JULY 29

IMPOTENCE OF IDOLS Jer. 10:1-5

Hear what the lord says to you, O house of    Israel. This is what the lord says:

"Do not learn the ways of the nations

or be terrified by signs in the sky,

though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless;

they cut a tree out of the forest,

and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold;

they fasten it with hammer and nails

so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a melon patch,

their idols cannot speak; they must be carried

because they cannot walk. Do not fear them;

they can do no harm

nor can they do any good."

 

IDOLS COMPARED WITH GOD. Jer. 10:6-10

No one is like you, O lord;

you are great,

and your name is mighty in power. Who should not revere you,

O King of the nations?

This is your due. Among all the wise men of the nations

and in all their kingdoms,

there is no one like you.

 

They are all senseless and foolish;

they are taught by worthless wooden idols. Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish

and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made

is then dressed in blue and purple—

all made by skilled workers. But the lord is the true God;

he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles;

the nations cannot endure his wrath.

 

JEHOVAH CREATED UNIVERSE. Jer. 10:11-13

"Tell them this: 'These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.' "b

But God made the earth by his power;

he founded the world by his wisdom

and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;

he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain

and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

 

IDOLS CREATED BY MAN. Jer. 10:14-16

Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;

every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud;

they have no breath in them. They are worthless, the objects of mockery;

when their judgment comes, they will perish. He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,

for he is the Maker of all things, including Israel, the tribe of his inheritance—

the lord Almighty is his name.

 

CAPTIVITY IS COMING. Jer.10:17-22

Gather up your belongings to leave the land,

you who live under siege. For this is what the lord says: "At this time I will hurl out

those who live in this land; I will bring distress on them

so that they may be captured."

 

Woe to me because of my injury!

My wound is incurable! Yet I said to myself,

"This is my sickness, and I must endure it." My tent is destroyed;

all its ropes are snapped.

''The text of this verse is in Aramaic.

 

My sons are gone from me and are no more;

no one is left now to pitch my tent

or to set up my shelter. The shepherds are senseless

and do not inquire of the lord; so they do not prosper

and all their flock is scattered. Listen! The report is coming—

a great commotion from the land of the north! It will make the towns of Judah desolate,

a haunt of jackals.

 

PRAYER AGAINST NATIONS. Jer. 10:23-25

I know, O lord, that a man's life is not his own;

it is not for man to direct his steps. Correct me, lord, but only with justice—

not in your anger,

lest you reduce me to nothing. Pour out your wrath on the nations

that do not acknowledge you,

on the peoples who do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob;

they have devoured him completely

and destroyed his homeland.

 

COVENANT HAS BEEN BROKEN. Jer. 11:1-5

This is the word that came to Jere­miah from the lord: "Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. Tell them that this is what the lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Cursed is the man who does not obey the terms of this covenant—the terms I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.' I said, 'Obey me and do every thing I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your forefa­thers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey'—the land you possess today." I answered, "Amen, lord."

 

COVENANT'S CURSES INVOKED. Jer. 11:6-8

The lord said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: 'Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them. From the time I brought your forefathers up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, "Obey me." But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.'"

 

IDOLATRY BROKE COVENANT. Jer. 11:9-13  

 Then the lord said to me, "There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins of their forefathers, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their forefathers. Therefore this is what the lord says: 'I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes. You have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.'

 

TOO LATE TO PRAY. Jer. 11:14  

"Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for (hem, because I will not listen when they call to rne in the time of their distress.

 

PAGANISM PROVOKES ANGER. Jer. 11:15-17  

 "What is my beloved doing in my temple

as she works out her evil schemes with many?

Can consecrated meat avert your punishment,? When you engage in your wickedness, then you rejoice"

 

The lord called you a thriving olive tree

with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm

he will set it on fire,

and its branches will be broken.

 

The LORD Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and pro­voked me to anger by burning incense to Baal.

 

All of this "hard preaching" finally brings violent reaction, and there is a plot against Jeremiah by the men of his own hometown. (Surely it is true that "a prophet is not without honor except in his own country.") But God exposes the plot and saves Jeremiah, who recalls his naiveté " in not recognizing the plot sooner.

 

 

PLOT AGAINST JEREMIAH. Jer.11:18-23

Because the lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plot­ted against me, saying,

 

"Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; .

let us cut him off from the land of the living,  

that his name be remembered no more.

But, O lord Almighty, you who judge righteously' and test the heart and mind,.'                 let me see your vengeance upon them for to you I have committed my cause,

 

"Therefore this is what the lokd says about the men of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, 'Do not prophesy in the name of the lord or you will die by our hands'—therefore this is what the lord Almighty says: 'I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. Slot even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.' "

 

Perhaps because of this first brush with serious persecution, Jeremiah feels the need to be reassured both of his mission and of God's support. He is probably  both frightened and angry at the thought of what almost happened to him. It is possible, therefore, that this experience prompts the following exchange between Jeremiah and God.

 

JEREMIAH ANGRY AT DELAY. Jer.12; 1-4

You are always righteous, O lord,

when I bring a case before you. Yet 1 would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken root

they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. Yet you know me, O lord;

you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! .    Set them apart for the day of slaughter!

 

How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered?      .   . Because those who live in it are wicked,

the animals and birds have perished., the people are saying, "He will not see what happens to us."

 

GOD ANSWERS JEREMIAH. Jer. 12; 5-17

 

"If you have raced with men on foot

and they have worn you out,   '' how can you compete with horses?

If you stumble in safe country

how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?

Your brothers, your own family— even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you.

Do not trust them, though they speak well of you.

 

"I will forsake my house,

abandon my inheritance; I will give the one I love

into the hands of her enemies. My inheritance has become to me

like a lion in the forest. She roars at me;

therefore I hate her. Has not my inheritance become to me

like a speckled bird of prey

that other birds of prey surround and attack?

 

Go and gather all the wild beasts;

bring them to devour. Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard

and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field

into a desolate wasteland. It will be made a wasteland,

parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste

because there is no one who cares. Over all the barren heights in the desert

destroyers will swarm, for the sword of the lord will devour

from one end of the land to the other;

no one will be safe. They will sow wheat but reap thorns;

they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. So bear the shame of your harvest

because of the lord's fierce anger."

 

This is what the lord says: "As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country. And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, 'As surely as the lord lives'— even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. But if any nation does not listen, I will com­pletely uproot and destroy it," declares the lord.