Reading for October 7th

 Read Lamentations 1.1-11a. In 1.1-11a: A poet laments Jerusalem. As in many prophetic books (Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) Jerusalem is personified as a woman. In a striking series of contrasts, she who was great is now destitute like a widow; once a princess, she is now a vassal, the underling in a political relationship. In verse 2: Political allies are called Jerusalem's lover's ( Hos 2.7). In verse 3: Exile, the conquering strategy of the neo-Babylonian empire, involved moving large groups of people out of their homelands into new locations. In verse 4: Public activities (festivals and gates, where people gathered) have ceased. Priests and young girls are among the many categories of people that the book shows as suffering. In verse 5; The book repeatedly claims that the Lord has made her suffer. In verses 8-10: Nakedness may have a sexual connotation (Lev 18.6). Uncleanness refers to menstruation (Lev 15.16-24). These conditions intensify her shame, considered by the author to be as significant as physical suffering. The immediate mention of precious things and the invasion of her sanctuary, while on the surface referring to the Temple, may have sexual connotations. Comments or Questions..

Reading for October 6th

 Read Colossians 4.7-18. In 4.7-18: Epistolary closing. A reemphasis on the importance of maturity and commendation of persons firmly entrenched in the ethos of the new dominion. In verses 7-10: Tychicus, Aristarchus, see Acts 20.4. In verse 14: See Philem 23. In verse 15: Nymphia: Some manuscripts treat Nymphia as a female name; others as a male name, perhaps because of a scribe who did not consider the possibility of a woman's owning a house, though the patronage of women in early Christianity is generally accepted. In verse 16: The letter from Laodicea is lost, though Maricon, an early Christian writer who died around 160 CE, thought it was our letter to the Ephesians. In verse 17: Archippus, see Philem 2. In verse 18: A scribe would have written the letter, with the author approving the dictation in his own hand. Comments or Questions..

Reading for October 5th

 Read Colossians 3.18-4.6. In 3.18-4.1: Household codes governed life within the extended family. See Eph 5.22-6.9; 1 Tim 2.8-15; 6.1-2; Titus 2.1-10; 1 Peter 2.13-3.7. In verse 5: Making the most of time, see Eph 5.16. In verse 6: Seasoned with salt, carefully or wisely selected. see Mk 9.49-50; Mt 5.13. Comments or Questions..

Reading for October 4th

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE HOPE

In 2.20-4.6: Life with Christ governs regulations about food and drink, and relations with other Christians, family members, and outsiders. An initial transition (2.20-23) reveals the practical implications of death with Christ. Another transition (3.1-4) commends the life raised with Christ, followed by a vice list (3.5-11), a virtue list (3.12-17), and household duties (3.18-4.6). 

 Read Colossians 2.20-3.17. In verse 1: Right hand of God, see Ps 110.1. In verses 5-11: On the use of vice lists in Paul, see Rom 1.29-31; Gal 5.19-21. Hellenistic teachers often used vice and virtue lists to challenge their students. In verse 11: Barbarian, non-Greek. Scythian, a wild person, no longer will there be different ethnic nor groups and subgroups. The author commends ethnic and class equality but not equality of the sexes as found it Gal 3.28. In verse 16: see Eph 5.19. Comments or Questions.. 

Reading for October 3rd

 Read Colossians 1.24-2.19. In 1.24-2.19: A personal witness and warning. An autobiographical sketch describes the church's maturation (1.24-2.5) and leads to a warning against deviating from the truth (2.6-19). In 1.24: A certain amount of suffering is assumed to be necessary (see 1 Thess 3.3) before the end can arrive. Completing ... Christ's afflictions, any suffering brings the end sooner. In verses 26-27: The mystery is Christ in you, the image of Christ growing in you. In verse 29: Toil, struggle, the effort to bring about the community's maturity. See 1 Thess 2.9. In 2.6: Live your lives, "conduct" your lives, see 1.10. In verses 8-9: The warning: although the heresy appears as wisdom because of its ascetic and ritualistic practices, Christ's death and resurrection are sufficient to bring the believers lives into the new dominion. In verse 8: Takes you captive, false teachers are like robbers or kidnappers. In verses 11-12: Putting off, buried with him in baptism, baptismal images joined with spiritual circumcision to describe entry into the new life ((see Gal 3.27). In verse 14: Record, a note of debt. In verse 15: Disarmed, stripped of power. Roman emperors led  captives in a public triumphal procession. In verse 17: Shadow and substances, a familiar contrast in Greek though (see Plato's Republic 514a-518b). In verse 18: Angels worship, worship offered to angels or worship offered by angel, probably the latter. Comments or Questions..

