Comparing God with the idols Judah served

This week I want to take a look at the marked difference between the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as He is portrayed in Jeremiah, with the idols that the Israelites had chosen to serve. As we read through or listen to Jeremiah write down some of the adjectives and actions that describe God.

Week 4 Judah's response to God and repentance

Jeremiah 44:16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you!

It amazes me that they could be so bold as to say to Jeremiah's face, we know you are speaking the word of the Lord but we will not listen or obey. They even go on to say they will return to worshipping their idols because things used to be so much better when they did that. Not seeing any correlation at all between their sin and the punishment that had come upon the country.

Absolutely amazing!!!

But then I calm down and come back to reality and see that their answer is really no different from some of mine that I have given the Lord. They are just more blunt and real about their rebellion than I am. But isn't it true that anytime I refuse to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life I am basically saying the same thing as these Jews? "God I know what you want me to do, but I am not going to do it. After all I have taken care of myself in the past and it worked out OK , so I should be able to handle this now in my own way".

I am just beginning to see clearly that any form of rebellion is indeed idolatry. Of course I am not going to go chop down a tree and carve an idol and drag it into my home, but putting my trust in anything besides God is just as bad. You just are not going to notice it when you walk in my door. But hang around me for awhile and you will notice that there is something just not quite right in either and attitude, or a word, or a feeling, etc.

So getting back to their response....they said they were much better off worshipping the Queen of Heaven...why do you think they felt this way? (look at the rest of the chapter and check back on the history of Judah and how they had prospered under different kings, some good and some bad)

A question to ponder.....God sometimes allows something to go on for awhile that is not part of His plan for us, so we really cannot use the fact that we are being blessed as proof that we are completely in His will, so how can we know that we are in God's will and doing all that we are supposed to be doing? (Try to be practical in your answers)

Week 4 continued-- Still Time to Repent

It is interesting what goes through the minds of people in crisis. Here the Jews that have been left in the country after Babylon has destroyed Jerusalem come to Jeremiah for help. They want him to pray for them to find out what the will of God is for them. Their answer to Jeremiah is very similar to the one they gave Moses at Mt Sinai.

Jeremiah 42:5-6
5 So they said to Jeremiah, “Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the LORD your God sends us by you. 6 Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”

Exodus 19:8a
8 Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.”

Reading on in Jeremiah 42, we see that these Jews were as good at keeping their word as their ancestors had been. They had already decided in their hearts that they were going to go to Egypt and look for sanctuary there. Even though God promises to forgive them and bless them and even make sure they were safe if they would only be obedient and stay in the Land.

Once again they choose to only obey God only as long as what He is asking them to do is what they have already decided is the course of action to take. Why do you think it was so hard for them to see beyond their own understanding and listen to what the Lord was saying? How often do we treat the Lord the same way in our own lives, prefering to wait for the answer we want, rather than doing what God is saying right now? Boiling it down to its simplest component, why is it so difficult for them to understand that God is looking for a relationship and not for them to be religious?

Week 4 God Offers a Last Chance for Repentance

Let's take a look at what it is that God is doing through Jeremiah. We have seen that the Lord is saying that the time has come for the Israelites to suffer the punishment for their sins, especially their idolatry. As we read through Jeremiah we begin to understand that the Lord's heart has been broken by the complete lack of His people to understand what they possess as His chosen people. Instead they have traded the glorious for something that fades and is worthless. But here in Jeremiah chapter 36, we see once again God giving them the chance to repent. This is close to the end, Zedekiah is king, the last king of Judah, and God urges Jeremiah to read to the people all of the prophecies he has been given by God since he began his ministry during Josiah's reign.

Jeremiah 36:2-3
“Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day. 3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

Here again God reaches out in His unfailing love. The Jews have a chance to repent and return to the Lord. They are able to enter into that relationship that they were meant to have. But an interesting aspect of this repentance offered is God does not promise to stop the punishment that is going to come on Judah, He only promises that the individual will be forgiven. I think as New Testament believers, we feel that if we repent, no matter how long it has taken us to get to that point, that God will also deliver us from any repercussions that are coming because of our sin or the sins of those around us. Often we are mad at God when we do suffer after we have repented.

How many times have I had my children say they were sorry and ask for

forgiveness of their siblings and it ended up being only words, they were not actually sorry, in fact they believed they were not wrong in what they had done and were only sorry they were caught. Yet, because they said the words they felt they no longer deserved any punishment for their actions. Of course what they wanted and what actually ended up happening were not necessarily the same thing.

So why are surprised when we tell God we are sorry and we still have to work through whatever the consequences of our sin happen to be. The whole 'reaping' and 'sowing' aspect of the way the world is set up by God. Sometimes God intervenes, but usually we must suffer the fallout from our actions.

Taking this a step farther and looking at the world we live in....and knowing that we do indeed live under grace....what can we expect the Lord to do with the nations of the world??? If someone like Jeremiah were to come on the scene today and list the many sins of the world around us, pointing out idolatry and warning us of the judgment to come what is our reaction to be.

I have been seriously thinking about this as I have been studying the Old Testament prophets. Looking around at the news and hearing the stories of things going on around the world, I cannot help but think that we are no better than ancient Israel. We are full of idolatry and injustice, but we think that since we are Christians we should not have to suffer. We can say we are sorry and everything will be OK.

The question becomes, how do we show the love of Christ and balance that with the reality of the coming wrath of God? Many feel that we are living in the end times, that the time is short, if this is true we need to have a complete picture of who God is to present to a lost and dying world. We cannot just show the happy and easy parts of Christianity, we need to know that there may come a time when we have to take a stand as Jeremiah and the other prophets did. So....How do we do this without sounding like doom and gloom or pie in the sky????

Week 3 Why we study the Word

Psalm 78:1-4 The Message Bible
Listen, dear friends, to God's truth, bend your ears to what I tell you.
I'm chewing on the morsel of a proverb;
I'll let you in on the sweet old truths,
Stories we heard from our fathers,
counsel we learned at our mother's knee.
We're not keeping this to ourselves,
we're passing it along to the next generation—
God's fame and fortune,
the marvelous things he has done.

Week 3 The sin of Judah

Jeremiah 22:8 And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, ‘Why has the LORD done so to this great city?’ 9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshiped other gods and served them.’”

