20. Lenten Readings -- Jump to Jeremiah 25

1. The ordering of the text of Jeremiah is a puzzle. On the one hand, there is the chronological order. We are jumping to Jeremiah 25 because it is likely the next chapter in the order in which Jeremiah prophesied. Jeremiah 21, which comes next in the Hebrew text we have, skips to the reign of Zedekiah. 

But Zedekiah's reign started in 597BC. There are clearly more prophecies from the reign of Jehoiakim in the book of Jeremiah. This includes not least Jeremiah 25, which dates to 605BC, the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign. The ordering of Jeremiah from chapter 20 seems to have prioritized themes over chronology, grouping like material together.

To make matters even more complicated, the order of the chapters in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, often imprecisely called the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX), is quite different from our English Bibles. The order of our English Bibles largely follows that of the Masoretic Text (MT), the main Hebrew text that has survived, dating to around the 900s/1000 in its current form.

The Greek textual tradition of Jeremiah is thus much older than the MT and probably preserves an earlier, more "original" order. We thus face a conundrum. The English text of Jeremiah that we now have likely includes about 13% later material added by Jewish tradition now found in the MT. Meanwhile, the order of the LXX is much closer to the way the prophecies of Jeremiah were originally preserved.

2. The situation reminds me a little of the situation we faced when it became clear that the Greek text behind the King James had verses and a few sections that were not likely in the original version of the Bible (e.g., Mark 16:9-20; John 7:53-8:11). God must not have been too displeased with this material because it was in most Bibles for over 1500 years. Similarly, Jeremiah as we have it has been in the Bibles of Jews and Christians for over 1000 years at least.

The question reveals assumptions we didn't know we had. Is the goal to "get back" to the original or is the text God has preserved just as or more important? Modern assumptions want to "get back" to the original manuscripts or the original voice of the author. But isn't what God is saying to us pretty important? After all -- ideally or not -- it is our understanding of the text today that determines how we live and how the text forms us. Like it or not, I am not shaped by an understanding of the text I do not have -- even if there is a more accurate, more original understanding!

I personally want it all. I want to engage the text of Jeremiah as God has preserved it AND I would like to have insight into earlier forms of the collection of prophecies. In the end, our theories about the earliest ways in which the book's prophecies were collected are ultimately speculative and thus not inspired.

In my opinion, these discussions reveal that the way we often conduct our debates over inerrancy and such are more our problem than the Bible's problem. They are debates that are often more about our desire to control what people today think. Real biblical interpretation is far messier and uncertain. God believes what is true, and we will never get it all right because our brains are finite and fallen. 

We do not have in our minds the Bible as it actually is or was. Inevitably, ultimately, we only have our interpretations of the Bible. We have individual interpretations. We have the collective interpretations of denominations and Christian traditions. We have the collective interpretations of Christians throughout the centuries. None of these are exactly the original meaning.

The first "version" of Jeremiah, probably in the 500s BC, would have been a collection of 3 or 4 scrolls. I think we can plausibly say that chapters 1-20 constituted one of them.

3. So, going in chronological order, we jump from Jeremiah 20 to Jeremiah 25. [1] Jeremiah 25 gives us the date when Jeremiah started prophesying. The chapter is dated to 605BC (25:1). This was also the first year of King Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah tells us he has been prophesying for 23 years up to that point (25:3), from the 13th year of Josiah in 628BC.

Here in Jeremiah 25 we find the prophecy that Judah will go into exile for 70 years. This is not a precise number but 7 x 10, where 7 is a special symbolic number. The first group taken to Babylon took place in 597, which would suggest a return around 527 if the date were precise. The actual return was in 538 BC. Again, some individuals take the text more rigidly than it wants to be taken.

But God will not go more easily on the tool he is using to punish Israel than he is on Israel. Babylon will face judgment as well, and they will never return. [2]

4. The image of a cup of wrath is introduced in 25:15. Revelation 14:9-10 and 18:6 will use this image in its picturing of the judgment of Rome. Although the original prophecy took place in 605, Jeremiah 25:18 reveals that the voice of the text as it stands dates to a later time after the judgment on surrounding nations like Egypt had already taken place. An extensive list of surrounding peoples is mentioned as slated for judgment with God using the hand of Nebuchadnezzar to do it.

And Judah would not be spared either. The guilty "shepherds" of Israel would also be judged (25:34). Yahweh is very angry indeed (25:38).

[1] Jeremiah 25 is chapter 32 in the LXX.

[2] Jeremiah 25:14 is not in the LXX version of the chapter, nor is it attested in 4QJer from Qumran among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Although it is possible that this absence is because of the fragmentary nature of 4QJer, the text of Jeremiah 25 in this manuscript follows the Greek more than the MT. 25:14 probably was not among the original prophecies of Jeremiah, although it is certainly true.

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Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
Jeremiah 5
Jeremiah 6
Jeremiah 7
Jeremiah 8
Jeremiah 9
Jeremiah 10
Jeremiah 11
Jeremiah 12
Jeremiah 13-18

Jeremiah 19-20

19. Lenten Readings --- Jeremiah 19-20

My readings in Jeremiah for Lent continue.
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1. Jeremiah's prophecies during the reign of Jehoiakim (609-598BC) continue.

Jeremiah 19 begins with the remarkable challenge of bringing some elders and priests to the Valley of Hinnom for a prophetic word (19:1-2). Why would they go with Jeremiah? It would suggest that Jeremiah had significant cache. It made me wonder if the high priest Hilkiah might actually have been his father.

He is to take them to the gate called "Broken Pots" (probably the Dung Gate on the south side of the city) where he is to break the potter's jar and make his prophetic word to them (19:2). His word to the kings of Judah (presumably Jehoiakim) is that they are going into exile. God is bringing destruction on Judah. The city will become ruiins. The siege will be so bad that they will cannibalize their own children (19:9).

He gives this prophetic word facing the Valley of Hinnom (19:2), where child sacrifices had once been made to the god Molech (19:5). The city would soon be called the Valley of Slaughter because of the death that would take place there at the hands of the Babylonians. Of course, this valley became the metaphorical model for Gehenna or hell. Jeremiah has already mentioned this valley, also called Topheth, in chapter 7.

Smashing the jar is symbolic of the destruction of the city (19:10-11). There will not be enough room for the bodies in Topheth (19:11).

Then Jeremiah returned to the temple court and repeated the prophecy (19:14). It reminds us of Jesus' action in the temple in which he quoted Jeremiah 7:11.

2. In Jeremiah 20, the tension between Jeremiah and the leaders of Jerusalem hits a new level. The priest Passhur, who was in charge of the temple, has Jeremiah beaten for his prophesies and put in stocks at the temple Gate of Benjamin (20:2). When he is released the next day, Jeremiah renames the priest. "Terror on Every Side." Then Jeremiah predicts that the Babylonians will take him and his family as prisoners back to Babylon, where he would die.

3. The chapter ends with Jeremiah venting to Yahweh. Why did he even have to be born (20:18)? Why didn't Yahweh kill him when he was in the womb (20:17)? Then he wouldn't have had to face such trouble and end his days in sorrow? 

The word of Yahweh has only brought him insult (20:8), not the honor he might have thought it would (20:7). But he can't help but deliver it. Even if he would want to stay quiet, it is like fire in his bones (20:9). His "friends" are waiting for him to slip up. How horrible.

But he still praises Yahweh. "Sing to Yahweh" (20:13). He rescues the needy from the wicked.  He is a mighty warrior. He probes the heart and mind (cf. Heb. 4:12-13). He will bring justice on Jeremiah's enemies. 
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Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
Jeremiah 5
Jeremiah 6
Jeremiah 7
Jeremiah 8
Jeremiah 9
Jeremiah 10
Jeremiah 11
Jeremiah 12
Jeremiah 13-18

Through the Bible -- Mark 1:16-45

Mark 1:1-13
Mark 1:14-15 
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1. The clear impression we get from Mark 1:14 is that Jesus did not commence his earthly ministry until after John the Baptist had been arrested. [1] Mark gives us the background of Jesus' ministry in that of John the Baptist. It tells us about Jesus' preparation in the wilderness. Then when John is arrested, Jesus begins.

