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Hi there! I hope the Spirit showed you amazing biblical treasure this week. Here are some highlights of what He’s revealed to me about my focus verse (and a few other gems, too):

Last Week’s Work

COMPARISONS

These two comparisons stood out to me:

• A male descendant of David who will execute justice and righteousness will resemble a righteous Branch. At this point I don’t know enough about the descendant or what Jeremiah means by righteous Branch, though I suspect the capital B indicates this might be a Messianic prophecy (maybe Jesus?).
• My focus verse equates our righteousness with God. I believe this is true—there is no righteousness in me apart from Jesus, who took my unrighteousness away when He died for me on Calvary.

CAUSES/MOTIVATION

I almost missed the LORD identifying Himself as the cause of a righteous Branch springing up for David! It doesn’t quite follow the pattern we usually look for in that the connector, cause, functions as a verb here. I love how God’s Word continually teaches me new ways to study!

I noticed several other causes, but I think the main one for my study focus is this:

Action: In those days Judah will be saved, … Jerusalem will dwell securely, and … it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness,
Connector: For [because]
Reason: … the LORD declares David will always have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priests will always have a man … to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

These two verses explain that Judah and Jerusalem will be secured,and it will be called “The LORD is our righteousness” because the LORD will keep His promises to David and to the Levitical priests.

If you’re scratching your head on that, you’re not alone. I do believe this is prophecy, and sometimes prophecy isn’t what it appears to be. I’m trusting that the Spirit will guide me to understand this as God intends over the next two weeks when I start using the Refining tools (Step 4) in the DISO process.  

CONDITIONS/METHODS

In the meantime, I’m excited about the conditions the Spirit helped me discover in this text.

The first condition is His fulfillment of the promise He made to Israel and Judah. When this happens, the following will also happen:

• He will cause a righteous Branch of David’s to spring up who will execute justice and righteousness in the land,  
• Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely, and
• It [Judah/Jerusalem?] will be called the LORD is our righteousness.

 Next, I noticed the If… then… construction in verses 20-21 and 25-26:

Condition:  If you can break the LORD’s covenant with the day and … night, and they don’t come at their appointed time,
Result: then the LORD’s covenants with David … and … the Levitical priests can also be broken.
I think this states (in a wordy way!) that the LORD’s covenants with David and the Levitical priests will NOT be broken. Only the LORD has the power to break His covenants, and He won’t do it.
Condition: If the LORD hasn’t established his covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth,
Result: then He will reject David’s offspring and will not choose one of them to rule over Jacob’s offspring.
Because both of these statements are NOT true (even in this age, we know from personal observation that the day and the night come at their appointed times, as they have from the beginning), the truth must be that the covenant with day and night is unbreakable, and so the LORD will NOT reject David’s offspring.

Dig-In Challenges

This coming week, I’m planning to:

1. PRAY. Of course!
2. REFINE my understanding of this text by making a note of all the types of writing (instruction, law, letter, narrative, poetry, and/or prophecy) I discover in Jeremiah 33:14-26, then skimming the text before and after these verses to ensure I haven’t taken this passage out of its literal context, and to see if the author provides other details related to my personal treasure. I’ll probably also do an AI search of Jeremiah to see if the themes in my focus verse appear elsewhere in it.
3. REFINE: Next, I’ll research the book’s historical context by referencing an Introduction to the book of Jeremiah, starting here. If you’re working along with me, note any relevant or interesting facts you uncover in your review of these materials. Based on the writing type (from step 2, above) and what you discover in the introduction, should Jeremiah 33:14-26 be interpreted literally?
4. REFINE: Last, I’ll be looking up the meaning of a few words and phrases from my focus verses using an interlinear Bible tool. I like Biblehub.com’s Hebrew tool for this research. To use it, follow the link above. You can quickly access a verse by selecting it from the dropdown box showing 33:14 at the top of your screen; or you can scroll to it by clicking the right-pointing arrow (to the right of the verse citation, Jeremiah 33:14) for higher numbered verses. Once you locate the verse, click the number in the Strong’s column that corresponds to the English word or phrase you’re researching. Note anything the Spirit highlights for you in the information provided.

I encourage you to use these tools and dig as much as you can this week. I pray the Spirit will bless your efforts, my friend!