Jeremiah:

Passages that stood out —

  • Jeremiah 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart  and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct,  according to what their deeds deserve.” struck one person in terms of his beliefs — God will search the heart and reward according to acts. Seems to sum up Old Testament versus the New Testament. Others thoughts that then it would mean that only what we did mattered. In New Testament — We don’t have to bear consequences in the same sense. Jesus helped us move past that. Ezekiel seems to say where ones heart is before die is what is important. Even on death bed if one turns to God they will be forgiven.
  • Jeremiah 17:7-8 ““But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,  whose confidence is in him.
    They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes;  its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” A sense of endurance and perseverance. The imagery of tree by water seems to come up in a number of places and gives a sense of the source of life.

In beginning of the Bible it seems God isn’t merciful but now it seems to be changing – people have a chance to repent.

Jeremiah and Ezekiel have a lot to say in setting stage for the fall of Jerusalem — in terms of the history they referenced were people surprised? It hadn’t been clear before reading Jeremiah and Ezekiel that there were 2 invasions of Jerusalem. First king taken was taken and the second, who was put in charge by Babylon then rebelled and sought help from Egypt.

Lamentations:

Lamentations are 5 songs of sorrow for fall of Jerusalem…it highlighted there is sorrow but there are also positive highlights. It shows that there were still true believers in all the chaos.

Lamentations speaks to the importance of grief being a spiritual process and honoring our grief. We often gloss over it and say “get over it.” Title “Lamentations” is important — names something that people are often unwilling to name.

Lamentations 3:31-33 “For no one is cast off  by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.  For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.” — God’s forgiveness. Even though Lamentations is sad, this says God wants to forgive you and God does not enjoy not forgiving.

Lam. 3:22-24 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion;  therefore I will wait for him.’”— hopeful statement in the middle of lamentations. Even when we do bad, God is still for us and with us — being there no matter what.

Lamentations 2:11-12 “…because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.  They say to their mothers, ‘Where is bread and wine?’”– reference to children and wine. Interesting what the cultural view of wine was.

Ezekiel:

Ezekiel starts with a big bang — Ezekiel was spoken by God to in a much different way than the other prophets — Starts with a psychedelic like vision. One person noted she stopped reading and googled the meaning of the vision because she was trying to put it together in her head what she saw from the description. Interesting how something like what Ezekiel described could be created — Circle within circle with eyes, wings, extra heads — how is this possible? Some took vision as not literal but symbolic– secretive concepts — wheels within wheels, plots within plots, twists and turns. Saw a lot of symbolism in vision. As reading, some were trying to visualize. Striking that the wheels and cherubim were described as in sync and in one accord with God.

The initial vision made the whole book harder to digest for some because of the types of visions were different from those of the other prophets. It may speak to the different ways people learn. Maybe Ezekiel brought through symbolism because it was easiest way for him to receive the message. For example, when he was told to make a model of Jerusalem and show it under siege it was to visualize the concept for people because different people learn different ways.

Chap. 3:2 – “ So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.” Was this literal? Maybe symbolic to suggest digesting, consuming, allow what was written on the scroll to nurture and be a part of Ezekiel. But it is helpful to look at scripture both ways – literal and symbolic –and examine the meaning of both. But, it’s not beyond the realm for him to actually have eaten a scroll — manna was probably something that had a paper-like consistency. How you read a scripture is often what speaks to your heart.

Chap. 3:15 – “I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days—deeply distressed.” It was not clear what he was distressed about.

Ezekiel 33:15-16 – “if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live.” This seems to foreshadow Christianity. In Ez. 18:21 it says the same thing. Thought that this was important since he said it twice.

Ezekiel 37 — Story about the bones. “Can these bones live?” “God you know…” sums up a lot of these things. Is that symbolic? Did the bones actually live?

Ezekiel 47:21-22 “You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners residing among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.” — Foreigners getting to share an allotment. Ezekiel seems to also have a lot of foreshadowing of One Shepherd and David.

Ezekiel’s tasked as a watchman – gives a sense of community and responsibility. Starting at 3:16 and also mentioned in Chap. 33 — it seemed to be a lot of responsibility — to be held accountable for others. But, maybe it’s reminding us that when we stay silent for example in the face of injustice we may also be partly to blame.

The Pastor recommended the book “Eat this Book” by “Eugene Peterson” for future reading.