Mark 1:14-15 then gives us the essence of Jesus' earthly message, a "gospel" of good news. The kingdom of God is arriving. Get ready. Repent and be baptized in preparation. Prepare your allegiance, for the kingdom is coming.

2. Then Jesus begins recruiting disciples (Mark 1:16-20). These are apprentices, learners. As he started when John the Baptist was gone, they would continue the mission after Jesus was gone. Jesus is training them to fish for people (1:17).

We hear about the four core disciples here: Peter, Andrew, James, and John. They will become the "four pillars" of the church (cf. Gal. 2:9). They are fishermen working near the village of Capernaum along the Sea of Galilee. However, John 1:44 suggests that Peter and Andrew were originally from Bethsaida, about 8 miles further north. Archaeological evidence suggests that Peter eventually would have a house in Capernaum. [2]

We don't know exactly how Jesus ended up in Capernaum. It was about 40 miles east of Nazareth, about a two-day journey. Perhaps Jesus met some from this group during the trip to Judea to be baptized by John the Baptist.  

3. Jesus heals many (1:32-34). This will be a hallmark of Jesus' ministry. He heals many. He casts out demons. Both activities are well illustrated from the very beginning in this chapter. 

First, he casts out an "unclean spirit" (1:21-28). He does so on the Sabbath in Capernaum. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke will make it clear that these exorcisms indicated that the kingdom of God was arriving (Matt. 12:28; Luke 11:20). [3] While Satan had been allowed to wreak havoc on the earth, the coming reign of God would vanquish his authority and bind his power.

4. Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law (1:29-31), a clear indication that Peter was married. The Gospel of Mark has no qualms with the disciples being married nor with Jesus having brothers and sisters from his mother Mary (6:3). There is no trace here of later worries about Mary remaining a perpetual virgin or apostles not being married. Sex is not unclean Marriage does not taint. Children are holy.

Jesus heals a leper in 1:40-45. Jesus is not worried about becoming unclean (Lev. 5:3; Num. 19:22). While in normal thinking, uncleanness "infects" the clean, with Jesus, the clean sanctifies the unclean. Jesus heals the man and sends him to the priest to verify that he is now clean -- an indication that Jesus was not against the purity system per se.

We also get here our first glimpse of a theme in Mark sometimes called the "messianic secret." Jesus tries to keep his power and identity as Messiah somewhat secret. Notably, he fails. He sternly tells the healed leper not to tell anyone who healed him, but the man does it anyway. As a result, Jesus is mobbed everywhere he goes He can no longer enter towns openly (1:45).

5. Jesus' primary mission, however, is to preach the good news of the kingdom's arrival (1:38). He heals and casts out demons as he goes around preaching. He struggles to find alone time to pray (1:35). I suspect Jesus was an introvert, but he will struggle to find time alone to recharge. Crowds will come to him from everywhere. Even his disciples will hardly leave him alone (1:36).

[1] The Gospel of John, perhaps with its own goals, shows some ministry work at the same time as John the Baptist, including baptisms (John 3:26). However, John's purpose is probably to show certain individuals in the late first century at Ephesus -- individuals who followed John's teaching but did not believe in Jesus -- that John was only the forerunner of Jesus. John tells the story in such a way as to make it clear that once Jesus arrived, John's role was effectively over (cf. John 3:30). As is usually the case, John is more theological in its presentation, the Synoptics more likely historical. 

[2] A church currently is suspended in air over the remains of the early church that was there, which stood on the remains of a house.

[3] This saying of Jesus comes from what has sometimes been called "Q" material, a hypothetical collection of Jesus' sayings. In this scenario, Q would be an early source of Jesus material in parallel to the Gospel of Mark.

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 18

Earlier chapter posts are now at the bottom. 

There were always going to be more chapters of Jeremiah than days in Lent, and I have been quite busy this week and so have missed five days of writing. I thought I'd skip ahead to chapter 18. Here are some quick notes on the intervening chapters:

Jeremiah 13 -- Jehoiakim -- Some symbolic actions here. He hides a wet linen cloth near Parah, possibly to symbolize the Euphrates river of the Babylonians, which is then ruined. Then there is the symbolism of a full wine jar being smashed. Judah is to be taken into exile -- king, queen, and all. 13:22 talks about Judah being raped. Also an allusion to the skin color of the Cushites and the famous rhetorical question, "Can the leopard change its spots?"

Jeremiah 14 -- Jehoiakim -- Prophesied during a drought. Jeremiah pleads for Yahweh not to forsake them. He knows he is there (14:9). God tells Jeremiah not to pray for them. He will not heed their sacrifices. The later part of the chapter denounces the prophets and priests. The people acknowledge their wickedness and plea for rain and mercy (14:20).

Jeremiah 15 -- Jehoiakim -- Chapter 15 begins by saying that even though Moses and Samuel stood before Yahweh, he would not spare them (15:1). (I'm increasingly wondering if the reign of Josiah involved some of the strongest beginnings of Scripture collection.) As in 2 Kings, Manasseh is blamed for the approaching destruction and exile (15:4). God is sending four destroyers: the sword, dogs, birds, and wild animals. Jeremiah is undergoing persecution.

Jeremiah 16 -- Jehoiakim -- Yahweh instructs Jeremiah to remain celibate. He is not to have children. The future will not be good for the children of the land. They will die of disease. They will die unmourned. God has taken his peace from his people (16:5). A small window into mourning practices. Why? Because their ancestors have turned from him and they have doubled down. Exile it is. The end of the chapter is a little puzzling. At first it seems to talk about return from exile, but it ends with God gathering Israel for judgment.

Jeremiah 17 -- Jehoiakim -- More promises of exile for the way Judah has served other gods "under every green tree." Their wealth will be taken away as spoil. 17:7-8 are reminiscent of Psalm 1. 17:9 is particularly striking. God searches the human heart (17:10). 17:11 is about becoming wealthy through unjust means. He pleas for justice for his enemies. The end of the chapter has striking words on keeping the Sabbath by not doing work (more Deuteronomy parallels). There is surprising hope for redemption for Judah's kings given the direness of earlier chapters. 

And now, Jeremiah 18  
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1. Chapter 18 begins with an image familiar from Romans 9 -- Israel is clay and God is the potter. God can do with he clay as he wishes (18:4). However, far from God's shaping of the clay being unconditional, it is dependent on the choices of Israel. If Israel turns from its evil, it will be spared (18:8). But Israel is insistent on continuing on its path away from Yahweh (18:12). Israel has forgotten its God (18:15).

There are possibly implications for the understanding of Romans 9-11. The sentiment here is similar to what Paul says about cutting out the natural branches and the possibility of grafting them back in. It is not unconditional election but conditional.

2. Jeremiah is an outsider. He is an outsider from the priests and prophets in power. They have formal positions and are officially recognized. Jeremiah seems to be prophesying from the edges. God does that. Those who are recognized. Those who are popular. Those who hold official positions often do not speak for God. God often speaks from the undesirable, from the sidelines.

So the priests tell Jeremiah it's not his business to tell them what the Law says. The officially recognized prophets tell him it isn't his place to speak for God. Yet it seems that he is one of the only ones speaking for God. Jeremiah had once prayed on their behalf, but not any more. Now, Jeremiah prays for justice and for their overthrow.

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
Jeremiah 5
Jeremiah 6
Jeremiah 7
Jeremiah 8
Jeremiah 9
Jeremiah 10
Jeremiah 11
Jeremiah 12

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 12

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
Jeremiah 5
Jeremiah 6
Jeremiah 7
Jeremiah 8
Jeremiah 9
Jeremiah 10
Jeremiah 11
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1. Jeremiah 12 reminds us of other places in the Old Testament where a prophet or other individual brings a question or complaint to God about the doings of the wicked. In particular, the prophet Habakkuk was prophesying at about the same time as Jeremiah. "How long will I cry for help and you not listen?" Habakkuk says to Yahweh (Hab. 1:2). Psalm 13 asks the same thing on a more personal level (13:1, 2).

