Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 39-41.

I have some scattered thoughts about today’s passage.  Earlier in the Book of Jeremiah it recounted an incident where some officials arrested Jeremiah because they thought he was an agent of the Babylonians.  Today, when it recounts how the Babylonians treated Jeremiah, it almost seems as if they were rewarding him for the prophecies which he spoke before the fall of Jerusalem.   I may come back to this thought again tomorrow.  Another thing of interest is that when the Jews who had fled into the surrounding countries during the war returned, they had a bountiful harvest.  I was struck by the fact that Jeremiah had earlier prophesied that some of the Jews would flee to Egypt and suffer a terrible fate there.  This prophecy was apparently fulfilled as a result of the assassination of Gedaliah, the man whom the Babylonians had appointed as governor.  I will note that immediately after overtaking Ishmael and freeing those he had taken prisoner, they began to flee to Egypt.  This also becomes relevant to tomorrow’s passage.

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.

When God had Jeremiah write down all of the prophecies which He had given him, He repeated something He had said to Jeremiah previously, “Perhaps… they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”  Jeremiah had previously prophesied God making the same call, for each person to turn from their sin and back to serving Him.  This is something we need to recognize, God does not call societies to change.  He calls for individuals to change.    The problem in Judah, and Israel before it, was those that heard the prophets thought that they needed better rulers who would change the laws, or, perhaps, better enforce the existing laws.  But what they needed, what we need, is for each person to turn from their wicked ways.  If you look around at our society and see God’s judgement coming for your nation (for our nation, if you live in the U.S. as I do), examine your life and turn from your wicked ways.  Then, turn to your friends and neighbors and call them to turn to God.

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.

There are two stories told in today’s passage.  The first is the account of how the wealthy of Jerusalem, at the command of King Zedekiah, agreed to free their Hebrew slaves and to not enslave any of the Hebrew people going forward, only to go back on that agreement after a short time.  They re-enslaved those they had freed as soon as the public attention went on to something else.  The other story is the story of the Rekabites.  The Rekabites had been ordered by their ancestor, Jehonadab, to never drink wine and to remain nomadic.  Jehonadab had allied with Jehu, the king of Israel who overthrew the House of Ahab, in eliminating Baal worship in the Northern Kingdom.  The Rekabites remained faithful to their ancestors command for generations, but the elites of Jerusalem were not able to remain faithful to their own oath to God for more than a short time.  The context implies that in addition to being faithful to the commands of Jehonadab, the Rekabites were faithful to God.  So, whose example will we follow?  That of the Rekabites, or the wealthy rulers of Jerusalem?

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.

I’m going to write about today’s passage in no particular order relative to where the thought fits into the passage because what I am thinking as I read today feels that way.  God tells Jeremiah that He is going to make a new covenant with the people.  This covenant will not require someone to intercede between us and God because God will make Himself known to us and write His commands on our hearts and in our minds.  If we desire to do God’s will, He will make it known to us.  God will make so that the blind, the lame, women in labor, and expectant mothers will be able to follow the path which leads to Him.  I want to note that this is not written because these people are in some deficient in obeying God.  Rather, Jeremiah is using a metaphor of a path (for us today we can imagine it as a hiking path in a park), something which those mentioned would struggle to to follow unless someone made it easy for them.  God has made it so that whatever our “disability” is we can follow the path He has laid out for us.  I want to note that each and every one of us has a “disability” of one sort or another when it comes to doing God’s will, but if we truly desire to do God’s will He will make it so that we do not stumble.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 28-30.

Today’s passage makes two separate points, but they are tied to each other.  First, Jeremiah condemns those who soft-pedal God’s judgement.  There are consequences to violating God’s commands.  Sometimes we have committed certain sins for so long that we cannot avoid the consequences of those sins, even if we repent, turn away from those sins and begin obeying God.  In this passage, the people of God had sinned so long that they were going to subject to being ruled by the Babylonians.  However, some of those who claimed to be prophets were telling them that they could throw off the yoke of the Babylonians and be independent.  In fact, they were telling the people that God was calling them to resist the Babylonians, even those who had already been carried off into captivity in Babylon.  Jeremiah says that those who prophesy good things, such as peace and prosperity, in the name of God have a higher “burden of proof” than those who prophesy disaster because God more often sends prophets to warn us of the coming consequences if we continue to sin.  Then we come to the other point which Jeremiah makes.  This point is one which we today often find easier to comprehend.  Jeremiah told those already exiled to Babylon to live their lives there, not to live as if they would be returning to Jerusalem or Judah momentarily.  This applies to us today.  We should not live our lives as if we need to take no thought to the future because Jesus will return presently.  Even though we live our lives as citizens of the Kingdom of God, we should seek the peace and prosperity of the society in which we live.

