Archive for the ‘Jeremiah 41’ Category
Above: Icon of Ezekiel
Image in the Public Domain
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READING EZEKIEL, PART XI
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Ezekiel 21:28-32 (Anglican and Protestant)
Ezekiel 21:33-37 (Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox)
Ezekiel 25:1-7
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Oracles of divine judgment against nations are staples of Hebrew prophetic literature. For example, they populate Isaiah 13-23; Jeremiah 46-51; Amos 1:3-2:3; and Ezekiel 25-32.
Since I began this long-term project of reading the Hebrew prophetic books, roughly in chronological order, I have read the material regarding Ammon in Amos 1:13-15; Jeremiah 49:1-16; and Ezekiel 21:28-32/21:33-37 (depending on versification).
Ammon was east of the River Jordan, and bordered the territory of the tribe of Gad (Joshua 13:8-10). Ammon’s capital was Rabbath-Amman (modern-day Amman, Jordan). Sometimes the Hebrews and the Ammonites were foes (Judges 3:13; Amos 1:13-15; Zephaniah 2:8; Judges 10:6-12:7; 1 Samuel 11; 2 Samuel 10; 2 Samuel 12:26-31). Sometimes they were allies (Jeremiah 27:3). After the Fall of Jerusalem, the Ammonites supported Ishmael, the Davidic claimant who rebelled against Gedaliah (Jeremiah 40:7-41:18). Before that, however, Ammon had occupied the territory of the tribe of Gad after the Fall of Samaria (722 B.C.E.).
Ammon, as a province of the Assyrian Empire, had a native ruler most of the time in the seventh century B.C.E. During the Assyrian civil war that started in 652 B.C.E., some of the remote peoples rebelled. They endangered the security of Ammon and other Assyrian vassals. With the fall of Nineveh (612 B.C.E.), Ammon briefly regained independence. Ammon allied with the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire against common foes, those pesky Arab tribes and the Kingdom of Judah. The alliance quickly turned into Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian domination of Ammon.
The Ammonite rebellion against their Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian overlords informed the material in Ezekiel 21. The Chaldeans/Neo-Babylonians struck Judah first then came back around for Ammon. After the failed Ammonite rebellion, the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire instituted mass deportations of Ammonites and, for a time, ended sedentary settlement in Ammon. Ammon became the abode of nomads until the Persian period.
Ezekiel 25:1-7 is consistent with this history. The text of the oracle condemns Ammon for opposing Judah and siding with the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire. The fitting punishment, we read, is to fall to that empire, too.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 29, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, APOSTLES AND MARTYRS
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Above: Icon of Jeremiah
Image in the Public Domain
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READING JEREMIAH, PART XXIX
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Jeremiah 49:1-6
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Ammon was east of the River Jordan, and bordered the territory of the tribe of Gad (Joshua 13:8-10). Ammon’s capital was Rabbath-Amman (modern-day Amman, Jordan). Sometimes the Hebrews and the Ammonites were foes (Judges 3:13; Amos 1:13-15; Zephaniah 2:8; Judges 10:6-12:7; 1 Samuel 11; 2 Samuel 10; 2 Samuel 12:26-31). Sometimes they were allies (Jeremiah 27:3). After the Fall of Jerusalem, the Ammonites supported Ishmael, the Davidic claimant who rebelled against Gedaliah (Jeremiah 40:7-41:18). Before that, however, Ammon had occupied the territory of the tribe of Gad after the Fall of Samaria (722 B.C.E.).
Since I started this project of reading the Hebrew prophetic books, roughly in chronological order, I have read the oracle against the Ammonites in Amos 1:13-15.
The oracle regarding Ammon in Ezekiel 25:1-6 awaits me, in due time.
Some details in the oracle require explanation:
- We read place names.
- We read “Milcom,” the name of the Ammonite chief deity (1 Kings 11:5). That name, rendered in Hebrew (which lacks vowels), can read, in English, “their king.”
- We read that the Hebrews would repossess the territory of the tribe of Gad.
- This oracle also concludes on a note of consolation.
- The Ammonites were relatives of the Hebrews (Genesis 19:38).
Ammon fell to the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire. Mass deportations ensued. After the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire fell to the Persians and the Medes in 539 B.C.E., Ammon became a part of the Persian Empire. This empire restored Ammon, reduced to a domain of Arab nomads, to political order.
