Jeremiah

JEREMIAH Excerpts from Barry L. Bandstra, Reading the Old Testament, 1999

Michelangelo's "Jeremiah" from the Sistine Chapel

Bandstra, Chapter 11, 318ff.

Jeremiah was a prophet during Judah's darkest days. He sought to make sense of the divine will as the Babylonian threat loomed large. He felt compelled to announce Judah's impending defeat, and this took a heavy toll on his spirit.

• Jeremiah, more so than any other Hebrew prophet, emerges from the text with a personality. While the other prophets are known almost solely through their messages, Jeremiah's character and personality come out in his book through autobiography. Sometimes called "the weeping prophet," he passionately expressed his own feelings and laid bare his inner spiritual life. This feature makes the book of Jeremiah unique among the prophets

Life and Times of Jeremiah • 640 Josiah began to reign as king of Judah • 627 Jeremiah began his ministry • 622 Josiah initiated religious and political reform (Deuteronomic Reform)

Life and Times of Jeremiah • 609 Josiah died at Megiddo • Jehoahaz (Shallum) made king;

lasted three months • Jehoiakim installed king of Judah by the Egyptians • Jeremiah delivered his Temple Sermon

Life and Times of Jeremiah • 605 Battle of Carchemish: Babylonia asserted its power over Egypt • Jeremiah's scroll read before Jehoiakim, burned by Jehoiakim • 598 Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem; first deportation of refugees to Babylonia

Battle at Carchemish

Life and Times of Jeremiah

• 598 Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to

Jerusalem; • first deportation of refugees to Babylonia • Jehoiakim died • Jehoiachin became king, was taken to Babylon • Zedekiah installed king of Judah by Babylonians

Life and Times of Jeremiah • 588 Jeremiah imprisoned by

Zedekiah • 587 Destruction of Jerusalem • Gedaliah appointed governor of Judea • 582 Gedaliah assassinated • Jeremiah traveled to Egypt • 562 Jeremiah died in Egypt

Early Years (627-622 B.C.) • Jeremiah began his prophetic activity

during the reign of Josiah. Josiah was the king of Judah from 640 B.C.E. until 609. The early years of Josiah's reign were a time of prosperity and political independence. In the evaluation of the Deuteronomic school, represented by the books of Kings, Josiah was a fine and faithful king.

Early Years (627-622 B.C.)

• The Jeremiah of the early years,

which fall into the period from his call to 622, is represented by chapters 1-6. They have a lot in common with Amos and Micah. Like Amos, Jeremiah was concerned about social injustice and considered worship to be secondary to a lifestyle attentive to righteousness.

Early Years (627-622 B.C.)

• Like Hosea, he personified Israel as

an unfaithful wife (chapter 2), and longed for the days of the exodus and the wilderness experience, when Israel was thrown totally on the grace of God

The Call of Jeremiah (1:4-10)

• 4 The word of YHWH came to me: 5

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart-made you a prophet to the nations." 6 I replied: "But YHWH Elohim, I do not know how to speak. I am only a youngster." 7 YHWH replied: Do not say "I am only a youngster"--to all I send you, you must go, and what I command you, you must speak. 8 Do not be afraid of them. I will be with you delivering you"--says YHWH. 9 Then YHWH extended his hand and touched my mouth. YHWH said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10 Today I have set you above nations and above kingdoms: to uproot and to break down, to

• Note the similarity with the call of

Moses, i.e., “difficulty to speak” --objection as element of the call narrative (see Norman Habel). • Note also the emphasis of his mission, repeated three times: “uproot and breakdown”, “destroy and overturn” “to build and to plant” =Judgment and Renewal

Prophet? • NOT COMPLACENT = the desire to please others at the expense of the truth. =to preach what people want only to hear. • But like a “salt” = catalyst. In ancient times, salt is used to burn. “you are the salt of the earth!”

Prophet as catalyst see Matthew 10:34 • "Do not think that I

have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Ministry of Jeremiah during the Reign of Jehoaikim (609-598 BC) • Jeremiah was active throughout the

reign of Jehoiakim. He denounced the king and the people for their idolatry and injustice. Many of the prophecies of chapters 7-19, 25-26, and 35-36 are dated to this period. Perhaps Jeremiah's most notorious denunciation speech comes in chapter 7.

