Please skim through Chapters 31-44 of Jeremiah, then go back an read more closely three or four chapters that seem to you particularly interesting. What do you see in these chapters that shows Jeremiah's message to be a burden. Is there anything here to suggest why that burden is worth bearing?
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Jeremiah--Discussion II
Please skim through Chapters 31-44 of Jeremiah, then go back an read more closely three or four chapters that seem to you particularly interesting. What do you see in these chapters that shows Jeremiah's message to be a burden. Is there anything here to suggest why that burden is worth bearing?
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Jeremiah's message is definitely a burden. Chapter 44 explains that because the Hebrews worshiped other gods, and because they did again and again even after He sent prophets to lead them back to the right path, he was going to bring great disaster. 44:11 says "I am determined to bring disaster on you and to destroy all Judah. I will take away the remnant of Judah who were determined to go to Egypt to settle there, They will all perish in Egypt; they will fall by the sword or die from famine."
ReplyDeleteWhile this is a great burden it is also a burden worth bearing. 31:16 says "Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded, declares the Lord. They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your future, declares the Lord. Your children will return to their own land." This shows that while God will punish the people for their sins, he will reward the remaining ones in the end.
I think in Jeremiah was bearing a Burden. In Chapter 38 he has to give a choice to the king. A king who just vowed to spare his life. He tells the king, that he can either go work with the Babylonians, or not. If he chose not to, than his city would burn. He also tells him that the women will be mistreated. This is a bad thing to have to say. It is like "Oh you saved my life, but you now have a really hard choice to make."
ReplyDeleteIt is also hard for him in Chapter 43 where every one says he is lying.
In Chapter 33 God says "I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth." That is a upside. Even if Jeremiah would not be there to see it, at least there would be peace and health at some point.
On a personal level, Jeremiah's message is a burden both mentally and physically for him because he is constantly being questioned or punished for delivering God's message. He is constantly struggling against false prophets who tarnish his message, and he is also imprisoned. Mentally, when others are calling into question the legitimacy of his message because it isn't what they want to hear, I'm sure he began to have doubts, and physically, prison in my mind just wouldn't be the place I'd want to spend much time.
ReplyDeleteYet, there are some positive notes in the message, and these are what make it worth bearing. Jeremiah 39-19 says "For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee, beacuse thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord." This promise of deliverence gives hope to both Jeremiah and those he delivers the message to.
The book of Jeremiah is definitely a burden because he has to tell the people in Judah that they a going to be punished because they did not listen to Gods words, and Jer. 32:31 shows this by saying "From the day is was built until now, this city has so aroused my anger and wrath that I must remove it from my sight." By this being said it is a burden because Jeremiah has to tell the people that they will be punished for their sins and wickedness.
ReplyDeleteThere is burden for Jeremiah since his message had so much to do with punishment, whether he had to deliver a message telling the people of Judah they were to be punished, or if it was him getting punished for delivering bad news. He was the bearer of bad news and that obviously created a burden for him. The message is worth bearing because its for the greater good. He is delivering the word of God and trying to help the people to better themselves and better their ways.
ReplyDeleteR. Casey Oberle
I the the worst part for Jeremiah would be the "don't kill the messenger" syndrome. He is told by god to inform Jehoiakim and his people all of the terrible things god will bring down upon them. In hopes that it could make them see their wrong doings and get on a better path. After his message is read Baruch is told that he and Jeremiah should flee so they don't get in trouble. This seems like a giant burden to me. How are you supposed to get a message across to a group of people if they won't listen? But in his eyes this was vital. If his people didn't heed the message it could spell doom for them. So to him the juice would be worth the squeeze.
ReplyDeleteThere are many times when God speaks of the destruction that is to come to the people because they have chosen to not follow Him time after time. In 35:14 God even speaks about the Recabite family following the words of their forefather, but that His people continue to not listen to Him. The things that will come to the people will be awful, but there is still some parts to Jeremiah that I think would make it a burden worth bearing. 33:10 "This is what the Lord says: 'You say about this place, It is a desolate waste, without men or animals." Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither men nor animals, there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord..."
ReplyDeleteThe chapters of 34-38 I believe are the most significant and memorable to me. Jeremiah is warning against working with the Egyptians, while God is giving Jeremiah the message that they will be taken captive by Nebuchadrezzar into Babylon and that Jerusalem will be destroyed by fire. It then talks of Jeremiah writing his prophecies on a scroll so that God can show Judah what he will do to them. The scroll is destroyed and then written again. The book goes on then to tell of Jeremiah trying to warn Zedekiah of the same things as before of captivity by Nebuchanezzar and not with the Egyptians. None of which is received very well and he is almost executed. This short sequence of events I think are the most memorable of "burdens worth bearing" for Jeremiah. Trying to tell his people that God wants them to go into captivity and that there is impending doom is a hard pill for most to swallow. The king revolts against him and so do the people, it is just hard to accept defeat and the reaction was to kill the messenger.