The Ammonites, like many others, had relied on wealth, strength, and false gods. The Ammonites had also seized land not legitimately theirs. This type of activity was a major concern in Biblical times.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 14, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT METHODIUS I OF CONSTANTINOPLE, DEFENDER OF ICONS AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE; AND SAINT JOSEPH THE HYMNOGRAPHER, DEFENDER OF ICONS AND THE “SWEET-VOICED NIGHTINGALE OF THE CHURCH”
THE FEAST OF DAVID LOW DODGE, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN BUSINESSMAN AND PACIFIST
THE FEAST OF FRANCIS J. UPLEGGER, GERMAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND MISSIONARY; “OLD MAN MISSIONARY”
THE FEAST OF FRANK LAUBACH, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF MARK HOPKINS, U.S. CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, EDUCATOR, AND PHYSICIAN
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Above: Map of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire
Image in the Public Domain
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READING JEREMIAH, PART XXII
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Jeremiah 40:7-41:8
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The Kingdom of Judah had fallen to the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire. The second mass deportation–the second phase of the Babylonian Exile had begun. Yet the new masters of Judah did not deport everyone (40:11).
Jeremiah had repeatedly cautioned against opposing the Chaldeans/Neo-Babylonians; he had understood that a rebellion could not succeed. Events had proven Jeremiah’s warnings correct. Gedaliah ben Ahikam, he new local governor of Judah, grasped reality, too. He sought to do the best for the people in Judah. The situation was bad, but it did not have to deteriorate.
Gedaliah came from a good family. His father, Ahikam, had rescued Jeremiah from execution years prior (Jeremiah 26:24). In one version of the liberation of Jeremiah after the Fall of Jerusalem, Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian authorities freed the prophet from King Zedekiah’s prison and into the care of Gedaliah (39:11-14). In another version of the liberation of Jeremiah, the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian captain of the guard had removed the prophet from a group of people destined for Babylon, and Jeremiah had gone to the home of Gedaliah (40:1-6).
Gedaliah ben Ahikam, whose name meant, “YHWH is great,” was a realist. He was also a collaborator, objectively. This made him a target of assassination plots immediately. Ishmael ben Nethaniah, of the House of David, was a guest at Gedaliah’s official residence at Mizpah. The claimant to the throne was one of ten other guests who assassinated the governor. These eleven men murdered seventy men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria two days later. Then Ishmael attempted to take the rest of the population of Mizpah into the territory of the Ammonites. All but Ishmael turned back, though. The others headed for Egypt.
One may legitimately dislike collaborators. I, as a student of history, know the names of collaborators (especially from World War II) who were traitors to their homelands. “Quisling” is a synonym for traitor for a good reason. In the context of the Book of Jeremiah, however, the authorial voices side with Jeremiah and Gedaliah. The tragedy (in the Greek dramatic sense of that term) is that Gedaliah, a good man, did not heed a warning that could have saved his life, at least for a little while.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 13, 2021 COMMON ERA
PROPER 6: THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINT SPYRIDON OF CYPRUS, BISHOP OF TREMITHUS, CYPRUS; AND HIS CONVERT, SAINT TRYPHILLIUS OF LEUCOSIA, CYPRUS; OPPONENTS OF ARIANISM
THE FEAST OF DAVID ABEEL, U.S. DUTCH REFORMED MINISTER AND MISSIONARY TO ASIA
THE FEAST OF ELIAS BENJAMIN SANFORD, U.S. METHODIST THEN CONGREGATIONAL MINISTER AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF SIGISMUND VON BIRKEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, U.S. POET, JOURNALIST, AND HYMN WRITER
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Above: Jehoiakim Burns the Word of God
Image in the Public Domain
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READING JEREMIAH, PART XVII
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Jeremiah 35:1-19
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Chronology is not the organizing principle in the Book of Jeremiah. The events of Jeremiah 36 occurred in 605 B.C.E., when Jeremiah had no access to the Temple. The events of Chapter 35 occurred a few years later, in 598 B.C.E., when the prophet did have access to the Temple.
