Sunday 23rd August
Read Jeremiah 4:29-31
“At the sound of horsemen and archers
every town takes to flight.
Some go into the thickets;
some climb up among the rocks.
All the towns are deserted;
no one lives in them.
30 What are you doing, you devastated one?
Why dress yourself in scarlet
and put on jewels of gold?
Why highlight your eyes with makeup?
You adorn yourself in vain.
Your lovers despise you;
they want to kill you.
31 I hear a cry as of a woman in labour,
a groan as of one bearing her first child –
the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands and saying,
‘Alas! I am fainting;
my life is given over to murderers.’” (NIVUK)
The final scene in Jeremiah’s nightmare visions describes Jerusalem as a daughter. The route to her walls is undefended for everyone has fled at the coming of the enemy. She foolishly holds out hope that she can seduce those coming to destroy her, a reference perhaps to further treaties and alliances that may avert the coming disaster. However, the final scene is decisive – the dying breath of those murdered captured in verse. We wrestle with the stubbornness of a people who would try anything at all to resist repentance. There is a sadness and hopelessness in these final words.
Yet within them there are glimpses of hope. There is offspring, a remnant perhaps, that may survive. John also saw a vision of a woman in labour bearing a son (cf Revelation 12). That Son would eventually stretch out His hands and cry out for relief whilst fainting because He was given over to murderers… God Himself would be no stranger to the suffering about to be inflicted upon His people.
