Jeremiah longs to get away from the corrupted city and to the clean loneliness of the desert. Men live in cities where everyone is trying to cheat his neighbor. According to Jeremiah a wise man will leave, and a moral God will destroy such a city. How do you discern when it is time to leave a job, or a community, or a relationship? The argument continues over circumcision. They practice an empty ritual. Much in the words of Psalm 135 sarcastic words are penned about pagan worship. Jeremiah becomes disillusioned. It seems to him that men are led to place faith in external authorities, whereas he believed that nothing short of a changed heart would be adequate to meet the demands of a moral God. Chapter 9 contains the poem of Death, the Reaper. It opens with a summons to the professional mourners to come. The mourning women are instructed to teach the lament to their daughters and beyond them to the neighboring women. It closes with heavy words-“And the corpses of men lie prone on the open field, like sheaves behind the reaper, with none to gather.” Concluding this reading is a poetic oracle in which Jeremiah expresses his shock that his relatives are plotting to murder him. As a man of fierce and intense emotions he cries for vengeance. It seems that Jeremiah has been ripped of all support except that of Yahweh. How strong will he be in his faith in this lonely time? How strong are we when we have been ripped out of a job or a relationship or a community?
Jeremiah longs to get away from the corrupted city and to the clean loneliness of the desert. Men live in cities where everyone is trying to cheat his neighbor. According to Jeremiah a wise man will leave, and a moral God will destroy such a city. How do you discern when it is time to leave a job, or a community, or a relationship? The argument continues over circumcision. They practice an empty ritual. Much in the words of Psalm 135 sarcastic words are penned about pagan worship. Jeremiah becomes disillusioned. It seems to him that men are led to place faith in external authorities, whereas he believed that nothing short of a changed heart would be adequate to meet the demands of a moral God. Chapter 9 contains the poem of Death, the Reaper. It opens with a summons to the professional mourners to come. The mourning women are instructed to teach the lament to their daughters and beyond them to the neighboring women. It closes with heavy words-“And the corpses of men lie prone on the open field, like sheaves behind the reaper, with none to gather.” Concluding this reading is a poetic oracle in which Jeremiah expresses his shock that his relatives are plotting to murder him. As a man of fierce and intense emotions he cries for vengeance. It seems that Jeremiah has been ripped of all support except that of Yahweh. How strong will he be in his faith in this lonely time? How strong are we when we have been ripped out of a job or a relationship or a community?
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