Jeremiah
Chapter 8
When that time comes —speaking the Lord’s words— they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, their leaders, priests, prophets, and the residents of Jerusalem from the tombs.
They will expose them to the sun, moon, and all the gods of the skies because they have loved, served, followed, and worshiped them. These bones will not be gathered up to be put back in tombs but will stay on the ground like dirt.
Death will be preferable to life for the survivors of this perverse race who remain in places to which I have driven them.
They Do Not Want To Convert
This is what the Lord told me: “You will say to them: Doesn’t the one who falls get up and the one who goes away return?
Why, then, have these people turned away in stubborn rebellion? They consistently engage in deceit and refuse to repent.
I listened carefully; they did not speak honestly or show remorse for their evil deeds. No one says: ‘What have I done!’ They all keep going their own way like horses charging into battle.
Even the stork in the sky knows her times; the dove, the swallow, and the crane recognize the right time to return, but my people do not understand the Lord’s ordinances.
How can you say: ‘We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us’ when the misleading writing of the scribe has turned it into a lie?
The wise will be shamed; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what remains as the foundation of their wisdom?
That is why I will give their wives to other men, their fields to conquerors, for all of them, from the smallest to the greatest, are greedy for gain. Everyone, from the prophet to the priest, practices deceit.
They dismiss the wounds of my people, saying: ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.
They should be ashamed of their terrible deeds. They have no shame and don’t even know how to blush. Surely, they will fall along with those who will fall, for I will hold them accountable, and they will stumble.
I will put an end to them —it is the Lord who speaks — because the vine produces no grapes, the fig tree bears no figs, and even the leaves have withered. I will hand them over to the passersby.
“Why do we sit here? Get up! We will go to the fortified cities to die there. See, the Lord our God wants us to die and is giving us poisoned water because we have sinned against him.
We hoped for good luck, but nothing positive has happened. We hoped for a moment of relief, but instead, we face fear.
From Dan, we hear the snorting of his horses; when his stallions neigh, the whole earth trembles. They’re coming to destroy the land and everything in it! They’re coming to destroy the cities and everyone who lives there!
For I am unleashing my wrath upon you snakes and adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you.”
The Prophet’s Lament
Sorrow overtakes me, and my heart lets me down.
I hear my dear people crying out across the land. They are saying: ‘Is the Lord no longer in Zion? Is her divine King no longer there?’ The Lord replies: “Why then do they provoke me to anger with their images and worthless foreign idols?”
The harvest has ended, summer is gone, and we still haven’t been saved.
I am heartbroken because of my people’s misfortune. I am crushed and dismayed.
Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healer there? Why hasn’t a remedy been given to my people?
I wish my head were a well of water and my eyes a fountain of tears so I could cry day and night for my dear people who have been killed.
Commentaries
Mourning for the Valley of Ben-Hinnom.
Long hair represented the dedication of the Nazirites (Nm 6:5-9). The Hebrew verb ‘Nazar’ means to dedicate or to separate. Israel is no longer a dedicated people (see 7:1-15). The temple’s defilement with idols and the corruption involving child sacrifice and holocaust, following other Canaanite practices, alienated God’s people, who foresaw the death and decline of Judah along with their kings, priests, prophets, and princes.
They Do Not Want To Convert.
The Babylonian invasion is depicted in the text. The root of the verb “to return” is used six times, but Israel does not mimic migratory birds returning to their original habitat (7). Judah has lost the ability and willingness to acknowledge its guilt. He resigns himself to his tragic destiny, retreating to the fortified cities that remain to weep and wait for death (14). The sounds of defeat are approaching (15-16). Some refuse to accept that God can suffer, but the text clearly states otherwise. The Bible should be read as a dynamic whole that reaches its climax in the passion, death, and resurrection of the Son of God.
The Prophet’s Lament.
Jeremiah deeply cares for his people and bears the consequences of their stubbornness. In response to the prophet’s question, God asks another ironic question, a rebuke: the people have angered him with foreign idols (19). Jeremiah cannot understand the people’s incurable blindness, as they do not see their sin (22).