Jeremiah 23e. Word Play by God.
Jeremiah 23:33.
When this people or a prophet or a priest asks you, 'What is the burden of the LORD?,' you shall say to them, 'You are the burden. I will cast you off, says the LORD'.
I love it! Word play is a rhetorical device that God favors to make his points in surprising and memorable ways. Take the example of God's work with another prophet: "the LORD said to me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A plumb line’. Then the LORD said, ‘See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will spare them no longer’” (Amos 7:8). Of course, a plumb line is used in construction to see if a brick wall is vertically perpendicular. God says to Amos, ‘Good, you see how masons test their work; metaphorically I have done the same with Israel’s society, and it is certainly out of kilter. So, I will tear it down and start again’."
In Jeremiah’s case, God plays on the word massa which has multiple meanings. In Jeremiah's time it had become a theological buzzword with a hint of disrespect for God. The word means ‘burden’ or ‘oracle’. Something like the way we use ‘heavy’, both with a physical meaning and a metaphorical one, as in “too bad your best friend double-crossed you; that’s a heavy’ (or that’s a real load). With God people apparently meant something like, "What's bothering him now?" God says, ‘You ask about the burden of the Lord? Let me tell you, you are God’s burden and he is about to abandon you!’ In other words, I am not the problem, you are.
Jeremiah 23:34-36.
And as for the prophet, priest, or the people who say, “The burden of the LORD,” I will punish them and their households. Thus shall you say to one another, among yourselves, “What has the LORD answered?” or “What has the LORD spoken?” But “the burden of the LORD” you shall mention no more, for the burden is everyone’s own word, and so you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.
'I am not the problem, you are'. What does that mean? It looks like God is tired of people pretending to be interested in what God has to say, but really, it is a bother in their lives. They even to use special terms to pretend to be in the know. God tells Jeremiah not to put up with such questions. People banty about their own interpretations, their own visions and dreams. That is the problem.
Perhaps equivalent terms that people throw around today are ‘end times prophecies’, ‘manifest’, ‘American exceptionalism’, and such. Many have their own words by which they pervert the word of God.
Up against this kind of relativism, God through Jeremiah brings out the big guns to make the difference between human inventions and God's word. To anyone pretending to have their own word, and preaching about that every Sunday, God reminds them who he is. Listen to the way Verse 36 ends.
In Hebrew: YHWH Sabaoth, Eloheinu, Elohim Hayyim.
In English: The Lord of Armies (or Hosts), Our God, The Living God.
Oh, that God! The big God, the real God! Remember him? Anybody out there not shaking in their boots by now? As Jesus said, quoting Isaiah, many hear but they do not understand (Isaiah 6:9, Luke 8:10).
Jeremiah 23:37-49.
Thus you shall ask the prophet, “What has the LORD answered you?” or “What has the LORD spoken?” But if you say, “the burden of the LORD,” thus says the LORD; because you have said these words, “the burden of the LORD,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, the burden of the LORD,” therefore, I will surely lift you up/forget you and cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your ancestors. And I will bring upon you everlasting disgrace and perpetual shame that shall not be forgotten.
Notice the running pun here about burden, lifting up, and casting away. Perhaps the alternative meaning is that God will ‘forget to carry’ or ‘drop’ Israel, then cast them away. Judah is told: ‘You will be forgotten by God, but your everlasting disgrace and perpetual shame shall not be forgotten’.
This is a strong warning against refusing to take God's word seriously and instead making up your own declarations. Perhaps things like 'Cleanliness is next to godliness' or 'God helps those who help themselves'.
Human theological inventions lead us away from God, and God dropkicks those who persist in their own wisdom. Perhaps we should rename some of our churches. Fifth Avenue Church of Everlasting Disgrace. Or Riverside Church of Perpetual Shame. That is what we risk when we listen to false prophets elaborating on their own dreams and visions about the nation, about social conventions, or about the future.