Jeremiah prefaces his question with an acknowledgment that God is in the right. He is expressing frustration without truly indicting God. It's a reminder that we can bring our feelings to God while recognizing that God is in charge and is never in the wrong. 

"Why do the guilty prosper?" he asks Yahweh. It is a question that those with God's heart often ask. You see the unrighteous take power. You see the slimy prevail, while the good-hearted are run over.

What's worse, it can happen in the church. It can happen in religious communities. "You are in their mouths but far from their hearts" (Jer. 12:2). God allows it. God "plants them," which is shorthand for God's permissive will. God does not truly promote evil, although he allows it.

2. Jeremiah asks for God to remove them (12:3). They think God isn't noticing. "He is blind to our ways," they say (12:4). 

This seems to continue Jeremiah's themes of the religious and political leadership of Israel thinking that they will be ok because they are running Yahweh's temple. When Pharaoh Necho II installed Eliakim on the throne, he renamed him "Jehoiakim," which means "Yahweh rises." 

We don't know the details. Was Necho mocking Josiah? With Egypt asserting its control over Israel, was that supposed to be the true rise of Yahweh, as opposed to the ways in which Josiah was trying to make Yahweh rise by reform? 

Of course, Jehoiakim's reign was nothing of the sort. So also it can be that those who think that God has now finally arrived are really boasting in his departure. "No longer need we say that the church does not have silver and gold," Pope Innocent IV allegedly says. "But can the church still say, 'Rise up and walk'?" is said to respond Thomas Aquinas.

Necho says that Yahweh is rising because his puppet king will now do his bidding. None of this doing away with other gods, which Necho probably saw as perverse -- an insult to those other gods. None of this worrying about the oppressed. The powerful are in place because God has favored them and put them there. The poor are cursed because God doesn't like them. The order of things is God's order, and to resist it is to resist God. Jehoiakim is God rising, finally.

3. Except it isn't. The real Yahweh says, "I have abandoned my house" (12:7). The hawks are hungry for God's people. Let them come, Yahweh says (12:9). The "shepherds" of Israel have trampled God's vineyard (12:10). The land has become desolate, and its leaders haven't even noticed (12:11).

But God will have his day. The leaders say in one breath, "As Yahweh lives" and in the next say, "As Ba'al lives" (12:16). Fine. They are about to be plucked from the land. God is about to pluck Judah up. God will bring them back after this judgment (12:15). But dire times await in the meantime. 

4. Jeremiah is already exhausted. Better get ready. It's going to get much worse. He's just been racing against humans. You'll be racing against horses next (12:5). Get ready.

Meanwhile, beware of your family. They may be saying nice words to your face, but they are after you behind your back (12:6). They are preparing treachery.

Such are the joys of being a prophet of judgment. Don't expect people to like you. Don't expect people to honor you. Expect opposition. Expect plotting. Perhaps expect the church itself to turn its back on you. 

Of course, not everyone who thinks he or she is a prophet truly is. From the standpoint of someone looking on, it might have been difficult to see that Jeremiah was the true prophet. Some people just like to shoot their mouths off. Some people are well-intentioned but just wrong. Hindsight is 20/20.

Through the Bible -- Mark 1:14-15

Last week I started a new Sunday series in the vein of my Through the Bible YouTube series. Today I look at the key verses of Mark's Gospel.
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1. Mark 1:14-15 are the key verses of the entire Gospel. "The time has been fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and put your faith in the good news" (1:15). Mark is telling us that this was the essence of what Jesus preached in his brief mission in Galilee in the year AD30.

We get the idea of a three-year ministry from John's highly symbolic Gospel. If all we had were Mark, we might conclude that his ministry was much briefer, perhaps only part of a year. Mark 1:14 seems to indicate that the trigger for Jesus' actual ministry to commence was the arrest of John the Baptist. John is arrested. Jesus picks up in Galilee where John left off.

2. "The time has been fulfilled" suggests that Jesus' ministry fits into a much bigger plan of God. Time has been waiting for this moment for a long time. The moment is the restoration of the kingdom of God, on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom of God is the rule of God. It is for God to resume his kingship of the earth. 

Mark is not so much Israel-centric as Jesus' message no doubt was at the time. Mark has more of the feel of a Gentile-Christian orientation than a Christian-Jewish feel. Matthew leans more in that direction. For example, Mark explains Jewish practices in the third person -- "they" do this (Mark 7:3-4). We mentioned that in the introductory reading. Mark universalizes, while Jesus' message at the moment probably focused more on those right in front of him -- Galilean Jews.

So, as we noted in the previous reading, Mark 1:2-3 position the preaching of John the Baptist at the return of Israel from exile. This return aligns with where John baptized (where Joshua entered the Promised Land) and with Jesus' preaching that the kingdom of God was arriving. 

3. We mentioned in the introductory reading that Isaiah 52:7 likely stood in the background of Jesus' preaching of the kingdom of God: "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news, the one causing us to hear peace, the one who brings good news of good, the one causing us to hear salvation, the one speaking to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'"

The concentration of similar words and concepts to Mark 1:15 and Mark in general seems too great for the parallel to be a coincidence. God reigning directly corresponds to the arrival of the kingdom of God. There is of course the multiple use of good news in the verse, which is what a gospel is. There is the sense of a new moment, the arrival of a new era and the fulfillment of long-awaited expectations. 

Finally, there is the concept of salvation. While the word is not present in Mark, it is in Luke. Jesus will be a "horn of salvation" for us in the house of David, Luke 1:69 says. Salvation in the historical context of Jesus and John the Baptist would be -- in the first place -- the deliverance of Israel from its oppression under foreign rule by re-establishing its kingdom and installing a descendant of David to its throne.

4. Historically, Jesus' Jewish audience would have heard salvation of the kingdom of Israel from Roman rule. They would have heard the restoration of Israel as an earthly kingdom with a Davidic king ruling on its throne. In their mind, this would be an "Anointed One," or a meshicha in Aramaic. In English, we render this word as "Messiah" and from the Greek equivalent, "Christ." 

We see this expectation even from his disciples in Acts 1:6. After Jesus has died (which they weren't expecting) and then risen (which they weren't expecting), they ask, "Are you now going to restore the kingdom to Israel." This is a clear indication that, while Jesus was on earth, his key followers were thinking very locally, as if the coming kingdom was just about Israel or at least primarily about Israel's political deliverance.

But of course, we believe the kingdom God had in view was much larger than Israel. Jesus' ministry casting out demons clearly indicated that there was a spiritual salvation in play as well. Not only were Romans in political possession of Israel, but Satan had been wreaking havoc on the earth for all of human memory. Jesus was not just restoring Israel but the cosmos itself.

Yes, Israel would eventually be delivered. The disciples would sit on twelve thrones judging the tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28). But the good news was bigger than Israel -- the temple would become a house of prayer for all the nations (Mark 11:17). Even more, Satan would soon be dethroned from the earth, a sure indication of the arrival of the kingdom of God (Luke 11:20), the liberation of the cosmos.

5. How should they prepare for this coming kingdom? First, repentance. Repentance is a turning from one's current path to a different one. John had tied this repentance to the forgiveness of Israel's sins (Mark 1:4), and Jesus no doubt did too. In context, this was more likely first a corporate repentance of Israel and only secondarily an individual repentance as part of that collective repentance.

"Believing" (pisteuo) is to put one's trust or one's faith in the good news, the gospel of the arrival of the kingdom of God. It is to give one's allegiance to that kingdom and thus to God as its King. The Greek word pisteuo has a range of possible nuances. Yes, it can mean mere head assent to knowledge, but that is not likely the focus here. In this context, it implies a trust, a commitment to the kingdom that is coming. It implies an allegiance to that kingdom.

