Jeremiah for Everyone

John Goldingay

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781611646382
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Comentario bíblico

In the Old Testament for Everyone series, Old Testament scholar John Goldingay addresses Scripture from Genesis to Malachi in such a way that even the most challenging passages are explained simply and concisely. The series is perfect for daily devotions, group study, or personal visits with the Bible.

In this volume on Jeremiah, Goldingay explores the longest and most complex of the prophetic books. Jeremiah was written for survivors of war, suffering, and exile. It portrays three Babylonian military invasions and the resulting destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, which Jeremiah depicts as the end of the life God's people had known. Themes in the book include questions such as: How could God allow this suffering? How did things go so terribly wrong? How could God abandon us? Can the flame of faith burn in the darkness?

JEREMIAH 1:1–19

More a Summons than a Vocation

1The messages of Jeremiah son of Hilqiah, one of the priests of Anatot in Benjamin’s territory, 2to whom Yahweh’s message came in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign, 3and came in the days of Jehoiaqim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, until Jerusalem’s exile in the fifth month.

4Yahweh’s message came to me:

5“Before I formed you in the womb I acknowledged you,

before you came out from the womb I set you apart.

I made you a prophet concerning the nations.”

6I said, “Oh, Lord Yahweh—

really, I don’t know how to speak,

because I’m a young man.”

7But Yahweh said to me,

“Don’t say, ‘I’m a young man.’

Because you’re to go out to anyone to whom I send you,

and speak anything that I command you.

8Don’t be afraid of their faces,

because I’ll be with you to rescue you”

(Yahweh’s declaration).

9Yahweh put out his hand and touched my mouth,

and Yahweh said to me,

“I’m putting my words into your mouth.

10See, I’m appointing you this day

over the nations, over the kingdoms,

to uproot and pull down, to destroy and overthrow,

to build and plant.”

11Yahweh’s message came to me:

“What are you looking at, Jeremiah?”

I said, “I’m looking at the branch of a watcher tree.”

12Yahweh said to me,

“You’ve done well to look at it.

Because I’m watching—

over my message, to put it into effect.”

13Yahweh’s message came to me a second time:

“What are you looking at?”

I said, “I’m looking at a boiling pot,

with its mouth facing from the north.”

14Yahweh said to me,

“From the north evil will open out

on all the residents of the country.

15Because here am I summoning

all the families of the northern kingdoms

(Yahweh’s declaration).

They’ll come and put his throne, each one,

at the opening of Jerusalem’s gates,

against all its walls around,

and against all Judah’s cities.

16I’ll pronounce my decisions to them,

for all their evil, in that they’ve abandoned me.

They’ve burned sacrifices to other gods,

bowed down to things their hands made.

17You, you’re to put your belt around your waist,

get up and speak to them

anything that I myself command you.

Don’t shatter in front of them,

lest I shatter you in front of them.

18I—here I am, making you

a fortified city today,

an iron pillar

and bronze walls against the entire country

(for Judah’s kings and its officers,

for its priests and the people of the country).

19They’ll battle against you but they won’t overcome you,

because I’ll be with you (Yahweh’s declaration) to rescue you.”

Last week I took part in a conference on God, the church, and disability. One participant was a woman who has been ordained a priest, but she has a speech impediment that makes it hard to understand what she says, and she has had difficulty finding a position in a parish. Another was a paraplegic man who spends much of his time selling candy in the street, but he has raised thousands of dollars by doing so and has supported five needy children in India and Africa with the proceeds; he’s also visited India and Africa to meet them. He was hard to understand, too, but he had a vibrant testimony mostly given through his father. How could these people have the courage to believe they had a ministry to exercise?

The question arises for Jeremiah because he’s just a young man—maybe in his twenties, maybe even younger. A culture such as Israel’s recognizes that wisdom lies with people more senior. Who’s going to listen to someone so junior? While not disputing that Jeremiah is correct in principle, God isn’t constrained by the way things usually work. He likes to choose the younger brother rather than the older one (in the West he might make the point in the opposite way, by using someone who’s “past it”). What will count isn’t whether Jeremiah has had time to develop wisdom but whether God gives him things to say. The point is made vividly by Yahweh’s talk of deciding on Jeremiah before his birth, before any gifts he might develop have had a chance to form. Even then, Yahweh “acknowledged” him, made a commitment to him, and set him apart. Like Saul of Tarsus when Jesus appears to him, Jeremiah has little alternative to becoming God’s agent. There’s no suggestion that God’s call corresponds to the inclination of the person called. He’s the master whether the servant likes it or not.