Reading for October 2nd

 Read Colossians 1.15-23. in 1.15-23: A hymn to the universal Christ and comment on his redeeming work. Christ the cosmic agent of creation, has reconciled creation's warring elements (vv. 15-20), and the reconciled must remain faithful to their early teachings to ensure maturity (vv. 21-23). In verses 15-20: The hymn's origin is unknown, but if not Christian, it may bee an adaption from a Greek mystery religion, a Jewish text about the Son of Man and the end times, or Hellenistic Jewish wisdom text like Prov 8.22-31 or Sir 24.1-22. It easily divides into two: Christ as the agent of creation (vv. 15-18a) and Christ as the agent of redemption (vv. 18b-20). In verse 16: Christ's role in creation is like the role of Wisdom (see Prov 8.22-26; Sir 24.9). In verse 18: Head of the body, see 2.19; Eph 1.22-23. In verse 20: Reconcile, restore to friendship from enmity. See 1.22; Rom 5.10; 1 Cor  7.11; 2 Cor 5.18-21; Eph 2.16. In verses 21-23: A direct exhortation to the recipients: God has reconciled them and they will be blameless before God if they are steadfast. In verse 21: Estranged, alienated or unfamiliar with something. See Eph 2.12; 4.18. Comments or Questions..

Reading for October 1st

 Read Colossians 1.3-14. In 1.3-14: prayers and God's redemption. Two  prayers (vv.3-8, 9-12) reveal the basis of the community's growth in faith: God rescued the believers from the power of darkness and moved them into the kingdom of his beloved son (v. 13). In verses 3-8; Themes of growth and learning (1.28; 2.6; 3.10;4.12) emphasize the fruitfulness of the gospel (v. 5) in increasing the knowledge of God's will (vv. 9-10) and building the body of Christ (2.19). Epaphras (v. 7) taught hope linked to Christ, unlike the "heresy" which downplays Christ (see 2.18-19). In verse 5: Hope, no longer the firm expectation of God's promise but an object already available, laid up or stored up, though it awaits revelation. In verse 6: Bearing fruit and growing describes the gospel of God's grace. In verse 7: Epaphras, 4.12; Philem 23. In verses 9-12: A shift from past reception of the gospel to a fuller comprehension of God's will. In verse 9; Knowledge ... spiritual wisdom and understanding. All three have practical implications. Wisdom (a favorite term; see 2.3, 23; 4.5) and understanding or insight are linked in the Hebrew Scriptures or their Greek translation (see Deut 1.13, 15; 1 Kings 16.18; Isa 3.3) In verse 10: Lead, or conduct, see 2.6; 37-17; 4.5. In verse 12: Inheritance, share or allotment. In verses 13-14: This basic statement of belief recites what God has done. Comments or Questions.. 

