I’ll conclude my short Jeremiah series this week with Jeremiah 32:1-15. The previous passages have been either poetic oracles – rather distressing ones – or parabolic actions/visions (the journey to the potter’s house in 18:1-11, also a little distressing). This Sunday we get a history lesson and a real estate transaction.
The first part orients us to the specific circumstances of Jeremiah. Following literary tradition, he dates the story by telling us who was king and for how long. In this case it works out to 588 BCE. Jeremiah is under house arrest, accused of prophesying against King Zedekiah of Judah. Zedekiah has Jeremiah hauled before him and asks, “Why do you prophesy …” and then rather awkwardly quotes Jeremiah, referring to himself in the third person.
But Jeremiah doesn’t answer Zedekiah’s question. Instead he tells about how God predicted that his cousin would come and offer him a plot of land in his hometown of Anathoth, a few miles north of Jerusalem. Then he recounts how that came to pass, just as God predicted. Jeremiah then includes the most detailed description of a legal transaction in the Old Testament.
In fact, things play out just as Jeremiah predicted in the first part. Zedekiah – a puppet king installed by the Babylonians – tries to revolt again the Babylonians. When things don’t go as planned, he flees Jerusalem along with his palace guard. But his protectors abandon him in the desert where he’s captured by the Babylonians and taken to Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar then has Zedekiah’s sons are killed in front of him, right before he has his eyes gouged out. Eventually the Babylonians quit trying to rule by proxy and just come into Judah, loot the Jerusalem temple, burn the city and take the elites into exile.
My challenge for Sunday will be to bring together these two rather distinct passages, one a kind of shorthand reminder of all the destruction to come, the other a rather dry description of a real estate purchase. I think I’ve found a way. Come on Sunday to see if it works.
In other news, you’ll see below that we’re bringing the DPC Kids’ Art Show to a close this Sunday with a reception after worship. You’ll also want to read about the congregational meeting that has been called for October 2. And we’ve got a new women’s Bible study staring up and new Sunday morning adult education class that just getting under way.
See you Sunday!
Grace and peace,
Mike