What was it that Judah had done that caused the Lord to take them into exile? Their sins are without number, we could go on and on all day about the things that they had done to anger the Lord, but I think it all boiled down to one thing....their heart was far from God. They had no desire to have that personal relationship with Him. They were content to let someone else go to the Lord for them....but in many cases they would not listen to those that did honestly go to the Lord. Instead they preferred those that pretended to go before the Lord and came back with words that were easy and full of promises for a bright and happy future. They were unwilling to face the truth because that meant they would have to take personal responsibility for their own thoughts, words and deeds.

Remember, God's dealings with His people is always about covenant and it is always about each of us individually. God does not fellowship or have relationship with a people, He has relationship with a person. A nation may be blessed for a time because of its people, but at the same time, a nation can go through times of judgment, even though there are some righteous people living in it. Take a look at what is going on in Jeremiah's day....we know from other parts of the Bible that there are other righteous people besides Jeremiah, but you would think he was the only one reading his book. Daniel and his friends were there plus at least 3 other prophets, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah. So these righteous men had to suffer through the punishment of the nation. And there were people in authority that stuck out their necks to keep the king or the people from killing Jeremiah on several occasions. As you read the book take note of some of these other people that are standing against the tide of public opinion.

I am seeing more and more the similarities between the people in Jeremiah's time and the ones that are living now. I am listening to the radio right now and they are talking about the funeral tomorrow for Michael Jackson....he is almost being deified...it takes me back to when Princess Di died. The world was in mourning for her yet on the same day Mother Teresa had died and it caused only a minor ripple. Take a moment to think about the sins of Judah and compare and contrast them to what we see in the news each and every day.

Week 2 concluding thought

Talking about blunt, in Jeremiah 20, the prophet bluntly lays out his wrestling with the word of God. Here is just a small section, when you have time read the whole chapter. It will give you some insights into the personality of Jeremiah.
9 Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name.”
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.

Jeremiah was in a very difficult place, the Lord had called him to speak His words to a people that would not listen. In fact, they were physically, as well as mentally and emotionally abusive to Jeremiah. So Jeremiah must have thought to himself, I just won't talk to them anymore. That will serve them right. In fact, Jeremiah goes so far as to laments the day he was born because this has become so hard for him to bear. I am sure we have all been in that place to one degree or another. The "why me(s)" were plaguing this prophet just as they do everyone.

But what is interesting is Jeremiah could not keep quiet, no matter how much he wanted to. The word of God burned inside of him and he could not hold it back. It was powerful and seemed to have a life of itself....it must be spoken!! He must release the power of the words to those it was sent to. Of course this does not stop our prophet from wishing the people would all die miserable deaths.

Looking at this chapter, what is the picture you get of Jeremiah's life? What is his relationship like with God? Do you think he really hated the people? Do you get a clearer picture of why God chose this man to speak for Him?

Week 2 Discussion continued

It seems to me that God is pretty blunt in His dealings with Israel. He told them staight out that they were sinning and living foolish lives. They put their trust into idols carved by their own hands rather than into the God who had delivered them over and over from their enemies. He lets them know that He has given them chance after chance to repent but now it is too late. He must complete the word He had given to them. They had been told from the beginning that they would be blessed as long as they followed Him but curses would follow if they broke the covenant. Well the covenant was good and broken...to the point that God tells Jeremiah to not pray for the people.

Here is the ultimate expression of tough love. God's heart was breaking and we see it through the tears that Jeremiah shed, but in order to give anyone a chance at redemption he had to fulfill His word to His people. If He had broken His word here then there would have been no hope for you and me. It would have unraveled the scarlet thread of history that led to Jesus and then through him to us. His Word had to be kept and performed just as He had promised in the beginning.

So back to God's bluntness...I am actually relieved to have seen that He has always been this way. I was beginning to think that He only spoke to me like that. When my friends would get a word from God it always seemed so positive yet I would get words like 'disappointed' or 'sabotage' to be my words for a season. But I have come to realize in this journey called life, that God only gives me the words that will do the most to draw me closer to Him. Without His bluntness I would let more things slide more than I even do now. It is only because of His amazing love that He is willing to take the time to work with me on those areas where I am weak. But the good news is He is as willing to take the time to love on me and tell me those things that He sees me doing right. God loves me unconditionally, but He is not blind in that love.

As you are reading over Jeremiah...what are some of the words that God speaks to His people that show this dichotomy...His unfailing love and His righteous anger?

Week 2 Discussion

I was listening to chapters 1-5 of Jeremiah yesterday. It ended with these 2 verses:
30 “ An astonishing and horrible thing
Has been committed in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people love to have it so.
But what will you do in the end?
Putting these verses together with the study of the word "word" that I asked you to look at, it really made me think. Here is a people that had entered into a covenant with the One True God and had been given His very Words in the form of Law (OT Covenant) and yet the desire of their hearts was to listen to the "words" of the prophets and priests that spoke falsely. As you read through Jeremiah you get a pretty good idea of what these false words were like.

These were words that sounded good. They were words like...God loves you....He will send His blessings to the land....We will conquer our enemies....We will be a light to the world and a great people....our enemies will all perish....no harm will ever come on the chosen of God.....God will break the yoke of oppression from off our backs....etc Beautiful words, encouraging words, happy words.....no words of repentence or coming calamity or judgment. Just words to build up the people.
But in chapter 1 we see the commission to Jeremiah
9 Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: “ Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.”
These words are not so positive, in fact they are two thirds about getting rid of the bad...rooting out, pulling down, destroying and throwing down before God says to build and plant. Just as when we work in an old overgrown garden, first the old has to be cleared out before the new can have a chance of surviving.

Taking a look at the idea of the "words" given by God versus the "words" given by man, How can we know the difference? When we hear a prophecy, how can we discern the truth from what we would like to be the answer?

Week 2 Reading

What an amazing God we have! How many times we wonder what His will is for our lives and how we can find out what that will is only to read the Bible and realize that God is speaking to us all the time, we just need to be willing to listen and obey. God spoke to His people over and over in the Old Testament but they refused to listen. It got so bad that they would imprison Jeremiah just to get him out of their sight. Why? because if they listened then they would have to repent and stop doing things the same way they had been all those years. They would have to give up being religious and start to pursue a relationship with God. That was too scary for them, after all, relationships can be messy and unpredictable and religion takes no thought, you just need to go through the motions.