6. While it is helpful to be reminded of the historical context of these words, it is understandable that Christians have universalized them throughout the centuries. Indeed, Paul himself broadened the scope perhaps well beyond what some believers in Jerusalem were thinking at the time. The Israel to which Jesus preached no longer exists. It was more or less obliterated by the Romans some 1900 years ago after the bar-Kochba rebellion. Today's Israel is nothing like the Israel to which Jesus preached.

We truly await a cosmic kingdom, as Paul points to in Romans 8, one that even involves the liberation of the creation from its bondage to corruption and decay (Rom. 8:21-22). In this kingdom, there is neither Jew nor Gentile (Gal. 3:28). We put our trust and allegiance to Jesus as cosmic Lord -- a much bigger Messiah than Jesus' Galilean audience likely comprehended at the time. Paul says every knee in all of the creation will bow to Jesus -- on the earth, above the earth, under the earth (Phil. 2:10). And of his kingdom, there will be no end (Luke 1:33). 

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 11

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
Jeremiah 5
Jeremiah 6
Jeremiah 7
Jeremiah 8
Jeremiah 9
Jeremiah 10
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1. Some suggest that at this point, the book of Jeremiah may shift from the days of Josiah (chaps. 1-10) to the reign of Jehoiakim after Josiah was killed in battle. Unlike Josiah, Jehoiakim did not serve Yahweh. He reversed Josiah's Yahwistic reforms.

Jehoiakim was placed on the throne by Pharoah Necho II. His brother Jehoahaz had initially ruled after Josiah's death, but Necho deposed him after only three months of ruling. After deposing him, Necho took Jehoahaz's brother Eliakim, renamed him "Jehoiakim," and put him on the throne. This suggests that Jehoiakim was more subservient to Necho's demands, perhaps almost a puppet in some ways.

2. Apart from the mention of the Ark of the Covenant in Jeremiah 3, the concept of God's covenant with Israel really appears first here in Jeremiah 11. Repeatedly in the chapter, Jeremiah warns Judah that they have broken the covenant. This warning would be all the more significant given that the Book of the Law had just recently been discovered in the temple (in 621BC) and Josiah had used Deuteronomy as the basis for widespread reform. 

The covenant in view is specifically the one God made with Israel at Sinai (11:4). The terms of the covenant were that 1) Yahweh would be Israel's God. 2) Israel would be Yahweh's dedicated people. 3) There were the stipulations of the arrangement which, if Israel kept them, 4) they would find blessing in their land, "milk and honey" (11:5). These correlate to what James Dunn called the "four pillars" of Judaism. [1]

3. In verses 6-13, Yahweh then brings charges against his people. They have violated the covenant. They have not kept the terms of the agreement. God has repeatedly and tirelessly warned them (11:7). They haven't listened. This is why they have experienced hardships as God's punishment (11:8).

Instead, Israel has returned to the sins of their ancestors by worshiping other gods (11:10). They have as many gods as they have towns. They have as many altars to Ba'al as there are streets in Jerusalem (11:13). No doubt they will call on them when the approaching disaster strikes, but they won't answer. They may even call out to Yahweh when disaster strikes, but he won't answer either (11:11).

4. The last part of the chapter Yahweh speaks to Jeremiah himself. He tells Jeremiah to stop praying for the people (11:14). God won't answer that prayer.

The priests think, "Let's offer more sacrifices." That's what wayward priests often seem to do. Sacrifices don't make up for unrepentant deeds of evil (11:15). Israel was a blossoming olive tree. But it will burn to the ground (11:16).

The LORD told these things to Jeremiah. As a result, the people of his own village, Anathoth, plotted against him (11:21). At first, he was naive. He didn't realize they were plotting to blot his family out entirely (11:19). Like the imprecatory psalms, he asks Yahweh to bring retribution on them (11:20).

They said, "Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, or you will die at our hands" (11:21). Jeremiah responded with a prophecy that their young men would die in war. Their children would die in famine. Anathoth would be obliterated when the coming disaster comes (11:22-23).

5. People don't like being told they are in the wrong -- especially when they are in the wrong. Indeed, the reaction to being spoken prophetically against can often bring insight. Those who truly want to follow God and the truth often turn to self-examination when they are indicted as wrongdoers. But those who are truly guilty typically lash out not only in their own defense but sometimes with violent threats against the prophetic voice.

This is the difference between a heart of flesh and a heart of stone. The hardened heart is violent. It lashes out. It is vindictive. It is hateful. The heart of flesh is open. It is surrendered to God and truth that is greater than itself. It is submitted. It seeks peace and reconciliation.

[1] Using slightly anachronistic terms, he titled these monotheism, election, Torah, and temple. 

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 10

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
Jeremiah 5
Jeremiah 6
Jeremiah 7
Jeremiah 8
Jeremiah 9
__________________

1. The first few verses of Jeremiah give us what will become a familiar trope of Jewish literature: the foolishness of trusting in "gods" that you can make yourself out of common items. You walk into the woods, chop down a tree, cut the material into a god. Then you worship it. Stupid, right? Jeremiah is probably the earliest full example of this trope, since Isaiah 40 probably dates to the late exile. Deuteronomy 4:28 may imply it.

"They are scarecrows in a cucumber field" (10:5) is striking because many Israelites who worshiped Yahweh probably believed the other deities were real even if they did not worship them. At the very least, Jeremiah questions an idol that you make for yourself. 

I always think of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart when I read this trope. The African novel argues that this understanding of religious objects is not correct. It argues that the object is meant to help a person focus on the deity that is not the same as the wood or stone. It is an icon like a picture or, less exactly, the rosary. I've always wondered if Achebe was intellectualizing something that in practice was much more like the rhetoric of the trope.

2. Jeremiah 10:6-10 then praises Yahweh in contrast to these manufactured deities in a way that reminds us of second Isaiah. However, 10:6-8 and 10 may have been added later than Jeremiah's time. [1]  "Yahweh is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth shakes. And the nations cannot endure his anger." Powerful poetry.

I might note that a good deal of Jeremiah so far has been poetry. The prophets were poets, which means that a good deal of prophecy in the Old Testament is in poetic form. The key structure of Hebrew poetry is of course parallelism -- say it, say it again (synonymous parallelism) or say it, say the opposite (antithetical parallelism). I'm simplifying for memory purposes. 

The precise will no doubt come up for air -- it's not exactly the same thing and it's just something that contrasts, not necessarily the opposite. I know. I just wanted to help you with your ongoing therapy with the real world.

3. Jeremiah 10:11-16 is magnificent praise of Yahweh. By contrast, those who didn't make the skies and earth will perish from the earth and the skies (10:11). (A nice little chiasm for you IBS fans)

This verse is in Aramaic. How magnificent. He uses the language of the Assyrian and Babylonian conquerors to dismiss their gods! What a zinger!

I might also note that this is the second or third time while reading Jeremiah this time through that I have noticed a possible allusion to Genesis 1. This seems significant to me in terms of its dating.

What magnificent praise of Yahweh in these verses in relation to his power over nature. The contrast with the "delusion" of the other gods' existence is, again, very striking in a henotheistic world. You can see again the anticipation of second Isaiah. 

In contrast to Yahweh, we humans are "stupid and without knowledge." That's for sure.

4. The last part of the chapter forebodes the impending judgment that is coming from Babylon. Although I could be wrong, it feels to me like it must have felt after Josiah was killed in battle and the Assyrians were defeated by the Babylonians. The sense of foreboding must have been immense. Babylon just felt like Assyria had felt a little over 100 years before.

"My tent is destroyed" (10:20). Is this an allusion to the destruction of the temple? "There is no one to stretch my tent again." "My shepherds are stupid," is perhaps an allusion to the priests who ran the temple -- the ones who thought everything is ok because "This is the temple of the LORD."

The chapter ends with a plea from Jeremiah to Yahweh (10:23-25). Discipline us but please not too much that we are destroyed. Save your destruction for foreign nations. Reminds me a bit of Habakkuk, who comes from this same period as well. 

