The Prophet Jeremiah
Monday, June 24 Jeremiah 17:1-18
“The human heart isdeceitful”
Therepeated reference to the corruption of the heart in these verses indicates thedifficulty of Jeremiah’s prophetic work; how will people with wicked heartslisten to the righteous word of the Lord? Jeremiah, together with other biblical writers (Old and New Testament),sees sinfulness not just as a harmful deed or process but as a condition ofhuman existence. Thus, when theScriptures call for people to have a new heart, how can that transformationtake place from the human side? It isGod who must be the One to give his people a new heart so they might walk inobedience to his commandments.
A primary reason why human sinfulness is so devastating is that thecondition is terminal. Corruption andsin beget more of the same, and that vicious cycle can only be broken fromGod’s side. Only God can heal ourbrokenness. Paul assumed the moral andspiritual bankruptcy of the human species, and he understood the advent ofChrist as God’s decisive countermeasure (Romans 1:16 – 3:26).
Create in me a clean heart, O God, andrenew a right spirit within me. Amen.
Tuesday, June 25 Jeremiah 17:19-27
“Do not do yourwork on the Sabbath”
Jeremiah’swords about the Sabbath partake of the larger biblical teaching about thesacredness of the seventh day. Thesanctification of the Sabbath is the bridge commandment in the TenCommandments, acting as a go-between the commands to relate rightly to God andthe commands to relate rightly to one’s family and neighbor. Sabbath-keeping is a pattern rooted in God’srevelation of himself (on the seventh day he rested from his work of creation),and an activity blessed by God. AlthoughJesus offered severe criticism of a legalistic interpretation of the Sabbath,he acknowledged its divine origin and purpose.
Jeremiah’s specific accusation concerns carrying loads on the Sabbath,(i.e., working rather than refraining from labor). Resting from work helped make the Sabbath dayholy. If God’s people honor him bykeeping the Sabbath, then not only Jerusalem but the various regions of Judahwill continue to be inhabited, and right worship will be offered to theLord. This is the one place in thechapter that suggests a role for repentance and renewed obedience to God’s law.
To take time to rest, Lord, is a wonderfulway to live your grace. Amen.
Wednesday, June 26 Jeremiah 18:1-17
“Go down to the potter’sshop”
Jeremiah’svisit to the potter’s workshop and his announcement of God’s word are asymbolic act, what might be termed a parable in action. We can use our imagination to visualize theworkshop and the efforts of a potter to shape wet clay into a vessel ready tobe fired and then used as a container. God (the potter) has both the sovereign right and the divine ability tomake and remake the clay as he sees fit.
The meaning of this illustration is clear. Just as the potter may form and reform thesame clay until he is either satisfied or decides to dump the clay completely,so God can form and reform the house of Israel. This affirmation is followed by the “two-way” formulation of God’sdealing with any nation. If Godannounces judgment on a nation and that nation repents, that judgment can bereversed or simply canceled. Correspondingly, if God has announced good for a kingdom and it actsfaithlessly, that good can also be reversed.
You are the potter,I am the clay, Lord. Make me and mold me. Amen.
Thursday, June 27 Jeremiah 18:18-23
“Let’s plot a way to stop Jeremiah”
Jeremiah’sopponents are at it again, intending to attack him verbally and not pay attentionto anything he says. Their persecutionof the prophet shows that they have also rejected God’s word to them thatJeremiah represents. They prefer the morecomfortable words of others who claim to present God’s will to the judgmentalpronouncements of Jeremiah. Here we seethe three primary forms of godly communication: the priests who teach Scripture,counsel from the wise, and the word from the prophet.
In response,Jeremiah prays in a personal lament that God will judge his enemies. His harsh words come in the context of apetition that God will vindicate him from their slander. The metaphor he uses is that of a pit dug byhis opponents, a pit designed to catch him. It is a hunting image, a trap laid to catch prey. Jeremiah prays, in essence, that his enemiesmay fall into the pit they have dug. Sincethey have committed an evil in attacking an innocent person, may the evil theyintend fall back on them.
You will judgethose who oppose your gospel, Lord. Amen.
Friday, June 28 Jeremiah 19:1-15
“Go and buy a clayjar”
God instructsJeremiah to perform a symbolic act (a parable in action) with a potteryjar. He is to buy the jar and take agroup of elders and priests to the Valley of Ben Hinnom where the Topheth, aplace for human sacrificial rites, is located. Before he breaks the jar in the valley of slaughter and burial, Jeremiahmust prophesy judgment. The failures ofthe kings and the people are listed as the worship of other gods, the spillingof innocent blood, and especially the worship of Baal through the burning ofchildren in a sacrificial fire. With thebreaking of the jar, Jeremiah indicates the irrevocable judgment to come. Just as the smashed earthenware cannot berepaired, Judah cannot be reformed.
Jeremiah leavesthe Topheth and goes to the courtyard of the temple to proclaim that God willbring the disaster on them that he has pronounced, because they arestiff-necked and will not listen to his words. The opportunity for repentance has repeatedly been offered to them, butthey are too proud to bend their necks in humility before God.
I bow in humility before you, Lord,repenting of my sin. Amen.
Saturday, June 29 Jeremiah 20:1-18
“Pashhur hadJeremiah whipped and put in stocks”
Pashhurrepresents the religious establishment, especially the priests who care for andofficiate at the temple, a segment of the population who prove to be some ofJeremiah’s most persistent persecutors. He is described as the “chief officer” at the temple, which probablymeans among other things that he heads the personnel who guard the gates andcontrol the activities within the temple courts. The humiliation of being placed in the stocksand beaten by a priest would have been especially galling for Jeremiah, sincehe was from a priestly family.
Jeremiah’s lament is linked to his humiliating and painful experience inthe stocks. His words are by nowfamiliar to readers of his book, yet at the same time shocking. The prophet is persecuted because of the wordof the Lord. His opponents lie in waitto ambush him and ridicule him with his own phrase, “terror on every side,” asif to say that Jeremiah is a deluded madman who speaks incessantly about terrorto come. In his frustration andbitterness Jeremiah rues the day he was born.
Whenthe world seeks to shame us, Lord, you lift us up. Amen.