The Temple Sermon (7:115)

From Jeremiah’s sermon in the temple courtyard 7:1-15

2 Hear the word of YHWH, all you people of Judah who enter these gates to worship YHWH. 3 Thus says YHWH of Hosts, the Elohim of Israel: Reform your ways and your activity, and then I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words--This is the temple of YHWH, the temple of YHWH, the temple of YHWH.

From Jeremiah’s sermon in the temple courtyard 7:1-15

• 6 do not oppress the resident-alien,

the orphan or the widow, shed innocent blood here, or go after other gods (which can only hurt you)…

• WORSHIP and SOCIAL JUSTICE!

From Jeremiah’s sermon in the temple courtyard 7:1-15

• 9 Would you steal, murder, commit

adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, go after other gods you do not know 10 and then come and stand before me in this temple, the one called by my name, and say 'We are safe'--only to keep on doing these travesties?! 11 Has this house, the one called by my name, become a den of thieves in your opinion? Right now it appears that way to me," says YHWH. 12 "Then go now to my place that was once in Shiloh. That's where I first housed my name. See what I did to it as a result of the wickedness of my people Israel.

Biblical Shiloh (North)

Shiloh • Under Eli and Samuel, it was the

location of Yahweh’s tabernacle. • It was destroyed—probably by the Philistines

The myth of the Temple • The Lord lived in the Temple, it will never be destroyed. • When in 701 Sennacherib surrounded Jerusalem, the Lord miraculously delivered the city.

Reaction of the Temple Elite see Chapter 26

• 7 The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. 8 And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, "You shall die! 9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, 'This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant'?" And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

Note the reaction of the Temple Elite in Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple 600 years later. 17 He was teaching and saying, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." 18 And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.

Jeremiah’s temple sermon raises two important theological questions:

• 1. The relationship of social justice

and the political destiny of a nation. (Katarungan at Bayan)

• 2. The relationship between social

justice and worship. (Katarungan at Simbahan)

Ministry of Jeremiah during the Reign of Zedekiah (598-587 B.C.) • Jehoiakim died just three months before Jerusalem succumbed to the Babylonian siege. In his stead, Jehoiachin was placed on the throne. • After Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon subdued Jerusalem in 598 B.C.E. he deported many of its citizens to Babylonia, including Jehoiachin.

Ministry of Jeremiah during the Reign of Zedekiah (598-587 B.C.) • Zedekiah replaced Jehoiachin and ruled with the support of Nebuchadnezzar. • Jeremiah remained in Jerusalem and continued to prophesy after the deportation of Jehoiachin and the others. The words of chapters 24, 27-29, 32-34, and 37-39 come from the time of Zedekiah's reign.

The New Covenant (chaps 3031) • This chapters are often called “The

Little Book of Comfort” • Here the message of Jeremiah is one of “uprooting” but “building”

• In spite of the siege of Jerusalem in

588 B.C. by the Babylonians, Jeremiah gave an example of hope. • He bought a land in Anatoth from his cousin. • The message: God will not abandon his people or forever remove them from the Promised Land.

The Text (31:-31-34)

• 31 "See, in the coming days (YHWH's word) I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers when I took them by their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--my covenant which they broke, though I was their lord (YHWH's word).

The Text (31:-31-34)

• 33 Rather, this is the covenant I will make

with the house of Israel after those days (YHWH's word): I will put my Torah inside them, I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his companion or a man his brother, 'Know YHWH!' All of them will know me, from the least to the greatest of them (YHWH's word). I will forgive their faults, and their sins I will never remember."

Reflection on this text by Norbert Lohfink, SJ “Jeremiah and the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” in In the Shadow of Your Wings: New Readings of Great Texts From the Bible (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2003) pp. 44-56.

The Promise of a New Covenant

• It is the only one in the Old

Testament that promises a “new covenant” • High point in the book of Jeremiah, and in fact in the whole of OT prophecy, as well as in the OT covenant theology

God’s partner in both “covenants” – old and new

•People Israel • Note v. 31 “house of Israel and

the house of Judah” • Although the text is addressing a pre-Exilic issue, the text was formulated at the time of the Babylonian Exile.

