The Bible in a Year – 17 May

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

17 May. Jeremiah chapters 10-13

Much of these chapters is the same basic messages as the preceding ones: the folly of idolatry, the sin of the people and their leaders, the coming destruction and the hint of a faithful remnant who will return. But each time the ideas return they are expressed in different ways, like the variations on a theme in a piece of classical music.  If a message is important then it deserves repeating in a variety of eays. Jeremiah certainly had a vivid imagination, or rather was open to vivid imagery given by God.  Like any good preacher with an eclectic congregation he must have hoped that each re-telling would appeal to a few people and catch their imagination.  Imagery here includes shepherds, nomadic tent-dwellers, arable farming, vineyards and olive growing, and even iron-smelting, along with the repeated metaphor of prostitution (are the sayings about Judah being like a woman having her skirt lifted and being violated addressed to women or men?)

 

We also see here  for the first time in this book an acted parable – that of burying a clean loincloth and retrieving it dirty. There is also the first rumour of opposition, as Jeremiah hears that his own people are plotting against him.  For those who speak truth to power (even telling the King that his crown will fall, 13:18) rarely get away without facing strong opposition, such is most people’s reluctance to accept criticism and face up to their sins.