Jeremiah: Chapters 46 to 52

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CHAPTER 46

Now we get into the final parts of Jeremiah, which frankly aren’t that interesting.  They are mostly a series of curses against foreign nations.  This one is against Egypt.

It doesn’t seem like the same prophet.  I suppose it could be, but its weird reading Jeremiah show any sort of nationalistic overtones.  Well, he was never anti-Judah, just all pro-God, and if God didn’t like foreign nations either, then Jeremiah would express that.

Except I don’t really buy that.  The problem here isn’t just the subject matter, but the tone and focus.  There is a phrase I like to apply to many things in life: you can’t see the forest through the trees.  Sometimes you focus so much on the immediate and narrow view you can miss the broader picture.  Jeremiah, for all his memorable passion, is perhaps the Bible’s most tree-centric prophet.  He starts off with the big scale prophecies, but when they don’t go over well, he spends much of the rest of his time fending off enemies, feuding with his enemies, issuing curses towards his enemies, and trying not to be killed by his enemies.  When would he have time/interest for this stuff?

Also, if Jeremiah was issuing curses against all other peoples, wouldn’t that have mitigated his unpopularity in Judah? I guess he could be doing this from Egypt.  That would explain why he’s denouncing Egypt.  But he’s about to denounce everyone else in the next few chapters, and lands far away have never been Jeremiah’s focus.  (Also, there is nothing to really indicate that this part is put in chronologically in his life story).

One last thing – he is way too nice to the Hebrews.  Instead of comparing them to lusty camels or describing how and why God wants them to lose Jerusalem, he’s saying, “But you, my servant Jacob, do not fear; do not be dismayed, Israel!”  and “You, Jacob, my servant, must not fear – oracle of the Lord – for I am with you.”  Yeah, Jeremiah had some positive things to say on occasion towards his countrymen, but this time his attitude to them seems to be entirely generic.  This is nothing distinctly Jeremiah in how he views his fellow Hebrew.

CHAPTER 47

This is a short chapter in which he denounces Philistines. 

CHAPTER 48

This is a long chapter in which Jeremiah denounces Moab.  Again, after those first 45 chapters, it’s just weirdly jarring to see Jeremiah suddenly sound like some sort of Hebrew nationalist.  You can square the circle and say it still works.  Those other guys don’t believe in God either.  Yeah, but in Isaiah it’s pretty clear there are 2-3 different prophets at work.  (Either that or Isaiah lived 200 years or so).  So we already know that these books on prophecies can combine different guys.  It just strikes me as some other prophet having his words put in Jeremiah’s mouth.

CHAPTER 49

It’s a grab bag of curses: Ammonites, Edom, Damascus, Arabia, and Elam all get their turn to be curses by “Jeremiah.”  This can get awkward if you follow much of current Middle East foreign policy.  Inside Israel there is an increasingly strong right wing movement that takes inspiration and comfort from parts of the Bible that ensures the Jews that Israel is theirs.  Well, here all their neighbors are being cursed and denigrated.

CHAPTER 50

This is the first of two long chapters (110 verses in total) that curse Babylon.  Please remember that Jeremiah’s main claim to fame (or infamy in the eyes of his fellow countrymen) was that he said God wanted Babylon to take over Judah.  That was the main reason why so many wanted so badly to kill Jeremiah – he was saying this even during war when Jerusalem was under siege and running out of bread. 

Now he’s saying, “Call archers out against Babylon, all who bend the bow, encamp around them; let no one escape.  Repay them for their deeds.”  Repay them for their deeds?  You mean the deeds you earlier said God approved of them doing?

Well, not quite, as “Jeremiah” says, “For they insulted the Lord.”  Oh, OK – but how?  We don’t get much info.  If this really was Jeremiah doing a complete about face, you’d think he’d explain himself better than this.  Remember: Jeremiah earlier referred to the Babylonian king as his servant.  Not just his tool or instrument – but this servant – because he was going to destroy the kingdom of Judah.  Now the Babylonians are evil, and we need some more on why you suddenly think that, pal.

CHAPTER 51

It’s more curses against Babylon.  It’s 64 verses of redundant blah-blah-blah.  This supposed-Jeremiah at least knows the language of the original guy, as he says “What a horror Babylon has become among nations!”  Yeah, that’s just what the old guy said about Judah. 

Oh, the end of this section explains what this part is doing in the Bible.  We’re told that Jeremiah wrote down these words and had them sent to Babylon, to be read aloud.  So my hunch is that someone forged it in the name of Jeremiah and had it sent to Babylon to be passed off in his name.  Jeremiah can’t stop it.  He’s over in Egypt (assuming he’s still alive when this was written). 

Think for a second: if it were a forgery – how would Jeremiah even know about it, let alone stop it?  For that matter, how could the Jews in Babylon determine it’s authenticity?  They’d think it’s real maybe because they’d want to.  Some language is the same, and Jeremiah always was good at complaining – so sure, let’s say it’s really him.  Oh, as an added bonus, there is a big of theater to go with it.  The scroll reader is told to tie a stone to the scroll and throw it in the river, telling everyone that Babylon will sink like that stone.  Jeremiah was always good at some street theater, but that doesn’t mean it’s him.

The focus and aim of this is just too off-kilter.  It could be Jeremiah.  We have no way of knowing one way or the other.  But that’s just it – we have no way of knowing, but they assumed it was and put it in the Bible anyway.

CHAPTER 52

This is just a narrative chapter about the fall of Jerusalem.  We already read this about 10 chapters or so ago.  Plus we read it in Kings II, as well.  But we get it again.  My Bible’s footnotes say it’s inserted here to show the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy.  OK – but that already happened about 10 chapters ago. 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

This is a remarkable book.  You get a much clearer since of the individual prophet than you do in Isaiah.  You get a much clearer sense of his personality.  It isn’t always a very pretty personality.  He is petty.  He does a terrible job trying to relate to the people. In fact, I’m not sure he even cares to.  God tells him that the Hebrew are doomed and he tells everyone that.  He never tries to intercede with God like Abraham or Moses or some others.  His prophecies and demeanor end up alienating everyone.  You have to wonder what his point as a prophet was if he was just going to have so little impact on his people.

Well, his purpose as prophet wasn’t for the people then, but for those you came later.  Here’s a thought I noted earlier: without Jeremiah, does the religion survive the Captivity?  Jeremiah is able to construct the narrative that the Jews will use to explain why – if their God is so all-powerful – they lost their land, their capital, their temple, and even the ark of the Lord itself.  It would be hard to build that narrative on the fly after the fact, and if you don’t have that narrative figured out, that Judah will go the way of the 10 lost tribes of the North, and melt into the rest of the communities.  So that is Jeremiah’s purpose as a prophet.

And while he can be petty and is utterly ineffectual in his own life, he is still at times admirable.  He never does back down, no matter how low his prospects get.   His own personal trauma and internal turmoil makes him pitiable – but only to some extent.  Given that he doesn’t seem to feel much pity for anyone else, it’s hard to have much for him.

But this all misses the point.  What makes this book stick out for me isn’t trying to moralize about Jeremiah as a good or bad person or an effective or not prophet.  The most striking sense I get from him is what a compelling character he is.  He leaps off the page as a distinctive person with his own distinctive voice.  That makes this such a memorable Bible book.  

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