Chapter 25 – 70 Years of Exile

One of the most striking parts of this chapter is God telling the people through Jeremiah that “the voice of mirth and gladness” shall be banished from the land. It might be that it is easier for us to picture this now. I watched some of a hockey game last night in which there were no fans, just fake fan noise, a pretend mirth and gladness. 
The exile will last for 7 decades. 

The second half of this chapter introduces a major theme in the book of Jeremiah; the cup of the Lord’s wrath. It is a cup of judgment and destruction that God says the nations will be made to drink. It is a cup of death. A more complete, vivid and emotional understanding of Jesus’ words, “let not this cup pass from me” prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane is possible when you know the cup that Jesus drank was as this cup described in Jeremiah 25.