Reading: Jeremiah 23-25, Psalm 19

So, there is good news and bad news. Are you the kind of person that wants the good news first, or the bad news first? I generally agree with those who want the bad news first, so it doesn’t spoil the good news. If I hear the good news second, it might make the bad news feel less bad. Unfortunately, in the book of Jeremiah it will be bad news first, good news second, and then more bad news.

Yesterday we read a curse pronounced against Jehoiachin (also known as Coniah or Jeconiah) that he would be taken to Babylon and never return. It’s not the best news the people of Jerusalem had ever gotten, and sets up a pretty serious problem in their view of the world. If the descendant of David is going into exile, how will God fulfill his promise to David for an eternal king? Jeremiah’s next prophecy begins to answer the question, but tucked into another curse. He curses bad shepherds. This is one of several cases where we see God take a very dim view of those charged with the care of his people who do a poor job. God has nothing good to say about unfaithful shepherds. This prophecy proceeds from the curse on Jehoiachin, letting the leadership that succeeded him, the king Zedekiah, as well as the priests and prophets who had power at the time, that they are doomed. If they do not care for the people, as shepherds for sheep, God has no trouble replacing them. In fact, as we know from earlier in Jeremiah, that is exactly what will happen. It’s bad news all around for the leadership in Jerusalem. As we will hear in the prophecy of good and bad figs in the next chapter, the ones who went into exile with Jehoiachin are the lucky ones.

Then, finally, we get five verses of good news. Chapter 23:4-8 are about the only good news Jeremiah has to offer, and it is a promise for the future. Those in the present just had to deal, understanding that there will come a day when God sets a good shepherd over his people. We’ve had prophecies like this before, especially in Isaiah, but something more is said here about the scope of this Good Shepherd’s actions. He will not only restore the kingdom, he will somehow bring about a new Exodus. His reign will be such a dramatic change that it will replace the story of Moses and the deliverance from Egypt at the central story about God and his people. This is a huge promise. The Good Shepherd will be not only the descendant of David, but a new Moses, bringing his people out of the land of exile into a promised land.

Then we get more bad news. Jeremiah, never one to stop until he’s said something depressing, goes on with a message to the false prophets. He is setting up one of the core conflicts in the book of Jeremiah- the true and false prophet. The false prophet says what people want to hear, while ignoring what God has promised. They use fancy rhetorical tactics to distort the words of God to make them say something other than what they say. They plead the burden of the Lord in their own defense. This is an awkward phrase in English. The word burden here is often translated oracle, or even pronouncement. The Hebrew has a semantic range we have a hard time appreciating. It is the idea that these prophets have been given words that they must say, and it is a heavy weight for them to do so. Jeremiah is drawing a picture of the false prophet: they say what the listener wants to hear, they distort the words of God, and they paint themselves as carrying a burden. God is having none of it, and tells them they are his great burden, and God is done carrying them.

The short chapter on the good and bad figs continues the good and bad news. Things for the people who were taken captive to Babylon, who appeared to be unlucky, won’t be so bad. For those left behind, who thought they were favored and had escaped, it’s going to be pretty awful. They will bear the brunt of God’s wrath on Jerusalem, which when we read the last half of chapter 25 feels like it will be an unpleasant experience. Jeremiah addresses all Jerusalem with apparent frustration: For twenty three years…until this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have persistently spoken to you, but you have not listened. Now, the jig is up. Judgment has been pronounced for decades, and now it is here. Prepare to leave the city and go into exile, because if you try and fight it out, you are doomed. God is fighting for the Babylonians, and it won’t be a pretty picture. The closing stanza of his poetic picture of judgment tells the leaders of Jerusalem (shepherds) to Wail, you shepherds, and cry out, rolling in the ashes. It’s pretty bad news.

Good news and bad news. The prophet Jeremiah, who painted a picture of the false prophet, is at the same time showing us what the true prophet looks like. He tells the truth to all audiences. As we will see tomorrow, this does not endear him to very many people, and nearly costs him his life. The true prophet has a real burden from God- the burden of relating God’s words faithfully. Jeremiah isn’t really saying anything new. This is all in the books of Moses, Jeremiah is just making sure the people understand that God meant what he said. The true prophet roots his message in God’s words. Jeremiah also mourns. The true prophet cares about his people, as a good shepherd cares about his sheep. He takes no pleasure in delivering bad news. These models of true and false prophet haven’t changed a whole lot over the ages. There are a lot of people running around claiming to speak for God or some divine force, even if it is some sort of inner divinity in humanity. Some are true prophets, some are false, and telling the difference can be difficult at first, but Jeremiah has given us a good start in filtering them out.