The Tanakh Podcast

Jeremiah writes his prophecies in a scroll. Barukh reads it to government officials in Jerusalem. They hear Jeremiah's prophecy and are impressed and fearful of his messages. But when the king hears the contents of the scroll, he is unmoved. He takes the scroll and burns it. This is a classic story about government ignoring warnings, turning a blind eye to criticism. Nonetheless, God instructs Jeremiah to re-write the scroll because truthful messages will always endure.

Is withdrawal from life an ideal? Is refraining from wine an aspiration? Jeremiah brings the "Rehabites" to the Temple and instructs them to drink wine. The respond: "We don't drink wine, nor do we plant a field, a vineyard, or build a house!" Who is this peculiar family, and what does Jeremiah want us to learn from them?

In the reign of Zedekiah, the people make a covenant to free their slaves, and then they re-enslave them. Why do they free them? Why do they re-enslave them? And what does God have to say about all this?

In this, the final chapter in a series that promise restoration and national rehabilitation, God affirms his eternal covenant with the House of David, the priesthood, and the Jewish People

It is a year before the Hurban. Jerusalem is under siege. Jeremiah is in jail. And God tells him to purchase his uncle's field. This seems an absurd thing to do. Shortly, the land will be conquered, ruined and unhabitable. But God is teaching a lesson about faith in the future, instilling the understanding that eventually the Jewish people will return to their homeland.

In a chapter brimming with love, God promises the return of the nation to their borders, the flourishing of national agriculture, the return to Zion, and the end of national suffering. The most famous image of the chapter is that of Rachel weeping for her lost sons, She is told: "Hold back from weeping    and your eyes from tears,... there is hope for your descendants,”declares the Lord: the children will return to their borders.

God promises that after the terrible wounds incurred by the Hurban, the Jewish people shall return to their land, their Temple, their sovereignty and the nation will flourish again.

Yirmiyahu sends a letter to the exiles from Judah, instructing them: "Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit... Multiply there, do not decrease. And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you... for in its prosperity you shall prosper." This is the beginning of the Diaspora... Jews living in "exile" as a minority, but thriving, growing and living a rich community life.

In this chapter Jeremiah faces down Hananya Ben Azur. But as opposed to ch.37 and ch.39 where Jeremiah accuses prophets of falsehood, here Jeremiah seems unsure whether to believe Hananya. Why? What is it about Hananya that seems authentic? How can one identify a false prophet? And why does Jeremiah need an explicit directive by God to identify Hananya's prophecy as false?

Jeremiah is instructed to take a yoke and wear it around his neck: " “Bow your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and you will live." The False Prophets were claiming that Babylonian dominance was short-lived, but Jeremiah insists that the only way to survive is to submit. We discuss this message in the light of 50 Years of the Yom Kippur War, and the blessing of the Jewish return to power.