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.

The prophecy recorded here in chapter 26 is an interesting one.  Jeremiah prophesied in the temple to those who came to the temple to worship the Lord and to the priests and prophets who led that worship.  He told them that if they did not turn from their evil ways and begin following God’s commands, God would destroy Jerusalem and the temple.  The response of these religious people, who thought they were worshiping God, was to try and have Jeremiah killed.  Jeremiah was not prophesying to the political elites or the general populace, rather he was prophesying to the equivalent of the people in Church every Sunday, and every other day there is a service.  Additionally, it was the people who were “too busy to go to Church” who prevented Jeremiah from being killed.  Additionally, when God sent Jeremiah to make this prophecy, He told Jeremiah that perhaps each of them would listen to Jeremiah’s message and change their ways.  Jeremiah’s message about turning from evil was not directed to “the Church”, not even to “the people”, let along to “Society”.  Jeremiah’s message was directed to individuals.  So, if you read the Book of Jeremiah and see our society going in the same direction as led to God passing judgement on Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s day, as I do, Jeremiah’s message is not directed to our society, it is directed to you, it is directed to me.  Let us examine our lives for where we are failing to live as God desires us to live.  Then, let us change ourselves to conform to His will.

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.

The passage begins with Jeremiah prophesying God’s anger at the leaders of His people for dividing and scattering them, rather than uniting them and bringing them together as God appointed them to do.  He goes on to specifically call out the religious leaders for being godless.  Then God gets even more particular, accusing the prophets of prophesying in the name of Baal, and committing adultery while living a lie.  Rather than call out the sins of evildoers, they encourage them to continue in their wickedness.  As I read this, I thought about many who claim to speak on behalf of God, while rejecting Scripture.  There are even “pastors” today who call themselves “Christian” yet admit to not believing in God.  There are also those who argue that Scripture does not say what it clearly does say.  God warns us against listening to what such false prophets have to say.  Jeremiah warns us to be skeptical of those who say, “This is a message from the Lord.”  Jeremiah tells us we should not make such claims because for too many, when they say, “This is a message from the Lord,” they are speaking a message from themselves, a message which furthers their own ends rather than brings people back to God.  Let us not boldly proclaim that God has spoken to us.  Instead, let us humbly ask others to seek God’s guidance as to whether the message we think we have heard is from Him.  Let us humbly search Scripture to see what God says to us through it.

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.

Today’s passage begins with Jeremiah prophesying that God would destroy Jerusalem because they sacrificed their children to Baal, something which did not even mention, let alone command.  As I read that I realize that those listening to Jeremiah would have heard Baal as similar to the way we hear the word Allah.  Allah can be used by Arab speakers to refer to God, but most who use that term are referring to a different god (although they claim they are worshiping the God of Abraham).  In the same way, Baal worshipers seem to have claimed to be worshiping the God of Israel by other practices.  Jeremiah points out the lie in their claim, because the God of Israel rejected the sacrifice of children.  I want to return to God’s absolute condemnation of a society which sacrifices its children.  There are many in this country who refer to abortion as a sacrament.  God’s anger is building against them.  Jeremiah continues his prophecy against Jerusalem by saying that God will defile the houses in Jerusalem where they burned incense on the roofs to the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.  So, God’s anger was not just against those who sacrificed their children, not even just those who took part in those practices.  As we read the rest of this passage we can see more of what led to God’s anger against Jerusalem.  Jeremiah told the rulers of Jerusalem and Judah to do what was right and just, to rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who had been robbed, and to do no wrong against the foreigner, the widow, or the orphan.  Do we support our government when it commits injustices?  I want to note that we often read “oppressor” and think of powerful people, but in the context here it seems that oppressor also refers to thugs who make people afraid to go out at night.  Oppressor here refers to both the powerful who use their wealth and power to impose their will on those less powerful and on the criminals who take advantage of the failure of government to prey on those weaker than themselves.  If we want to avoid the judgement of God upon our nation we must seek to do what is just and right, we must be content with enough and not seek ever greater wealth (mentioned by Jeremiah during his prophecy against the kings of Judah).

