Thoughts On Jeremiah 11: 1--17
Most scholars agree that the events of Jeremiah 11 & 12 follow from the historical events of 2 Chronicles 34. Basically, that's a story about how Jeremiah's father (likely, anyway) found the book of the Law, which began a short-lived spiritual revival in the land. It didn't take long for that spiritual renewal to become more of a renewal in national pride--which are two distinctly different things.
Notice first that Jeremiah was supposed to "hear" the terms of the covenant, and then "pass them on." Isn't this always the order we should follow when it comes to our own spiritual walk? I mean, we've got to internalize and personalize these things before we give them to others. How can we give to others what we don't own ourselves?
Seems to me that cause and effect is in play here. There are curses for failure to follow the covenant and blessings for keeping the terms. I think that's the way life is, even if we aren't directly involved in this particular covenant. Our actions have consequences. Most times these consequences aren't "God-driven" but rather more of a natural outflow of the choice. In other words, maybe God didn't cause the heart attack, but it was the 30,000 Big Macs consumed from 1975-2008 inclusive. But the bottom line is that actions have consequences. The good actions and the unwise alike.
I don't think we often respond to God like Jeremiah did: "So be it!" Especially when the news isn't pleasant. Or even if the news is along the lines of cause/effect.
I'm always fascinated by the use of language...little colloquialisms and such. In this case, telling these words "in the towns of Judah and in the streets." Basically it means to speak these words wherever you go.
God's pretty patient and longsuffering, and in this case it'd been around 100 years since He felled the Northern Kingdom, but man, when He's had enough, He's had enough.
The stubborn and wicked heart is the cause of pretty much everything bad. How in the world to people really believe that mankind in innately good? It's beyond me.
The plot of "revolt" in 11:9. When I think of this, I think of a mob of people who have organized and are systematically plotting the overthrow...OF GOD HIMSELF! Really? No matter how big the mob or how organized the group it seems pretty much a guaranteed loss. Oddly, we do this so often that we're numb to the reality that we all have little nooks and crannies of our spiritual lives where we do this very same thing. Now, it may be our own little revolt, but our odds are just as slim no matter how many we could even draw into our little plan.
One last thing: Isn't it interesting that these people were creating their very own little gods out of wood and stone and painting them and having elaborate ceremonies around them. They carved them. They painted them. They danced around them while they just sat there. They made unrequieted sacrifices to them. And, when calamity came upon them, they turned to the very things they carved and painted and danced around and made unrequieted sacrifices to. This seems like peculiar behavior...that you'd ascribe power to something that you created and then fall back on that very creation to fix the problem. What's strange is how often we do that in our own lives when we make gods out of money, jobs, spouses, education, etc.
In the little poem in verses 16-17, the nation of Israel was created to be something very beautiful and functional (fruit and form)...and it wasn't fulfilling that beauty or that function. Interestingly, some 700 years later, Christ would do the very same thing in that revolutionary call in the Sermon on the Mount. Something about salt and light.
It seems to me the theme of this section is revolution. You're either in revolt against God or you can allow the revolution to occur in your own heart and mind. This usually involves a change in thinking and action. In that order. What's so peculiar is how resistant we are to the very idea of change.
Your thoughts?
Most scholars agree that the events of Jeremiah 11 & 12 follow from the historical events of 2 Chronicles 34. Basically, that's a story about how Jeremiah's father (likely, anyway) found the book of the Law, which began a short-lived spiritual revival in the land. It didn't take long for that spiritual renewal to become more of a renewal in national pride--which are two distinctly different things.
Notice first that Jeremiah was supposed to "hear" the terms of the covenant, and then "pass them on." Isn't this always the order we should follow when it comes to our own spiritual walk? I mean, we've got to internalize and personalize these things before we give them to others. How can we give to others what we don't own ourselves?
Seems to me that cause and effect is in play here. There are curses for failure to follow the covenant and blessings for keeping the terms. I think that's the way life is, even if we aren't directly involved in this particular covenant. Our actions have consequences. Most times these consequences aren't "God-driven" but rather more of a natural outflow of the choice. In other words, maybe God didn't cause the heart attack, but it was the 30,000 Big Macs consumed from 1975-2008 inclusive. But the bottom line is that actions have consequences. The good actions and the unwise alike.
I don't think we often respond to God like Jeremiah did: "So be it!" Especially when the news isn't pleasant. Or even if the news is along the lines of cause/effect.
I'm always fascinated by the use of language...little colloquialisms and such. In this case, telling these words "in the towns of Judah and in the streets." Basically it means to speak these words wherever you go.
God's pretty patient and longsuffering, and in this case it'd been around 100 years since He felled the Northern Kingdom, but man, when He's had enough, He's had enough.
The stubborn and wicked heart is the cause of pretty much everything bad. How in the world to people really believe that mankind in innately good? It's beyond me.
The plot of "revolt" in 11:9. When I think of this, I think of a mob of people who have organized and are systematically plotting the overthrow...OF GOD HIMSELF! Really? No matter how big the mob or how organized the group it seems pretty much a guaranteed loss. Oddly, we do this so often that we're numb to the reality that we all have little nooks and crannies of our spiritual lives where we do this very same thing. Now, it may be our own little revolt, but our odds are just as slim no matter how many we could even draw into our little plan.
One last thing: Isn't it interesting that these people were creating their very own little gods out of wood and stone and painting them and having elaborate ceremonies around them. They carved them. They painted them. They danced around them while they just sat there. They made unrequieted sacrifices to them. And, when calamity came upon them, they turned to the very things they carved and painted and danced around and made unrequieted sacrifices to. This seems like peculiar behavior...that you'd ascribe power to something that you created and then fall back on that very creation to fix the problem. What's strange is how often we do that in our own lives when we make gods out of money, jobs, spouses, education, etc.
In the little poem in verses 16-17, the nation of Israel was created to be something very beautiful and functional (fruit and form)...and it wasn't fulfilling that beauty or that function. Interestingly, some 700 years later, Christ would do the very same thing in that revolutionary call in the Sermon on the Mount. Something about salt and light.
It seems to me the theme of this section is revolution. You're either in revolt against God or you can allow the revolution to occur in your own heart and mind. This usually involves a change in thinking and action. In that order. What's so peculiar is how resistant we are to the very idea of change.
Your thoughts?
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