Jeremiah 34:12-22 KJV 12 Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 13 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, 14 At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. 15 And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: 16 But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids. 17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof, 19 The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf; 20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth. 21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which are gone up from you. 22 Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.

What is a covenant breaker? You ever broken your part of a deal? We all have. Good people do there best to make it up, but that does not always happen. Yet it is the covenant breaker that constantly breaks their promise with no remorse you need to beware of them and stay away of their path of destruction. I had been doing some thinking the last few days about the covenant of Abraham, and how God allowed his flame to pass between pieces of meat in Genesis 15 when he spoke to Abraham that night about his promise. The covenant over open flame, over the roasting of meat. What important I think is to note that what Abraham was preparing was kind of a feast and sacrifice, where meat would be cooked by flame, and when it came time, God began to speak to him about the covenant and promise of the future and destruction of evil in the region where he lived as well as the exile of his own people. Take time to read the chapter in Genesis if you are not familiar with the covenant God made to Abraham. God has kept his promise to Abraham. The promise to Abraham is still happening today. God's promise of future generations that would be numberous as the stars and would worship and follow him. What an awesome promise to a people, not fully understanding that gift God granted. He did not promise them a future without pain or hardship, but a future of continual growth. King Zedekiah and his princes in today's passage were covenant breaker. The people at the time would set people free only to enslave them again. God was not pleased by the treatment of those repeatly enslaved. When these things persisted God consider Judah as breaking his covenant that began as far back as the time of Moses when they left the promise land. What is freedom, what is the value of precious freedom. To teach people to set them free, to know the value of freedom and not to entangle them once more into a yoke of bondage. Many people are in bondage to the world today. The obligation of career verses family and friends. The obligation or commitment to people without reward. Not always a voluntary enslavement. People assuming someone might do something without asking or payment. Zedekiah profit from enslavement and like King Pharaoh of Egypt found that setting his slaves free was an economic problem. Instead of seeking God or at the least deciding to take a cut of money or profit to pay the people he chose to enslave them once more. I meet a man once that thought poor people owed him a living. He would enslave them not by bondage, but trickery and deceit. He thought by working them for free, they go running to get a job or a better job, never thinking that a person without a job might have physical limitations. After all the type of volunterizism this person taught a person could rest when needed and not break away from the task at hand or simply just not show up. It happens all the time in the United states in certain areas. Most poor people get wise and make work changes but the disabled usually can not. The disable that are able to do something want to do something, but can't without the limitations. Volunteering is avenue of working or doing something different besides staying home, but payment of any kind for any job is fair for work and not enslavement. Yet those that enslave and take fail to realize the cost to the life of person if beyond their ability to do. What worse if the enslaver takes money from these people it can and will perhaps financially cripple them. Enslaving them and stealing from them. These type of people cares not if it hurts a person. What is abuse to a people ripping their life apart and enslaving them to a task without pay. No one like to feel obligated to something without at least a thank you. But even so the point is God was not pleased with the behavior of the people of Judah that reenslaved those they liberated. In fact his wrath was coming to them in the form of allowing the people of Judah to be exiled from the land and enslaved. The princes would be killed before Zedekiah and his eyes would be gorged out. The punishment severe because they did just do it once and correct the problem, but they continued to do it. God is not pleased with covenant breakers and so he will break his own promise to teach a lesson, but he will one day return the people to the promise land. King Zedekiah would never see the promise land again, but the point is God holds each generation responsible for their actions. God's wrath comes to covenant breakers. Have you ever made a vow to God, then consider keeping it. God knows the heart and intent of the covenant. He knows your deepest desire. So if you promise God something, and you feel not able to keep it, God's knows already. He knows your ability and your love for Him. Do your best to serve God with your heart, for he is reward to those that love Him. His first reward He gave to each believer is salvation. He gives you salvation through faith In His Son. He calls us righteous through faith. Faith being belief and action. Hold to your promise and God is faithful to enable and not to entrap you. Dear Heavenly Father help us to understand our promises to you matter to you. Give us the grace and strength to fulfill any promise we make to you. In Jesus precious name, Amen. http://www.turtle30cshell.com