Year 2, Week 13, Day 1 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 13, Day 1

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Jeremiah 23.

Today’s reading continues the second segment of Jeremiah. This second segment of Jeremiah (chapters 21-29) consists of two sets of messages that provide specific historical contexts. Today’s reading concludes the first message (chapters 21-23) of this segment, which is set in the year 588 BC, just before the fall of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 23 opens with a strong denunciation against Judah’s shepherds: “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:1). In the Old Testament, the term shepherd is not simply used for those who literally tend sheep; it is also a term that refers to the political and religious leaders of Israel. The shepherds who were being cursed were the kings, prophets, and priests, who had been unfaithful to the LORD. These shepherds were found to, “have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:2b). Instead of drawing in the sheep and caring for them, the shepherds drove them off. Jeremiah 23 ends with an exchange between Jeremiah and the false prophets. The false prophets claim to have a “burden from the LORD,” in terms of the message that they proclaimed. However, LORD regards the false prophets as a burden that He will get rid of: “Because you have said these words, “The burden of the LORD,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the LORD,’” therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten” (Jeremiah 23:38b-40).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the promise of a new Davidic King: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: The LORD is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:5-6). The new Davidic King will be named: “The LORD is our righteousness.” The historical context for this message from Jeremiah corresponds to the time when Zedekiah was King (see Jeremiah 21:2-3). Ironically, Zedekiah’s name meant: “YAHWEH is my righteousness.” Zedekiah had the name, but he wasn’t: “Zedekiah…did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (2 Kings 24:18-19). He was the last of the Davidic Kings, but “a righteous Branch” would be raised up, who would “execute justice and righteousness,” in contrast to the charges stated in the previous chapter against the current kings: “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice” (Jeremiah 22:12).

The promise to David would remain: "And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). However, the end of the previous chapter added a twist: “Thus says the LORD: “Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah” (Jeremiah 22:30). How does the Davidic line continue forever, when the Davidic line would come to an end? The current Davidic line of unfaithful shepherds would come to an end, but God would bring forth a new branch from David: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit…Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins” (Isaiah 11:1,5). The unjust, unrighteous branch would be replaced by a just and righteous one: “Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son!” (Psalm 72:1).

And the new Davidic King will bring about a new Exodus: “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land” (Jeremiah 23:7-8). The nations trembled as they heard of the LORD’s power at the first Exodus: “For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction” (Joshua 2:10). But now the LORD will enact a new Exodus from the very people that He would be sending His people into exile: “Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives…Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing“(Isaiah 43:14,16-19)

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

Pastor Joe