[Most weeks, I present as many updates on my reflections and study of the Biblical texts on which our weekend worship celebrations will be built as I can. The purpose is to help the people of the congregation I serve as pastor, Friendship Lutheran Church of Amelia, Ohio, get ready for worship. Hopefully, it's helpful to others as well, since our Bible lesson is usually one from the weekly lectionary, variations of which are used in most of the churches of the world.]Jeremiah 33:14-16
14The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
General Comments
1. This is one of the Bible lessons appointed for the First Sunday in Advent in Year C of the three-year lectionary cycle.
2. Advent means coming. During this season that kicks off the Church Year, we remember how the the ancient Hebrews once awaited the coming of the Messiah (the anointed king), who would execute justice and righteousness. We also remember that we await the return of that Messiah, Jesus, on what the Bible typically calls the Day. Then, we believe, all will be put right with God's creation and the faith of those who have trusted in Christ will be vindicated.
3. Jeremiah was a--you thought I was going to say "bullfrog," didn't you?--a prophet who lived during the sixth century BC. Throughout his ministry, he warned the people of Judah that there would be drastic consequences suffered for their worship of other gods, the haughtiness of their rulers, and the excising of God, Yahweh, from national life. They couldn't smugly presume on God's grace. Jeremiah said that Judah--what would later be known as Judea--would be conquered by another people, the walls of Jerusalem breached and overcome.
4. But Jeremiah also insisted that God is gracious, that He would forgive a repentant people, and restore the life and well-being of a Judea that turned to Him. He based this assertion on how God had acted for His people in the past.
5. Most scholars however, seem to believe that our lesson for this week was not written by Jeremiah and that it was actually composed by a later scribe, although they believe that our passage is a reworking of another indisputably written by the prophet, Jeremiah 23:5-6.
There are several pieces of evidence to support scholars in this belief. For one thing, our lesson doesn't appear in the Septuagint, the Greek translation Old Testament produced in Alexandria at around the third century-BC. (Its purpose was to allow Jews dispersed throughout the Mediterranean, who no longer knew Hebrew, to nonetheless read God's Word.) This suggests, the scholars say, that our lesson was written after the commonly-accepted version of Jeremiah had been around for awhile and then, only appeared in the Hebrew.
Another piece of evidence offered is the differences our text and Jeremiah 23:5-6. The earlier passage says:
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”Here, the prophet expressed hope for the restoration of Judah (or Judea, the land in which Jesus would live centuries later) and Israel.
After the reign of King Solomon in the tenth century BC, Israel split in two. The southern kingdom, Judah, was centered in Jerusalem. The northern kingdom, Israel, was centered in Samaria, the name by which it also came to be known. The split was precipitated by the selfish desire for power and it kicked off a pattern of ongoing faithlessness to God and a succession of mostly bad kings in both countries.
During Jeremiah's time, hope that a good king who would acknowledge God alone arose during the reign of Josiah in Judea. His reforms included ridding the country of idol worship and a commitment to doing God's will. But Josiah tragically died after a short reign and with him, his reforms died. The nation went madly on with its sinning.
The point is this: Jeremiah looked forward to a time when both Judea and Israel would be restored in faithfulness to God. But, by the time our lesson was written, Samaria no longer existed as a separate country. It had been conquered and destroyed. In our lesson, the scholars argue, the hope expressed by Jeremiah from a year before has been reworked. Now, the hope is expressed is for Jerusalem and Judah alone.
Notions of authorship were very different in those days. It would not be considered illegitimate for a scribe or later student of Jeremiah to have written oracles consistent with Jeremiah's teachings into the prophet's book.
6. So, what if the scholars are right about our lesson not being written by Jeremiah? It really doesn't change much. The prophecy still points to a God Who remains in control. Even after He has chastised His people--executing justice, He remains sovereign and He still loves His people. There is still reason to hope beyond whatever crucibles we may experience.
7. As we have Jeremiah in our Bibles, Jeremiah 33:14-16 is part of what's known as the Book of Consolation. This is the fourth of seven oracles of promise contained within that "book."
8. The early Christians saw in this passage a clear relationship to Jesus. Jesus is the King Who, unlike purely human kings, can be relied upon to execute justice and righteousness. In Jesus, we experience the Messiah Who forgives sin and puts things to right in our lives and Who, one day, will do so for all the world. That's why a simple prayer of excited anticipation is appropriate during this Advent season, "Come, Lord Jesus!"
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