Jezebel). The destruction of Israel and Judah speaks loudly of the fruit produced by the “fathers” who “forgot” the “name” Yahweh, choosing to worship dead gods (gods of the dead). As far as the Jews of today are concerned, in a 2000 census questionnaire, less than 50% who identified as “Jewish” said they “believed in God.” Those descendants of those physical “fathers” still have “forgotten the name” Yahweh as their God. They prefer the baals of politics, media influence, and the philosophy that thinks money buys everyone as their idols of worship.
Verse twenty-eight is then Yahweh saying through Jeremiah, “the prophet who has a dream let him tell a dream , and who my word he has let him speak my word faithfully ; what is the chaff to the wheat ?” This becomes reminiscent to the girl possessed to tell the truth, as an oracle who could not control her insights that came to her by “elohe.” Because her possessing spirit was not conducive towards leading lost souls to marry Yahweh, Paul cast out that spirit, leading to a legal dispute with the profiteers and businessmen of Macedonia (worshippers of baals). This says there are “prophets” – a word that also translates as “a spokesman, speaker” – that are just as belief-worthy as financial forecasters, who ‘foresee’ certain stocks to be on the rise, in the future. Those are “dreams,” based on Big Brain “thinking,” which may or may not come true, with everyone knowing those “dreams” of the future are like weather forecasting – liable to change.
This places “dreams” under the category of “best laid plans of mice and men.” Buyer beware. On the other hand, a true prophet of Yahweh will speak the truth of Yahweh, as Yahweh instructed him or her to speak it. They do so “faithfully,” having no idea what the future hold. They only know what they are told to say. The comparison is the chaff is useless stuff that protects the truth from being destroyed as it develops. Once fully developed, the “wheat” becomes spiritual food the seeking souls must have to gain everlasting life. All the lies of pretend prophecies must be blow away with the wind.
In the last verse of this reading selection (ending with a samekh), Yahweh asked through Jeremiah, “is not like my word like a fire ?” This means for a true prophet, to hear the “word” of Yahweh causes a burning desire to speak that “word” so others can hear it. The “word” of Yahweh is not for personal gain, designed to be kept under covers. It is “like a fire” in the way it spreads the truth so the truth cannot be ignored. This then led to the follow-up comparison, “like a hammer breaks in pieces the rock”. The “rock” is metaphor for a “stronghold” or “fortress” that is a wall built of stone, designed to keep enemies out. The “hammer” is then the strength that cannot be kept from “breaking to pieces” that which resists the truth. Each verse of Scripture is then a single “hammer” that “breaks apart” the lies that misconstrue the truth of that verse. Yahweh is the source of the truth that a prophet exposes. That exposure comes blow after blow and breaks apart the wall that imprisons the soul of Yahweh’s lost sheep.
This reading must be seen as a Track 2 alternative to the Track 1 Old Testament reading from Isaiah, where Yahweh exposed His “vineyard” had become overrun with wild grape vines. Those bad fruit are the equivalent to the lying prophets and lying priests who forget Yahweh and worship Baals. The lesson in the Isaiah reading was Yahweh will not replant the vineyard. He will let the liars choke the life out of a nation of people, so they would never again be the ‘children of Israel.’ They will have fallen on the ground and become wild grape vines, no longer choice. The result was to let everything turn to thorns and briars, which will become a wasteland void of replenishing waters from Yahweh (living waters). This means the only way to become a true child of Yahweh is to marry one’s soul to His Spirit and become the resurrection within one’s soul of the soul of Yahweh’s Son. All true prophets will be Jesus reborn. All who will be the good fruit of the true vine will be true prophets, called Saints. One soul at a time will be saved in His name, with “Jesus” meaning “Yah Saves.”