Today's Scripture Reading (August 23, 2025): Psalm 40
On 586
B.C.E., as the army of Nebuchadnezzar prepared to take Jerusalem, one
inhabitant of the city had a different message for the citizens. It was a
message that the rulers of the city considered to be treasonous. The suggestion
was that this time, the city was going to fall. One hundred and fifty years
earlier, the city had been attacked by the Assyrian Empire, and had
miraculously survived because God had rescued them. The Assyrian siege had
happened during the days of Isaiah, and Isaiah had told King Hezekiah that God
would come to the aid of the city and the nation. The war against the Assyrians
would not be decided on the battlefield; it would end because of a miracle of
God.
However, that
had been 150 years ago, and a new prophet had a very different message. Things
had changed. Jerusalem was going to be defeated; there was no miracle on its
way to save the city. So, this Prophet of the early sixth century B.C.E. had a
very different message from the message of Isaiah in the eighth century. The
city was going to fall; there was no chance of it surviving. As a result, the
army of King Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem had a decision to make. They
could fight for the city and die, or lay down their weapons and allow Babylon
to take them into exile and live. The Prophet believed that exile was the
better option.
The Prophet's
name was Jeremiah, and his message was unusual. He was advocating exile, and
yet he, while refusing to fight the Babylonians, showed no desire to go into
Babylon. His intention seemed to be to wander around the ruins of David's city
and the surrounding area. Or maybe he just wasn't taken into Babylon. In the
end, supporters of the Prophet had to physically kidnap him and carry him with
them into their self-imposed exiles in Egypt.
However,
before the city fell, Jeremiah was accused of treason and placed in a cistern
to die. Jeremiah himself related the story to his readers.
Then the
officials said to the king, "This man should be put to death. He
is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the
people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of
these people but their ruin."
"He
is in your hands," King Zedekiah answered. "The king can do
nothing to oppose you."
So they took Jeremiah
and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king's son, which was in the
courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the
cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the
mud (Jeremiah 38:4-6).
It wasn't an
unusual practice. Oriental societies had long used placing people in a deep
hole that had been well watered, ensuring there was no way for the prisoner to
escape, as a mode of execution. Everywhere the prisoner might want to step, he
would only find a slippery surface that would leave them sinking deeper into
the mud. These prisoners were not left there for a fixed time; this was the
place where they would die.
This cistern
would have been the place where Jeremiah would have died, except that someone
came to his aid. David, writing long before the days of Jeremiah, spoke
figuratively about what Jeremiah experienced literally. It is a description
that David thought was the figurative reality of everyone who might read the
Psalm. And centuries later, a hymn writer would pick up on David's theme as he
wrote;
He brought me out of the miry clay
He set my feet on the Rock to stay
He puts a song in my soul today
A song of praise, hallelujah (Henry L. Gilmour, 1898)!
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 53
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