The Prophet Jeremiah
Monday, August 5 Jeremiah 41:1-15
“They killedGedaliah”
Gedaliahhad begun the reconstruction of life in the land following the defeat to theBabylonians and had become a symbol of hope but Ishmael, a member of the royalfamily, murders Gedaliah. The killing isboth a strike against the Babylonians (who had installed Gedaliah as thegovernor of Judah) and an attempt by Ishmael to usurp power.
After four years of civil war (1861-1865), with the southern states intatters and the whole nation exhausted from the conflict, President Lincolnbegan to look for ways to rebuild the nation and to reconcile its variousfactions. A twisted soul named JohnWilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln before he could put his plans forreconciliation into effect, and the resulting turmoil in the southern statesover severe reconstruction policies was extremely costly.
Johanan,a military man loyal to Gedaliah, and his soldiers intercept Ishmael. The two groups met near Gibeon, with theresult that most of the captives taken by Ishmael are recovered by Johanan andhis officers, but Ishmael and eight of his men escape.
We live in a world, Lord, where good peopleare senselessly killed. Amen.
Tuesday, August 6 Jeremiah 41:16 – 42:6
“They were afraidof what the Babylonians would do”
Afterthe murder of Gedaliah (see yesterday’s devotion), the question faced byJohanan and his band is, “What now?” Nebuchadnezzarwill not take kindly to the assassination of his hand-picked governor, andthere is every reason to expect reprisals in some form. Their fear of Babylonian retaliation and thetreachery of men like Ishmael cause them to consider fleeing the region. Their choice of venue is Egypt, where alreadya sizable group of Judeans live. Egyptis not (yet!) under the control of the Babylonians, so if Johanan and the groupmake it safely there, they may have some expectation of continued security fromthe Babylonians.
Should the remnant associated with Johanan (and until recently withGedaliah) flee to Egypt or not? Theyseek the counsel of God through Jeremiah and promise obedience to the propheticword. There is an implied self-curse inverse five, should the company of Judeans not heed the Lord’s instruction. Jeremiah agrees to seek counsel from the Lordand to tell them everything the Lord reveals.
We seek your guidance, Lord, to show us theway to take. Amen.
Wednesday, August 7 Jeremiah 42:7-22
“The Lord has toldyou: ‘Do not go to Egypt’”
Jeremiah’sreply to the request of Johanan to seek the counsel of God about whether theyshould go to Egypt or stay in Judah takes two forms, one positive and the othernegative. After ten days he begins withthe preface, “This is what the Lord says,” where the gist of the positivemessage is that God will preserve this remnant of Judeans if they trust him andstay in the land. In language associatedwith Jeremiah’s call, God promises to build and to plant them in the land andthere to protect them from the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar.
However, should they choose to disregard God’s word and flee to Egypt,judgment will come on them there. Thisnegative message from God should be read in light of verse five, where thepeople had asked that God be a “true and faithful witness” against them if theydisobey his revealed word. Jeremiah addshis personal word to the group in verses nineteen through twenty-two,indicating that a choice for Egypt means that they are self-deceived and willnot escape judgment.
When we obey you,Lord, it brings your goodness to our lives. Amen.
Thursday, August 8 Jeremiah 43:1-13
“You lie!”
Those remainingin Judah, led by Johanan, have asked Jeremiah to seek the Lord’s direction onwhether they should stay in Judah or go to Egypt (which they clearlyprefer). When Jeremiah reveals theLord’s will that they stay in Judah, they accuse him of lying to them. The end result is that Johanan leads thegroup to Tahpanhes in Egypt, forcing Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch to go withthem. Tahpanhes was located in theeastern section of the Nile Delta and was one of several cities in Egypt with aJudean population.
Having arrivedin Tahpanhes, Jeremiah is directed by God to take some large stones and burythem in the courtyard of a government building. He explains this act by saying that God will grant his “servantNebuchadnezzar” a seat over these stones when the Babylonian king spreads outhis royal canopy, indicating that Babylon will conquer Egypt. Moreover, judgment will come on those Judeanswho think they have escaped the reach of the Babylonians by fleeing to Egypt,in direct disobedience to God’s command that they remain in Judah.
Stubborn refusalto heed your word, Lord, has devastating consequences. Amen.
Friday, August 9 Jeremiah 44:1-30
“We will not listento your messages from the Lord”
The somber wordsof Jeremiah are eloquent reminders of what life can be like when one isestranged from God and has little clue of the power of inheritedcorruption. Especially hard to deal withare those people who insist they know something about God; for them, being sentinto exile (or whatever difficulty) cannot be God’s work. It would be nice (so human reflection mightgo) if we could discover the key to saving ourselves consistent with what wethink we know about God.
The pathway tolife begins by acknowledging that every road leads to death except the onecharted by God. Jeremiah’scontemporaries in Egypt simply could not face the fact that they had been (andremained) part of a failed political and religious enterprise. Tragically, they were willing to do almostanything to try to save themselves: kidnap Jeremiah and Baruch, worship theQueen of Heaven (a Canaanite goddess), and so on. What they refused to do was to acknowledgetheir failure and depend on the God of grace, who can make all things new.
There is a way that leads to life, Lord,and those who find it never die. Amen.
Saturday, August 10 Jeremiah 45:1-5
“This is what theLord says to you, Baruch”
Theprophecy concerning Baruch is out of place chronologically with the precedingchapters. Verse one provides a date inthe fourth year of Jehoiakim, which coincides with the command from the Lord in36:1 for Jeremiah to prepare a scroll of his prophecies. The fallout over Baruch’s reading from thescroll may have been an early occasion for public persecution of this scribe,who was Jeremiah’s secretary and companion. Why does this account come at the end of the description of the Egyptianexperience of Jeremiah and Baruch?
Theplacement of this prophecy serves to reinforce the claim that Baruch’s presencein Egypt is not the result of God’s disfavor. God calls Baruch to be faithful and assures him that his personal safetyresides with God. While there is a costto serving the Lord in times such as these – Baruch has no more “right” (to usemodern Western language) than anyone else to expect that he will escape theconsequences of corporate and social evil - God tells him that his life is agift, and he has been called to use it well.
Youremain faithful, Lord, when the times are evil. Amen.