Reading for September 30th

 Read Colossians 1.1-2. In 1.1-2: The epistolary opening. See 2 Cor 1.1; Gal 1.1. In verse 1: Saints, holy ones, believers (2 Cor 1.1; Rom 1.7; Phil 1.1; Eph 1.1). Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 29th

 Read Jeremiah 52.17-34. In verses 17-23: The capture of the sacred Temple vessels by the Babylonians underscores the end of worship life in the land. In verses 28-30: The numbers of exiles are provided, but their historical accuracy is in doubt. In verses 31-34: King Jehoiachin, also imprisoned in Babylon, survives and is restored to the table, though not yet released. The scene of the king's survival may offer a glimmer of hope to the exiles for whom the king's survival with dignity may show the way into the future. This book has been about the survival in the face of overwhelming catastrophe. If Jeremiah's words of judgment were fulfilled, then his words of hope will triumph as well. Comments or Questions

Reading for September 28th

THE END

Ch. 52: The prose conclusion to the book reports the end of national life in Judah, but neither God nor Jeremiah appear in it. The purpose of this bleak report may be to describe the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophetic word. The setting is the Exile, when Babylonian defeat is far from sight. The chapter is nearly identical to the account of Judah's fall that concludes the book of Kings (2 Kings 24.18-25.30). The narrative divides into six short scenes.

Read Jeremiah 51.1-16. In verses 1-3: King Jehoiakim and Zedekiah angered God, and Judah and Jerusalem were expelled from his presence. In verses 4-11: Zedekiah's failed escape and the tragedy of his capture and imprisonment and death suggest the possible fate awaiting Judah. In verses 12-16: The people are deported and divided with the poor remaining in the land. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 27th

 Read Jeremiah 51.59-64. In a symbolic act written in prose, Baruach's brother Seraiah, goes to Babylon under Jeremiah's directions.There Seraiah is to read the scroll containing prophecies against Babylon aloud, attach a stone to the scroll and sink it in the Euphrates River. Like the sinking scroll, so will Babylon sink from it high position. This symbolic act embodies the divine will. It needs only to come to fulfillment. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 26th

 Read Jeremiah 51.45-58. Again God calls the exiles to depart and save themselves. In verse 46: They must overcome their fears, which are being caused by rumors among them. In the future God will destroy Babylon. In verses 47-48: The cosmos will participate in the celebration. In verse 50: It is urgent that the exiles should not linger but remember that God is in Jerusalem. In verses 50-58: An imaginative portrayal of the attack ends the poetry of the book. There is a cry, smashing, crashing, for the destroyer has come against Babylon. Her leaders will be drunk, asleep, never to wake. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 25th

Read Jeremiah 51.34-44. More accusations describing Nebuchadnezzar's violence against the people of Zion accumulate. Babylon and its God, Bel, will be drunk and engorged. The superpower is ugly and out of control with its destruction of others. Comments or Questions.. 

Reading for September 24th

 Read Jeremiah 51.24-33. War preparations continue and God promises Babylon, the destroying mountain, that will be attacked. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 23rd

 Read Jeremiah 51.15-23. In verses 15-19: A hymn, perhaps representing the voice of the exiles, praises the Creator, wise and understanding, who made the earth and maintains it natural processes. Compare to the Creator, the idols are worthless. They are lifeless gods of the gold-smith. In verses 20-23: Eight times the Creator says to his weapons or his armies, I smash with you, creating a rhythmic beat of destruction. Smashed will be the nations, peoples, animals, and rulers. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 22nd

 Read Jeremiah 51.1-14. In 51.1-64: Flee. The opposing futures of Babylon and Israel continue to echo each other. in this chapter. However, for the first time God orders the exiles to flee from Babylon and return to Zion. God's power dominates these passages to show that God is the sovereign of history. Out of nothing God will create a future that will overturn systems of domination. In verses 1-5: Speaking in the first person, God plans the siege of Babylon. I am going to stir up a ... wind ... I will send winnowers. God is bringing about cosmic upheaval that  will destroy Babylon's power. In verse 5: Despite their guilt, God has not abandoned Israel and Judah. In verses 6-10: The exiles must flee. Urgent appeals to them to escape from the vengeance about to engulf Babylon open the poem. In verse 8: Babylon has been like a golden cup in God's hand but now has fallen. A voice calls  for healing balm, bit its too late. In verse 9: The exiles tried to heal Babylon but they could not, so flee to Zion to declare God's word. In verses 11-14: War preparations continue. God orders armies to make their weapons ready and to prepare ambushes. the Medes, an empire of the time, will destroy Babylon. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 21st

