Friday 25th September
Read Jeremiah 10:14-16
“Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
The images he makes are a fraud;
they have no breath in them.
15 They are worthless, the objects of mockery;
when their judgment comes, they will perish.
16 He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the Maker of all things,
including Israel, the people of his inheritance –
the Lord Almighty is his name.” (NIVUK)
Creative power continues. Idol-makers may reflect the creativity of their true Maker, but they are unable to imbue their creations with life and power. A triple epithet of weakness concludes this amazing polemic against the foolishness of following idols.
At the heart of Jeremiah’s poem is grief that the people do not ‘know’ God (v14a). This should not be so because the relationship established by Yahweh with Israel, His people, His inheritance, is intimate (v16). Their relationship is founded on true knowledge and they have exchanged it for pale, weak lifeless frauds.
On the night He was betrayed Jesus prayed for this true knowledge to radiate out from His inheritance – the people called by His name. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent… ‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 ‘Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.’” (John 17:3, 24-26) (NIVUK).
All the themes of Jeremiah’s prayer, creation, truth, love and knowledge, found on the lips of Jesus as He began the excruciating walk to His death. For us.