The Rechabites (2 Kings 10:15-17; 1 Chronicles 2:55; and maybe 1 Chronicles 4:11-12) were a traditionalist, semi-nomadic people. They rejected agricultural and urban cultures in Judah. They did not drink wine. They lived in tents. They did not own vineyards, fields, or crops. These traditionalists, members of a sect founded by Jehonadab ben Rechab, had dropped out of a society they correctly perceived to be hurdling toward destruction. Yet the Rechabites could not escape reality. They were in Jerusalem because of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian army, during the first invasion of Judah. Nevertheless, when Jeremiah tested the Rechabites’ resolve, they passed with flying colors, so to speak. God commended the Rechabites. They still heeded the teachings of their founder, but the larger society did not listen to God.
The Hebrew prophetic books become repetitive quickly.
You (plural) have not listened to God is a motif in Hebrew prophetic literature.
When I wrote the rough draft of this post in longhand, I had already read Jeremiah 37-44. Reading Chapter 35 after Chapters 37-44 powerfully drove home the point that listening to God is a good idea. Nevertheless, the examples of Jeremiah and Baruch (Chapters 43-45) proved that listening to God does not necessarily prevent misfortune. Jeremiah and Baruch died in exile in Egypt (Jeremiah 43-44). And God told Baruch not to expect great things for himself (Jeremiah 45).
The difference between suffering misfortune despite being faithful to God and suffering misfortune because of faithlessness to God may not prove comforting in real time. One is still suffering, after all. Suffering while innocent may be worse, actually. I know the experience of suffering while innocent. I do not wish it on anyone.
I offer no easy answers to difficult questions. I may offer partial answers, for partial answers may be the best I or anyone else can really know. I acknowledge, for example, that, in a world that is fair, Jeremiah would have been safe and a revered figure in his lifetime. I know that he would have died in his sleep, in his strong and independent homeland, in a world that is fair. That is not the narrative in the Book of Jeremiah, though. The world is not fair.
Yet God is faithful.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 12, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF EDWIN PAXTON HOOD, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, PHILANTHROPIST, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN DAVID JAESCHKE, GERMAN MORAVIAN ORGANIST AND COMPOSER; AND HIS GRANDSON, HENRI MARC HERMANN VOLDEMAR VOULLAIRE, MORAVIAN COMPOSER AND MINISTER
THE FEAST OF ENMEGAHBOWH, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND MISSIONARY TO THE OJIBWA NATION
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH DACRE CARLYLE, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF MILTON SMITH LITTLEFIELD, JR., U.S. PRESBYTERIAN AND CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNAL EDITOR
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Above: Jeremiah and Jerusalem
Image in the Public Domain
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READING JEREMIAH, PART VI
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Jeremiah 8:4-10:25
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Jeremiah 8:4-10:25, in its final form, consists of disparate material. 10:23-25 indicates that Jerusalem has fallen to the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire. This material is later than much of the other content of this section of the Book of Jeremiah; it is temporally contemporary with Chapters 33, 39-44, and perhaps 45. Jeremiah speaks to God in some of the passages in Jeremiah 8:4-10:25; God speaks in other passages.
Given that I am reading Hebrew prophetic books systematically, almost all of the themes in Jeremiah 8:4-10:25 are familiar to me from recent reading and blogging. I choose not to repeat myself concerning them in this post. If I were dropping into the Book of Jeremiah, as in the case of a lectionary, I would offer more comments, though.
The Book of Jeremiah is the only Hebrew prophetic book to mention circumcision. Jeremiah refers to the circumcision of the heart in 4:4; 6:10; and 9:25/9:26 (depending on versification). This fits neatly with Chapter 7, which argues against assuming that ritual propriety shields against the consequences of persistent immorality. This theme of the circumcision of the heart recurs in Romans 2:28-29.
Other than the circumcision of the heart, I focus on God lamenting people’s sins and the consequences of those sins. Hellfire-and-damnation Christians seem to overlook this. God, as presented in Jeremiah 8;4-10:25, wishes that circumstances were different.
Assuredly, thus said the LORD of Hosts:
Lo, I shall smelt and assay them–
For what else can I do because of My poor people?
Their tongue is a sharpened arrow,
They use their mouths to deceive.
One speaks to his fellow in friendship,
But lays an ambush for him in his heart.
Shall I not punish them for such deeds?
–says the LORD–
Shall I not bring retribution
On such a nation as this?