For this week I would like you to either start reading Jeremiah (or listening to it). I listen to 5 chapters each day on http://www.biblegateway.com/ When something stands out, I then go to the written word and take a look at how the statement that stood out fits into the rest of the section of Scripture.

I am planning on doing the study by subject and not from beginning to end. One of the reasons for this is the book of Jeremiah is not in chronological order. The king had taken the original scroll and burned it (Jeremiah 36). Later Jeremiah had his scribe re-write the scroll and other prophecies where then added to it.

For this week I want you to do a word study. I use http://www.crosswalk.com/ and then go to the Bible Study tools and choose the Strong's Concordance to do this. The word I want you to look up is "word". The Strong's number is 01697 and it is used 183 times in Jeremiah. The root is 01696 and it is used 104 times in Jeremiah. On this site you can search for a word and then narrow the search to the book of the Bible you are interested in. It will pull up all the verses that contain the word searched for and then you can look at it in context

I have the verses in a Word Document...so if you have trouble finding it on Crosswalk send me an email and I will forward the doc to you. www.gailfaith04@yahoo.com

I was amazed when I did this study. "Word" is used more times in Jeremiah than in any other book of the Bible. We know from the New Testament that Jesus is called the Word of God, so I do not think this is just a coincidence that God makes such a big deal out of using Jeremiah to present His word to His people.

Take a look and from the first couple of chapters of Jeremiah pick out some verses that show how important the Word of God is and discuss here with all of us. Have fun digging!!!

Finishing Week 1

I spoke with someone yesterday at church and she was having trouble with the site. If you have tried to post and it did not work...email me www.gailfaith04@yahoo.com to let me know. I am thinking of reformatting what is going on here but need the help of some friends in order to do that.

In the meantime I want to start looking at Jeremiah more closely so let's finish with the history part. In the morning I listen to a few of the chapters being read. I use www.biblegateway.com for listening and also to do word searches. It is a wonderful resource. It is also an easy way to take different versions and compare how a verse or passage has been translated. Anyway, listening to the history in Chronicles and Kings over and over has been interesting. Some of the main points that seem to have been popping out to me are:

The Israelites are very fickle....they seem to follow whatever or whoever is popular at the time. If the king is good then there is religious reform and they are back to following the law. If the king is evil, then they are right along side of him doing whatever atrocities seem to come to mind. They definately prefer the prophets that bring them good news and shun or even kill those that bring word from God that they are going to be punished. They measure how good their lives are by how prosperous they are at the time. They rush to make alliances with all kinds of kingdoms before they even consider repenting and turning back to God. They are so human and such a perfect mirror of our own world that I marvel that humanity seems so unable to see the truth and walk in the ways of the Lord. God's love and patience in the Old Testament is sooooo amazing that it makes me shake my head in wonder. If God were truly the old bearded guy sitting on the clouds just waiting to smite humans the Jews would not have survived the first couple of kings....actually they would have been long gone even before the kingdom had been set up.

We see in Jeremiah a young man that is williing to follow God in the midst of these fickle people. He knew from the beginning that they would not listen to him. He uses the excuse of his youth and inexperience, but the truth is they would not listen because he was going to tell them things that they did not want to hear. How frustrating it must have been for him. He started his prophesying while Josiah was king, so at least for a while he would have been listened to. This king made all kinds of reforms and it would have been popular to listen to Jeremiah at that time. But we see that as soon as Josiah is dead the people are back to the old ways and Jeremiah's message would have been as dead to them as their reforming king. If God had not promised Jeremiah protection from the beginning of his call I am confident that he would have died shortly after Josiah.

In chapter 1 we see that the Lord gave Jeremiah a specific ministry that is characterized by this description....
9 Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: “ Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.”

What a ministry to have been given! Can you imagine the strength of character he would have to have for his entire life to stand up against the prevailing attitudes and life styles of everyone living at this time. Later on we will see the people telling him they would rather he lied to them because they preferred to hear the lies rather than the truth.

