Thursday 17th September
Read Jeremiah 9:1-6
“Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for the slain of my people.
2 Oh, that I had in the desert
a lodging place for travellers,
so that I might leave my people
and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,
a crowd of unfaithful people.
3 ‘They make ready their tongue
like a bow, to shoot lies;
it is not by truth
that they triumph in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
they do not acknowledge me,’
declares the Lord.
4 ‘Beware of your friends;
do not trust anyone in your clan.
For every one of them is a deceiver,
and every friend a slanderer.
5 Friend deceives friend,
and no one speaks the truth.
They have taught their tongues to lie;
they weary themselves with sinning.
6 You live in the midst of deception;
in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,’
declares the Lord.” (NIVUK)
The weeping prophet. Jeremiah looks upon his people and their fate and he weeps. He is overwrought and overcome (v1).
The mixed feelings that arise when those whom one loves are imperfect is in evidence here. The psychological truth laid bare. For whilst he weeps for them he also wishes to be far from them (v2).
Why? Because though he loves them they hurt him. Truth decay has revealed itself not simply in their idolatry but also in their relationships. They are untrustworthy and deceitful in all their ways. Echoing famous lyrics, ‘Words are like weapons, they wound sometimes…’. Friends and family will betray him (v4) and he simply wants to run away and hide (v2a).
The life of Jeremiah resembles that of Jesus. He too was betrayed by those closest to Him, He too wept over the fate of Jerusalem. One wonders if it was these qualities that caused those who watched Him to wonder if He was Jeremiah redivivus (cf Matthew 16:14)? Or was it His forthright speech and message of fire? Or both?
