Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 45-48.

There are two parts to today’s passage.  The first, and shorter, portion, is Jeremiah’s prophecy to his assistant and scribe, Baruch.  Baruch apparently had ambitions to do great things, as he came from the aristocracy of Judah.  Jeremiah gave him a prophecy from God telling him that such things were not a possibility in his time on this earth, but that God would ensure that he escaped with his life from the various situations in which he found himself (this was apparently a reference to the persecution Baruch and Jeremiah faced, the fall of Jerusalem, and the murder of the Babylonian governor).

The rest of the passage consists of various prophecies against Judah’s neighbors.  When I have thought about it, I have always thought of these prophecies as being made after Jeremiah was taken to Egypt.  As I read today, I realized that these were probably prophecies made earlier in Jeremiah’s career.  For example, it strikes me that the prophecy regarding Egypt was likely made before the Battle of Carchemish.  I realized that the reference made to the Battle of Carchemish here was an editorial comment by the scribe (probably Baruch) telling us that this prophecy started to be fulfilled with Pharaoh’s loss at Carchemish.  Secular biblical scholars often point to Jeremiah’s prophecies concerning Nebuchadnezzar invading Egypt and state that they were not fulfilled.  Interestingly, I discovered over the last few days that Nebuchadnezzar, despite being the longest reigning king of Babylon is also the least documented of Babylonian kings.  This lack of Babylonian documentation about Nebuchadnezzar’s reign means that all we know about his military exploits is that the Babylonian Empire at the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was no larger than during the reign of his father.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 42-44.

After the murder of the man the Babylonians appointed as governor over Judah, the Jews remaining in Judah came to Jeremiah seeking to know God’s will for them.  In particular, they wanted Jeremiah to ask God where they should go and what they should do.  They swore that they would act in full accordance with whatever Jeremiah told them was God’s will for them.  When Jeremiah brings God’s answer to them it is clear that both God and Jeremiah knew how they would respond…which was by refusing to abide by the answer they received.  Every time I read this I come away with the impression that those who came to Jeremiah had already made up their minds as to what they were going to do before they spoke with him.  Which leads me to wonder why they came to Jeremiah in the first place.

We don’t have any basis to determine why they came to Jeremiah when they had already decided on a course of action.  What we do know is what they did after rejecting what God told them through Jeremiah.  First they accused Jeremiah of lying when he said that God had told them to stay in Judah.  Then, once they were in Egypt, instead of listening to Jeremiah’s messages from God, they resumed making sacrifices and offerings to idols.  So, the people consulted Jeremiah to learn what God’s commands for them were.  But, when he did not tell them what they wanted to hear, they rejected not only Jeremiah, but God as well.  We must be careful when we ask for God’s guidance to listen and obey what He tells us.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 36-38.

The first thing I thought about when I read today’s passage was that everything in this book up to this point would have been first written down when Jeremiah dictated the scroll to Baruch.  My second thought was that most of this book was derived from the second scroll which Jeremiah dictated to Baruch.  The next part I want to comment on gives us an insight into the political divide in Jerusalem.  When Baruch read Jeremiah’s scroll at the temple, Micaiah heard everything he read and went to the “all the officials” and told them what he had heard.  The officials sent for Baruch and had him read the scroll for them.  When they heard what Jeremiah had dictated to Baruch, they were frightened.  They were frightened because they feared the Lord.   They knew the king would react badly, but they knew that they had to tell him what Baruch had read to the people.  So, they told Baruch that he and Jeremiah should go somewhere to hide and tell no one where they were going.  Then they went to tell the king about what Baruch had read in the temple.

Which brings us to the other political faction, the king and his attendants (note this king was King Jehoiakim).  Unlike the officials, the king and his attendants were completely unmoved by the words of Jeremiah’s prophecies.  Perhaps unmoved is the wrong word, Jehoiakim burned the scroll upon which Baruch had recorded Jeremiah’s prophecies, almost as if by doing so he could erase them.  Then the king sent someone to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch, but they were unable to locate them.  Later in this passage we see the same divide after Zedekiah became king.  In fact, we see the same divide today.  Those who read Scripture and fear the Lord from those who dismiss the Scripture and try to make it not exist.  The former seek to protect those who speak God’s word while the latter seek to persecute them.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 33-35.

