Reading for August 15th

Read Jeremiah 4.22-31. In 4.23-28: Creation destroyed. The speaker describes a terrying vision of destruction that reverses the world's creation in the first chapter of Genesis. This picture of the earth as a devasted landscape, waste and void, implies that 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 21-31: The battle draws near as suggested by the noise of the attack and the flight of the inhabitants. The 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 impoosible defense against the advancing army is for her and creates pity in the reader. Comments or Questions..