Additional Reading from New Bible Dictionary

I have copied and pasted this from the New Bible Dictionary-Jeremiah

JEREMIAH
I. His background
Jeremiah’s history covered a span of 40 years — from his call in the 13th year of King Josiah (626 bc) until the fall of Jerusalem in 587 bc. In those 4 decades he prophesied under the last five kings of Judah — Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. While he was preaching, important personalities and events were shaping history beyond his native Judah. It was one of the most fateful periods in the history of the ancient Near East and it affected Judah’s history too.
The Assyrian empire disintegrated and Babylon and Egypt were left to struggle against each other for the leadership of the E. The chronology of the last quarter of the 7th century bc has been greatly clarified by the publication of some tablets which were excavated years ago but which had lain in obscurity in the vaults of the British Museum in London. In 1956 D. J. Wiseman made these Chaldean documents available to students of the ancient Near East, thus making possible a reappraisal of the chronology of the last quarter of the 7th century bc. Further light has also been shed by the discovery of ostraca (letters on jar fragments) and bullae (seals), in some cases naming personalities known from the book of Jeremiah. The most interesting seal reads: ‘belonging to Berekyahu (Baruch) son of Neriyahu (Neriah) the scribe’. This is probably the very Baruch who helped Jeremiah record his prophecies (Je. 36:4), and who may indeed have written the third-person accounts of Jeremiah’s life. Other seals name Gemariah, the son of Shaphan (Je. 36:11) and ‘Jerahmeel, the son of the king’ (Je 36:26; see P. J. King, Jeremiah: An Archaeological Companion, pp. 93–99). For the ostraca, see IIe below.
Jeremiah’s life and times which fall within this all-important period are remarkably well documented, and the intimacies of his personality are more vividly portrayed than those of the more spectral Minor Prophets or even of Isaiah and Ezekiel.
When Jeremiah was called to the prophetic office he was still ‘a child’ (na˓ar, 1:6), an ambiguous term descriptive of infancy (Ex. 2:6) and advanced adolescence (1 Sa. 30:17). If the demure Jeremiah simply meant he was spiritually and socially immature the word might indicate that he was not the average age of a prophet, say between 20 and 30, if we may argue from the rules laid down for Levites (Nu. 8:24; 1 Ch. 23:24). Assuming, then, that at his call Jeremiah was in his early 20s his boyhood was spent in the reigns of Manasseh and Amon. When the call came to Jeremiah nearly a century had passed since the N kingdom of Israel (Samaria) had fallen to the Assyrians. Judah in the S, however, contrived to survive. By a miracle it weathered the storm of Sennacherib’s invasion as Isaiah had predicted. King Hezekiah initiated reforms in Judah’s religion and morals (2 Ki. 18:1ff.), but these had been nullified by the long apostasy of his son Manasseh (2 Ki. 21:lff.) and the short idolatrous reign of Amon (2 Ki. 21:19ff.). While Judah was wallowing in the slough of idolatry the Assyrians under Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal conquered Egypt. Under Psammetichus (664–610 bc) Egypt reasserted herself and began afresh to intimidate Judah, who found herself vacillating between now the blandishments, now the menaces of the two world powers, Egypt and Babylon. In this atmosphere of international political tension and national religious declension Jeremiah grew up into boyhood.
Doubtless many in Judah yearned for the dawn that would end the night of 60 years’ moral degeneracy. Jeremiah grew up in a pious priestly home (1:1). His name, ‘Yahweh exalts’ or ‘Yahweh throws down’, might well symbolize both his parents’ prayers for the disconsolate nation and their aspirations for young Jeremiah. They would communicate to him their anxiety over the religious persecutions and apostasies of Manasseh and Amon, educate him in Israel’s laws, and fill his fertile mind with the teachings of Isaiah and other prophets of the previous-century.
II. The five reigns
a. Josiah
When God called Jeremiah, Josiah (640–609 bc), who had been on the throne of Judah for 12 years, had already introduced religious reforms (2 Ch. 34:4–7). But it was not until 621 bc, the 18th year of his reign, that he initiated a systematic reformation in Judah’s religion and morals (2 Ki. 23).
The impulse to reform was generated by the momentous discovery in the Temple of ‘the book of the law’ by Hilkiah. Jeremiah had already been a prophet for 5 years. Probably chs. 1–6 describe conditions in Judah before Josiah’s main reforms in 622–621 bc. The nation is incorrigibly corrupt, insensible to God’s offer of pardon, and oblivious to the menace of an invincible enemy. Apart from 11:1–8, which may contain hints of Jeremiah’s enthusiasm for Josiah’s reforms, the prophet has left no reference to the last 12 years of Josiah’s reign. In 609 bc the king was killed at Megiddo (2 Ki. 23:29) in an abortive attempt to resist Pharaoh Neco (610–594 bc), successor to Psammetichus. Naturally Jeremiah mourned the early death of Josiah (22:10a) of whom he thought kindly (22:15f).
b. Jehoahaz
Neco continued to meddle in the affairs of Judah. Jehoahaz (or Shallum, Je. 22:11) succeeded Josiah (609 bc) but 3 months later was deposed by Neco, who imposed on Judah a heavy tribute (2 Ki. 23:31–33) and appointed Jehoiakim (or Eliakim), brother of Jehoahaz, to the throne (2 Ki. 23:34; 2 Ch. 36:2, 5). Jeremiah lamented Jehoahaz’s deposition and exile to Egypt (22:10–12).
c. Jehoiakim
In this reign (609–597 bc) an event of great political significance occurred — the battle of Carchemish (Je. 46) in 605 bc. The Egyptians under Neco were crushed by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadrezzar at the battle of Carchemish, on the right-hand bank of the Euphrates NW of Aleppo, and at Hamath. Politically this event was pivotal because it marked the transference of the hegemony of the Middle East to Babylon. Therefore Carchemish also had considerable significance for Judah. Since all routes to the Egyptian border were now under Nebuchadrezzar’s control, it was inevitable that the whole Middle East should come under his rule (Je. 25:15ff.). From that moment, therefore, the prophet advocated Judah’s submission to Babylonian suzerainty. In 604 bc Nebuchadrezzar sacked the city of Ashkelon, against which Jeremiah (47:5–7) and Zephaniah (2:4–7) prophesy judgment. In Je. 36:9ff. a fast in Judah is proclaimed. This undoubtedly points to an approaching national calamity; and indeed the date of Nebuchadrezzar’s campaign against Ashkelon coincides with the date of this fast in Judah. Jeremiah anticipates that from Ashkelon Nebuchadrezzar will come against Judah; hence the fast and the proclamation of Jeremiah’s message in Jerusalem. But Jeremiah’s policy opposed Jehoiakim’s domestic and foreign strategy. The king favoured idolatrous usages (2 Ki. 23:37), and his selfishness and vanity aggravated Judah’s misfortunes (Je. 22:13–19). Jehoiakim had scant respect for the prophet’s person (26:20–23) or message (26:9). His vacillating policy of alliance with Egypt, then with Babylon, was