 Read Jeremiah 50.35-46. A curse-like poem about the sword gloats over the reversal of circumstances about to take place. It is as if chanting words about the sword would activate thrusts into the heart of Babylon. Five times the poem brings the sword against some element of Babylonian society. The last verse shifts to drought. The reason for the attack is Babylon's idolatry. In verses 41-46: The people from the north approach; they are cruel, noisy, and arrayed for battle against daughter Babylon. The agent of destruction is God, coming like a lion, coming with a plan that will make the earth tremble. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 20th

 Read Jeremiah 50.21-34. The battle preparations continue and become more vivid. In verses 23-24: Babylon, the hammer of the whole earth, will be cut down despite its great power, for the enemy of God. In verse 28: Fugitives escape from the city and run to Zion to announce the changed state of affairs. In verses 31-32: God accuses Babylon of exceeding its divine commission to punish Judah: Babylon has gone berserk in it violence. Interpretations of international events has turned upside down in this book. Here Israel and Judah are oppressed people, not guilty people. They have a future, and the enemy will be punished for excess. In verse 34: Their Redeemer will buy back the captives and give rest to the whole earth. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 19th

 Against Babylon 

In Chs. 50-51: These poems form a suitable conclusion to the book. In them the punisher is punished, the destroyer  is destroyed, and the inflictor of pain receives pain. Although earlier parts of the book interpreted Babylon as an agent of God to punish Judah, these poems see Babylon as the aggressor who oppressed Israel. They portray God as a warrior who set right the world's injustices and restores the victim's well-being. The exiles receive a vision of a future in which they will be released from the their captivity, but there is not yet energy for wild hope and dancing (chs. 30-33). 

Read Jeremiah 50.1-20. God's declaration of celebration opens the poem. The phrases express deep feeling in a few words. Babylon is taken and her gods are shamed. The agent of destruction is the mythic foe from the north. In verses 4-10: The fate of Babylon is connected to the fate of Israel, for the coming attack on Babylon will signal the return of Israel and Judah. They will come weeping to seal the covenant with God. In verses 11-16: The plunderers will be destroyed; God commands the army to take position. According to this poetry, the victory is already won, so the celebration may begin. In verses 17-20: God reinterprets Israel's history as a series of attacks upon lost sheep. They are helpless, even if sinners, and they will be pardoned. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 18th

 Read Jeremiah 48.34-39. Elam will be destroyed in a cosmic upheaval, but God will restore their fortune. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 17th

 Read Jeremiah 48.28-33. In verses 28-30: God next addresses the residents of Moab, urging them to flee and accusing them of false pride. In verses 31-33: Surprisingly, God wails for Moab. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 16th

 Read Jeremiah 48.14- 27. In verses 18-20: God warns the capital city, Dibon, addressed as a woman, that she is too is under attack. In verses 21-27: The cities of Moab are about to be destroyed. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 15th

 Read Jeremiah 48.1-13. In 48.1-47: Against Moab. This long poem concerns a traditional and bitter enemy and neighbor of Israel. In verses 1-2: God announces an invasion of Moab, whereupon a voice cries in alarm. Moab's sin is arrogance arising from its wealth and power. In verse 7; Chemosh was the chief God of Moab. In verses 11-12: Because Moab was known for its production of grapes, the poem describes Moab's complacency in terms of wine about to be poured. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 14th

 Read Jeremiah 47.1-7. In 47.1-7: Against the Philistines. There are historical difficulties witht his poem, since Philistia was not a major enemy of israel during this time. Though its city-states along the seacoast continued for a longtime, they ceased to exist as a larger unity during the Babylonian period. In the poetic world of this poem, however, God is the enemy bringing an attacker. In verses 6-7: The poem ends with the "song of the sword" in which the poet addresses God's weapon and begs it to be still, but the sword is unable to deny God's commands. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 13th