[1] As we will explore more fully once we get to Jeremiah 25, the Greek of Jeremiah is significantly shorter than the Masoretic text (MT) on which our English Old Testament was largely based. The MT dates to the 900s/1000 after Christ. In the case of Jeremiah 10:6-8 and 10, these verses are missing from the Greek Old Testament but present among the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS, ca. 100BC). 

We can imagine where these verses were not part of Jeremiah's original prophecy but became part of the tradition very early on, perhaps in the late 500s. In this scenario, the Greek preserves an older reading, while the DSS give the incredibly early (and true) addition. The MT then followed this version. We will increasingly engage the textual issues of Jeremiah once we reach chapter 25.

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 9

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
Jeremiah 5
Jeremiah 6
Jeremiah 7
Jeremiah 8
__________________

1. Jeremiah's words blur between lament and warning. He sees what is coming so vividly. I had the thought reading the chapter -- "Was this written after Josiah was killed in battle?" That was in 609BC as Josiah tried to stop Pharaoh Necho from going north to assist Assyria. 

Jeremiah weeps for the slain of his people. They have brought it on themselves. "They are all adulterers" -- presumably with other gods. They are liars. They do not know Yahweh.

"Beware of your neighbors..." Don't trust your family. Family was the most trusted resource of all in that culture, and yet family was untrustworthy. "Oppression upon oppression. Deceit upon deceit" (Jer. 9:6).

So, God will test them (9:7). God will refine them. 

They speak nicely to the face of their neighbors, but inside they are plotting against them (9:8). The end result is that God is going to make Jerusalem a heap of ruins (9:11).

But no one gets it. Instead, they break the Law of Yahweh. Is this a reference to the Book of the Law recently discovered in the temple. It clearly says they should have no other gods before Yahweh. But they go after the Ba'als (9:14). Now God will scatter them among the nations (9:16).

2. So Jeremiah calls for a funeral. Get the women ready for a funeral dirge (9:17, 20. Get ready to wail. "Death has come up into our windows" (9:21). "Human corpses will fall like dung in the open field" (9:22).

Time to stop boasting that you're "wise" or wealthy (9:23). Boast that you know Yahweh. Boast that you value the One who acts with hesed (faithfulness, lovingkindness), justice (mishpat), and righteousness (zedaqa) in the world -- and act accordingly because God delights in such things (9:24).

3. You may not realize that the Israelites were not the only ones who practiced circumcision. The Egyptians did as well, as did the Edomites (descendants of Esau), Ammonites, and Moabites (descendants of Lot). But Jeremiah says that outward circumcision won't matter when Yahweh visits.

We've already seen this idea of a circumcised heart in Jeremiah (4:4). We see again Jeremiah's sense that these outward rituals were meaningless if one's heart didn't truly serve the Lord. Biblical ethics is about our motivations, intentions, and character far more than the acts we commit.

Another pagan practice is mentioned -- shaving part of one's head. Perhaps this is the background to Leviticus 19:27 and 21:5. I grew up hearing this was about not having a mustache. It turns out it had a historical context. In any case, such rituals are pointless if one's heart is not truly serving Yahweh and if one is oppressing others and treating others falsely.

"All these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart" (9:26).

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 8

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
Jeremiah 5
Jeremiah 6
Jeremiah 7
__________________

1. Jeremiah 8 begins with an incredibly vivid picture. It pictures a future when the Babylonians will have conquered Jerusalem and Judea. They have raided the burial places of the kings. The bones of kings like Josiah, of priests like Hilkaiah, of prophets like Isaiah, of the people -- they have all been dragged out to rot under the elements. On another interpretation, Jeremiah is picturing the bones of false kings, false priests, and false prophets.

Jeremiah is puzzled. The northern kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrians for its perversity -- its going after other gods and its injustices among the people. Yet Judah has not learned any lessons from it. No one repents saying, "What have I done?" (8:6). They just keep plunging forward like a horse insistent on battle. 

2. Jeremiah 8:8 is another very curious verse. In one translation, Jeremiah says that the scribes of Judah have tampered with the Law. He pictures a situation where greedy priests and false prophets are dealing falsely with the people so that they can become wealthy. As in 6:14, Jeremiah indicts them for saying, "Peace, peace" when there is not going to be peace.

They have secured Judah's doom. God is going to give them poisoned water to drink. They will die in their fortified cities. God is setting loose poisonous snakes in Judah, and they will bite these false leaders and the people too.

"The harvest is past. The summer has ended. And we are not saved" (8:20). There is no balm coming from Gilead. There is no physician to administer it. Destruction is on the way.

3. So, what are we to take away from Jeremiah 8 that we have not essentially heard before? It seems to me that the tone is direr than any yet. The imagery of the bones of kings, priests, and prophets is more vivid and startling than any yet.

The image of priests tampering with the Law has played into theories like those of Wellhausen who believed the "Book of the Law" that was discovered under Josiah had actually been doctored by the priests. More recently, William G. Dever has advanced this theory.

Jeremiah 8:18 might be echoed by a number of Christians today. "My joy is gone. Grief is upon me. My heart is sick." Jeremiah has tried and tried and tried to get Israel to see that they are in the wrong despite the fact that they are convinced they are just fine. They remain unconvinced. Jeremiah's heart is sick.

Through the Bible -- Mark 1:1-13

The Sundays of Lent aren't actually part of Lent. Every Sunday is a little Easter, so each Sunday of Lent is a break from whatever sacrifice (or addition) someone has made for Lent. So, on the Sundays of Lent, I'll possibly divert from the daily readings in Jeremiah.

About 8 years ago, I started a series of Sunday YouTube entries I called, "Through the Bible in Ten Years." I would do video commentary for a chapter of the Bible. I managed to get through Mark, Luke-Acts, Hebrews, Revelation, and more. However, at least in the format I used, it didn't gather too much interest. I think much of it was the fact that I went verse by verse. The "Explanatory Notes" I have published to go along with that overall venture have never sold much either. 

There are various reasons you could suggest, but I think most people aren't up for verse by verse analysis. It's too much. It's too detailed. People want commentaries to look up a verse now and then but they don't read straight through. Even then, commentaries aren't set out to be group studies.

So, I've modified the project in my mind. I now see it more in terms of a daily read in various forms. At a chapter a day, there are 1189 chapters in the whole Bible. So. that's a little less than 3 years for the OT (929 chapters) and a little less than a year for the NT (260 chapters). I don't exactly have a devotional in mind but a "Surprises" approach -- what you didn't know about the Bible.

In any case, I have a Google Doc going, filling in chapters here and there. The notes from Jeremiah could find themselves there, for example. I've written an introduction to Mark. So, on this Sunday during Lent, I thought I would sketch out Mark 1.
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1. Mark hits the ground running with the story of John the Baptist. Matthew and Luke, which build their Gospels on top of Mark, added distinctive stories of Jesus' birth. As ancient biographies, a birth story would be normal. Rather than some Freudian revelation of Jesus' formative influences, ancient birth stories revealed a person's destiny. 

Matthew shows that Jesus was destined to be king. Luke shows that he was destined to save his people -- especially making whole and delivering those whom society had cast away, the "lost sheep."

Is Mark a biography? That's still probably the best ancient category, but it's not clear that Mark himself thought of it that way. Rather, it would become a "Gospel," a new kind of literature that tells the good news inaugurated by Jesus the Messiah.

2. "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ [the Son of God]" (1:1). 

That's how Mark begins. I suspect this verse relates to chapter 1. What is a "gospel"? It is good news of an extraordinary sort. Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor, saw his birth as a gospel for the Romans. A gospel might be a victory at war. It might be the birth of a successor to the throne.

For Jesus, the good news probably found its roots in Isaiah 52:7 -- "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news... 'Our God reigns!'" More on that soon enough.

3. The good news began with John the Baptist preaching at the Jordan River that the kingdom of God was soon going to arrive. John preached that Israel needed to prepare itself for this arrival. God was going to restore his people. To be part of the restored kingdom, all the people needed to repent of their sins and get ready.

