Jeremiah 10c. Denial: It's not us; it's them.

 Denial. Some people live in that excuse as long as they can. One says: ‘Our nation is at risk’. Another answers: ‘Oh, really; we’re not as bad as other nations’. ‘We are headed for a recession’. ‘Eggs are cheaper; the economy is doing fine’. ‘OK, this conversation is going nowhere’. 

 The passage of Scripture before today’s study was a hymn of praise for the wonderful God that we adore: “It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.” 

 Judah says, “Isn’t he great? And, he is our God; he is ‘the LORD, the portion of Jacob’.” 

 Question: Do we have a right to claim that God is on our side when we deny our Lord’s commands and reject God’s mission in the world? Is he ‘our Lord’, no matter what?

Remember, just a chapter ago, God listed a variety of sins of disobedience, especially the yearning to follow other idols or ideologies. At that, God says, “Shall I not punish them for these things?, … and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?” 

 What is denial? When people say, ‘Ignore that part of God’s word! Move along; nothing to see here’.   

17-18.  Gather up your bundle from the ground,   

O you who live under siege!

For thus says the LORD:

‘I am going to sling out the inhabitants of the land 

at this time,

and I will bring distress on them,   

so that they shall feel it’.

 The people might say: ‘What is this weeping prophet talking about? God has never caused us trouble as long as we go through the worship rituals for him every once in a while. I go to temple/synagogue/church two Sabbaths out of every month'. 

 Such is the pretense. ‘I’m doing my duty and God is satisfied’. Well, here is what the prophet is saying. ‘Perhaps you do not see a siege around you, but they are coming, they are coming, they are here! What will happen? Bundle your necessities. No need for bundling your house and car insurance; you will have neither house nor car. Now, hold on tight, because God is going to load you into a sling like David did with the smooth stones. Then God will “sling out the inhabitants of the land, … and they shall feel it,” because it will happen fast and it will make their heads swim and their stomachs churn.  

19-21.  Woe is me because of my hurt!   

My wound is severe.

But I said, ‘Truly this is my punishment, 

and I must bear it’.

My tent is destroyed,   

and all my cords are broken;

my children have gone from me, 

and they are no more;

there is no one to spread my tent again   

and to set up my curtains.

For the shepherds are stupid   

and do not inquire of the LORD;

therefore, they have not prospered,   

and all their flock is scattered.

 As a shepherd, David guarded the flock, and he used his sling against lions and bears (I Samuel 17: 36). God has said through Jeremiah that the people have been led to worship idols and foreign gods, “to their own hurt” (Jeremiah 7: 19). Who has been shepherding this flock? It should be the leaders: the king, the priests, the other prophets. 

But Jeremiah charges that “the shepherds are stupid.” What is the sign of stupidity; “they do not inquire of the LORD.” Instead, there has been a constant flood of ‘disinformation’ that does not recognize God and does not appreciate God’s commands for how to treat other people in the world. God has made it clear that he works with chesed, mishpat, and tzedakah, and that God expects us to act that way too. With those who are not ‘us’ but belong to ‘them’, the other group, God tells us to act with ‘steadfast love’, ‘justice’, and ‘righteousness’ (which is the ethical treatment of the marginalized and vulnerable). Given how we treat the poor and the alien, do you think that there is still time for our nation to get it right?

22  Hear, a noise!

Listen, it is coming—   

a great commotion from the land of the north

to make the cities of Judah a desolation,   

a lair of jackals.

 The urgency leads Jeremiah to call upon the name of the Lord. This is exactly what people did in response to Lamech’s claim that he will exact hyper-vengeance (Genesis 4:26b). 

23-24.  I know, O LORD,

that the way of humans

is not in their control,   

that mortals as they walk

cannot direct their steps.

Correct me, O LORD,

but in just measure;   

not in your anger,

or you will bring me to nothing.

 Read carefully. First of all, this is a plea for leniency, that God, as a judge, might reduce the criminal sentencing and thus lighten up on the punishment. God is full of mercy; so surely he will hear this plea and respond favorably, won’t he? But, the people are whistling in the wind. 

 The truth is that God has already been lenient, has slapped their hands time and again (sending prophets and punishment), but the leaders and the people have not learned the lesson. After hundreds of years, the people now have to reckon with the wrath of God, and nobody wants to face God’s anger where no one survives.

 Second, Jeremiah has a secondary plea to deflect God’s wrath. Perhaps it comes from Psalm 79 which pleads with God to avert his gaze on Israel. Or as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof said: “I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t you choose someone else?”

 Here is what Psalm 79 says.

“Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation” (verses 6-7). 

 Here is what Jeremiah’s prayer says.   

25.     Pour out your wrath on the nations

that do not know you   

and on the peoples

that do not call on your name,    

for they have devoured Jacob;   

they have devoured him and consumed him   

and have laid waste his habitation.

So, this chapter of Jeremiah ends with a prayer for leniency linked to a plea that God take out his anger on someone else. What do you think of that?

 Kind of ironic, isn’t it, for the people of the Kingdom of Judah to say, ‘It’s not us, it’s them. Go get ‘em!’  The division of ‘us–them” is very useful for a guilty nation. Who are the ‘them’ that you would prefer to suffer in your stead?