Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Book of Jeremiah 16-18

Jeremiah 16-18

God starts off with a friendly warning to Jeremiah;

6:2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.
Why?  Because he's going to cause the deaths of every man, woman and child in the neighborhood.

16:4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth:and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

Once again this loving god is going to kill innocent women and children and let their bodies be eaten by wild animals because their fathers have forsaken him.
I can understand when God ignores the people that stop worshiping him, but to actively seek out and kill them (especially the women and children) is unacceptable.
His stated reason is a show of power and ego.

16:21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.

Great writing here!
17:1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;

The last part of chapter 17 seems to indicate that God will revitalize Jerusalem if his people will just observe the sabbath and take the day off!  Sounds like an easy enough task!

Jeremiah gets really paranoid in chapter 18, like most of the previous prophets.  His dementia can't be total if he suspects that others will think he's making all this stuff up.  After all God himself said that prophets are liars!


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1 comment:

  1. EdwardOctober 11, 2011 at 8:01 PM

    @Bruce,

    Once again this loving god is going to kill innocent women and children and let their bodies be eaten by wild animals because their fathers have forsaken him.

    I would suggest reading 16:12 again: And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:

    His stated reason is a show of power and ego.

    Or is it He's showing them who the real God is? They have spent so much time worshipping their false gods and doing wicked acts. If you remember God did the same thing to the Canaanite's. So ya we know their false gods had no power. However who's going to prove it to the people? Not only the Israelites, but the other nations around as well.

    After all God himself said that prophets are liars!

    It's a good practice to keep things in context. You made this comment:
    God also tells a prophet that prophets are liars!

    earlier about verse 14 in chapter 14. In verse 13 of that same chapter Jeremiah is talking with God and telling God what the other "prophets" are saying. And God is then telling Jeremiah that they are lying. I accept your view on my lack of critical thinking, however i do expect an exemplar example from you. If you don't demonstrate it with the Bible, why should i expect it from any other book we study?

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