30 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, That abhor justice, and pervert all equity, 35 The heads thereof judge for reward, And the priests thereof teach for hire, 40 No evil shall come upon us.' Therefore shall Zion, on your account, be plowed as a field And the mountain of the house, as the high places of the We see that two prophets of the same generation, influenced by differing traits and experiences, differed radically in their judgment as to the outcome of political events, but each based his theory upon his conception of the character of Jehovah as an ethical God, demanding right relations between man and man, as well as between God and man. In the words of a later prophet: "What doth Jehovah require of thee, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with thy God?" 1 The mountain of the house: The Temple hill. 2 Note in the last lines of this selection the climax of the arraignment. The people assuring themselves that Jehovah cannot desert them see no cause for serious alarm. The prophet sees them doomed to captivity, and their land a desolation. The picture contained in the first strophe is so strong as to be almost repulsive. Is it not however almost as appropriate a representation of some existing conditions today? CHAPTER XI JEREMIAH AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM The long and wicked reign of Manasseh in Judah (685-641 B.C.) served to establish more firmly than ever idolatrous worship and the immoral practices of the people. Of the prophets of Jehovah, some perished in a general persecution, others were silenced for the time. That those who survived were not inactive is evidenced by later events. Manasseh was succeeded by his son Amon whose reign of less than two years, ending in assassination, was not distinguished in morals and religion from that of his father. Perhaps the death of this worthless monarch may have been directly or indirectly the result of feeling stirred up by priests and prophets of Jehovah, for it would seem that the eight-year-old boy, Josiah, the son of Amon, who was placed upon the throne at the death of his father was watched over by both priests and prophets with jealous care. During all this period, faith seems to have been kept with Assyria and the fate of rebellious vassal kingdoms avoided. But about 626 B.C. a new foe appeared upon the horizon of western Asia, and Palestine lay in the path of the invaders. The Scythians were a nomadic people, rude and barbarous, but apparently invincible in war, who originated in southeastern Europe, and spread eastward throughout central Asia. Little is known of them. Herodotus is responsible for the statement that at about this date a horde of uncivilized and brutal Scythians swept eastward and southward seeking to overthrow the Medes, a people from the northwest who had their eyes fixed upon the riches of the Assyrian kingdom, and the fertile valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Herodotus reports that the Scythians became masters of Asia, and sought to extend their conquests to Egypt, but were met by the king of Egypt in Palestine, and in response to tribute and entreaties turned back upon their path. Whatever may have been the exact extent of their conquests, a wave of terror must have spread before them, heralding their approach. In Judah, lying directly in the path to Egypt, with all her outlying defenses swept away by previous invaders,' the outlook was most alarming. Oppressive as was the Assyrian yoke, it was preferable to the barbarous conquests of this new foe. The Call of Jeremiah We are not surprised under the circumstances to see a prophet of Jehovah again at the front, warning, counseling and consoling. Jeremiah of Anathoth,2 in Benjamin,3 the son of a priest, living in a community of priests, tells a poetic and passionate story of his call to be a prophet to his people.4 Now the word of Jehovah came unto me saying, "Before I formed thee I knew thee, and before thou wast born I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations." Then said I, "Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, I know not how 5 to speak, for I am a child."5 ΙΟ 15 But Jehovah said unto me, “Say not, I am a child; for to whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid because of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee," saith Jehovah. Then Jehovah put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Jehovah said unto me, "Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth: see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, "Jeremiah, what seest thou ?” 1 See chap. ix, pp. 118-25, on the invasions of Sennacherib. 2 *Anathoth: A community of priests from early times from which possibly groups of priests were accustomed to go by turns to minister in the temple in Jerusalem, about three miles distant. The family of Jeremiah was among the land owners of this village. The custom of celibacy was not followed by Hebrew priests, and they lived with their families when not on duty at the temple. Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, a priest, and was in all probability himself trained for the priesthood. His sympathetic and passionate nature would quickly rebel against the devotion of his life to the formal and empty ceremonies of the temple worship. 3 *Benjamin: See tribal map, opposite p. 8. 4 Jer. 1:4-19 (revised from Am. Standard Rev. Ver.). 5 I am a child: That is, young and inexperienced for so great a task as that to be imposed upon him. "As in the case of Isaiah, we see here the effect of later experience upon the story of the prophetic call. 20 And I said, "I see a rod of an almond-tree." . Then said Jehovah unto me, "Thou hast well seen: for I watch over my word to perform it." And the word of Jehovah came unto me the second time, saying, "What seest thou?" And I said, "I see a boiling cauldron;2 and the face thereof is from the north." Then Jehovah said unto me, "Out of the North evil shall 25 break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the North,3 and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And 30 I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed 35 at them, lest I dismay thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight 40 against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee," saith Jehovah, "to deliver thee." The Scythian Invasion a Punishment for Idolatry A "boiling cauldron" was an apt description of the surrounding nations during the eventful fifty years which followed the day on which Jeremiah's conviction of his mission drove him to his work. 1 An almond tree: The significance of this comparison is lost in the English. It depends upon a similarity between the Hebrew word for the almond tree, which bloomed when other trees were bare, and the word for watching, or to be wakeful, the mental picture of the tree suggesting to the prophet the act of watching. 2 A boiling cauldron: That is, just ready to boil up and discharge its contents: a figure of the disaster which was brewing in the North, already manifesting itself as a menace to Judah. 3 The kingdoms of the North: The North was an unknown country to the inhabitants of Palestine. Out of it had already come great nations, and beyond might be many more. 4 A fortified city: The assurance of strength at the very outset of his ministry was most inspiring, but we shall see that it may well have been the expression of Jeremiah's own sense of his power of resistance as it was developed in his experience. To him as to all true worshipers of Jehovah in his day, the Scythians represented the scourging wrath of Judah's God on account of the shortcomings of his people. Judah's apostasy was to them sufficient cause for the employment of another dread nation as the instrument of Jehovah's chastening. One of the prophets, a little later but under similar circumstances, however, voiced the question of many hearts: "Why does Jehovah use a wicked nation to execute his purposes against his disobedient people ?" There was to them no satisfactory answer, but the fact that he did use heathen nations for this purpose seemed only too apparent. In this situation Jeremiah lamented over the sins of his people and made passionate appeals to them to return to Jehovah, and so avert disaster. It was against idolatry,2 as representing the primal sin of disloyalty to Jehovah, that Jeremiah directed his early efforts. 3A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Jehovah their God. "Return ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings.' 5 "Behold, we are come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our God. Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel. But the shameful thing hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks IO and their herds, their sons and their daughters. Let us lie 4 down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God." I Viz., Habakkuk. 2 Idolatry: The idolatry of this period was not only widespread, but universal in character. The worship of Jehovah was not by any means abandoned, but it was placed on a level with the worship of the heavenly bodies, of images, and of powers of Nature. Many phases of worship in these various cults were far more attractive to the mass of the people than the older forms of Jehovah worship. Doubtless in the temple and at the high places Jehovah himself was frequently worshiped through heathen rites and ceremonies. The ethical qualities of justice and simplicity required by Jehovah in his worship were entirely lost sight of, and his demands were accounted just such as those supposed of other gods. 3 Jer. 3:21-4:2 (revised from Am. Standard Rev. Ver.). 4 The shameful thing: that is idolatry. |