Commentary on Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-28; then 31:31-34
Kristin A. Swanson
“Forthtelling, Not Foretelling” is the title Steven L. McKenzie gives the chapter on prophecy in his book How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature—Why Modern Readers Need to Know the Difference and What It Means for Faith Today.1
Readers are reminded that the prophets of the Hebrew Bible were not telling the future, although that is an understandable misconception given the way later Christian writers interpreted prophetic books as pointing to Jesus Christ. Rather, the prophets were ancient social and political commentators, figures who paid attention to what was going on politically and socially in their own contexts, and interpreted current events in terms of the people’s relationship with the Lord. As McKenzie states, “The basic essence of biblical prophecy was critique.”2
Understanding themselves as having a call from God to speak out against injustice and other societal issues, sometimes to the king or other political leaders and sometimes to the population at large, prophets would proclaim “the word of the LORD,” often calling for changes in behavior and attitude. Therefore, to understand the messages of the prophets, it is necessary to understand their contexts as best we can.
Jeremiah had a long and very challenging vocation as a prophet in the kingdom of Judah. Serving as a prophet for more than 40 years (scholars date his activity from around 627–580 BCE), he lived through a very tumultuous time in Judah’s history.
At the start of his prophetic career, Judah was a vassal of the Assyrian Empire (centered in the northern part of Mesopotamia), which meant that Judah had some level of independence but was obliged to pay regular taxes to the Assyrians and provide men for the Assyrian military. In other words, they were in a very tenuous position—any sign of rebellion (for example, non-payment of taxes, forming alliances or military coalitions against the Assyrians) would result in loss of territory and/or conquest.
By the end of the seventh century BCE, however, the Assyrian Empire had weakened, and the Babylonians, a population centered in the southern part of Mesopotamia, were on the rise. In 612 BCE, the Assyrian capital of Nineveh fell; by 605 BCE the Babylonians had taken over the Assyrian Empire. Judah’s tax and loyalty obligations were now to the Babylonians, with the same kinds of consequences for disloyalty or rebellion.
Loyalty to Babylonia or independence—this was the question that seemed to occupy Judean kings over the next two decades. Not long after the Babylonians took control of Judah, King Jehoiakim rebelled but then died, leaving his son Jehoiachin to deal with the consequences: In 597 BCE the Babylonians entered Jerusalem and deported a portion of the elite population, including the king, to Babylonia. His replacement, the presumably pro-Babylonian Zedekiah, also made the decision to rebel, resulting in the Babylonian invasion of Judah in 586 BCE and a second deportation of elites to Babylonia. Judah lost its independence, becoming a province in the Babylonian Empire.
Jeremiah’s prophetic career spanned this entire time. “Resistance is futile”3 well describes Jeremiah’s consistent message throughout these events: Rebellion against Babylonia will result in Judah’s conquest by the Babylonians and loss of independence. He even refers to the king of Babylonia as the Lord’s servant (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6), describing the Babylonians as the Lord’s instrument of punishment for Judah’s covenant disloyalty in worshiping gods other than the Lord.
Among the “pro-rebellion”-minded in Judah, Jeremiah’s stance was very unpopular, and he suffered terribly for it, experiencing ridicule and imprisonment. The existence of pro-rebellion prophets giving an opposite message to that of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 28) likely did not help his position.
We step into this foreign-policy debate with the first part of today’s lesson, which demonstrates the unfavorable reaction Jeremiah’s prophecy elicited from the king. Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch son of Neriah, carefully pens Jeremiah’s message and brings it to the palace because Jeremiah, unpopular as he is, can’t take it himself. After Baruch reads it to temple and palace officials, he is also warned to hide (Jeremiah 36:19); it is the official Jehudi who eventually reads it to the king bit by bit, burning the scroll as he goes. Jeremiah’s message falls on unreceptive ears; one wonders what may have happened if Jeremiah’s advice not to rebel had been heeded.
The second portion of today’s lesson, Jeremiah 31:31–34, signals the shift in Jeremiah’s message at the point of the Babylonian invasion of Judah. In addition to basic concerns about survival in a situation of military conquest (the book of Lamentations captures the devastation and despair of Judah’s fall), we can imagine theological concerns arising as well. Did the Lord abandon the people? Was the Lord destroyed along with the temple? Would it be possible to worship the Lord anymore? For the temple priests who were exiled to Babylonia, these questions may have been especially acute.
Jeremiah responds with words of comfort: The Lord still exists, and has not abandoned the people. In times of change and uncertainty, the prophet who carefully committed his messages of warning and destruction to writing could still change his perspective to one of comfort and hope, assuring the people that the Lord too can adapt to changing circumstances, can forgive past iniquity, and can make a new covenant.
When, and in what ways, are we also called to be flexible and willing to change our stances in challenging and uncertain times?
Notes
Steven L. McKenzie, How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature—Why Modern Readers Need to Know the Difference and What It Means for Faith Today (Oxford: Oxford University Press: 2005), 67–90.
McKenzie, How to Read the Bible, 69.
See Christine Hayes, Introduction to the Bible (New Haven: Yale University Press: 2012), 290–291.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God, whose fondness for humanity knows no limit, Write your word upon our hearts, so that we need no scroll, no book, no script to know that you love us. Show us the power of your covenant, that you will be faithful to us, even when we fail to remain faithful to you. For the beauty of your word inscribed upon us, we pray, in the name of the one whose body and blood became your new covenant with us, Jesus Christ, our redeemer. Amen.
