{"id":71708,"date":"2020-03-15T16:45:19","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T14:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71708"},"modified":"2020-03-15T16:45:19","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T14:45:19","slug":"is-jeremiahs-persecution-unjust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/is-jeremiahs-persecution-unjust\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Jeremiah\u2019s Persecution Unjust?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"71708","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":66417,"related_cahpter":"437","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"He may speak the truth, but he is unkind, vindictive and self-righteous\r\n\r\n","content":"

Things are looking bad for Jeremiah in Chapter 37. The Chaldeans (i.e., Babylonians) are getting ready to conquer Jerusalem again, this time threatening to destroy it completely. Jeremiah decides to start a new life outside of Jerusalem. However, as he is leaving the city, he is arrested. He is accused of defecting to the Chaldeans. He claims this accusation is a lie, but Jeremiah is beaten and imprisoned anyway.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Embedded in this arrest story is a fascinating subtext. The guard officer who arrests him is Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah. For close readers of Jeremiah, the name Hananiah might ring a bell.\u00a0 Back in Chapter 28, we met Hananiah son of Azzur who was described there by Jeremiah as a false prophet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hananiah prophesied that God would break the yoke of the Babylonians and that those who had already been taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar would return. Jeremiah prophesies against Hananiah, declaring that God will punish him for his disloyalty. Although Jeremiah is technically delivering God\u2019s word, Jeremiah\u2019s words against Hananiah are anything but kind. They could even be seen as a curse. As foretold, Hananiah dies later that same year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Irijah had very good reasons not to like Jeremiah \u2013 he probably saw Jeremiah as complicit or even directly responsible for his grandfather\u2019s death. For his part, Jeremiah does not seem upset over Hananiah\u2019s death and may even be happy about it. One can also understand Irijah\u2019s assumption that Jeremiah is in cahoots with the Babylonians \u2013 after all, Jeremiah has spent his entire prophetic career predicting the destruction of Judah by their hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most striking features of this situation is Jeremiah\u2019s total lack of self-awareness and sensitivity towards others. Imprisoned, with his life on the line, Jeremiah speaks to King Zedekiah. In verse 18, he asks what wrong he has done to deserve such treatment. In verse 19, he seems to mock the dead, sardonically asking where the false prophets are (such as Hananiah and others like him) who thought Judah would be spared. Then, in verse 20, Jeremiah begs for his life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeremiah shows no recognition of the consequences of his actions. He mocks his deceased rivals in one breath and then asks to be given mercy in the next.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout his career, Jeremiah seems to think that people want to kill him because he is delivering bad news of God\u2019s judgement against them. He sees himself as a truth-teller and a victim of unjust persecution. But what if Jeremiah is wrong? Perhaps people want to kill him not because of the content of his prophecies, but because he is unkind, vindictive, and self-righteous.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeremiah offers us a chance to reconsider how we see ourselves. In those moments when we need to speak hard truths to others, can we do so from a place of kindness? Doing so may be what releases us from our own prisons.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Jeremiah in the Pit, The Art Bible, with numerous illustrations, 1896, G. Newnes \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n

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