probably due to the fact that the outcome of the fighting between Babylon and Egypt in the year 601/600 bc was inconclusive. Three years later he rebelled against Babylon, but failure only brought him under the Babylonian yoke more completely, and this exacerbated Judah’s anguish (2 Ki. 24:1f.). Jeremiah reprimanded the king, the prophets and the priests, and the hostility which this rebuke engendered is mirrored in his oracles. He was persecuted (12:6; 15:15–18), plotted against (11:18–23; 18:18), imprisoned (20:2), declared worthy of death (26:10f., 24; cf. vv. 20–23; 36:26). His prophecies in written form were destroyed (36:27). But in these depressing circumstances Jeremiah persisted in his ministry — interceding for Judah (11:14; 14:11; 17:16), expostulating with God (17:14–18; 18:18–23; 20:7–18), unmasking the time-serving prophets (23:9–40), predicting the destruction of the Temple (7:1–15) and nation (chs. 18f.), and lamenting the doom of his people (9:1; 13:17; 14:17). Eventually Jehoiakim’s life ended violently in Jerusalem at the close of 598 bc, the 11th year of his reign, as Jeremiah had foretold (22:18; cf. 2 Ki. 24:1ff.). On the other hand, 2 Ch. 36:6f. speaks of Nebuchadrezzar’s binding Jehoiakim in fetters to take him to Babylon. Dn. 1:1f. also speaks of Jehoiakim’s exile in the 3rd year of his reign.
d. Jehoiachin
Jehoiachin (or Coniah, 22:24, 28, or Jeconiah, 24:1) succeeded Jehoiakim in 597 bc and reaped what his father had sown. This immature youth of 18 reigned only 3 months (2 Ki. 24:8). The rebellion of Jehoiachin’s father compelled Nebuchadrezzar in the 7th year of his reign to besiege Jerusalem, and the youthful king of Judah ‘went out’ (2 Ki. 24:12), i.e. gave himself up. He, along with the majority of Judah’s aristocracy, artisans and soldiers, was exiled to Babylon (as Je. 22:18f. implies) and the Temple was plundered (2 Ki. 24:10–16). In the Babylonian Chronicle we now find for the first time confirmation of this information from an extra-biblical contemporary source. Jeremiah had already predicted Jehoiachin’s fate (22:24–30). 36 years later, however, he was released by the son and successor of Nebuchadrezzar (2 Ki. 25:27–30).
e. Zedekiah
Zedekiah, the new appointee of Nebuchadrezzar to the throne of Judah, was Josiah’s youngest son (Je. 1:3) and uncle of Jehoiachin (2 Ki. 24:17:2 Ch. 36:10). This OT account of Zedekiah’s appointment by Nebuchadrezzar to succeed Jehoiachin is fully verified by the Babylonian Chronicle. His reign (597–587 bc) sealed Judah’s doom (2 Ki. 24:19f.). He was weak and vacillating, and his officers of state were men of humble station. Having superseded the exiled aristocracy, they now looked upon them with contempt, but Jeremiah had his own convictions concerning the ‘bad’ and the ‘good’ figs (24:1ff.). It was to the latter that the prophet sent his famous letter (29:1ff.). But both in Babylon and Judah false prophets sought to have Jeremiah executed (28:1ff.; 29:24ff.). The main point at issue between them was the length of the captivity. Jeremiah foretold an exile of 70 years, while the false prophets argued that it would last only 2 years.
Jeremiah’s main conflict with Zedekiah was over the question of rebellion against Nebuchadrezzar. A revolt was planned in the 4th year of the reign in conspiracy with neighbouring states which the prophet violently opposed (chs. 27f). However, Zedekiah seems to have succeeded in allaying Nebuchadrezzar’s suspicions by visiting Babylon the same year (51:59).
Finally, however, in the 7th or 8th year of his reign Zedekiah compromised himself irrevocably in the eyes of Nebuchadrezzar by entering into treasonable negotiations with Pharaoh Hophra. The die was cast, and the Babylonians marched again into Judah. As the Assyrians had done in Hezekiah’s reign they reduced first the cities of Judah. Je. 34:7 comes from a point in proceedings when only the S outposts of Lachish and Azekah still held out, a moment that has been illuminated by the so-called Lachish ostraca, one of which records the lament of an officer in a remote station that the lights of Azekah have now gone out, and he looks in hope for the lights of Lachish (Ostracon 4; see P. J. King, Jeremiah: An Archaeological Companion, p. 82f.). In Zedekiah’s 9th year (589) the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem for the second time. But before (21:1–10) and during the siege (34:1ff., 8ff.; 37:3ff., 17ff.; 38:14ff.) Jeremiah had only one message for Zedekiah — surrender to the Babylonians, for Jerusalem must fall into their hands. Jeremiah’s interpretation of the battle of Carchemish 17 years earlier (605) was being fully vindicated. At one point during the siege, the Egyptian army’s advance compelled the Babylonians to withdraw, but hopes that Jeremiah was mistaken were quickly disillusioned. His warning that the Babylonians would annihilate the Egyptians was soon fulfilled and the siege was immediately resumed (37:1–10). The perfidy of some Jews towards their slaves at this juncture roused Jeremiah’s withering scorn and severest condemnation (34:8–22). Thanks to the cowardly vacillations of Zedekiah, the prophet was so rigorously maltreated by his enemies during the siege that he despaired of his life. Arrested on the charge of deserting to the enemy, he was thrown into a dungeon (37:11–16), but was later removed to a prison in the guard-court close to the palace (37:17–21). He was then accused of treason and thrown into a disused cistern, where he would have died but for the timely intervention of Ebed-melech. He was later transferred to the prison court (38:1–13), where the king secretly conferred with him (vv. 14–28).
During the last stages of the siege Jeremiah, in a great act of faith, bought the land belonging to his cousin in Anathoth (32:1–15). At this moment too he proclaimed promises of restoration (32:36–44; 33:1–26). To this period may be assigned his great prophecy of a new covenant (31:3 1ff.), ultimately fulfilled in Christ the Mediator of that covenant. But Judah’s cup of iniquity was now full and in 587 judgment engulfed the doomed city of Jerusalem (ch. 39). Here also it is instructive to notice that the account of the captivity of Jerusalem in the Bab. Chronicle agrees in general with the OT account in 2 Ki. 24:10–17; 2 Ch. 36:17; Je. 52:28. The destruction of Jerusalem is now to be dated 587 bc, not 586, calculating the new year from the spring rather than the autumn, according to the Babylonian calendar.
Nebuchadrezzar treated Jeremiah kindly, and when he appointed Gedaliah governor of Judah Jeremiah joined him at Mizpah (40:1–6). The murder of Gedaliah soon followed (41:1ff.), and the remnant in Mizpah resolved to flee into Egypt in spite of the earnest protestations of Jeremiah, who, along with Baruch his secretary, was compelled to accompany them (42:1–43:7). The last scene in the aged Jeremiah’s stormy ministry shows him at Tahpanhes in Egypt still unbowed. He prophesies the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadrezzar (43:8–13) and rebukes the idolatrous worship of the Jews then residing in Egypt (44:1ff.). Of subsequent events in his life or the circumstances of his death nothing is known.
III. Jeremiah’s personality
