Mike Blogs

Jeremiah 4: 19-22. My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Disaster overtakes disaster; the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment. How long must I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?“ For my people are foolish; they do not know me; they are stupid childre

David was on the run from his maniacal father-in-law, King Saul. He left his wife behind. Michal was Saul’s daughter, as we are often reminded in I Samuel 18. That relationship got more complex as Michal was pulled between her father and her husband. David’s first wife was not so merry after all. Eventually, Saul gave her to another man. David was hiding out in the wilderness of Paran in southern Israel, west of the Dead Sea. I Samuel 25 describes a rich man who was living t

Remember that Baruch the scribe recorded various prophetic sermons that Jeremiah preached. We cannot tell for sure where one ends and another begins, but this looks like the beginning of a new sermon. Let’s see. Jeremiah 4: 5-8. Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: Blow the trumpet through the land; shout aloud (take your weapons), and say, “Gather together, and let us go into the fortified cities!” Raise a standard toward Zion; flee for safet

A disclaimer right up front, maybe two disclaimers. First, I just stole a title from Shakespeare; there is no evidence that David’s wives were merry. Some were downright sad, at least part of the time. Second, in the story as told in the Bible, David is the main character; the wives ranged from little voice to no voice. They were in the midst of internal political strife in Israel; and they were often pawns or peripheral to the disputes (no surprise there!). Yet, they had a