–Jeremiah 9:6-8, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
May we–collectively and individually–refrain from grieving God.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 7, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHEW TALBOT, RECOVERING ALCOHOLIC IN DUBLIN, IRELAND
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY MARY GIANELLI, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARIES OF SAINT ALPHONSUS
THE FEAST OF FREDERICK LUCIAN HOSMER, U.S. UNITARIAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF HUBERT LAFAYETTE SONE AND HIS WIFE, KATIE HELEN JACKSON SONE, U.S. METHODIST MISSIONARIES AND HUMANITARIANS IN CHNA, SINGAPORE, AND MALAYSIA
THE FEAST OF SEATTLE, FIRST NATIONS CHIEF, WAR LEADER, AND DIPLOMAT
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Above: Statue of Jeremiah, Salisbury Cathedral
Image in the Public Domain
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READING JEREMIAH, PART V
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Jeremiah 7:1-8:3
Jeremiah 26:1-24
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Jeremiah 7:1-20:18 consists of oracles primarily from the reign (608-598 B.C.E.) of Jehoiakim (born Eliakim) of Judah. For more about Jehoiakim, read 2 Kings 23:36-24:7; 2 Chronicles 36:5-8; 1 Esdras 1:39-42.
The Assyrian Empire had consumed the (northern) Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.E. then the Kingdom of Aram in 720 B.C.E. In 612 B.C.E., the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire had conquered the Assyrian Empire. In 608 B.C.E., Judah was struck between two powerful neighbors–Egypt and Babylonia, themselves enemies. After the death of King Josiah (r. 640-609 B.C.E.) in combat against Pharaoh Neco II of Egypt (r. 610-595 B.C.E.), Judah had become a vassal state of Egypt. Neco II had appointed the next King of Judah, Jehoahaz, also known as Jeconiah and Shallum (2 Kings 23:31-35; 2 Chronicles 36:1-4; 1 Esdras 1:34-38). Jehoahaz had reigned for about three months in 609 B.C.E. before Neco II had replaced him with another son of Josiah and taken him into captivity in Egypt. Neco II had also appointed Eliakim and changed his name to Jehoiakim in 608 B.C.E. He served as an Egyptian vassal until 605 B.C.E., when he became a Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian vassal.
Jeremiah spent most of his prophetic career speaking difficult truths to a nation under foreign domination. This context was extremely politically dangerous.
This sermon is thematically consistent with Hosea 6:4-6; Micah 3:9-12; and Amos 2:4-6. It is also thematically consistent with many other passages of Hebrew scripture. The link between idolatry and social injustice (especially economic injustice) is clear. Sacred rituals, even those the Law of Moses mandates, are not talismans. The joining of lived collective piety and justice on one hand and sacred ritual on the other hand is imperative. The combination of social injustice and sacred ritual makes a mockery of sacred ritual.
Mend your ways and your actions,
Jeremiah preached at the Temple. Then he unpacked that statement:
…if you execute justice between one man and another; if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; if you do not shed the blood of the innocent in this place; if you do not follow other gods, to your own hurt–then only will I [YHWH] let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers for all time. See, you are relying on illusions that are of no avail….
–Jeremiah 7:5-8, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
Pay attention to 7:11, O reader:
Do you consider this House, which bears My name, to be a den of thieves? As for Me, I have been watching–declares the LORD.
—TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
This is an allusion in Jesus’s mouth during the Temple Incident/the Cleansing of the Temple in Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; and Luke 19:46. Notice that Jeremiah predicted the destruction of the First Temple.
Chronology is not the organizing principle in the Book of Jeremiah. The Temple Sermon of Jeremiah is a case in point. We return to it and read of its aftermath in Jeremiah 26:1-24.
Idols abound. They may be tangible or intangible. If an activity, idea, or object functions as an idol for someone, it is an idol for that person. Money is one of the more common idols. Greed contributes greatly to economic injustice, and corruption is one of the major causes of institutionalized poverty. Obliviousness to participation in the violation of God’s moral commandments, including mutuality, will not shield us from the consequences of those sins any more than keeping sacred rituals will do so.
