August 13, 2023 Bible Study — Beware Those Willing to Sacrifice Children

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 19-22.

God sent Jeremiah to prophesy that He was going to smash Jerusalem like a clay pot.  Jeremiah told the leaders of the people this was going to happen because they and the people had turned to worshiping other gods, going so far as to sacrifice their children to those gods.  It seems to me that Jeremiah was pointing out to them that the sacrifice of children should have made them realize that these gods were bad and that worshiping them would lead to destruction.  I believe we should heed the same warning regarding belief systems who have “prophets” who speak of abortion in sacramental terms.

Later in today’s passage. Jeremiah prophesies against the rulers of Jerusalem.  Once again, Jeremiah has previously prophesied that the coming destruction cannot be avoided, but here he prophesies that if the leaders obey God’s commands the destruction will be forestalled.  The context of the passage implies that the rulers of Jerusalem were doing the opposite of what God called them to do.  In the same way, I fear that most of our political leaders, and even most of our religious leaders, are violating the commands which God lays out here.  And we must call on them to do what is just and right, to do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.  I believe that most of those in positions of leadership on both sides of the illegal immigration debate in this country are guilty of violating these commands.  Those who oppose enforcing immigration laws do so because they benefit from the suffering inflicted on those who sneak into this country against the law.  Some benefit because they can hire them to work for a lower wage.  Some benefit because they earn money from trafficking them.  On the other side, many of those who seek tighter enforcement of immigration laws have no concern for the suffering of those in other countries.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.