June 20th, 2020

Two weeks ago, the focus was on the progression in the book of Genesis. One week ago, the focus was on the progression in Exodus. It would seem only natural to look at the progression within Leviticus. So, if you are interested in such a thing, it is not too different from the progression that was seen before. There is some amount of trouble, and God comes into the picture in some way.

At the beginning of Leviticus, the LORD speaks just to Moses. Then there is the death of two of Aaron’s sons in chapter 10, and then we have the LORD speaking to Moses AND Aaron. And then, after a man blasphemes ‘the Name’ in chapter 24, he ends up being stoned to death, and then we have that special description of the LORD speaking to Moses ON MOUNT SINAI. It seems that these sinful events are making the LORD’s speech even more special. He could be much more distant; he could even be speaking less; but he does the opposite.

The Old Testament text for this Sunday is actually from the book of Jeremiah [20:7-13]. He was basically a 6th century B.C. prophet (although he also lived in the 7th century, and he started that job when he was very young). Compared to last week, this text is quite a jump in time, but it is not so much when dealing with the situation of sin or God’s solution of getting more involved. Abraham in Genesis has a close relationship with the LORD and is even called a prophet in Genesis 20:7 when he saves the life of a king. And as Moses and Aaron were very close, in Exodus 7:1, Moses is described as like God and Aaron is his prophet. (Moses did not want to do the job alone; see Exodus 4:1-16.)

The emphasis that people are most familiar with regarding Jeremiah is one of negativity. He also wrote Lamentations; he is known as ‘The Weeping Prophet’; what more could be said? Much more could be said because there is also a lot of negativity that is currently going on within the United States. The coronavirus is still an issue, and there is also a significant amount of so-called ‘civil unrest’.

The book of Jeremiah includes six ‘confessions’ (11:18-23; 12:1-4; 15:10-21; 17:12-18; 18:18-23; 20:7-18). In the words of the Concordia Self-Study Bible, with these confessions…

‘[Jeremiah] laid bare the deep struggles of his inmost being, sometimes making startlingly honest statements about his feelings toward God (12:1; 15:18). On occasion, he engaged in calling for redress against his personal enemies (12:1-3; 15:15; 17:18; 18:19-23)—a practice that explains the origin of the English word “jeremiad”, referring to a denunciatory tirade or complaint (Published by Concordia Publishing House in 1986; St. Louis, Missouri, page 1118).

You might have noticed that the text for this Sunday from Jeremiah 20 is a significant part of his last confession. Also from the Concordia Self-Study Bible is the comment that this last confession is, in some respects, ‘the most daring and bitter of them all (page 1158).’

It is interesting to note that there is a significant switch that occurs after this ‘high point’. The first twenty chapters have, for the most part, been in a chronological order. The rest of the book seems to be arranged on the basis of subject matter rather than chronology (see the Concordia Self-Study Bible, page 1159).

Just so we do not focus on simply the negative, one more point could be made with the first section of that ‘subject matter’ section. The phrase ‘the word came’ appears many times throughout Jeremiah, but within Jeremiah 21-24, it only appears once, at 21:1. The content of those four chapters is mostly negative, for the vast majority of those 94 verses. And there is admittedly a significant difference in the length of various verses. But there is some good news near the middle of that section, at Jeremiah 23:1-8.
Here is a layout of the various lengths of the chapters, along with a somewhat-literal translation of that special middle section; here is a section of particularly good news:
            Jeremiah         21                    14 verses
                                    22                    30 verses
            23:1-4 SOMEWHAT GOOD NEWS
Verses 5-6 (REALLY GOOD NEWS): Behold, the days, the coming ones, declaration of LORD, and I will raise up to David a branch, a righteous one, and he will reign a king, and he will be wise and he will do justice and right in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety, and this is his name, that he will call him, ‘The LORD, our righteousness.’
​23:7-8 GOOD NEWS
                                    23:9-40            32 verses
                                    24                    10 verses

When something significantly good is in the middle of a section, there is the chance of it being passed over. In the same way, with so many negative things going on, there is the chance of passing over that ‘central’ coming of Christ. And please do not forget that he promised that he WILL be coming again.