SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY11.20.2016 The Book of Jeremiah tells the story of the prophet of the same name, placed places historically in the period from the reforms of Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-28; 31:31-34 king Josiah in 627 BCE through to the assassination of the Babylonian-appointed governor of Judah in 582. Of all the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) prophets, Jeremiah comes through most clearly as a person, ruminating to his scribe Baruch about his role as a servant of God 36 1 In the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of with little good news for his audience. Josiah of Judah, from this word came to Jeremiah Jeremiah is written in a very complex and poetic Hebrew (apart 2 the Lord: Take a scroll and write on it all the words from verse 10:11, curiously written in Biblical Aramaic). The book that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and is a representation of the message and significance of the prophet all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the substantially intended for the Jews in Babylonian exile: its purpose days of Josiah until today. 3 It may be that when the is to explain the disaster as God's response to Israel's pagan house of Judah hears of all the disasters that I intend worship: the people, says Jeremiah, are like an unfaithful wife and to do to them, all of them may turn from their evil rebellious children: their infidelity and rebelliousness make judgement inevitable, although restoration and a new covenant ways, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. are foreshadowed. [adapted from the Wikipedia entry on Jeremiah] 4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at Jeremiah’s dictation all the King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah 5 :: Jehoiakim (c. 635–598 words of the Lord that he had spoken to him. And BCE) was a king of Judah for 13 years, from 608 to 598 BCE. He was Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, “I am prevented the eldest son of king Josiah by Zebidah. After his father’s death, from entering the house of the Lord; 6 so you go his younger brother Jehoahaz was first proclaimed king, but after yourself, and on a fast day in the hearing of the three months the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II (who controlled people in the Lord’s house you shall read the words of Israel/Palestine then) deposed him, making Jehoiakim king in his the Lord from the scroll that you have written at my place in 608 BCE. Jehoiakim ruled originally as a vassal of the dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all Egyptians, paying a heavy tribute. To raise the money he "taxed 7 the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the the people of Judah who come up from their towns. land according to their assessments." It may be that their plea will come before the Lord, and that all of them will turn from their evil ways, for However, after the Egyptians were defeated by the Babylonians at great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has the battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II besieged 8 pronounced against this people.” And Baruch son of Jerusalem, and Jehoiakim changed allegiances (from the Egyptians Neriah did all that the prophet Jeremiah ordered him to the Babylonians) to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem. He paid about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in tribute from the treasury in Jerusalem, some temple artifacts, and the Lord’s house. handed over some of the royal family and nobility as hostages. 21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he Rabbinical literature describes Jehoiakim as a godless tyrant who committed atrocious sins and crimes. He is portrayed as living in took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary; incestuous relations with his mother, daughter-in-law, and and Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stepmother, and was in the habit of murdering men, whose wives stood beside the king. 22 Now the king was sitting in he then violated and whose property he seized. He also had his winter apartment (it was the ninth month), and tattooed his body (which violates the Law). Jeremiah criticised the there was a fire burning in the brazier before him. 23 king's policies, insisting on repentance and strict adherence to the As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would law. cut them off with a penknife and throw them into the Jehoiakim continued for three years as a vassal to the Babylonians, fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed until the failure of an invasion of Egypt in 601 BCE undermined in the fire that was in the brazier. their control of the area. Jehoiakim switched allegiance back to the Egyptians. In late 598 BCE, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II 27 Now, after the king had burned the scroll with the invaded Judah and again laid siege to Jerusalem, which lasted words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the three months. Jehoiakim died before the siege ended and his body Jeremiah: 28 Take another was thrown outside the city walls. He was succeeded by his son word of the Lord came to whom the victorious Nebuchadnezzar deposed in order to install scroll and write on it all the former words that were in Zedekiah, Jehoiakim's younger brother, as king in his place. the first scroll, which King Jehoiakim of Judah has Jeconiah (who initially succeeded his dad as king), his household, burned. and much of Judah's population were exiled to Babylon. 31 Baruch son of Neriah:: Baruch ben Neriah (his Hebrew name means: ,BCE century 6th the in Living God" is Candle My of son Blessed," בן ברוך the says coming, surely are days The 31 Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the he was the scribe, disciple, secretary, and devoted friend of the Biblical house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not prophet Jeremiah. ] be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Baruch was a Jewish aristocrat, a son of Neriah and brother of Seraiah ben Neriah, them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that chamberlain of King Zedekiah of Judah. He became the scribe of the they broke, though I was their husband, says the 33 prophet Jeremiah and wrote down the first and second editions of his Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make prophecies as they were dictated to him. Baruch remained true to the with the house of Israel after those days, says the teachings and ideals of the great prophet, although like his master he Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write was at times almost overwhelmed with despondency. While Jeremiah it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they was in hiding to avoid the wrath of King Jehoakim, he commanded shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach Baruch to read his prophecies of warning to the people gathered in the one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” Temple in Jerusalem on a day of fasting. The task was both difficult and dangerous, but Baruch performed it without flinching and it was for they shall all know me, from the least of them probably on this occasion that the prophet gave him the personal to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their message. iniquity, and remember their sin no more. Both Baruch and Jeremiah witnessed the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem Questions for the Practice of Examen & of 587–586 BC. In the middle of the siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah purchased estate in Anathoth on which the Babylonian armies had Contemplation encamped (as a symbol of faith in the eventual restoration of Jerusalem),and, according to Josephus, Baruch continued to reside with Jeremiah is one of the most literarily beautiful writings of him at Mizpah. the Bible. Its beauty comes from the language and also the promise that despite disobedience, doubt and even He was carried with Jeremiah to Egypt, where, according to a tradition deceit on the part of the Israelites, God remains faithful. preserved by the 4th century Roman priest Jerome (who is credited with translating the Bible into Latin (called the Vulgate), he soon died. It’s a promise we read as extending to us as well. How do you identify God’s faithfulness? How do you respond Jehudi: was most likely a prince, member of the royal court, sent as to God’s steadfast presence in your life? a messenger or “errand boy” by the king Elishama: a scribe in the King’s court The story of Jeremiah is one of disappointment and unexpected hope. How are you surprised by the word of the Lord came to: This is the traditional way in which unexpected hope today? How are you possibly mired in the Hebrew Scriptures introduce prophets and explain their authority disappointment, frustration or fear which keep you from as conduits of God’s judgment. seeing God at work in your world? new covenant:: In the ancient middle east a covenant was a formal agreement that caused (or implied) several things: 1) It defined (or Chapter 31 of Jeremiah is very often quoted as a sometimes created) a relationship.