Circa 608 B.C.E. God was still holding out the possibility of repentance, prompting the cancellation of divine punishment, according to Jeremiah 26:3. This contradicts other passages from the Book of Jeremiah and other Hebrew prophetic books composed or begun prior to the Book of Jeremiah. Perhaps one reason for the contradiction is the addition of later material to the early Hebrew prophetic books, as late as the Babylonian Exile. I suppose that maintaining the hard line of the time for repentance having passed was difficult to maintain after the Fall of Babylon (539 B.C.E.).
The priests and prophets said to all the people, “This man deserves the death penalty, for he has prophesied against this city, as you yourselves have heard.
–Jeremiah 26:11, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
Jeremiah prophesied against a government and a population under foreign domination. There was no separation of religion and state either. The prophet worked in a dangerous milieu.
Jeremiah had allies, though. Some cited the example of Micah, who had issued a dire prophesy (Micah 3:12) and had not received a death sentence. Fortunately for Jeremiah, the court’s sentence remained unfulfilled. Ahikam, a high-ranking royal official (2 Kings 22:12), saved him. Ahikam was also the father of Gedaliah, the assassinated governor of Judah after the Fall of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 40:1-41:18).
Uriah ben Shemiah, from Kiriath-jearim, was not as fortunate as Jeremiah was. Uriah, also prophesying in the name of YHWH, said what Jeremiah proclaimed. Uriah fled to Egypt for safety because King Jehoiakim wanted him dead. Royal agents found Uriah in Egypt and returned him to Judah, to die.
One may legitimately wonder why God protected Jeremiah from threats to his life yet did not spare faithful Uriah ben Shemaiah.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 7, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHEW TALBOT, RECOVERING ALCOHOLIC IN DUBLIN, IRELAND
THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY MARY GIANELLI, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARIES OF SAINT ALPHONSUS
THE FEAST OF FREDERICK LUCIAN HOSMER, U.S. UNITARIAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF HUBERT LAFAYETTE SONE AND HIS WIFE, KATIE HELEN JACKSON SONE, U.S. METHODIST MISSIONARIES AND HUMANITARIANS IN CHNA, SINGAPORE, AND MALAYSIA
THE FEAST OF SEATTLE, FIRST NATIONS CHIEF, WAR LEADER, AND DIPLOMAT
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Above: Jeremiah
Image in the Public Domain
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READING JEREMIAH, PART I
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Jeremiah 1:1-3
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The first three verses of the Book of Jeremiah identify the prophet, his father, the prophet’s hometown, and the timeframe of his prophetic ministry.
Jeremiah (“YHWH will exalt”) ben Hilkiah hailed from Anathoth, about three and a half miles northeast of Jerusalem. The father, Hilkiah, was a priest. Hilkiah and Jeremiah were outside of the priestly establishment in Jerusalem. Therefore, this Hilkiah was not the high priest Hilkiah (2 Kings 22:3-23:37) who found the scroll of Deuteronomy in the Temple, brought that scroll to King Josiah (r. 640-609 B.C.E.), and participated in Josiah’s religious reformation.
Hailing from Anathoth was significant. Anathoth was one of the cities assigned to Levitical priests in Joshua 21:18. After the death of King David, King Solomon had exiled the priest Abiathar (1 Samuel 22:20-22; 1 Samuel 23:6, 9; 1 Samuel 30:7; 2 Samuel 8:17; 2 Samuel 15:24, 27, 29, 35; 2 Samuel 17:15; 2 Samuel 19:11; 2 Samuel 20:25; 1 Kings 1:7, 19, 25, 42; 1 Kings 2:35; 1 Kings 4:4; 1 Chronicles 15:11; 1 Chronicles 18:16; 1 Chronicles 24:6; 1 Chronicles 27:34; Mark 2:26) to Anathoth for supporting Adonijah in the struggle for succession (1 Kings 2:26-27). Jeremiah, therefore, was also a member of a priestly family. He understood the ancient traditions of Israel, as well as the foundational character of the covenant in the life of Israel.
The superscription also defines the period during which Jeremiah prophesied: from the thirteenth year (627 B.C.E.) of the reign (640-609 B.C.E.) of King Josiah of Judah through “the eleventh year of King Zedekiah,” “when Jerusalem went into exile in the fifth month” (586 B.C.E.). We read in Chapters 39-44 that Jeremiah prophesied after the Fall of Jerusalem, too. The list of kings names Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah. That list omits Jehoahaz/Jeconiah/Shallum and Jehoiachin/Jeconiah/Coniah. Yet, as the germane note in The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014), points out, few of the prophecies in the Book of Jeremiah date to the reign of King Josiah.
