Reading for October 8th

 Read Lamentations 1.11b--22. in 1.11b-22: Jerusalem herself speaks. The speaker changes at the end of v. 11, as the woman Jerusalem speaks in the first person. She repeats themes of the first speaker: She is shamed, and the devastation is punishment from God. In verses 13-15: Net, fire: Punishments are described generally (Ps 10.9; Isa 63.3). The weight of Israel's sin is compared to a yoke worn by captives of war (Isa 9.4). In verse 16; The lack of a comforter is a repeated theme in the book. In verse 17; The voice shifts back to third person briefly. Zion (the mountain on which Jerusalem is set), Jacob (the ancestor of the Israelites), and Jerusalem are used a synonyms. Filthy things is the menstrual uncleanness of 1.9. In verse 18; The voice of Jerusalem returns, acknowledging her sin yet lamenting the pain she has experienced. In verse 20: Jerusalem's lament resembles that of Jeremiah (Jer 8.18-9.1). In verses 21-22: Again, concerned with being shamed in the face of others, Jerusalem asks that they, too, be treated according to their deeds. Day you have announced refers to the Day of the Lord, envisioned as a day of vindication against enemies (Isa 13.6-16). Comments or Questions..

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..