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..

Reading for June 19th

 Read Jeremiah 3.19-24. Though still nostalgic for his wife (2.19-20), the husband/father again invites the children to "return" and promises to heal them. In verses 22-24: The children then begin to speak, addressing the father directly and repenting of their infidelity and idolatry. The family is partially restored. the account of the broken family symbolically retells the entire course of Judah's history up to the Exile. It is likely that the children symbolize the exiles who were invited to return and promised a renewed future in allegiance to their father. The story of this broken family explains the Exile symbolically. The historical destruction of Judah and Jerusalem was not God's fault but was punishment for idolatry and betrayal. That betrayal by all the people appears the more intimate and wrong because it is like betrayal by a spouse. Comments or Questions..

Reading for June 18th

 Read Jeremiah 3.6-18. In verses 6-10: Jeremiah replaces the husband as speaker and reports that the husband had previously had another wife, Israel who also betrayed him and whom he had also divorced. In the story of the family, both the northern and southern kingdoms have betrayed God and been cast off. Since the northern kingdom of Israel fell to Assyria in 721 BCE, this story explains that historical tragedy in the symbolic terms of betrayal in marriage. In verses 11-18: The divine husband sends Jeremiah to the first wife and invite her to return. The text reports no response from her. Then the invitation to return is addressed to the children (v. 14). Their father promises them restoration and reunification of the whole people in Jerusalem (vv. 15-18). Comments or Questions..

Reading for June 17th

 Read Jeremiah 3.1-5. The relationship between God and his wife, symbolizing all the people of Israel and Judah, is over. The family is broken and there appears to be no future. Comments or Questions..

Reading for June 16th

 Read Jeremiah 2.4-37. In these poems, the divine speaker alternates in addressing male Israel (2.4-16; 2.26-32) and female Judah, portrayed as God's wife (2.17-25; 2.33-3.5). The effect of this switch from male to female is to accuse both figures of infidelity and of going after other gods or lovers. Male Israel changes its gods (2.11), forsakes God, the fountain of living water (2.13), digs its own sources of water (2.13) and worships idols (2.27-28). Wife Judah also betrays God, but in more intimate ways. Though she is God's wife, she played the whore (2.20), went after other lovers (2.23-25, 33; 3.1), and would not return to her husband (3.1). Comments or Questions..

Reading for June 15th

 The broken family

In Chs. 2-3: A story of a broken family underlies and unifies the poetry and prose of this section. The account of this family functions as a summary of the whole book in symbolic form. God appears as husband and father, betrayed, brokenhearted and in search of reconciliation with his unfaithful wife and children.

Read 2.1-2: God speaks and addresses his wife, remembering how good it was during their honeymoon. Then God addresses male Israel in similar terms. Israel was holy to the Lord. Both female and male were set apart and protected. Comments or Questions..