Jeremiah prophesied during a turbulent and difficult period of decline–mostly after the fall of the Assyrian Empire (612 B.C.E. and before the Fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.E.). In the wake of King Josiah’s death, Judah had become a vassal state of Egypt. Pharaoh Neco II had chosen the next two Kings of Judah. Jehoahaz/Jeconiah/Shallum (2 Kings 23:31-35; 2 Chronicles 36:1-4; 1 Esdras 1:34-38) had reigned for about three months before becoming a prisoner in Egypt. Then Neco II had appointed Eliakim and renamed him Jehoiakim (r. 608-598 B.C.E.; 2 Kings 23:36-24:7; 2 Chronicles 36:5-8; 1 Esdras 1:39-42). Jehoiakim was always a vassal while King of Judah. After being the vassal of Neco II of Egypt for about three years, he became a vassal of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire in 605 B.C.E. He died a prisoner in that empire.
Two more Kings of Judah reigned; both were vassals of the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire. Jehoiachin/Jeconiah/Coniah (2 Kings 24:8-17; 2 Kings 25:27-30; 2 Chronicles 36:9-10; 1 Esdras 1:43-46) reigned for about three months before going into exile in that empire. The last King of Judah was Zedekiah, born Mattaniah (2 Kings 24:18-25:26; 2 Chronicles 36:11-21; 1 Esdras 1:47-58). He reigned from 597 to 586 B.C.E. The last events he saw before Chaldean soldiers blinded him were the executions of his sons.
The Book of Jeremiah is one of the longest books in the Hebrew Bible; it contains 52 chapters. The final draft is the product of augmentation and editing subsequent to the time of Jeremiah himself. In fact, Jeremiah 52 is mostly verbatim from 2 Kings 24:18-25:30. Also Jeremiah 52:4-16 occur also in Jeremiah 39:1-2, 4-10. Chronology is not the organizing principle of material in the Book of Jeremiah; jumping around the timeline is commonplace. For example, the Fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.E.) occurs between Chapters 32 and 33, as well as in Chapters 39 and 52. Some ancient copies are longer than other ancient copies. None of the subsequent augmentation and editing, complete with some material being absent from certain ancient copies of the book surprises me, based on my reading about the development of certain Biblical texts. I do not pretend that divinely-inspired authors were mere secretaries for God.
Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel made a germane and wonderful point in The Prophets, Volume I (1962), viii:
The prophet is a person, not a microphone. He is endowed with a mission, with the power of a word not his own that accounts for his greatness–but also with temperament, concern, character, and individuality. As there was no resisting the impact of divine inspiration, so at times there was no resisting the vortex of his own temperament. The word of God reverberated in the voice of man.
The prophet’s task is to convey a divine view, yet as a person he is a point of view. He speaks from the perspective of God as perceived from the perspective of his own situation. We must seek to understand not only the views he expounded but also the attitudes he embodied: his own position, feeling response–not only what he said but also what he lived; the private, the intimate dimension of the word, the subjective side of the message.
Those paragraphs applied to all the Hebrew prophets. They applied to Jeremiah with greater poignancy than to the others, though.
I invite you, O reader, to remain with me as I blog my way through the book of the “weeping prophet.”
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 6, 2021 COMMON ERA
PROPER 5: THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF FRANKLIN CLARK FRY, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA AND THE LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA
THE FEAST OF SAINT CLAUDE OF BESANÇON, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, MONK, ABBOT, AND BISHOP
THE FEAST OF HENRY JAMES BUCKOLL, AUTHOR AND TRANSLATOR OF HYMNS
THE FEAST OF JOHANN FRIEDRICH HERTZOG, GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM KETHE, PRESBYTERIAN HYMN WRITER
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Above: A Map Showing the Seleucid Empire Circa 188 B.C.E.
Image in the Public Domain
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READING BARUCH AND THE LETTER OF JEREMIAH
PART I
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Baruch 1:1-14
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The Book of Baruch derives its name from Baruch, the scribe of the prophet Jeremiah. Superficially the Book of Baruch seems to have come from the Babylonian Exile. That is impossible, though. Baruch 1:15-2:19, for example, is a rewritten version of Daniel 9:4-19, composed after 150 B.C.E.