ReplyDeleteI think the simple contrast between Jeremiah's message of coming destruction and restoration (32:42) could make it a difficult burden to bear. They seem like such opposites, that I wonder if the people ever grew tired of listening simply because they didn't want to believe either. One was too awful(32:28-29) and one seemed almost too good to be true (33:9). I see how they work together, it almost seems like the message of restoration is to make the captivity bearable for the people, but still, it seems tough...
ReplyDeleteI think this message is definitely a burden for Jeremiah. He knows that what he is saying is true, but no one else will listen to him. Jeremiah knows all the horrible things that will happen and he can't get anyone to listen to him. He knows that people will suffer if they go to the Egyptions, but they don't believe him and he has to watch them go. I think this makes his message a burden.
ReplyDelete-Brianna Hamil
Chapter 38 shows that his burden is definitely heavy. He is thrown into a cistern for his message and he could have died in that cistern; people were that reluctant to live with what he was saying. Also his message is worth bearing because God promises to protect his people even through the punishment but that doesn't spare them of the punishment. Jeremiah himself was able to stay in Jerusalem and not follow the path of the other captives. -Zach Kuhlman
ReplyDeleteI think that the message that Jeremiah bears in chapters 34-38 is a burden. He has to let people know that because they did not listen to God about freeing their Hebrew slaves that they will be punished. He tells Zedekiah that if he surrenders to the Babylonians that he and the city will be spared, but if he does not, both will be burned to destruction. This message is a very hard burden to carry, and it is really taking the lesser of two evils, but one that will keep God somewhat on their side.
ReplyDeleteI think that throughout these chapters you can see how his is a heavy burden. Time and again he has to declare to the Israelites that they will be punished and taken over by Babylon, and will suffer all the curses God had told them in the Law. Because of these prophecies, Jeremiah went through a lot of trouble. He was thrown in a cistern to die, he was imprisoned, and some kings even tried to have him killed.
ReplyDeleteBut his burden was also one worth bearing. Despite all the bad things that he had to preach to Judah he also had messages of hope. Chapter 31 is a good example of this. In this chapter Jeremiah tells the people that God will one day bring them back and forgive them and make a new covenant with them that will last forever.
John Rawerts
I believe chapter 32 is a burden, because it is God is attempting to bring back Israel and Juda back, but Zedekiah throws the deed away adn angers God.
ReplyDeletebut then in chapter 33 God says that even though his anger is great, and everyone will fear him, but he still loves both Israel and Juda
jason. s
In Jeremiah 31-44, these particular are burdensom because he is telling the Hezekiah what will happen to Jeruselum and the king refuses to listen to the word of God through the mouth of Jeremiah. He knows what is going to happen and it puts his life in danger as well as the rest of the people if Hezekiah doesnt listen, and there is nothing Jeremiah can do to pursuade him otherwise.
ReplyDeleteDestruction and restoration give a message of both despair and hope. The burden is incredible, but worth bearing all the same. This message of hope transformed and indeed helped the people of Israel survive and stay together as a people even while they had no home. It is all about hope for the people of Israel.
ReplyDeleteHere is a message Jeremiah gives which, in my opinion, might be one of the hardest one's I've come across so far. "Thus says the Lord...if you will surrender to the princes of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared..." (37:17) Asking this particular nation, a people who have been through so much captivity and sufferance already, to just give up and surrender to the Babylonians would be very counter-intuitive and might have seemed like a joke to those listening, or ridiculous at least. If we give up we will NOT be put to death and our villages will NOT be burned down? From all of their other encounters they probably did not look at enemy nations as being the most merciful and as specializing in hospitality, which makes this message an extremely burdensome and risky one to give. If I were in Jeremiah's shoes, i would be worried about being laughed at, loosing face, all of Jerusalem disregarding all of the other truthful messages I've given so far (thus leading them farther astray than they already were), and being killed for saying something so strange. "Let no one know of these words and you shall not die." (This is Zedeki'ah's response to Jeremiah(38:24)). Although this portion of the story ends with Jerusalem and Judah being taken over, this message was worth bearing and saying. I doubt it's a coincidence that Jeremiah said these words and yet he was treated well when the Babylonians came to capture and ship almost everyone else off into exile. Yes, this part of the story is sad, but God's word was consistent with what happened, all the way from his telling of the many peoples which were going to (and did) fall under the rule of Nebuchadrez'zar to the rising up of the king of Judah (Jehoi'achin) to Nebuchadrez'zar's table. Since God's messages were perfectly consistent and accurate it was worth bearing them. It strengthens the belief in him, and in his foretellings shows us that we can trust in his words.
ReplyDelete