Quotes from Isaiah 40 and Malachi 3 situate John's message in terms of the return of Israel from exile and preparation for the arrival of the Messiah, the one God was anointing to be Israel's king. Before the exile in 586BC, Israel had a king. In the southern kingdom, that king had been a descendant of David. 

But since their return, they had not had a bone fide descendant of David on the throne. There had been a few Maccabean kings in the century before Christ. Herod the Great was considered a king by the Romans. But a true Davidic king -- an expectation had been rising in the decades before Jesus was born. John the Baptist shouted this expectation from the place where Israel had once entered the Promised Land.

Although it is hard for us to get our heads around it, John the Baptist was far better known in the mid-first century than Jesus was. When Paul ministered at Ephesus in the late 50s, there were followers of John the Baptist's teaching who either did not know Jesus or did not believe he was the one John the Baptist preached (Acts 18:25; 19:3-4).

4. So, Jesus comes to the river Jordan to be baptized by John. He assents to John's teaching and movement. Mark is a "rawer" form of early Christian theology. He doesn't seem concerned to explain how Jesus who is without sin participates in a baptism for the forgiveness of sins. It is as much a corporate confession of sin as an individual one, but it still potentially wreaks havoc with our theology. Matthew is sure to explain that Jesus is not baptized because he needs to be (Matt. 3:13-15).

As Jesus comes out of the water, Jesus hears a commissioning by God the Father -- "You are my Son." In Old Testament thinking, the Son of God is the king, the Messiah, in Psalm 2:7. This is Jesus' ordination, his anointing. In Mark, only Jesus hears the message, which is in keeping with a theme in Mark called the "messianic secret." This is the trigger for Jesus' early mission.

5. An interesting theological question is the relationship between Jesus' human knowledge and his divine knowledge. Presumably, Jesus in his humanity did not fully access all the knowledge of his divinity at all times. As a human, he learns (cf. Luke 2:52). He did not come out of the womb speaking Aramaic. He discovers things as a human that he already knows as divine. He discovers who has touched him.

It is hard not to reach this conclusion if we take the Gospels at face value. It is our later theological faith that requires Jesus to be eternally omniscient. We tend to read this omniscience into the Gospels when it is not obvious from the text itself. The Gospel of John comes closest, but it is also a highly "spiritual" Gospel -- it is probably not exactly how Jesus looked from a human perspective at the time.

The best way I know to resolve this tension has struck some as semi-Nestorian, but I think it holds together. The eternal Son puts much of his knowledge into a "divine subconscious" of sorts that he does not fully access while he is on earth. To do otherwise would impede his goals as a human. He is not two persons (the Nestorian heresy), but he is one mind that temporarily isolates a small portion from the rest. These parts of Jesus' mind are not in conflict with each other. They are just distinguishable for a brief time.

In this light, Jesus may only discover that he is the Messiah at his baptism. Or perhaps he only discovers that he is the second person of the Trinity at his baptism. Whatever the specifics, Jesus' baptism is a key turning point, a trigger for his destiny.

6. His calling is immediately followed by temptation. How often a high moment is followed by testing! He goes to the wilderness just as Israel was tested in the desert for 40 years. His tester is none other that the Satan, the Adversary. Will he yield to God's calling?

The angels minister to him (1:13). God will make a way for us to endure every temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). From a theological perspective, Jesus did not intrinsically need any help to overcome temptation. However, he is playing it by the human rules. He is showing us how to be a human in whom the image of God is restored. He has been filled with the Spirit at his baptism as we can be filled with the Spirit.

We are not surprised by his answer to God. He will obey. He will lead Israel from the wilderness into the Promised Land. He leaves the wilderness with resolve for his mission.

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 7

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
Jeremiah 5
Jeremiah 6
__________________

1. There are three or four chapters that especially come to mind as the most important chapters in Jeremiah. There is of course the first chapter which gives us Jeremiah's calling. Chapter 31 has the important passage on the new covenant that is quoted in Hebrews and assumed in the New Testament. Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible.

Jeremiah 7 is another one. This is the chapter where Jeremiah indicts those who think that Jerusalem and Judah will be safe because it is the place with God's temple. "This is the temple of the LORD. This is the temple of the LORD. This is the temple of the LORD" (Jer. 7:4). Jeremiah 7 is "The Temple Sermon."

2. It is a little puzzling how to fit Jeremiah 7 with Josiah's reforms. The sense of impending doom feels later than Josiah's early reign. Yet Josiah is said to have done away with some of the things Jeremiah is critiquing. Perhaps Josiah's reforms didn't stick or were not fully implemented? Given the flow of Jeremiah so far, I tend to see this chapter as an indictment of the priestly establishment of Judah in the 610s at the height of Josiah's temple reforms.

Around 621BC, Hilkiah finds the Book of the Law in the temple, and Josiah does something that has never been done in Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, or 1 & 2 Kings. Josiah restricts sacrifices to the Jerusalem temple. Perhaps this move anticipated the fact that the temple would become the center of second temple Judaism when the temple was rebuilt in 516BC during the second temple period.

The situation of Jeremiah 7 is that there are some who think, "God won't let anyone knock down his house. It's his house, after all. That's where he lives." "God won't let anyone destroy Jerusalem. That's his address. What powerful god let's another god bulldoze his city?" I suppose we at least have to give the high priest credit for having faith in Yahweh's power.

3. But they have no sense of Yahweh's values. Here are Yahweh's values: "If you stop taking advantage of the immigrant, orphan, or widow, if you don’t shed the blood of the innocent in this place, or go after other gods to your own ruin, only then will I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave long ago to your ancestors for all time" (7:6-7).

"Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal and go after other gods that you don’t know, and then come and stand before me in this temple that bears my name, and say, 'We are safe'?" (7:9-10). This verse seems to allude to the Ten Commandments, which of course were in the Book of the Law just found in the temple.

Instead, they think sacrifices are the key. If they perform all the rituals, everything will be ok. One of the most intriguing verses in the chapter is 7:22. Here, Yahweh reminds them that he gave no commands concerning sacrifices when he brought the Israelites out of Egypt. Some have suggested that the verse indicates Jeremiah knew nothing about Leviticus or the sacrificial parts of the Pentaeuch. The NIV actually added words to get around the conundrum -- "I did not just give commands about sacrifices."

4. Jeremiah reminds the priestly establishment that God let Shiloh be destroyed by the Philistines (7:12-15). This is an event only partially narrated in 1 Samuel 4:1-11. This event of taking the Ark of the Covenant may also stand in the background of Jeremiah's earlier comments about the Ark in Jeremiah 3:16. Jeremiah hates the use of objects, ritual, and the superficial in contrast to the true worship of Yahweh from the heart and actually treating others around you with respect.

The sons of Eli tried to use the Ark as a good luck charm, and God let the Philistines take it. The tabernacle at Shiloh was destroyed. So, the priestly establishment of Jerusalem -- or Josiah -- shouldn't think that Jerusalem is safe just because they've cranked up the sacrifices.

5. Another feature of the chapter is that Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom had been a place where people sacrificed their sons and daughters to Molech. This was particularly true under Josiah's father, Manasseh (2 Kings 23:10). This was an abhorrent practice that Genesis 22 (Abraham and the potential sacrificing of Isaac) implicitly rejects, in my opinion.

Jeremiah foretells that, when Babylon invades, they will take the excess of bodies to this valley where the birds and animals will feed on the carcasses (7:33). This is the Valley ge-Hinnom, that will become the basis for the concept of Gehenna in the New Testament, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:47-48; cf. Isa. 66:24).

6. In short, Jeremiah 7 captures the essence of Jeremiah's prophecies. Judah is facing judgment. She has made some superficial reforms -- refurbishing the temple, making sure the right sacrifices are offered. But she has allowed the worship of other gods to persist, including the offering of young children at Topheth. It is a family affair. The women make cakes for the queen of heaven, Ashtoreth, on a fire lit by the fathers on wood gathered by the children (7:18).

