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1My name is Jeremiah. I am a priest, and my father Hilkiah and everyone else in my family are from Anathoth in the territory of the Benjamin tribe. This book contains the things that the Lord told me to say. 2 The Lord first spoke to me in the thirteenth year that Josiah was king of Judah, 3 and he continued to speak to me during the rule of Josiah's son Jehoiakim. The last time the Lord spoke to me was in the fifth month of the eleventh year that Josiah's son Zedekiah was king. That was also when the people of Jerusalem were taken away as prisoners.
The Lord Chooses Jeremiah
4The Lord said:
5“Jeremiah, I am your Creator,
and before you were born,
I chose you to speak for me
to the nations.”
6I replied, “I'm not a good speaker, Lord, and I'm too young.”
7“Don't say you're too young,” the Lord answered. “If I tell you to go and speak to someone, then go! And when I tell you what to say, don't leave out a word! 8I promise to be with you and keep you safe, so don't be afraid.”
9The Lord reached out his hand, then he touched my mouth and said, “I am giving you the words to say, 10and I am sending you with authority to speak to the nations for me. You will tell them of doom and destruction, and of rising and rebuilding again.”
11The Lord showed me something in a vision. Then he asked, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I answered, “A branch of almonds that ripen early.”
12“That's right,” the Lord replied, “and I always rise early to keep a promise.”
13Then the Lord showed me something else and asked, “What do you see now?”
I answered, “I see a pot of boiling water in the north, and it's about to spill out toward us.”
14The Lord said:
I will pour out destruction
all over the land.
15Just watch while I send
for the kings of the north.
They will attack and capture
Jerusalem and other towns,
then set up their thrones
at the gates of Jerusalem.
16I will punish my people,
because they are guilty
of turning from me
to worship idols.
17Jeremiah, get ready!
Go and tell the people
what I command you to say.
Don't be frightened by them,
or I will make you terrified
while they watch.
18My power will make you strong
like a fortress
or a column of iron
or a wall of bronze.
You will oppose all of Judah,
including its kings and leaders,
its priests and people.
19They will fight back,
but they won't win.
I, the Lord, give my word—
I won't let them harm you.
Israel's Unfaithfulness
1The Lord told me 2to go to Jerusalem and tell everyone that he had said:
When you were my young bride,
you loved me and followed me
through the barren desert.
3You belonged to me alone,
like the first part of the harvest,
and I severely punished
those who mistreated you.
Reflect
It is always a sobering site to visit a war memorial, still more shocking to visit a town or village ravaged by violence and war. I have seen many such places in my travels abroad, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after years of civil war in the Kivu Region, for example. I visited Sarajevo shortly after its siege. I have seen towns laid bare by the atrocities of the Civil war in Angola and the genocide in Rwanda.
But I can think of no site as deeply disturbing as the small town of Oradour-sur-Glane, France. On June 10, 1944, a German SS Panzer Regiment attacked and savagely massacred the entire village. 642 people perished. Men were gunned down in a barn, then burned. Women and children were gathered in a church which was set on fire. All but one woman died. Shortly after the dead were buried, General de Gaulle declared that the town would remain untouched—left as a permanent memorial of the atrocities of the brutal attack. Today, some 64 years later, the village of Oradour remains as it was the very day of the attack. Cars and bikes rusting in the streets, sewing machines in empty rooms, doors left ajar, wine bottles strewn in a corner, a burned altar in the church.
Today’s text paints for us a similar, sad picture of the landscape of Palestine during the exile of Judah to Babylon in the sixth century B.C. A land laid ruin but not totally destroyed. No one is left. The people have either fled, perished or been taken away in captivity. This is God’s sober punishment for the rebellion of Israel and Judah for having turned their back on their first love. They have broken the promises of the covenant and are now paying the price.
How do we understand God’s wrath and judgment? How do we comprehend a vengeful God who, in his anger, allowed hardship to befall his beloved bride? We love and cherish the grace of God. Do we even dare to fathom his anger when his people rebel? We learn in the Bible that the world we live in is fallen – it bears the scars and pays the consequences of humanity’s rebellion against God. May our love for God and our faithfulness serve to protect our land, our cities and towns, our homes and our neighbourhoods.
Respond
God, you are altogether just and righteous. Teach us to walk in faithfulness with you and to see all of life as the fruit of your mercies which are new every morning. Amen.
Terry Smith
Terry was Executive Director of Canadian Baptist Ministries, the national and global development and outreach arm of Canadian Baptist churches. He and his wife, Heather worked in France for 20 years, with inner-city youth, in urban church planting, inter-faith programs with Muslims in the francophone world, theological education and leadership development. He has co-authored Going Global (2011) with Gary Nelson and Gord King and wrote Wordeed, An Integral Mission Primer (2012). Terry has also written on evangelism, gospel and culture, urban mission and missiology. In addition to his work at CBM, he has taught at seminaries in Canada and around the world. Terry and Heather, live in Toronto, Canada. They have three adult children, Meghan, Caitlyn & Nathaniel.