I write these words with a raging case of the post-birthday blues. In my food-induced stupor, I was unable to garner much of interest from the text, but it's so damn redundant that I'm sure my wavering attention won't cause us to miss anything. In order to make these readings more lively I recorded a video of myself reading one of the chapters in a funny voice, but unfortunately my webcam did something funny and I wasn't able to retrieve it. I do think this is a worthwhile endeavor, however, and I will attempt to do it again at some point in the future.
Up until chapter 25, there really isn't any new material. Jeremiah issues warnings and laments the stubbornness of the people, God talks about how he's going to punish and then redeem the Judean kingdom, blah blah blah. In chapter 18, God compares himself to a potter who periodically finds that "a vessel he was making from the clay would be spoilt in his hands, and he would remould it into another vessel to his liking" (Jeremiah 18:4). So by extension, Israel is the "spoilt vessel." This is really just a fancy way for God to say, "WHATEVA, WHATEVA, I DO WHAT I WANT!"
In chapter 21, war is declared on Judah and King Zedekiah asks Jeremiah to "enquire of the Lord on [his] behalf" (Jeremiah 21:2). The prophet informs them that they are SCREWED. The next few chapters discuss the approaching doom, and then in chapter 25 Jeremiah reflects on his twenty-three year long effort to make the Judahites behave themselves, concluding that it was a failure. Jeez. That's a really long time to devote yourself to a task even if you DON'T fail. I bet Jeremiah feels like a pretty big loser right now!
The last two chapters give us some narrative, which is always a delight. Chapter 26 describes an instance when Jeremiah is arrested for making his prophecies in the temple. Another prophet named Uriah is actually killed for relating similar messages of doom, but Jeremiah is spared because a fellow named Ahikam "use[s] his influence... to save [Jeremiah] from death at the hands of the people" (Jeremiah 26:24).
Chapter 27 has Jeremiah doing an act that the Wikipedia entry describes as "performance art." I like that! See, who says you shouldn't read Wikipedia? Anyway, he puts a yoke around his neck and tells the people that they should "submit to the yoke of the king of Babylon" (Jeremiah 27:12) because it will save their lives. I just love the visual aid! I bet it was especially helpful to the Israelites, who have proven themselves time and time again to be a little bit "learning challenged." Jeremiah would clearly make a good special ed teacher.
That's it for today! Now I can go back to playing Pokemon Black, which was my birthday gift to myself. In keeping with the biblical theme of my life, a lot of my Pokemon have names from this fabulous tome. Most of them are kind of random, but a few were clever. For instance, I named my Purrloin Cyrus after the Persian king from Isaiah. Get it? Purrrrrrrloin? Perrrrrrrrsia? IT'S FUNNY!!!
I also have this water monkey Pokemon that I named Bannus after a fellow that Josephus mentions in Antiquities. Like John the Baptist, Bannus lived in the woods and performed baptisms using water. A pretty good name for an elemental monkey, huh?
And yeah I know that's not actually biblical but it's really old which is close enough!
Ugh I am so sick and I haven't even done my crossword yet. Later.
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