Meanwhile, they do violence toward the weak. They treat with contempt the immigrant, the orphan, the widow, the poor -- the "big four."

Is there an indictment of the evangelical church to be found here? I still believe that the bulk of the evangelical church is sincere in its worship. Its "sacrifices" are genuine. But there are also many, I suspect, who are going after other gods in the form of political idolatry. They are doing violence toward the immigrant, the widow, the orphan, and the poor. They might justify it in the name of things concerning which God gave no command in Scripture.

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 6

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
Jeremiah 5
__________________

1. The warning of impending invasion heightens in Jeremiah 6. We wonder if this dates from the last decade of Josiah's reign or later as the specter of Babylon became more and more real. The doom of Assyria seemed more and more sure. Yahweh shows to Jeremiah the writing on the wall -- Babylon is coming.

"Blow the trumpet in Tekoa." Babylon is coming. A seige ramp will soon enough be set against the walls of Jerusalem (6:6). "Take warning, Jerusalem" (6:8). You're in danger of becoming an uninhabited land.

2. There is such irony. The people are saying, "Peace, peace." But there will be no peace (6:14). Again, we see the fundamental pattern of Jeremiah's prophecies. Judah thinks it's going to be ok. Some think that because they are going through the motions of Yahwistic religion -- they have the Ark; they have the temple -- everything will be fine. Meanwhile, the people are godless and even serve other gods. In response, Jeremiah preaches that judgment is coming from the north.

They love offering sacrifices (6:20). But as several of the prophets had already said by this time -- God really doesn't care about your stinkin' sacrifices. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you will not despise, O God" Ps. 51:16-17).

There is a slight glimmer of hope -- "Take warning Jerusalem or I will turn from you" (6:8). But the chapter more or less assumes it isn't going to happen. Again, there is no mention of Josiah's reforms in Jeremiah. Perhaps Jeremiah did not see them as true-hearted, at least by those who implemented them. "From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely" (6:13).

3. Nevertheless, Jeremiah keeps prophesying, doomed to be ignored. "To whom should I speak and give warning so that they would hear?" (6:10). 

The image of being taken, used in Matthew 24:40-41 and Luke 17:34-35, perhaps originates here. It is not of being taken to a good place but of your house being given to the invader while you are dragged away by force (6:11-12).

Jeremiah calls the people back to the ancient paths (6:16), but the people don't want to walk in them. I imagine he means the stories of the exodus and of Israel making its way to the Promised Land.

The destroyer is coming (6:26). Judah needs to put on sackcloth and ashes. But the people are stubborn and rebellious (6:28). From the least to the greatest, they pursue unjust gain (6:13). They thus harm each other, those who should be their brothers and sisters.

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 5

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
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1. Jeremiah's words of judgment toward Jerusalem continue. Again, his words are all the more striking because Josiah would seem to be ruling at the time. He tells his listeners to run through the streets of Jerusalem looking for even one person who seeks the truth and acts justly (5:1). You won't find anyone, he says.

You will find people putting up a show, though. They use words like "as Yahweh lives" in their language, but it is formal, not real. They have a show of Yahwism, but it isn't real. They don't listen to the actual rebuke of the Lord.

In 5:4, he responds to someone who might say, "You're only talking about the poor, who don't know the Law." Perhaps this echoes 2 Kings 22 where the high priest finds the Book of the Law, and it is clear that no one has looked at it in a long time. So Jeremiah thinks of the rich -- do they heed the Law? Apparently not.

These comments raise the question of Josiah again. There are several possibilities. First, Jeremiah could be talking before Josiah's reforms. That seems unlikely to me because of the echoes of the Law. Second, it could be after Josiah has passed. We can't eliminate this possibility, especially since there are strong echoes of coming destruction that may speak more to the time after Josiah. Or thirdly, perhaps Jeremiah did not think Josiah's reforms were genuine.

The second option has some strong possibilities. Perhaps, even after Josiah's strong efforts to turn Judah back to Yahweh, it didn't really stick. The poor didn't even know about the Law, and the rich didn't really take it to heart?

2. Much of the chapter gives varied images of coming destruction. A lion or a wolf or a leopard is going to kill you (Babylon. 5:6). 

False prophets are saying it's going to be ok (5:13). They're saying, "Yahweh isn't going to do anything. Nothing's going to happen" (5:12). Yahweh responds, "You are wood. God's word in your mouth is fire."

Still, God will not completely destroy them (5:18). This is the message of Jeremiah in a nutshell. I'm going to bring horrible judgment on you, but a remnant of Israel will survive.

In 5:21, we get another image that shows up in the New Testament. Judah has eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear. Jesus will use this image of Israel in his own day.

3. Clearly idolatry -- going after other gods -- has been the primary sin of Judah thus far that Jeremiah indicts. But there are other sins that go with it. We hear about them in the last part of the chapter. 

First, there are the violent, those who "lie in wait" to pounce on others (5:26). Then there is the frequent prophetic critique of the way the weak are treated -- the orphan, for example (5:28). They do not help the needy. 

"The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests do as the prophets direct" (5:31). Jeremiah 5 makes it clear: Judah is beyond self-repair. The corruption reaches from the poorest citizen to the highest official. Because they refuse to repent, judgment is inevitable.

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 4

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
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1. If Jeremiah 3 had the hope that a remnant of the destroyed northern kingdom might come south and be restored to Yahweh, Jeremiah 4 calls out to Judah itself to do the same. If Judah will stop serving other gods and return to Yahweh, "the nations will be blessed by you" (4:2). First, though, they need to get rid of their abominations -- which is exactly what Josiah tried to do in 621BC. But, apparently, it was just lipstick on an idolatrous pig.

In 4:4, we get the origins of an image that Paul himself will use in Romans 2:29 -- circumcision of the heart. Jeremiah in general seems to downplay the "external" practices of Israel's religion at the time. He thus gives precedence to Paul's more interiorized approach to Israel's faith. In Jeremiah 3:16, he dismisses the Ark of the Covenant as a distraction. In Jeremiah 7, he will indict those who rely on the temple. 

Here, he may imply that a circumcision of the heart is more important than the circumcision of a man's flesh.

2.  The next section of the chapter warns about the impending invasion of Babylon (4:5-18). This is quite prophetic, for Assyria was still in power at the time and would not be soundly defeated until 609, possibly over a decade later.

But there was still hope at that time, a chance for repentance. "O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness so that you will be saved" (4:14). Alas, it was not to be, although Josiah certainly tried. Dan in the north would experience their arrival first (4:15). "Blow the trumpet," for the enemy would soon come (4:5). Why? Because Judah has rebelled against the LORD and served Ba'al and Asherah (4:17).

3. It is anguish for Jeremiah (4:19). What anguish to see what is coming, to see the solution, and to be powerless to do anything about it because the people and its leaders do not listen. "For my people are foolish; they do not know me. They are unintelligent children; they have no understanding" (4:22). 

The irony is often that we think we have understanding. We may even think God is on our side. Yet we don't listen to the voices of the wise, the voices of those who know God's heart. We trust in our own understanding without knowing it. We ignore the gnawing voices of those who proclaim God's heart, and disaster ensues. "Nothing's going to happen," we tell ourselves.

Judah was undoing creation. In Genesis 1, God takes that which is "tohu," chaos, and orders it so that it works and is good. But the land is now "formless" again (4:23). In Genesis 1:3, God brings light into the darkness. But now there is no light in the sky. The birds God placed in the sky have now fled (4:25). The land that God filled with trees is now a desert.

Jeremiah could see the birthpains. Judah is like a woman in the birthpains about to give birth to destruction, but she couldn't see it. Jeremiah could see it. He could hear the sound of the approaching trumpet even though Jerusalem could not (4:19).

"In vain you beautify yourself" (4:30). Jeremiah sees the danger of Jerusalem trying to dress herself up so that she would be attractive to external aggressors like Egypt. But, ironically, "they seek your life." It was pointless to trust in them. Yahweh alone could save them.

