Isaiah chapter 24 - Jeremiah

Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. He had the task of being God’s witness to the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the armies of Babylon. The ministry that God gave to him is described for us in Jeremiah 1:10, and in it we see why Jeremiah had great cause to weep.

“See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”

Jeremiah was to be God’s witness as his beloved city of Jerusalem and the nation of Judah were rooted out, pulled down, destroyed and thrown down, and that’s what he did. He was also to preside over the rebuilding and planting of the remnant, but that story is not covered in the book that bears Jeremiah’s name.

The connection between the book of Jeremiah and the twenty-forth chapter of Isaiah is one that I would describe as very strong. Almost all of the unique words that we find in this chapter of Isaiah can be found in the book of Jeremiah. Many of them occur more than once in Jeremiah, and some can be found as many as twenty times, but there are two pairs of words that occur in the twenty-forth chapter of Isaiah, and in the book of Jeremiah which do not appear in any other chapter of the Bible. The pairs are:

burned - inhabitants and pit - snare

These word pairs in common is one thing, but the fact that they don’t appear anywhere else in any chapter of scripture is highly significant. Be that as it may, the most significant connection between the twenty-forth chapter of Isaiah and the book of Jeremiah is a two entire verses which are almost identical. I have highlighted the words and phrases that are common to both passages.

“Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD. He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 48:43-44)

“Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.” (Isaiah 24:17-18)

There is much that is the same in these two passages.

God’s prophecy through Jeremiah is to the inhabitants of Jerusalem who were inside the city walls, besieged by Babylon. God’s prophecy through Isaiah was against the nation of Moab. There is a striking connection here between Isaiah chapter twenty-four and the book of Jeremiah, which is the twenty-forth book in the Bible.