From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, "Obey me." – Jeremiah 11:7

Today's Scripture Reading (May 20, 2023): Jeremiah 11

We live in a twenty-four-hour news cycle. News is available at every moment of the day. Early on in the transition, I remember conversing with one local television station about how they attract viewers to their nightly news. Then, the way you attracted viewers was to give a teaser to the story and then "Watch the News at Six for the details." But the problem with that method both then and now is that if I, as a viewer, am interested in the story, I don't have to wait until "News at Six." I can turn to a twenty-four-hour channel or just look up the story on my favorite news channel right now to get the story.

We live in a twenty-four-hour news cycle, but that doesn't mean there is twenty-four hours' worth of news. If you watch a dedicated news channel, you will notice that many of the stories are just repeated hour after hour. If you get up early in the morning and watch the news, most days, you will get a good understanding of the news that will be repeated throughout the day. And anything important that you miss will lead off the morning news tomorrow.

Once again, we have a simplification of the translation in this verse in the phrase "I warned them again and again." And while the intent of the phrase is correct, the actual wording is more "I began warning them early in the morning and continued to warn them throughout the day." If you arose early, I was there warning them, but I didn't just warn them once; I kept warning them, repeatedly sending my messengers to them saying, "Obey me." So maybe the verse should be translated "I warned them when they first came out of Egypt up until today, and on each day, they received a warning early in the morning and continued to warn them as the day passed."

As a result, there is no way that the people could argue that they didn't know. They knew; they just ignored the warnings so the people could do whatever it might have been that they wanted to do. They were purposefully disobedient. And so, God would react accordingly. He would always love his people, but the Promised Land was a fulfillment of a covenant, and soon, the people that God loved would be removed from their land.

Jeremiah wants his audience to realize that this moment didn't have to be this way. They could have listened. They could have followed the law and the prophets, but they didn't deem the covenant important, so the covenant was about to fail.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 12

Personal Note: Happy Birthday to my wonderful Daughter-in-law, Michelle.