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 16-18.

Jeremiah continues to prophecy that God’s anger will not be turned aside from Jerusalem to the point that God tells him to neither join in feasting celebrations, or in mourning the dead.  He reminds us that no matter how secretive we may have been, God sees our sins.  We cannot conceal our actions from Him.  Then he begins a slight turn in theme.  Jeremiah says that God will restore Israel to their land after banishing them to many nations.  In addition, people from all nations will turn to God after recognizing that the gods they had made were not truly gods.  Then Jeremiah tells the people of Jerusalem that if they were careful to obey God and keep His Sabbath, Jerusalem would remain inhabited forever.  So, despite having prophesied that Jerusalem and Judah would be destroyed with no chance of reprieve, here he says that if they were to truly reform and turn back to God that fate might be avoided.  Then in chapter 18, Jeremiah reconciles those two prophecies.  He tells the people if each one of them were to reform their ways and actions, God would relent the destruction He has declared, but that both Jeremiah and God know that they will not.  Jeremiah tells them that they have decided that there is no value in truly turning to God.  Here is how I see it.  Jeremiah started to prophecy while Josiah was king, when Josiah was reforming the religious practices of Jerusalem and Judah to serve God.  Josiah reined for thirty one years.  In that time, Jerusalem was not restored to the prominence it had when David was king.  Before Josiah, Jerusalem had been ruled for fifty seven years by kings who embraced evil, and the people had joined those kings in their evil.  They failed to see that to see the benefits of serving God we must commit to the long haul.  When thirty one years (actually less because it took years after he was crowned before Josiah was able to begin his reform) was insufficient to bring about the power for which they hoped, the people decided it was pointless.  It is never pointless to serve God, but we have to recognize that it may take years to undo the years of damage done by our sin.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 13-15.

God gives Jeremiah a prophecy that the people of Jerusalem and Judah have become worthless to Him because they have not listened to Him and have instead chosen to serve and worship gods who call them to practices contrary to His.  Rather than acting to bring honor and renown to God, they have brought contempt to His name.  A little further on, God tells Jeremiah not to pray for this people because they will not listen to His voice.  Jeremiah responds that the problem is that the prophets keep telling them that God will give them lasting peace, despite the sins they keep committing.  God tells Jeremiah that He will bring a special level of destruction upon those prophets, but the people who listen to them will still pay the price of their sin.  In all of this, the essence of the prophecy seems to be that it is too late for the people to avoid the death and destruction which God was bringing upon them.  I feel there is an element of this prophecy which applies today.  When I look at society around us I sometimes wonder if we are in a time more similar to that of Isaiah, where God says that time is running out for society to turn from its despicable sins, or a time more similar to that of Jeremiah, where God says that time has run out and He is going to bring death and destruction to society.

Having said that, the prophecy from Jeremiah in today’s passage contains an interesting follow up.  After telling Jeremiah that he was not to pray for the people because God had determined to bring death and destruction upon them no matter what they did going forward, God tells Jeremiah “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me.”  Now the easy explanation is that the first prophecy in today’s passage applies to the people around Jeremiah and this second prophecy applies to Jeremiah.  However, I think the first prophecy applies to the society around Jeremiah, not specifically to any of the people.  While the second prophecy here applies individually to any of the people around Jeremiah.  The society is doomed.  The majority of the people are going to experience death and destruction, but those who repent and utter God’s worthy words, will be restored to serve God.  In part, this second prophecy did apply to Jeremiah, but it applies to each of us.  We must repent and speak God’s worthy words, not the worthless words of the prophets to whom the people around us listen.  We must seek to get the people to turn to us, but not allow ourselves to be turned to them.  If we speak God’s worthy words, when the people turn to us, they will be turning to God.  However, if we turn to them, we will be turning away from God.  If we follow these instructions, God will save us from the hands of the wicked.

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