Prophet Jeremiah, a man of peace was called to prophesy strife and disaster. In the years which saw the ruin and the end of the kingdom of Judah. He contended against kings, priests, false prophets and the nation itself maintaining that resistance to the Chaldean invader was vain resistance to the inexorable will of Yahweh. As the biographical anecdotes included in the book show he was not a popular figure in his own time and barely escaped the death penalty.

The prophet's own inner conflicts were as dramatic as the events in which he played a part. Of an affectionate and gentle disposition he was nevertheless called 'to tear up and to knock down, to destroy and to overthrow', and disaster was the keynote of his message. All this suffering purified his soul of everything unworthy and made it open to God. Before expressing it in his prophecy of the new covenant, Jeremiah practiced a really inward and heartfelt religion; this is what makes him near and dear to Christians.

However the prophecies collected by his secretary Baruch continued to be studied, meditated and interpreted; during his lifetime Jeremiah was a failure and after his death he grew steadily in stature. The truth of his message was eventually proved by history; his book reflects a warm personal religion and a confidence that there will be a covenant written in the heart; and by the Maccabean period, we find Jeremiah considered a protector of the nation.

JEREMIAH - (1) Oracles Against Judah and Jerusalem - The call of Jeremiah - The earliest preaching of Jeremiah: the apostasy of Israel - The Northern Kingdom urged to repent - Zion in the messianic age - Continuation of the poem on the conversion - Invasion from the North - The invasion that well deserved - In a time of famine (?) - Resumption of the theme of the invasion - More about the invasion - Chapter 1 to 6 -

(2) Oracles Mainly in the Reign of Jehoiakim - True worship : Against the Temple, Alien gods, Worship without sincerity and more about idolatrous worship - Threats, lamentations, advice. The perversity of Israel - The Law as administered by the priests - Repetition of an earlier threat - Threats against Judah the Vine - A lamentation of the prophet during a famine - The moral corruption of Judah - Lamentation in Zion - True wisdom - Circumcision, a false guarantee - Idols and the true God - Panic in the country - A prayer of Jeremiah and observance of the covenant - Rebuke to the frequenters of the Temple - Jeremiah persecuted in his own town - The prosperity of the wicked -

Yahweh laments his ravaged inheritance - The neighbouring peoples: their judgment and salvation - The symbol of the loincloth and of the shattered wine jugs - A vision of exile - Jehoiachin threatened - An admonition to impenitent Jerusalem - The great drought - The horrors of war - The call of Jeremiah renewed - The prophet's life is itself symbolic - The return of the scattered Israelites - The invasion foretold - The conversion of the nations - Judah's contaminated worship - A group of wisdom sayings - Confidence in the Temple and in Yahweh - A prayer for vengeance - Observance of the sabbath - Jeremiah visits the potter - Israel repudiates Yahweh - A plot against Jeremiah - The broken jug and the alteration with Pashhur - Selections from the 'Confession' of Jeremiah - Chapter 7 to 20 -

(3) Oracles Mainly Later than the Reign of Jehoiakim- Jeremiah answers the envoys of Zedekiah - Address to the royal family of Judah - Oracles against various kings: against Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin - Messianic oracles. The future king - The two baskets of figs - Chapter 21 to 24 - (4) Babylon the Scourge of Yahweh - The vision of the cup - Chapter 25 -

(5) Prophecies of Happiness - Jeremiah's discourse against the Temple: his arrest and condemnation - the symbolic yoke and the message to the kings of the west - The dispute with Hananiah - The letter to the exiles - An exile objects to Jeremiah's letter - Promise of recovery for the northern kingdom of Israel - Promise of restoration to Judah - Israel and Judah - Individual retribution - The new covenant - Israel will endure - Jerusalem magnificently rebuilt - Jeremiah buys a field in token of his confidence in the future of Judah - Another promise of recovery for Jerusalem and Judah - The institutions of the future - The fate of Zedekiah - The episode of the liberated slaves - the example of the Rechabites - Chapter 26 to 35 -

(6) The Sufferings of Jeremiah - The scroll written in 605-604 - A verdict on Zedekiah - Zedekiah consults Jeremiah during the respite of 588 - The arrest of Jeremiah. Improvement in his treatment - Jeremiah is thrown into the cistern. Ebed-melech intervenes - The last conversation between Jeremiah and Zedekiah - The fall of Jerusalem; the treatment Jeremiah received - An oracle assuring the safety of Ebed-melech - Further details about the treatment of Jeremiah - Gedaliah the governor; his assassination - The flight to Egypt - Jeremiah foretells the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar - The last episode of Jeremiah's ministry; the Jews and the Queen of Heaven - An oracle of comfort for Baruch - Chapter 36 to 45 -

(7) The Oracles in Detail - Oracles against Egypt. The defeat at Carchemish - The invasion of Egypt - Oracle against the Philistines - Oracles against Moab, Ammon, Edom, the towns of Syria, the Arab tribes, Elam and Babylon - The fall of Babylon and the liberation of Israel - The fall of Babylon proclaimed to Jerusalem - The sin of arrogance - Yahweh the redeemer of Israel - The enemy from the north and the lion of Jordan - Yahweh makes war on Babylon - the hammer of Yahweh and the giant mountain - The end of Babylon is imminent - The vengeance of Yahweh - An elegy for Babylon - Yahweh punishes the idols - Babylon razed to the ground - The written oracle thrown into the Euphrates - Chapter 46 to 51 - (8) Appendix - The destruction of Jerusalem and the pardon of Jehoiachin - Chapter 52 -

In summary : we are able to identify two sections of the book: one containing threats against Judah and Jerusalem, the other containing prophecies against the nations. A message of judgment against Judah's moral and spiritual decay.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -