GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (26) The (first) sermon you never want to have to preach, part III

 


“[Josiah] commanded the high priest Hilkiah…to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven;

he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 

He deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who made offerings to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the host of the heavens. 

He brought out the image of Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the Wadi Kidron, burned it…beat it to dust and threw the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. 

He broke down the houses of the male temple prostitutes that were in the house of the Lord, where the women did weaving for Asherah… 

He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of Ben-hinnom, so that no one would make a son or a daughter pass through fire as an offering to Molech. 

He removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord…then he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 

The altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down from there and broke in pieces, and threw the rubble into the Wadi Kidron. 

The king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites…

Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin—he pulled down that altar along with the high place.

He burned the high place, crushing it to dust; he also burned the sacred pole.”

(2 Kings 23.4-15)

 

     Though Josiah – the (grand)father of the last 4 kings of Judah – had undertaken a major religious reform of the nation (cf. 2 Kgs 22-23), his reform died with him.  As Jeremiah’s “Temple sermon” continues, he indicts the people of God for their worship of false gods.  As we saw in chapter 2, the dominating metaphor for Israel’s idolatry is that of “adultery”.  The prophets don’t shy away from frequently applying the epithet of “whore” to the people of God (e.g., Jer. 3.1-5; Ez. 16.15-58).  Israel is a chronic cheater – she is constantly betraying the God who chose, rescued, guided and provided for her by giving her allegiance/trust[1] (i.e., faith) to other gods who can do nothing for her besides rob her of her humanity. 

     Jeremiah condemns the “familial cult” of the Queen of Heaven (Jer. 7.18).  This may refer to Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of war, love and fertility or her Canaanite counterpart Astarte or Asherah (cf. Jer. 17.2).[2]  Because of his people’s idolatry, Yahweh announces the outpouring of his “burning wrath” (7.20; cf. Jer. 4.4).  Indeed, oracles denoting the wrath of God, the intent and threat of destruction, are found more frequently and expressed more strongly in Jeremiah than in any other prophet.[3]  Not for the first time, Yahweh tells his people that obedience is better than sacrifice (the main purpose of the Temple; cf. 1 Sm. 15.22).  A lifestyle of justice is God’s priority, not (empty) religious ritual (Jer. 7.21-24).


[1] Cf. Beale, G.K. We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry, Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2008, p. 17: Your god is “whatever your heart clings to or relies on for ultimate security.  The idol is whatever claims the loyalty that belongs to God alone”.

[3] Heschel, Abraham J. The Prophets, New York: HarperCollins, 2001 [1962], p. 134.

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