I want to start with something of which I only want to make a short mention.  Jeremiah prophesied that as long as night follows day, God will not reject the descendants of Jacob.  He may from time to time inflict disaster upon them when they fail to follow His commands, but He will always restore them again in due time.

Now to the part of this passage which speaks to me more today.  King Zedekiah sought to respond to Jeremiah’s prophesies (and likely other prophets giving similar prophesies) and restore a level of justice to Jerusalem and Judah by getting the “elites” to free their Hebrew slaves.  I suspect that there was a lot of popular support for this movement.  So, in the face of popular outcry, the “movers and shakers” of Jerusalem very publicly entered into a covenant to free their slaves, and even did so in the face of the public view.  However, as soon as the glare of public attention turned to something else, they found ways to quietly re-enslave those they had freed.  I believe that some of those who freed, and then re-enslaved, their slaves believed they were doing a good thing when they released their slaves, and justified re-enslaving them as doing what was best for “everyone”.  However, many of them did so to receive the accolades of being righteous, with no intention of changing their ways.  There are two lessons for us here.  First, such acts of “righteousness” have no lasting value.  If you are going to vow to change your ways, don’t find excuses to return to your old ways.  Second, God is not fooled when we act one way in public, but completely differently when we think no one is looking (and we should not be fooled by others who do likewise).

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 31-32.

Jeremiah had repeatedly prophesied that disaster would come upon Jerusalem and vehemently rejected as false prophets those who gave the people of Jerusalem cheery prophecies.  However, in today’s passage. Jeremiah does give a prophecy of hope.  He does not offer them a chance to avoid the disaster which he had previously prophesied, but he prophesies that the disaster will not be the end for the people of Israel.  God promised that He would call them back to Him.  He would establish a new covenant with His people.  Under His new covenant, people would be held accountable only for their own sins, not for the sins of their parents and other ancestors.  More importantly, God promised that He would put His law and instructions into the hearts and minds of those who turned to Him under this new covenant.  If we repent and seek God, He will directly teach us His laws and we will not need to rely on anyone else to know them, or to know Him.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 26-27.

I was struck by the similarity between what happened in this passage and what happens all too often today.

• Jeremiah: “If you don’t listen to the prophets God sends and do the right thing, this nation will be destroyed.”
• The people to whom he was prophesying: “How dare you say that this nation will be destroyed, you should be executed.”

Notice that Jeremiah did NOT say, “This nation will be destroyed.”  Instead, he said, “If you do not change your ways this nation will be destroyed.”  The people refused to consider changing their ways, instead they blamed Jeremiah for telling them that their actions would lead to their destruction.  In the same way today, many people will call Christians hateful for telling them that what they are doing is self-destructive.  It is also important that we not be hateful, that we not tell people that because they have sinned they are doomed. (I was going to start that sentence with “Of course”, but I realized that all too many people needed to be told this for it to be “of course”.)  God calls on us to give up our sinful, destructive (of ourselves, and, all too often, of others) behaviors.

You may be called on, as Jeremiah was, to call others to change their ways, but make sure you have examined your own life and begun allowing God to change those of your ways of which He does not approve.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 23-25.

Jeremiah condemned the leaders of the people for scattering the people and driving them away from God.  In particular, he focuses on religious leaders who  commit adultery and live a lie.  He condemns them for encouraging evildoers to continue in their wickedness rather than calling them to turn to righteousness.  They tell people to continue in their sin.  God tells Jeremiah that because of this no one is to say they have “a message from the Lord.”  Jeremiah tells us that true prophets tell us to turn from our evil ways and evil practices.  When God sends a prophet, that prophet does not tell us to keep doing what we are doing.  God sends prophets to tell us to change our ways.  Those who tell us that we can do as we please are false prophets.  If the people you hear speaking for God do not make you uncomfortable, do not make you feel like you need to change things about your life, they are false prophets.  When someone speaks God’s word, it should make you uncomfortable.

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

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.