Another advantage of choosing a young man is that he has no marital or family commitments and will be able to exercise a ministry that persists over forty years, as far as we know the longest of any prophetic ministry. The point is implicit in the opening to the book, which gives a date of 626 for his initial receiving of a message from Yahweh and indicates that it continues until after Jerusalem’s fall to the Babylonians in 587. It actually continued after that event, but the point about mentioning the city’s fall and its people’s exile is that these events were the vindication of his prophecies over all those decades.

I myself had an experience of...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Jeremiah 1:1–19 More a Summons than a Vocation
• Jeremiah 2:1–11 On the Cliff’s Edge
• Jeremiah 2:12–37 Looking for Spiritual Resources
• Jeremiah 3:1– 4:4 Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage
• Jeremiah 4:5–31 The Big One
• Jeremiah 5:1–19 If You Can Find Anyone
• Jeremiah 5:20–6:10 Uncircumcised Ears
• Jeremiah 6:11–30 The Perilous Position of Prophet and Priest
• Jeremiah 7:1–20 The Prophet Who’s Forbidden to Pray (1)
• Jeremiah 7:21– 8:9 The Misleading Scholars
• Jeremiah 8:10 – 9:6 Does God Really Punish?
• Jeremiah 9:7–26 The Real Circumcision
• Jeremiah 10:1–25 On Facing Reality
• Jeremiah 11:1–17 No Shrugging of God’s Shoulders
• Jeremiah 11:18 –12:17 Why Do the Faithless Do Well?
• Jeremiah 13:1–27 How Do You Get People to Change?
• Jeremiah 14:1–22 The Prophet Who’s Forbidden to Pray (2)
• Jeremiah 15:1–21 I Don’t Trust You
• Jeremiah 16:1–21 Your Marriage Isn’t Your Own
• Jeremiah 17:1–27 Who Am I?
• Jeremiah 18:1–23 Clay in the Potter’s Hand
• Jeremiah 19:1–20:6 Pottery Smashed
• Jeremiah 20:7–21:10 Cursed Be the Day I Was Born
• Jeremiah 21:11–22:19 Criteria for Kingship
• Jeremiah 22:20 –23:8 The Wicked Play on Words in a King’s Name
• Jeremiah 23:9 – 40 Another Wicked Play on Words
• Jeremiah 24:1–25:11a Lucky Figs and Unlucky Figs
• Jeremiah 25:11b–38 Bad News or Good News?
• Jeremiah 26:1–24 Not Always the Hollywood Ending
• Jeremiah 27:1–22 Things Can Only Get Worse
• Jeremiah 28:1–17 No T-shirts Saying “False Prophet”
• Jeremiah 29:1–32 Settle Down
• Jeremiah 30:1–22 Compassion Has the Last Word
• Jeremiah 30:23 –31:20 Rachel Weeps for Her Children
• Jeremiah 31:21– 40 The Power of Being Forgiven
• Jeremiah 32:1–25 On Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
• Jeremiah 32:26 – 44 Is Anything Too Extraordinary for Yahweh?
• Jeremiah 33:1–26 Expect Great Things
• Jeremiah 34:1–22 A Dangerous Prayer
• Jeremiah 35:1–19 On Witnessing by Your Obedience to Your Special Vocation
• Jeremiah 36:1–32 The Bold Miscalculation
• Jeremiah 37:1–21 The King Who Vacillates
• Jeremiah 38:1–28a Truth to Power
• Jeremiah 38:28b– 40:6 The Grimmest Scene in the Old Testament?
• Jeremiah 40:7– 41:18 Things Can’t Get Worse (Can They?) (1)
• Jeremiah 42:1– 43:7 Things Can’t Get Worse (Can They?) (2)
• Jeremiah 43:8 – 44:14 Remains
• Jeremiah 44:15 – 45:5 An Ambassador in Chains
• Jeremiah 46:1–24 Pharaoh the Windbag
• Jeremiah 46:25–47:7 Spiritual Warfare and Shocking Sovereignty
• Jeremiah 48:1–27 A Complicated Neighborly and Family Relationship
• Jeremiah 48:28– 49:6 The Arrogance of Power
• Jeremiah 49:7–27 The Wisdom That Fails
• Jeremiah 49:28 –50:13 The Promise of a Future
• Jeremiah 50:14 – 40 Death and Life Interweave
• Jeremiah 50:41–51:19 Wounds Too Severe for Treatment
• Jeremiah 51:20 – 44 In the Interests of the Living
• Jeremiah 51:45–52:34 If Someone Disciplines You, It Implies Loving You
• Glossary