Jeremiah’s personality is the most sharply etched of any of the OT prophets. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that in order to understand what the OT means by the term ‘prophet’ it is necessary to study the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s call, his vocation as a bearer of the word of God, the authority which this communicated to him, the manner in which the word was revealed to him, his clear-cut distinctions between the true prophet and the false, his message and the agonizing dilemmas in which his fidelity to it entangled him — all are delineated in Jeremiah’s oracles with an authority that is irresistible. This is because of the correlation between the prophet’s spiritual and emotional experience and his prophetic ministry. For interpretations of Jeremiah’s inner life, especially in his so-called Confessions or prayers of lamentation, see Skinner and McConville (ch. 3).
It is impossible to plumb the depths of grief into which Jeremiah was plunged. Despairing of comfort (8:18, 21), he desired to dissolve in tears for doomed Judah (9:1; 13:17) and abandon her to her self-inflicted fate (9:2). Convinced of ultimate failure, he cursed the day he was born (15:10; 20:14–18), accused God of having wronged him (20:7a), complained of the ignominy that had befallen him (20:7b-10), invoked imprecations upon his tormentors (18:18, 21–23). It is in this sense that the emotional, highly-strung Jeremiah was a tragic figure. The tragedy of his life springs from the conflicts which raged within and around him — his higher self wrestling with the lower, courage conflicting with cowardice, certain triumph struggling with apparent defeat, a determination to abandon his calling defeated by an inability to evade it (cf. 5:14; 15:16, 19–21 with 6:11; 20:9, 11; 23:29). But these fierce internal conflicts and the ignominy in which his calling involved him (15:17f; 16:2, 5, 8) compelled him to find in God a refuge. Thus the OT ideal of communion with God comes to its finest expression in Jeremiah. And it was in this fellowship with God that Jeremiah was able finally to withstand the erosive effects of timidity, anguish, helplessness, hostility, loneliness, despair, misunderstanding and failure.
IV. His message
a. Jeremiah’s concept of God
God is Creator and sovereign Lord who governs all things in heaven and earth (27:5; 28:23f; 5:22, 24; 10:12f). While the gods of the nations are nonentities (10:14f.; 14:22), Israel’s God disposes all things according to his will (18:5–10; 25:15–38; 27:6–8). He knows the hearts of men (17:5–10) and is the fountain of life to all who trust in him (2:13; 17:13). He loves his people tenderly (2:2; 31:1–3), but demands their obedience and allegiance (7:1–15). Sacrifices to pagan gods (7:30f.; 19:5) and oblations offered to him by a disobedient people (6:20; 7:21f.; 14:12) are alike abominations to him.
b. Jeremiah and idolatry
From the outset the prophet was a proclaimer of judgment. The sinfulness of Judah made this inevitable. The particular evil against which Jeremiah inveighed was idolatry. His many references to the worship of heathen deities confirm that the practice was widespread and diverse. Baal, Moloch and the queen of heaven are mentioned. Idols were found in the Temple (32:34), and in the vicinity of Jerusalem children were sacrificed to Baal and Moloch (cf. 7:31; 19:5; 32:35). Josiah had suppressed the idolatrous practices which his grandfather Manasseh had promoted, but the nation had apostatized after Josiah’s death.
c. Jeremiah and immorality
Throughout the OT immorality was a concomitant of idolatry. This principle is powerfully exemplified in Jeremiah’s idolatrous generation (5:1–9; 7:3–11; 23:10–14). Inescapably moral corruption followed the elimination of the fear of God and reverence for his law. Profligacy and improbity were common even among the priests and prophets (5:30f; 6:13–15; 14:14). Instead of arresting immorality, they contributed to its spread. Ironically, idolatrous and immoral Judah was still zealously religious! This explains Jeremiah’s oft-reiterated contention that before God the moral law takes precedence over the ceremonial. This principle Jeremiah applies to Judah’s reverence for the ark (3:16), the tablets of the Torah (31:31f), the covenant sign of circumcision (4:4; 6:10; 9:26), the Temple (7:4, 10f; 11:15; 17:3; 26:6, 9, 12; 27:16) and the sacrificial system (6:20; 7:21f; 11:15; 14:12).
d. Jeremiah and judgment
Naturally, then, the inevitability of judgment was prominent in Jeremiah’s message. Judah’s punishment at the hands of God took many forms, such as drought and famine (5:24; 14:1–6) and invasion by a foreign power (1:13–16; 4:11–22; 5:15–19; 6:1–15, etc.). And inexorably the great day of doom dawned when God’s instrument for punishing apostate Judah appeared (25:9; 52:1–30). The history of the background against which these oracles of judgment should be set has become much clearer with the publication of Chronicles of Chaldaean Kings (626–556 bc), to which reference has already been made. It describes a number of international events which took place in Jeremiah’s lifetime, and hints of these are found in his oracles against the foreign nations. Doubtless his oracles against the nations in ch. 25 were written under the influence of Nebuchadrezzar’s first advance W (Je. 25:1; cf. v. 9). Ch. 46 opens with a reference to the battle of Carchemish in 605. Then comes an oracle relating to Nebuchadrezzar’s campaign against Egypt (46:13–26). The Bab. Chronicle also provides a factual basis for Jeremiah’s oracles against Kedar and Hazor (49:28–33) and Elam (49:34–39). It also relates how Nebuchadrezzar in 599 made raids against the Arab tribes (cf. Je. 49:29, 32), while in 596 he campaigned against Elam. Hitherto this oracle has had no historical basis. See further for the light shed by the Bab. Chronicle on the dating and authenticity of the oracles in Jeremiah 46–51 in JBL 75, 1956, pp.282f.
e. Jeremiah and the false prophets
Jeremiah’s elevated conception of, and total commitment to, his call evoked within him an uncompromising antagonism towards the professional prophets and priests, and they in turn were his sworn enemies. Jeremiah’s major polemic with the priests was over their policy of making gain of their office and their contention that the Jerusalem Temple would never fall to the Babylonians (6:13; 18:18; 29:25–32, etc.). The false prophets confirmed the duped people of Judah in this facile optimism (8:10–17; 14:14–18; 23:9–40, etc.).
f. Jeremiah’s hope
By contrast Jeremiah was an uncompromising preacher of judgment. However, his announcement of judgment was shot through and through with hope. Judah’s exile in Babylon would not last for ever (25:11; 29:10). Indeed, Babylon herself would be overthrown (50f). This word of hope concerning Judah’s survival of judgment was present in Jeremiah’s message from the start (3:14–25; 12:14–17), but as the situation became more ominous Jeremiah’s confidence shone brighter (23:1–8; 30–33). And it was this hope that gave birth to his great act of faith in the darkest days (32:1–15).
g. Jeremiah and Judah’s religion
