“Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching, and say to them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. – Jeremiah 19:10-11

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 27, 2014): Jeremiah 19

In the late 18^th Century one of the most loved Nursery Rhymes was penned. The rhyme in question is “Humpty, Dumpty,” the famous egg who sat on wall. The only problem with our understanding of Humpty as being an egg is that no where in the rhyme does the poem mention this idea. It is thought that the original intention of the rhyme was that it was supposed to be a riddle – a statement in which people would be invited to guess the identity of Humpty Dumpty. But the riddle long ago turned into a children’s rhyme and the mystery in question has long since been forgotten.

But that has not stopped some from trying to guess the answer to the riddle. Among the suggested answers are King Richard III, the last king of the House of York toppled by the upstart House of Tudor, or two possible answers from the Siege of Colchester in 1648 – a battle from the middle of the English Civil War. During the war, the Royalist army found themselves hemmed in at the walled city of Colchester.  Outside the walls were the Parliamentarians. The rhyme, some assert, is about either a sniper, a man known as One-Eyed Thompson, or a cannon that was appropriately known as Humpty Dumpty that sat on the walls of a church called Mary-at-the-walls. The story that is told is of the Parliamentarians outside of the city who were able to weaken the wall underneath either the sniper or the canon causing the fall of “Humpty Dumpty.” As a result of this fall, the city of Colchester was lost – and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men – referring of course to the Royalist Army trapped inside the city, couldn’t save either the town, or Humpty Dumpty.

God seems to have the similar illustration and story for Jeremiah to tell. Again the weeping prophet is given an illustration of what is about to happen in Jerusalem. He is to go and take a jar and break it. The imagery here is not that Jeremiah would break the jar gently, leaving large pieces that might be put back together again. The imagery is of a smashed jar that has been broken into so many pieces that it is impossible to reassemble – even with all of the king’s horses and all the king’s men at the ready to do the task.

But maybe the one thing that we miss when we read this prophecy is that while in the short term the prophecy was fulfilled and Jerusalem was left in ruins, God is still the God of the impossible – and in the long-term it would seem that God himself did put the city back together again. And Jerusalem still stands today, although admittedly once again it would seem that the Holy City is broken – divided among the People of Israel, the Followers of Christ and the Followers of Islam. But no matter how broken the city might seem to be – God remains the God who can still put the pieces back together again.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 20