The Book of Baruch, with at least four authors, uses exile as a literary device. Consider, O reader, the feeling of being a Jew of the diaspora during the second and first centuries B.C.E. Living in the diaspora must have felt like being in exile. Think also, O reader, of the suffering and repression many Jews of the diaspora experienced, occasionally or constantly. The Babylonian Exile functioned as a metaphor for their reality.
How should faithful Jews live under Syrian/Seleucid rule? That was the question of the hour.
The pseudo-historical setting of Baruch 1:1f is the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire circa 582 B.C.E. The text names King Jehoichin/Jeconiah/Coniah of Judah (2 Kings 24:6-17; 2 Chronicles 36:9-10; Jeremiah 24:1).
The scene in Baruch 1:5 is one of priests continuing to offer sacrifices to God at the ruins of the First Temple. This is consistent with Jeremiah 41:5.
The Book of Baruch accepts the Deutronomic theology of the Babylonian Exile: it was punishment for the nation’s sins. Notice also, O reader, the prayer for King Nebuchadnezzar II. To pray for one’s oppressor may be difficult. However, one’s fate still depends on the oppressor’s decisions.
The Book of Baruch emphasizes continuity in the context of great difficulty. It stresses the continuity of ritual, faith, community, and worship. Kings come and go, the Book of Baruch teaches us, but God remains constant. The Jewish community must cleave to God and hold together, the Book of Baruch insists.
This is an example of mutuality in God, a value from the Torah. We all depend entirely on God. We also depend on each other and are responsible to and for each other. Western individualism, despite its positive aspects, is alien to the Torah. The attitudes that anyone can be a self-made person and can act without having consequences for others are heresies.
Excesses of Western individualism lead easily into “God-and-me” religion. The Bible does contain material about individual responsibility, of course. However, talk of an individual relationship with God apart from or at the expense of faith community is alien to Biblical spirituality. “God-and-me” religion is heretical. The proper context for a personal relationship with God is “God and us.”
The Book of Baruch understands this.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 18, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTIETH DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF MARC BOEGNER, FRENCH REFORMED MINISTER AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF ALICIA DOMON AND HER COMPANIONS, MARTYRS IN ARGENTINA, 1977
THE FEAST OF SAINT GUILIA VALLE, ROMAN CATHOLIC NUN
THE FEAST OF JOHN DARWALL, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM HENRY DRAPER, ANGLICAN PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR
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Above: King John Hyrcanus I
Image in the Public Domain
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READING JUDITH
PART III
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Judith 4:1-6:2
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Holofernes represented an oppressive violent power and an ego-driven monarch. The general had succeeded in his previous campaigns, even against people who had greeted his army with garlands, dancing, and the sound of timbrels (2:1-3:10). The Israelites were in dire straits as he turned his attention toward them.
Yet the Israelites worshiped God. They prayed to God. And, as even Achior, the Ammonite leader acknowledged, the Israelites’ power and strength resided in God. Yet Holofernes asked scornfully,
Who is God beside Nebuchadnezzar?
–Judith 6:2b, The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011)
Achior found refuge with the Israelites, at least.
A refresher on the Kingdom of Ammon and on the Ammonites is in order.
- “Ammon” comes from Benammi, both the son and grandson of Lot (Genesis 19:30-38). Lot’s daughters had gotten their father drunk then seduced him. They gave birth to the founders of the Moabite and Ammonite peoples.
- The attitude toward the Ammonites in the Bible is mostly negative.
- The Kingdom of Ammon was east of the River Jordan and north of Moab.
- The Kingdom of Ammon, a vassal state of Israel under Kings David and Solomon. After Ammon reasserted itself, it became a vassal state of the Neo-Assyrian Empire then the Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire. A failed rebellion led to mass deportations of Ammonites and the colonization of their territory by Chaldeans.
