Monday 05 January 2015

Psalm: Psalm 99

Background

The prophet Jeremiah prophesied before and during the Babylonianexile in the 6th century BC, and was given the difficult task ofproclaiming to the people of Judah that God would soon punish themunless they turned from their idolatry and wrongdoing. Those whoheard the message failed to heed it, and so Jeremiah's prophecy wasaccompanied by tears for his people. His grief at the coming losshas led Jeremiah to be called the 'weeping prophet'.

In this passage, Jeremiah speaks God's warning to the people ofJudah that their persistent refusal to hear and obey the propheticword will lead to their destruction. Jeremiah contrasts thedisobedience of the people of Judah with the obedience of "thedescendants of Jonadab son of Rechbab" (v. 16), who - unlike thepeople in general - obeyed the commands of their ancestor. We knowa little about this sect within Judaism from earlier in the chapter(Jeremiah 35:1-14), which describes theirtenacious commitment to the teachings of their founder Jonadab. Themajority of the people of Judah, however, were disobedient to theword of God, and so God promises to bring upon them judgement andpunishment (verse 17). These are hard words, even if we know thaton the far side of judgement restoration would come.

The idea of God as a judge or one who executes judgement mightseem foreign to us, and yet here Jeremiah relates it to the failureof the people to listen to what God is saying. We might recall alater prophet - more than a prophet - reflecting on the samecondition in his own generation (Luke11:29-32). We are also reminded throughout the book of Jeremiahthat the God who judges is the same God who shows mercy (Jeremiah 31:20), and that a time will come whenGod will establish a "new covenant" and remember the sins of hispeople no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

To Ponder

• How do you react to the idea of God's judgement?

• In what ways do you think those within the Church refuse tolisten to God?

• How can we become better 'hearers' of the word that God givesus?