Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction. – Jeremiah 6:1

Today's Scripture Reading (June 27, 2026): Jeremiah 6

King Solomon reigned for about 40 years. His reign ended around 931 B.C.E., and as he was being buried, the nation faced many unanswered questions. First, there had been a significant economic strain on the nation throughout Solomon's reign. Solomon had been a builder. He had built the Temple of Jerusalem, of which his father, David, had dreamed. But his building didn't stop there. He built new palaces for himself and his many wives, and he fortified cities, all of which cost money. As a result, taxation during Solomon's reign was high. For a King who has become synonymous with wisdom, in this area, he wasn't very wise. The King's many wives not only contributed to economic stress in the nation but also to religious stress. We know Solomon as the builder of the Temple in Jerusalem, but his many foreign wives brought foreign deities with them, and he used taxpayer money to build worship centers for these false gods as well.

However, the northern tribes also felt marginalized by the King. Judah was the southernmost tribe of the United Monarchy. The northern tribes wanted a promise that their needs would be addressed in the future. Rehoboam, Solomon's son and successor, was also not very wise and essentially told his father's critics that everything they didn't like about his father's reign would be even worse under his. It was all that the northern tribes needed to hear. They decided to separate from Judah, and the nation was about to experience a very public and messy divorce.

With one rather strange exception. The Tribe of Benjamin had a choice to make. They possessed an asset; Jerusalem was built within their territory. If they had left with the other tribes, history might have been very different, because the Temple would have been in Israel's possession instead of Judah's. There would have been no reason for the Northern Kingdom to create the golden calves that they decided were their gods. Of course, we also don't know what Judah's response might have been under those circumstances.

But Benjamin didn't leave. They remained tied to Judah, an act of which the Apostle Paul, a famous Benjamite, was very proud. Another famous Benjamite was the Prophet Jeremiah. And as Jeremiah foresees the demise of the Kingdom of Judah, he issues a warning to his tribe living in Jerusalem. This time, Judah would fall, and Benjamin would fall with it. If there was a time to leave the City of David and run for the hills, that time had arrived.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 7

Personal Note: Happy 67^th Anniversary to my parents, Duane and Shirley.