Jeremiah could therefore anticipate the destruction of the Temple, the fall of the Davidic dynasty, the cessation of the sacrificial system and the ministry of the priesthood with perfect equanimity. He even proclaimed that the covenant sign of circumcision was largely meaningless without the circumcision of the heart (4:4; 9:26, cf. 6:10). Confidence in Temple, sacrifice, priesthood, was vain unless accompanied by a change of heart (7:4–15, 21–26). Even the ark of the covenant would be dispensed with (3:16). Knowledge of the law without obedience to the law was valueless (2:8; 5:13, 30f; 8:8). Jeremiah therefore sees the necessity of having the law written not on stone but on the heart, thus prompting all to spontaneous and perfect obedience (31:31–34; 32:40). The passing away of the outward symbols of the covenant signified not the end of the covenant but its renewal in a more glorious form (33:14–26).
h. Jeremiah and the ideal future
Thus Jeremiah looks far beyond Judah’s return from exile and the resumption of life in Palestine (30:17–22; 32:15, 44; 33:9–13). In the ideal future Samaria will have a part (3:18; 31:4–9), abundance will prevail (31:12–14), Jerusalem will be holy unto the Lord (31:23, 38–40), and be named ‘the Lord is our righteousness’ (33:16). Its inhabitants will return to the Lord penitently (3:22–25; 31:18–20) and with their whole heart (24:7). God will forgive them (31:34b), put his fear within them (32:37–40), establish the rule of the Messianic Prince over them (23:5f.) and admit the Gentile nations to a share of the blessing (16:19; 3:17; 30:9).
V. His oracles
The oracles in Jeremiah’s book are not presented to the reader in chronological sequence. His ministry was spread over five reigns, and the oracles emanate from all periods. For example, much of chs. 2–6 may come from Josiah’s reign; chs. 26, 35–36 are from Jehoiakim’s; and chs. 21, 24, 29, 37–39 come from the time of Zedekiah. Some commentators have attempted to date all the oracles (Bright, Holladay), but there are many uncertainties.
Since, then, the chapters are not arranged chronologically, probably their subject-matter has determined their present order. Ch. 36 would seem to confirm this suggestion. When Jeremiah’s oracles were first committed to writing in the 4th year of Jehoiakim (604 bc) they covered a period of 23 years — from the 13th year of Josiah (626 bc) until 604 bc. These oracles Jehoiakim destroyed in the 5th year of his reign, but Baruch rewrote them at Jeremiah’s dictation, and ‘many similar words were added to them’ (36:32). What these additions were is uncertain, as are also the contents of the original roll which Jehoiakim destroyed. But clearly the original oracles and the additions formed the nucleus of the book of Jeremiah as it has come down to us, although how the whole was given its final form can only be conjectured. But the disorderly arrangement of the oracles strengthens the conviction that they are the words Jeremiah’s inspired lips uttered and were then put together during days of danger and turmoil.
The question of the order of Jeremiah’s oracles is also bound up with the relation between the MT and lxx text of his book. The Gk. translation deviates from the Heb. text in two respects, (i) It is shorter than the Heb. text by approximately one-eighth (i.e. about 2,700 words). This is the more remarkable when it is recalled that on the whole the text of the lxx corresponds fairly closely to the MT. The main exceptions are Jeremiah, Job and Daniel, (ii) In the lxx the oracles against the foreign nations (46–51) are placed after 25:13, and their sequence is also altered. These divergences go back to Origen’s time, but it is difficult to believe that the Heb. and Gk. texts represent two different recensions of the book of Jeremiah. Because of Jeremiah’s prophetic stature and spiritual calibre, these two texts of his book must have existed from a very early date, since no text which differed so radically from the received text as the Gk. differs from the Heb. would have been able to gain a foothold if it had been produced centuries after Jeremiah’s death.
In the debate on the superiority of one text to the other those who favour the lxx version argue that it gives the oracles against the foreign nations a more natural context, and that some of the omissions (e.g. 29:16–20; 33:14–26; 39:4–13; 52:28–33, etc.) could not have been accidental. But the foregoing references to the Bab. Chronicle have shown how it now enables us to re-create the historical background against which some of these oracles have to be set, especially those against Kedar, Hazor, Elam and the Arabs. Those who support the claims of the Heb. text emphasize ‘the arbitrary character of the renderings’ (Streane), which according to Graf makes it ‘altogether impossible to give to this new edition — for one can scarcely call it a translation — any critical authority’. The impression too is that the omissions are not motivated by scholarly interests. And the fact remains that the men of the ‘great synagogue’ who did so much in determining the Canon of the OT preferred the Heb. text to the Gk. version.
VI. Conclusion
In summarizing the greatness of Jeremiah, several things should be stressed. He recognized that Josiah’s reforms were in reality a retrograde movement because they threatened to undo the work of the prophets. Reformation in worship without reformation of heart was useless. He also perceived that religion in Judah would continue even though the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed. In his famous letter to the exiles in Babylon (ch. 29) he affirmed that in a pagan land Jews could still worship God although denied the ministry of priesthood and the service of sacrifice. Indeed, they could be closer to God in Babylon than were their brethren in Jerusalem, who made the outward trappings of religion a substitute for inward faith.
He saw too that, since religion was essentially a moral and spiritual relation with God (31:31–34), its demands must also be moral and spiritual. The essence of the new covenant was inwardness. This is not the same as ‘individualism’. Rather, Jeremiah’s rejection of the ‘sour grapes’ proverb (Je. 31:29–30) was intended to relieve a new generation of the burden of inherited guilt, while affirming its own responsibility for its standing before God. The new covenant people of God remains the ‘house of Israel and the house of Judah’ (Je. 31:31), i.e. a community.
In Christian terms this new community is to be understood as those who belong together in Christ. The new covenant is established by his death and resurrection, and by the dwelling of his Spirit among his people (Heb. 8:8–13; 10:16–17). In the life which he gives, enabling them to live in the Spirit, lies the way through the old impasse of a covenant which could not be kept (Je. 31:32).
Bibliography. J. Skinner, Prophecy and Religion, 1922; J. P. Hyatt, IB 5, 1956; D. J. Wiseman, Chronicles of Chaldaean Kings (625–556 bc), 1956; J. G. S. S. Thomson, The Old Testament View of Revelation, 1960, ch. 4; Commentaries by J. Bright, AB, 1965; J. A. Thompson, NICOT, 1980; W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah 1, 2, Hermeneia, 1986, 1989; D. R. Jones, Jeremiah, NCB, 1992; P. J. King, Jeremiah: An Archaeological Companion, 1993; J. G. McConville, Judgment and Promise, 1993. j.g.s.s.t.
j.g.mcc.
[1]