• Hence, the double expression “Israel

and Judah” simply clarifies that this is once again the one, entire people of God with whom God will make the new covenant.

Contrasts • Old covenant –from the time of

Exodus from Egypt, that is, the Sinai covenant. • New covenant -from the return from the Babylonian Exile and of the new existence of the returnees in the old land (note v. 31: “in those days”)

The old covenant has been broken

• That does not mean it no longer

exists. E.g. When someone breaks the marriage covenant (or priestly vow), that in itself does not annul it. It continues to exist.

• At the text, we hear that God

forgives the guilt and no longer remembers the sin. • Over against the breach of the covenant stands pardon, over against the broken covenant a renewed one.

• God does not only renew the

covenant but says “new”, “greater,” “different”, “better”—because no longer breakable.

The new covenant • It is by no means something

completely different from the first covenant at Sinai • God is Israel’s God and Israel is God’s people—this is true for all times. • God has already given the Torah at Sinai.

The new covenant • Instead, the text says that God will

give the Torah in a new way, placing it in the midst of Israel, and that means in their hearts. • At Sinai the Decalogue was written on stone tablets, now God writes the Torah on the tablets of their hearts. That is new.

The new covenant • Since God’s Torah will now be written in heart, the covenant can never again be broken (indissoluble). • The promise is that at the end of the ages God will cause this to happen in the house of Israel.

Christian interpretation

• Read 2 Cor 3:1 - 5:21 • Also Heb 8:6 – 9:15 • John 13-17 he did the same • Luke 22:20 “And “

with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Christian interpretation

• New covenant is Jesus! • The Torah is written in the heart of Jesus.

Ministry of Jeremiah After the Fall of Jerusalem (587-582 BC) • The fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E.

actualized Jeremiah's predictions of doom. • On the surface Jeremiah's foretelling of Babylonian victory made it appear he was sympathetic to the victors.

• Though captured with others at the fall of Jerusalem, he was later released and given permission to travel wherever he wished. • He was in the good graces of the Babylonians

• The story of Jeremiah's last years is

told in chapters 39-44. • Jeremiah remained in Judah for a time. Gedaliah was appointed governor of Judah by the Babylonians. • Gedaliah He was betrayed by rival Judeans because he cooperated with the Babylonians and was assassinated in 582.

• Following the death of Gedaliah,

Jeremiah was forced to travel to Egypt with a group of refugees. • While there he continued to prophesy until his death.

The Confessions of Jeremiah • set of autobiographical passages

which provide insight into the prophet's inner feelings about God and his calling. • they are really laments or complaints that Jeremiah addressed to God. • Jeremiah's complaints are found in 11:18-12:6; 15:10-21; 17:14-18; 18:18-23; 20:7-13, 14-18.

• In them he expressed his feelings of

frustration in being a prophet. • He claimed that his enemies within Judean political and prophetic circles seemed always to get the upper hand. • He accused God of abandoning him, even though he had been promised divine support.

• The complaint in 20:7-13 is especially

direct in its criticism of God: 7 "YHWH, you have seduced me, and I fell for it, you have overpowered me, and you have won. I have become a perpetual laughable clown, everybody mocks me. 8 Whenever I speak up and cry out I feel compelled to shout, 'Bloody murder!'" (20:7-8)

• The language here is quite strong.

Jeremiah goes so far as to say that God "seduced" him; in effect raped him. Not only are his political opponents his enemies, even God seems so at times.

• One especially notable incident happened

right before the fall of Jerusalem, as told in chapters 37-38. • When he tried to leave Jerusalem during the siege of 588 to travel to his home tribe of Benjamin on legitimate business, he was arrested and was accused of treason and inciting desertion. Court officials tried to execute him by dropping him into a cistern. Normally it was full of water. Fortunately for Jeremiah only muck was in the hole. A friend at court pleaded his case with Zedekiah, who allowed him to be lifted out of the cistern.

Theological significance of Jeremiah’s complaints • Open and honest expression

Jeremiah's feelings of alienation, not only from fellow citizens, but also from God. • The frankness of Jeremiah in not hiding his feeling of betrayal from God, but facing God directly, is to be appreciated for its courage.

Theological significance of Jeremiah’s complaints • Note the many Psalms of Lament • Jesus final words in Mark "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?“ (Mk 15:34)