Readings:
Jeremiah 12-13
Sirach 42-43
Obadiah 1

Jeremiah 12-13

Jeremiah complains to God that even though the wicked have angered him and done great evil in turning their backs on him for other gods, they still prosper and thrive. Look around today and we might be tempted to feel the same way as the prophet did back then.

God answers that a judgment is coming, but that even after they are expelled from the land he will be compassionate and forgive them if only they turn back from their sins. Sometimes we’re Jeremiah wondering why the evil people go unpunished, but more often than that we are the sinners who are the beneficiaries of God’s bountiful mercy.

Jeremiah is instructed to use a waistcloth as a symbol sign for how Judah and Israel are good for nothing since they spoiled themselves in the service of other gods. This is the first of several symbolic actions that Jeremiah acts out to show Israel and Judah the punishments that are coming their way.

Obadiah 1

Obadiah is a prophet from around the same period as Jeremiah and his prophetic writing here is on basically the same subject, the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and its exile to Babylon, but from a different angle. Whereas Jeremiah is mostly telling the people about the coming destruction and it’s causes, Obadiah has a different target audience and message.

This entire book, the shortest in the Old Testament, is about the kingdom of Edom, it’s shame in forgetting it’s blood relatives in Judah, and it’s future destruction for its crime. Edom was founded by Esau, the brother whom Jacob robbed of his birthright through subterfuge and cunning. This older brother reconciled with Jacob but maybe the bad blood continued in secret through his descendants.

The prophet condemns them, and tells them they’re over confident in the high elevation of their kingdom, in a play on words, but that it’s a higher height from which God will cast them down. When Nebuchadnezzar sacked and destroyed Jerusalem, these cousins across the Jordan valley not only failed to assist their kin, they helped destroy the defenses of the city and then joined in on the looting. These are the crimes that Obadiah says will be their downfall and cause them to receive divine punishment.

The descendants of Jacob will one day return, but the descendants of Esau will be cut off from their land forever.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Jeremiah 14-16
Sirach 44-45