GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (28) The (first) sermon you never want to have to preach, part V

“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.  If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” (Dt. 30.15-20)

 

     Jeremiah’s Temple sermon (7.1 – 8.3) consists of a terrifying verdict – the divine ruling is that the people of God have irrevocably broken their covenant with Yahweh; i.e., they have rejected the life that God had promised them would be a result of faithfulness and instead have chosen death.  As Judah has consistently refused to listen to Yahweh, so now Yahweh refuses to listen to intercessions on behalf of his people (7.13, 16, 23-26).  The message of this sermon could be summed up with the prophet Samuel’s phrase “obedience is better than sacrifice” (cf. 1 Sm. 15.22-23).  The nation of Judah has failed to do what Yahweh commanded them (7.5-10, 23-28) and “religiously” continued to offer sacrifices which Yahweh did not request, whether in the Temple (i.e. animals: 7.21-22; cf. 6.20) or in the Valley of ben-Hinnom (i.e. children: 7.30-31).

     The deeply disturbing vision of Jeremiah describes the total annihilation of the nation of Judah.  Jeremiah’s objective in proclaiming this message is to wake the people up to the stark reality of their situation.  The Judahites believed that they could hold the covenant with Yahweh in contempt all the while “taking shelter” in the very Temple of Yahweh himself!  Indeed, Jeremiah compares the inhabitants of Jerusalem to robbers who roam and rampage far and wide, only to return to the safety of their den after their criminal sorties (cf. Jer. 7.11).  Jeremiah denounces the “deceptive words” (7.4, 8) of the false (official) prophets (cf. Jer. 8.1) that are luring the people into a false sense of security and predicts the destruction of the very sanctuary that the Judahites are counting on for protection from their enemies, as their predecessors attempted to use the ark of the covenant as a good luck charm against the Philistines (7.9-14; cf. 1 Sm. 4-5).  Jeremiah announces to his contemporaries that they are the generation that has finally provoked Yahweh’s wrath, which will flame out and consume everything in its path (7.20, 27-29).

     Jeremiah states that the Valley of ben-Hinnom, where the people of Jerusalem sacrificed their children to Molech, will become their own mass grave and that wild animals will devour their corpses (7.32-33).  But the vision becomes even more gruesome: the very bones of the inhabitants of Zion will be left scattered and exposed in the valley “like dung on the ground” (Jer. 8.1-2; cf. Ez. 37.1-14[1]).  The sermon concludes with the haunting affirmation that “death shall be preferred to life” by the survivors of the sacking of the City of David (8.3).  Indeed, the message is clear: “one reaps what one sows”.  By breaking the covenant, faithfulness to which would have resulted in long life in the Promised Land, the people of God had long demonstrated their preference for the way of death, and now the chickens would finally come home to roost.


[1] This passage in Ezekiel announces hope, even for sun-bleached bones!

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