bc before Christ
cf confer (Lat.), compare
OT Old Testament
Arab Arabic
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
MT Massoretic text
lxx Septuagint (Gk. version of OT)
IB G. A. Buttrick et al. (eds.), Interpreter’s Bible, 12 vols., 1952-7
AB Anchor Bible
NCB New Century Bible
j.g.s.s.t. J. G. S. S. Thomson, B.A., M.A., B.D., M.th., formerly Pastor of Rosyth Baptist Church, Fife.
j.g.mcc. J. G. Mc Conville, M.A., B.D., Ph.D., Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, Cheltenham and Cloucester College of Higher Education.
[1]Wood, D. R. W., Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. 1996, c1982, c1962. New Bible Dictionary. Includes index. (electronic ed. of 3rd ed.) . InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove

Week 1 continued

Good morning everyone, I was without ISP on Sunday and Monday, so I was not able to post a new study for this week. Since no one blogged last week I will leave up the reading and questions for one more week. The questions posted are just meant to be a jumping off point...if there is something you come across in the reading that you want to discuss instead...go for it. I would love to hear what God is speaking to you.

I have been listening to these passages of Judah's history over and over for the past few weeks. I love www.biblegateway.com I go to to 2 Chronicles or 2 Kings and plug in the chapters and then listen to the Word being spoken. Each time I have listened I have gotten something different that stood out to me. I am going to share a few of those things with you.

2 Kings 23:26 Nevertheless the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him (NKJV) One day while listening this just stood out and I have been thinking about it ever since. Josiah was a good king and he genuinely wanted to follow the ways of the Lord. When the law was found and read to him he repented and sought to do everything possible to bring Judah back into fellowship with their one true God. His heart was broken for his people and God honored him for it. But with all the reforms, the cleansing of the land and the Temple and the great Passover that was celebrated it still was not enough to turn God from his wrath. It is from passages like these that people get the mistaken notion that God in the Old Testament is an angry God. But I am realizing more and more how patient God is. He had given them several hundred years and miracle after miracle to help them to turn to Him. He sent the prophets to warn them, and Jeremiah is a good example. They had times of plenty and times of being under siege to give them opportunities to see the Lord work.

But it all goes back to the covenant that God had made with Israel in the desert after they had been delivered from Egypt. They swore to abide by this covenant and bound all future generations to it. With covenant there is always a provision for blessings and curses. The Israelites fully understood this concept and had agreed to all of it. The main point was that only God would be their God, there would be no others that they would worship. In the law provisions were made so they could atone for failure to follow the law completely, but their heart had to be right in order for it to make any difference. Blessings would follow obedience and we see God delivering them over and over when they would turn back to Him. But the covenant also contained curses. And the time had come when the Lord had to punish them for their continual disobedience. He had given them every chance to repent but we see that as soon as Josiah is dead they returned to the evil practices of worshipping the false idols from the surrounding kingdoms. These practices were so hideous that the Bible only alludes to them. It included child sacrifice, ritual prostitution and any perverse sexual activity imaginable. It was so bad that God says they were worse than Sodom.

But what does this have to do with us today? We are under a new covenant, Paul even says we are dead to the law in Romans and Jeremiah says that the new covenant is written on our hearts. So when we read that the Day of God's Wrath is still to come in John's Revelation....what does that mean to us? How are we to live? what is our responsibility to the world?

Week 1 Question

Using Jeremiah chapter 1 as your guide, describe what kind of person you think Jeremiah was. (We will add to his profile as we continue our study--so for right now limit your answer to what you see in chapter 1)

Week 1 Questions cont.

how would being born during Manasseh's reign and growing up during Josiah's reign have affected Jeremiah and his worldview?

Week 1 Questions

Apart from technology, How is Judah similar or different from the world today?

Week 1 General Impressions

Reading over these two historical accounts, what was Judah like during Jeremiah's life? What was the political atmosphere? What socio/economic problems did they face? What was their religious world view? And anything else that adds to your understanding of what the world was like at this time in history. (Take your time and think about this. These will be questions we will come back to again and again as we study Jeremiah. Here I just want you to start thinking of these characters as real people with the same problems and life situations that we each face. In order to really understand what is going on we need to get this from being something from long ago to something that we can relate to.)

Reading for Week 1--June 14-21, 2009

Week 1

Let's start by reading the history surrounding Jeremiah's life. He starts his prophecy in the 13th year of the reign of King Josiah. Josiah was the last good king Judah was to have. His grandfather Manasseh has the distinction of probably being the most evil king of Judah. So let's read in 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings the history of Judah from Manasseh to their being taken captive by Babylon. You may even want to back it up to King Hezekiah and see why the Babylonians would even desire to take Judah captive.

2 Chronicles 33-36
2 Kings 20-25
Jeremiah 1

Getting started

I am trying something new here and y''all will be my test subjects. Hopefully, we will all learn together. I have started studying the Book of Jeremiah and want/need to share what I am learning. I had taken Degree completion classes from Life Pacific online and one of the components to the classes was a weekly question and answer session. It's easy to do as long as everyone takes the time to participate.

On Sunday I will post some reading and a couple of questions to think about
By Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest, each person will do an initial answer to the posted questions
By Thursday you will pick two or more of your fellow learners answers and make a reply to what they have said.
By Sunday, you will then reply to the comments posted on your initial musings.
The earlier you are able to reply, the more give and take we will have for the week.
In order to make this work, your comments need to be thoughtful, give credit where credit is due (especially if you are quoting someone or a text) Be kind to one another. Do not attack someone for their opinion, no matter how ridiculous it may appear to you. Instead take the time to prove your point using Scripture, personal testimony, etc. Make sure you read over your answers before posting and please no one word answers. If you agree or do not agree, tell us why giving reasons.

We will start the blog on June 14, 2009. This gives me two weeks to contact people to let them know what we are doing here and to get them signed up. I am planning on doing this for 10 weeks, which will take us through the end of August. I understand that many people will be on vacation during the summer...to that end you will not be expected to be blogging every week. You can come and go as necessary, but the more you participate the more we all will learn.