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 3

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2
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1. The relationship between Jeremiah and King Josiah is curious. Given that Josiah is the hero of the books of the Kings (e.g., 1 Kings 13:1-2), we would expect Jeremiah to praise Josiah and his reforms. But we get almost nothing directly about Josiah -- mostly prophecies against Judah during his reign. It almost makes me wonder if critiques of Josiah were not included in the collection of Jeremiah's prophecies as they were put into their current form. Any praise for Josiah would surely have been preserved since that was the view of the historical "winners." But what we get is largely silence on Josiah and only rebuke of Judah during his reign. [1]

It's perhaps a reminder that not every thought that Jeremiah or Paul had was inspired. We consider inspired the ones that ended up in Scripture in a mature form.

So, Jeremiah 3 continues the critique of Judah during the days of Josiah's reign. Jeremiah prophesies against Judah for worshiping other gods on every high hill (Ba'al) and under every green tree (Asherah). 2 Kings indicates that Josiah's father, Manasseh, had reversed the reforms of his father Hezekiah and promoted Baal and Asherah worship in Judah (2 Kings 21:2-9). Since Manasseh ruled for fifty-five years, worship of these other gods no doubt had gained a very strong foothold in the land by the time of Jeremiah.

2. Once again, Jeremiah uses the image of a wife who has run around with other men. Judah is like a prostitute that has slept with many other gods -- stone and tree (3:9). 

Here's the storyline of the metaphor. Israel, the northern kingdom, ran around with other gods first. So, God divorced her. This is a metaphor for Yahweh letting the Assyrians destroy the northern kingdom.

Then, Yahweh says, he expected Israel to come back to him, like a divorced wife who comes back to her first husband. Jeremiah alludes to the sentiment of Deuteronomy 24:1-4 -- it was considered wrong for the first husband to take her back because she had been defiled. Perhaps Jeremiah is alluding to this legislation in the newly discovered Book of the Law.

Nevertheless, Jeremiah says that Yahweh was willing to take Israel back (Jer. 3:7). [2] But she didn't return. This raises some interesting questions. For example, most Christians do not consider Deuteronomy 24 to be binding today. In fact, some conservatives think that a remarried woman should go back to her first husband because they see her as still married to the first husband in God's eyes. Clearly, they have misinterpreted Scripture on this score. 

I would say that the view of her defilement relates closely to purity laws that connected with the Ancient Near East and that the New Testament did not continue. Even more, the woman in Deuteronomy 24 is tossed around -- she doesn't really have any agency in the things that are happening to her. This suggests that the issue in Deuteronomy is not one of her moral choices but of uncleanness, a system that the New Testament largely does not continue.

As usual, Jesus pulls the rug out from under the whole discussion by "fulfilling" the Law and getting to the heart of the matter -- don't divorce her in the first place so you can go after some other woman legally.

3. Back to Jeremiah. Jeremiah says that Judah's guilt is even greater because it saw what happened to her sister Israel, yet she did exactly the same thing, going after Baal and Asherah (3:7-11).

But now, Jeremiah says, because there is no rain, Judah is calling out to Yahweh (3:3). Just now, Jeremiah says, you have called to me (3:4-5). "Father, will you be angry with me forever?" After all the evil Judah has done, dare she call out to Yahweh to take her back?

It's tempting to see here the beginnings of Josiah's reforms, which date to around the year 621BC. Judah is beginning to call out to Yahweh. In Jeremiah's view, she has not yet earned a hearing.

4. Interestingly, Yahweh calls to the remnant left in the northern kingdom. He calls lone individuals and members of families to come to Jerusalem and return to Yahweh (3:14). God will take them back if they repent. This sounds a little like Josiah's call for Israel to come worship Yahweh in Jerusalem.

There is still hope. Jeremiah does not yet see the inevitable destruction of Jerusalem. He sees a picture of Jerusalem as a place where both Israel and Judah have returned to serve the Lord and all the nations come there to worship Yahweh (3:17). Jerusalem becomes the "throne of the nations."

Interestingly, Jeremiah sees no need in that future day for an Ark of the Covenant (3:16). Is this a blurring of Jeremiah's later prophecies with his earlier ones? Presumably, the Ark was still in the temple in the days of Josiah. But Jeremiah sees no need for one in the restored kingdom, presumably after the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 is established.

This is the first hint of something we will see in full form in Jeremiah 7. Jeremiah has strongly negative views of the temple as it is currently run. While Josiah restored and strengthened the place of the temple in the life of Judah, Jeremiah has little time for it or the sacrificial system (7:22).

Rather, he calls them back to the pure worship of Yahweh -- their true husband, their sole God. 

[1] Although see 2 Chronicles 35:25.

[2] Note also that in Hosea 1-3, God is willing to take his "wife" back as well.

Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 2

Previous readings were an introduction to Jeremiah and some thoughts on Jeremiah 1.

1. Roughly the first ten chapters of Jeremiah relate to the time before Josiah's reforms in the late 620s BC. By this time, the northern kingdom of Israel had been gone for a century. After destroying the northern kingdom, the Assyrians had mixed the land of Israel in the north with non-Israelites. This would become the place where the Samaritans would live. 

Although Judah escaped destruction, it was still living under the tension of Assyrian dominance at the time of Josiah. However,  Assyria was entering its last decade of power before it would finally be defeated by the Babylonians in 609BC. King Josiah would also die in 609BC trying to stop the king of Egypt from backing the Assyrians up.

2. Jeremiah 2 indicts Judah for being unfaithful to Yahweh, even though Yahweh brought Israel out from Egypt. It is a theme we see often among the prophets. 

Why? God asks through Jeremiah. Why did you go after other gods? Why wasn't Yahweh good enough for Israel? Jeremiah is baffled that a people would change its gods. When has a people ever done that?

The main competitor would seem to be Ba'al. We remember that Israel did not expel all the other Semites from the land. During this period, the Israelites may have been largely henotheistic — believing in the existence of other gods while holding that only Yahweh should be worshiped. The biblical prophets repeatedly called them back to the exclusive worship of Yahweh. In this period, you probably had families who had always worshiped Ba'al, and you probably had Israelites who also worshiped Ba'al. You may also have had Israelites who thought Yahweh and Ba'al were the same god by different names.

Josiah would insist not only that Yahweh be the sole God Israel worshiped but that he only be worshiped with sacrifice properly in Jerusalem at the temple. Later, the Samaritans would develop their own temple and their own syncretistic way of worshiping Yahweh (300s). Similarly, some of the exiles after Babylon destroyed the city would eventually set up their own temple in Elephantine in Egypt (400s BC). These alternative temples may reflect how novel Josiah's reform was at the time as well as the fact that the concept of worshiping Yahweh outside Jerusalem continued in the minds of many people.

None of that had happened yet when Jeremiah was prophesying. He was bringing Judah back to the story -- it all started when Yahweh delivered them from Egypt. They must have no other gods before him. Yahweh is a fountain of living water for them (2:13) -- an image Jesus uses in John 4. But they have tried to dig their own cisterns, cisterns with cracks that let the water out. Israel was a lovely vineyard who instead has gone after wild grape vines (2:21).

3. Jeremiah also warns Israel against reliance on Egypt. This will not be a problem for Josiah. As we mentioned, Josiah will die in battle against Egypt in 609, trying to stop them from helping the Assyrians against the Babylonians.

The final part of the chapter warns Israel about idolatry. They take a tree or a stone and call it their father (2:27). God sends them prophets. They kill them (2:30). They have forgotten their bridal attire (2:32).

Idolatry and worshiping other gods usually goes hand in hand in the prophets with social injustice. So Israel has oppressed the innocent poor -- even though they have not broken into your houses in desperation (2:34). It would be interesting to hear more about what Jeremiah is thinking here. Did the poor sometimes break into homes looking for food and such? Or was this a common trope used to put the poor in their place, an excuse to hate them?

The chapter ends again with a warning not to depend on Egypt for help.