Readings:
Jeremiah 19-20
Sirach 48-49

Jeremiah 19-20

God gives instructions to Jeremiah for another visual demonstration of the prophecies being given against the people. It’s a pretty disturbing message too. If you were a citizen of Jerusalem and watched this prophet take a clay jar out into the valley where countless children had been sacrificed to Canaanite gods, and then smash the jar and say that is what will happen to Jerusalem, you’d be pretty shaken up.

These people had lived through some recent sieges of the city, even had the city fall into enemy hands a time or two, but they aren’t prepared for what’s coming. In this prophecy, God says he will destroy every house in the city where incense had been burned to the false gods of the Canaanites. Think about that for a moment, and then recall that several of the kings of Judah had offered sacrifices to Baal in the Jerusalem temple. God is condemning even his own temple because of its defilement.

The high priest understood exactly what the implications of this prophecy were for him and the temple he served in. He didn’t serve God at this point, he served a building and made his living through it, no more and no less. He had Jeremiah beaten and held in stocks overnight. When released in the morning, Jeremiah had a personal prophecy for this priest and it wasn’t good.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Jeremiah 21-23
Sirach 50-51