“Forthtelling, Not Foretelling” is the title Steven L. McKenzie gives the chapter on prophecy in his book How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature—Why Modern Readers Need to Know the Difference and What It Means for Faith Today.1
Readers are reminded that the prophets of the Hebrew Bible were not telling the future, although that is an understandable misconception given the way later Christian writers interpreted prophetic books as pointing to Jesus Christ. Rather, the prophets were ancient social and political commentators, figures who paid attention to what was going on politically and socially in their own contexts, and interpreted current events in terms of the people’s relationship with the Lord. As McKenzie states, “The basic essence of biblical prophecy was critique.”2
Understanding themselves as having a call from God to speak out against injustice and other societal issues, sometimes to the king or other political leaders and sometimes to the population at large, prophets would proclaim “the word of the LORD,” often calling for changes in behavior and attitude. Therefore, to understand the messages of the prophets, it is necessary to understand their contexts as best we can.
Jeremiah had a long and very challenging vocation as a prophet in the kingdom of Judah. Serving as a prophet for more than 40 years (scholars date his activity from around 627–580 BCE), he lived through a very tumultuous time in Judah’s history.
At the start of his prophetic career, Judah was a vassal of the Assyrian Empire (centered in the northern part of Mesopotamia), which meant that Judah had some level of independence but was obliged to pay regular taxes to the Assyrians and provide men for the Assyrian military. In other words, they were in a very tenuous position—any sign of rebellion (for example, non-payment of taxes, forming alliances or military coalitions against the Assyrians) would result in loss of territory and/or conquest.
By the end of the seventh century BCE, however, the Assyrian Empire had weakened, and the Babylonians, a population centered in the southern part of Mesopotamia, were on the rise. In 612 BCE, the Assyrian capital of Nineveh fell; by 605 BCE the Babylonians had taken over the Assyrian Empire. Judah’s tax and loyalty obligations were now to the Babylonians, with the same kinds of consequences for disloyalty or rebellion.
Loyalty to Babylonia or independence—this was the question that seemed to occupy Judean kings over the next two decades. Not long after the Babylonians took control of Judah, King Jehoiakim rebelled but then died, leaving his son Jehoiachin to deal with the consequences: In 597 BCE the Babylonians entered Jerusalem and deported a portion of the elite population, including the king, to Babylonia. His replacement, the presumably pro-Babylonian Zedekiah, also made the decision to rebel, resulting in the Babylonian invasion of Judah in 586 BCE and a second deportation of elites to Babylonia. Judah lost its independence, becoming a province in the Babylonian Empire.
Jeremiah’s prophetic career spanned this entire time. “Resistance is futile”3 well describes Jeremiah’s consistent message throughout these events: Rebellion against Babylonia will result in Judah’s conquest by the Babylonians and loss of independence. He even refers to the king of Babylonia as the Lord’s servant (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6), describing the Babylonians as the Lord’s instrument of punishment for Judah’s covenant disloyalty in worshiping gods other than the Lord.
Among the “pro-rebellion”-minded in Judah, Jeremiah’s stance was very unpopular, and he suffered terribly for it, experiencing ridicule and imprisonment. The existence of pro-rebellion prophets giving an opposite message to that of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 28) likely did not help his position.
We step into this foreign-policy debate with the first part of today’s lesson, which demonstrates the unfavorable reaction Jeremiah’s prophecy elicited from the king. Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch son of Neriah, carefully pens Jeremiah’s message and brings it to the palace because Jeremiah, unpopular as he is, can’t take it himself. After Baruch reads it to temple and palace officials, he is also warned to hide (Jeremiah 36:19); it is the official Jehudi who eventually reads it to the king bit by bit, burning the scroll as he goes. Jeremiah’s message falls on unreceptive ears; one wonders what may have happened if Jeremiah’s advice not to rebel had been heeded.
The second portion of today’s lesson, Jeremiah 31:31–34, signals the shift in Jeremiah’s message at the point of the Babylonian invasion of Judah. In addition to basic concerns about survival in a situation of military conquest (the book of Lamentations captures the devastation and despair of Judah’s fall), we can imagine theological concerns arising as well. Did the Lord abandon the people? Was the Lord destroyed along with the temple? Would it be possible to worship the Lord anymore? For the temple priests who were exiled to Babylonia, these questions may have been especially acute.
Jeremiah responds with words of comfort: The Lord still exists, and has not abandoned the people. In times of change and uncertainty, the prophet who carefully committed his messages of warning and destruction to writing could still change his perspective to one of comfort and hope, assuring the people that the Lord too can adapt to changing circumstances, can forgive past iniquity, and can make a new covenant.
When, and in what ways, are we also called to be flexible and willing to change our stances in challenging and uncertain times?
Notes
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God, whose fondness for humanity knows no limit,
Write your word upon our hearts, so that we need no scroll, no book, no script to know that you love us. Show us the power of your covenant, that you will be faithful to us, even when we fail to remain faithful to you. For the beauty of your word inscribed upon us, we pray, in the name of the one whose body and blood became your new covenant with us, Jesus Christ, our redeemer. Amen.
HYMNS
Here is bread ELW 483
When twilight comes ELW 566
Praise, my soul, the king of heaven ELW 865, H82 410, UMH 66
CHORAL
He is king of kings, Alice Parker