Anyone who wants to read more about the Ammonites in the Bible may want to follow the following reading plan:
- Genesis 19;
- Numbers 21;
- Deuteronomy 2, 3, 23;
- Joshua 12, 13;
- Judges 3, 10, 11, 12;
- 1 Samuel 10, 11, 12, 14;
- 2 Samuel 8, 10, 11, 12, 17, 23;
- 1 Kings 11, 14;
- 2 Kings 23, 24;
- 1 Chronicles 11, 18, 19, 20;
- 2 Chronicles 12, 20, 24, 26, 27;
- Ezra 9;
- Nehemiah 2, 4, 13;
- Psalm 83;
- Isaiah 11;
- Jeremiah 9, 25, 27, 40, 41, 49;
- Ezekiel 21, 25;
- Daniel 11;
- Amos 1;
- Zephaniah 2;
- Judith 1, 5, 6, 7, 14;
- 1 Maccabees 5; and
- 2 Maccabees 4, 5.
Back to Achior…
A close reader of Achior’s report (5:6-21) may detect some details he got wrong. Not all characters speak accurately in every matter. One may expect an outsider to misunderstand some aspects of the Israelite story.
At the end of the Chapter 6, we see the conflict between the arrogance of enemies of God and the humility of Israelites. We know that, in the story, the Israelites could turn only to God for deliverance. Anyone familiar with the Hebrew prophets ought to know that this theme occurs in some of the prophetic books, too.
In the context contemporary to the composition of the Book of Judith, Jews had endured Hellenistic oppression under the Seleucid Empire. Jews had won the independence of Judea. John Hyrcanus I (reigned 135-104 B.C.E.; named in 1 Maccabees 13:53 and 16:1-23) had ordered the destruction of the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerazim and forced many people to convert to Judaism. The persecuted had become persecutors. This was certainly on the mind of the anonymous author of the Book of Judith.
May we, collectively and individually, do to others as we want them to do to us, not necessarily as they or others have done to us.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 8, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE TENTH DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF WALTER CISZEK, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIERST AND POLITICAL PRISONER
THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATUS OF LUXEUIL AND ROMARIC OF LUXEUIL, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONKS AND ABBOTS
THE FEAST OF ERIK CHRISTIAN HOFF, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN COMPOSER AND ORGANIST
THE FEAST OF JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, U.S. QUAKER ABOLITIONIST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIN SHKURTI, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1969
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Above: Zedekiah
Image in the Public Domain
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READING 2 KINGS 22-25, 1 ESDRAS, 2 CHRONICLES 34-36, EZRA, AND NEHEMIAH
PART IX
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2 Kings 24:18-25:26
2 Chronicles 36:11-21
1 Esdras 1:47-58
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By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept:
when we remembered the holy city.
–Psalm 137:1, A New Zealand Prayer Book (1989)
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For a different yet similar perspective on this material, read Jeremiah 37-44, O reader.
The last four Kings of Judah were in impossible situations. Each one had bad choices and worse choices, not good choices. Circumstances they did not create defined the monarchs’ horizons. Geopolitics (being sandwiched between Egypt and Chaldea, to be precise) contributed to the difficulty. And all of the four kings died in exile–one in Egypt and three in Babylon. Zedekiah’s fate was the cruelest of the four fates.
Zedekiah was never his own man as King of Judah. Mattaniah (“Gift of YHWH”) became Zedekiah (“YHWH is my righteousness”) when Nebuchadezzar II appointed and renamed him. Zedekiah reigned as a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar II for about 11 years (597-586 B.C.E.).
The theology in the designated readings and in Jeremiah is consistent. That theology upholds the sacredness of Zedekiah’s oath to God to be the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar II. That theology also understands Nebuchadnezzar II as an instrument of God.
The assassination of governor Gedaliah and the subsequent mass exodus to Egypt (see also Jeremiah 40:13-41:18) added to the heartache of the Fall of the Jerusalem and the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah.
A common way of interpreting the conquest of a kingdom or an empire was that the gods of the victorious power had defeated the gods of the conquered power. Nebuchadnezzar II had conquered Judah, but not YHWH. The Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Empire had a date with divine judgment, too.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 5, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ALFRED TENNYSON, ENGLISH POET
THE FEAST OF ADAM OF SAINT VICTOR, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF ALBRECHT DÜRER, MATTHIAS GRÜNEWALD, AND LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER, RENAISSANCE ARTISTS
THE FEAST OF GEORGE FREDERICK ROOT, POET AND COMPOSER
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This is post #2250 of BLOGA THEOLOGICA.
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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