Readings:
Jeremiah 33-35
Hebrews 5

Jeremiah 33-35

Jeremiah is jailed still and he receives another prophecy. He’s told that although all looks bleak now, a time will come when Jerusalem will be restored and he is even given a messianic prophecy (although his readers and those that came immediately after wouldn’t necessarily see it as such)

Part of that promise is the restoration of the Davidic line of kings, and their reign going on forever. He likens this promise to the day and night, things that are so assured that people take them for granted. If you can stop the day from coming then this promise won’t come true either. That’s using a bit of absurd hyperbole to make that point that it’s a sure thing because he promised it.

In chapter 34 the king convinces all the people of Jerusalem to release any slave they have that is a fellow Israelite, and they all make a pledge and release them. But then just like pharaoh had second thoughts and attempted to reenslave them, they take back all their formerly freed slaves. Jeremiah calls them out in this through a prophecy he’s been given.

The law said that you could only keep an Israelite as a slave for 6 years and then had to offer them their freedom, because it wasn’t supposed to be a permanent state, and was a means of settling debts among other things. But just like other provisions of the law, they’d been violating this one too and they were keeping permanent slaves among them.

In 35 Jeremiah calls in this group of nomads, who were Israelites themselves and usually lived out in the wilderness but for reasons of security had come inside the walls of Jerusalem when the Babylonians invaded the nation. He offers them win on orders from God, but they refuse because of a command from their ancestor.

They were members of a family called the Rechebites, and the only other place they appear is when the original founder of their clan joins Jehu during his coup in the northern kingdom of Israel because he had a reputation of being zealous for the things of God. They lived in tents and didn’t do anything that would make them seemed settled down. They didn’t build houses, plant vineyards or gardens and they didn’t drink wine. This was all thought to be for the reason that Israel hadn’t been as close to God as they were when they lived in the wilderness, so they passed on comfort and settled life to get back to their roots.

They kind of remind me of the Amish or other groups that try to rekindle the intimacy with God from the past by living in the past. The goal is commendable, but the methods raise questions.

Jeremiah was impressed with their faithfulness to the commands of their “father” (really more like an ancestor) and they were used as an example of what God expected from the rest of Israel.

Hebrews 5

The author here makes the comparison between a high priest from the line of Aaron, who makes sacrifices for the people but also for himself, and Jesus who was like us in all ways but sin. He is not just a high priest, he is the ultimate high priest, because he was one of us, but isn’t distracted by any human weakness because he is perfect.

Jesus learned many things in his incarnation, but not the way we usually mean by “learn.” He didn’t increase In knowledge because he knew everything as a member of the Blessed Trinity, but he experienced these things as fully man.

Christ, being eternally divine, possessed the fullness of knowledge from the first instant of his conception as a man. He was ignorant of nothing, so he could not learn anything new by simple recognition.
But there is also knowledge acquired by experience, and in this sense he learned obedience through what he suffered. Having accepted our weakness, he learned how difficult it is to obey, for he obeyed in the most difficult of circumstances, even unto death on a cross.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Hebrews

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Jeremiah 36-37
Hebrews 6