 Read Jeremiah 46.13-28. In verse 13: A prose comment identifies the human enemy as Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. In verses 14-25: The battle, however, is really between Apis, the bull-god of Egypt, and the God of Israel. In verse 17: Egypt's king is called Braggart because he boasts about power he never really had. In verses 20-24: Female metaphor's describe Egypt's vulnerability and shame. Egypt's crimes are pride and false claims to power, but the poem assures the exiles that God rules the nations. In verses 27-28: God addresses Israel with words of comfort. Israel is to put aside fear. In their exile God will sustain them and punish their enemies. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 12th

 ORACLES AGAINST THE NATIONS

Chs.46-51: These poems, confirming the survival of those who wait in obedient faithfulness, consist of a collection of prophetic poems in judgement against Israel's enemies. Their location at the end of the book gives meaning to Jeremiah's title "propjet tot he nations (1.5, 10). God's voice in these poems announces that foreign nations had been instruments of divine punishment of Israel and Judah, but soon tables will turn to create a new future. These oracles address Israel's neighbors first (chs. 46-490 and close with oracles against Babylon (chs. 50-51). 

Read 46.1-12. In 46.1-25: Against Egypt. These poems bring to poetic fulfillment Jeremiah's prophecies to the Judean remnant that escaped into Egypt (ch.s 43-44). Babylon will destroy their safe haven. In verse 2: The date of the first poem in the fourth year of Jehoiakim sets the prophecy in the years when Babylon destroyed Egyptian power in the region. This means Jeremiah's word of the destruction of Egypt came much earlier than the events themselves. For survivors in exile, the date indicaesthat God plans have long been in place and that there is hope for the future. In verses 3-12: A battle scene, similar to scenes of the cosmic battle with the foe from the north in chs. 4-6 and 8-10, opens the poems. God calls troops to prepare for war. In verses 7-12: The Nile River, famous for its flooding, resembles the rise and fall of Egypt. Egypt cannot possible defend itself since, in this poetic vision, the enemy is divine. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 11th

 Read Jeremiah 45.1-5. In 45.1-5: Baruch's role. Chapter 45 brings the Baruch account to a close and also concludes chs. 26-44. In verses 2-3: Baruch utters a lament of sorrow, pain, and weariness that follows curses upon his own people in ch. 44. In verse 4: God replies through Jeremiah with language used frequently throughout the book, I am going to break down and pluck up the whole land. In verse 5: Suffering cannot be avoided, but Baruch will survive. He will gain his life as a prize o war.  With Baruch's lament and divine response to it, the main part of the book ends on a somber note. Baruch is a weary survivor who is promised only his life. The idealized vision of chs. 30-33 is far from sight. But according to chs. 37-45, Jeremiah, Baruch, Ebed-melech and a remnant survive. Survivors must obey Jeremiah's prophetic message as conveyed in the book. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 10th

 Read Jeremiah 44.11-30. Worship of the queen of heaven exemplifies the idolatry of the exiles. Jeremiah had accused the Judean families of worshipping this astral deity in the Temple sermon (7.1-8.3). Here Jeremiah accuses the women as central participants in this worship. The women, however, speak from their experience. When they stopped worshipping the goddess, their world fell apart. In verse 26: Because of its idolatry, the believing community will disappear in Egypt. They have no future because they turned from God. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 9th

 Read Jeremiah 44.1-10. In 44:1-30: Idolatry. Jeremiah delivers a final prophetic message to the Judeans living in Egypt. In verses 1-6: The fall of Judah and Jerusalem was caused by the people's failure to listen. Those who escaped to Egypt will suffer a similar fate, if they do not leave idolatry aside. Comments or Questions..

Reading for September 8th

 Read Jeremiah 43.1-13. Johanan, the hero of ch. 42, turns insolent and accuses Jeremiah of lying and Baruch of inciting him. Both are forced into Egyptian exile against their will. They escape none of the pain of the exiles in Babylon, for they too leave their homeland as captives. In verses 8-13: Jeremiah directs a symbolic action of burying stones. Nebuchadrezzar will come and set up his rule there and destroy Egyptian deities. Comments or Questions..