Year 2, Week 11, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 11, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Jeremiah 4-5.

Today’s reading continues the first segment of the Book of Jeremiah. As Jeremiah’s ministry to Judah unfolds, Jeremiah 4 concludes the prophets call for Judah to repent and begins warning of the sure destruction that awaits them if they refuse to turn back to the LORD: “Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, “Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!’ Raise a standard toward Zion, flee for safety, stay not, for I bring disaster from the north, and great destruction” (Jeremiah 4:5-6). The LORD is raising up a nation (the Babylonians) who will overrun Jerusalem. Even as the destruction was drawing closer, the LORD, through the prophet, was urging that His people return to Him: “Behold, he comes up like clouds; his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles—woe to us, for we are ruined! O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?” (Jeremiah 4:13-14). Jeremiah 5 confronts the insincerity of the people who love the ways of the false prophets and the wicked priests: “Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?” An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?” (Jeremiah 5:29-31).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the significance of Jeremiah’s demand that Judah change their hearts: “For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds” (Jeremiah 4:3-4). The people’s hearts were hard and unresponsive toward the LORD. The hearts were uncircumcised. Thus, they had not the appropriate posture before the LORD. This was a serious matter, not only in terms of the nature of Judah’s relationship with the LORD, but also in terms of the role that they were to play in bringing the nations to the LORD: “If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver, and if you swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory” (Jeremiah 4:1-2). Israel was called to belong to the LORD so that they would be a witness to the nations: “you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5b-6a). This commission was established at the very same time that God called Abraham to Himself: “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3).

Israel’s failure of mission was a failure of truly living in relationship with the LORD. Their hearts were not in it (concerning either their mission or even more fundamentally, their walk with the LORD). This heart defect was not a recent trend, for Jeremiah’s words reflect the command Moses gave: “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD…Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn” (Deuteronomy 10:12-16). Israel’s holiness, which was to flow from their heart, was crucial to their mission. The mission would fail as they failed in holiness. Their failure in holiness revealed heart failure. Israel would be unable to show the nations that their God was the one true God when their own hearts refused to honor Him as God and instead chased after the false gods of the nations. Instead of being unique, Judah was typical: “For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are ‘wise’—in doing evil! But how to do good they know not” (Jeremiah 4:22). Without heart repentance, they would fail—fail in their walk with the LORD and fail in their mission.

So, true repentance consists of a turning to the LORD Himself, “to me you should return.” Couple with turning to the LORD, true repentance carries out a life of moral integrity, “if you swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness.” Repentance includes a commitment to get rid of anything that crowds out the first two considerations, “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.” But these matters require a new heart—a circumcision that only the LORD Himself can do: "And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6). Jeremiah will not only acknowledge Moses’ call for a circumcised heart, he will soon explore Moses’s promise that the LORD would circumcise His people’s hearts. Therefore, while repentance is a command of God; repentance requires a work of God.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe