Reading for June 26th

Read Jeremiah 5.30-6.12. In 6.1-30: daughter Zion is attacked.  This chapter gathers images of the cosmic battle into a collection of poems from a chorus of speakers. The mythic nature of the battle increases when the text identifies daughter Zion as the object of the attack. A ferocious military nation wages war against Jerusalem, portrayed as a weaken wanton woman, defenseless in the face of her foe. In verse 1: A voice urges the children of Benjamin, one of the tribes of Judah, to flee the city for evil looms out of the north. In verses 4-7: The poem quotes the enemies' shouts as they prepare for attack. They believe they are acting under divine orders against a wicked city. In verses 10-12: Jeremiah laments the people's stubbornness. They are not even capable of hearing the prophet's warning. Comments or Questions..

Reading for June 25th

 Read Jeremiah 5.20-29. God's reluctance to punish is overcome because neither Jacob, the northern kingdom that fell to Assyria in 721 BCE, nor Judah, the southern kingdom that falls to Babylon in 587, sees, hears, or fears the Creator. Unlike the sea and the rains that stay in place and come at the proper times, the people know no boundaries in their wickedness. Comments or Questions..

Reading for June 24th

 Read Jeremiah 5.7-19. In verses 7-11: A question that will be repeated (5.29) addresses an unnamed female. She is probably daughter Zion and God's unfaithful wife (2.1-3.5). God asks if there is a way to pardon her, but she and her children have been adulterous. There is not way to avoid punishment. In verses 12-18: Further accusations of infidelity introduce another announcement of the approaching invader, a mighty nation, superhuman in it capacities. However, a prose comment promises not to completely destroy the nation. If the book's audience is the people in exile, v. 18 speaks to them directly. They are the remnant who remain after the invasion. Comments or Questions..

Reading for June 23rd

 Read Jeremiah 5.1-6. In 5.1-31: God's reluctance to send the attackers. These loosely connected poems show that God does not wish to destroy the nation. Instead, the people are at fault because they will not act justly or repent. God is neither arbitrary nor whimsical in orchestrating the attack on the nation. In verses 1-6: God will not destroy the nation if Jeremiah can find one righteous person. Though he runs up and down the streets of Jerusalem to the rich and the poor, Jeremiah's search is unsuccessful. God promises invasion by wild animals, which symbolize the invading army. Comments or Questions..

Reading for June 22nd

 Read Jeremiah 4.23- 31. In verses 23-28: Creation destroyed. The  speaker describes a terrifying vision of destruction that reverses the world's creation in the first chapter of Genesis. This picture of the earth as a divested landscape, waste and void, implies the cosmic battle somehow overturns the world. The impact of the historical invasion of Judah by Babylon meant the end of their national world, the collapse of daily life in their land. The poem describes the symbolic effects of that invasion. Judah's world has come to an end. In verses 29-31: The battle draws near as suggested by the noise of the attack and the flight of the inhabitants. this poem portrays the city of Jerusalem as a woman called daughter Zion.. She is probably God's first wife in 2.1-3.25. Portraying the city as a woman indicates how impossible defense against the advancing army is for her and creates pity in the reader. Comments or Questions..

Reading for June 21st

 The approaching enemy.

In chs. 4-6: No narrative unifies these poems, but the approaching foe looms over the chapters and gives them menacing drama. The voices of God, Jeremiah, a narrator, the people, daughter Zion, and the foe from the north--all speak and argue about God's role in the coming invasion. The battle poems use great art in portraying war. Scenes of approaching armies appeal to the senses and give the superhuman enemy from the north shape in the imagination. With few details of sight and sound, the poems place readers in the thick of the battle.

Read Jeremiah 4.5-22. The sound of the trumpet and the sight of the standard or flag of the army evoke the battle. In verses 6-7: References to the mythic foe add to the unearthly terror coming upon the nation. The enemy is a lion, magnified into a destroyer of nations. Since God is the one bringing the foe, supernatural forces are arrayed against the nation. In verses 19-22: Although God brings the enemy, God also witnesses the battle with uncontrollable anguish . Comments or Questions.

Reading for June 20th

 THE COSMIC BATTLE

In Chs. 4-10: Chapter 4 turns away from the story of the broken family to give prominence to announcements of imminent invasion by the "foe from the "north." The material in this section is largely poetic, but some prose passages as well (4.1-8.3). Although individual passages probably came from many different times, they are collected here around the theme of cosmic destruction at the hands of the mythic "foe" from the north.

Read 4.1-4. In 4.1-4: Repent. This poem reaches back to the broken marriage by repeating the invitation to "return," and it extends forward in the book by promising God's wrathful judgement against those who do not repent. Comments or Questions..