Commuter Bible

The false gods that Israel has served are worthless and lifeless, and God warns that those gods will not save them from His wrath. The nation that the Lord loved and cherished has continuously rejected Him and mocked His authority, so the Lord will finally bring them to the ruin He promised would come. Later, at the Lord’s command, Jeremiah performs a prophetic act, one of several over the course of his life, and we’ll all have to suppress our inner six year old as we read about Jeremiah’s dirty underwear.

The people of Judah and Jerusalem have developed a false sense of security, for they suppose that fulfilling the rituals of worship will please God. Assuming they have God’s favor because of their sacrifices, they pursue unrighteousness and selfish gain, worshipping idols and even sacrificing their children to false gods. God’s holy wrath burns against their injustice, for He is not satisfied with meaningless sacrifices, but in obedience. Jeremiah weeps for his brothers, broken by the brokenness of his people. Death and destruction are imminent, and the time for lament is at hand.

The Lord’s love remains on Judah but he cannot allow her rampant evil and adulterous idol worship to continue to go on. Time and again He has called them to repent, but they continue to love their wealth, their sin, and their idols more than the Lord their God. The Lord will send Assyria from the north to conquer Jerusalem and Judah, making it a desolate wasteland. He sends Jeremiah to ensure that everyone has heard, going throughout Israel with this message like a grape gatherer whose hand passes over the branches to make sure he has been thorough. Then later in our reading from Isaiah, we’ll get a chance to rejoice in the promised Messiah.

Jeremiah was a young man serving as a priest when the Lord called him and set him aside as his chosen instrument to prophesy against the nation of Judah. Even though they had seen the fall of Israel after centuries of wickedness and idolatry, they followed the same. They worshipped false gods on hilltops and under trees, as was the custom in the surrounding nations, and rejected the God who had promised to love them, provide for them, and protect them. Like a man who goes to a broken cistern to collect water, the people of Judah sought after other gods for life, but would find only devastation.

John, the apostle whom Jesus loved and the author of the fourth gospel writes today’s letter to the church with encouragement to flee from sin, to trust in Jesus, to love one another, and to assure them of eternal life. This letter doesn’t have a typical structure, as it doesn’t address a particular church or mention individual people. An overarching theme seems to be the nature of fellowship with one another, particularly that true believers might be strengthened and that false converts might be convicted.

Job has justified himself in his own sight, repeating again and again that God has been unjust, bemoaning his fate and complaining that a man should be able to take God to court. In today’s episode, God puts Job in his place by asking him a series of questions. This inquisition is designed to help Job see how finite, weak, and limited he is, while painting a picture of God’s power and authority. Job can’t even direct a wild animal to work for him, let alone oversee the entirety of creation. In the end, Job relents and his relationship with God is restored.

As the young man named Elihu continues to present a case against Job and his friends, he confronts the audacious claim that a man gains nothing from friendship with God. Moreover, the God who created all things is accountable to no one; in other words, He doesn’t owe anything to anyone, therefore no can present Him as unfair or unjust. The God who made all things also sees all things, knows all things, and will rightly judge all things. Man, with his limitations, cannot know or understand these things and therefore cannot claim to be a better authority than a sovereign God.

In today’s episode, Job starts his “I get no respect” routine and tells his friends of the dishonor he now endures from fellow citizens and from the riff-raff that live in the desert around him. He remarks that he has been faithful to the Lord, caring for those in need, and keeping himself from the worship of false gods, or the worship of sun and moon. When Job concludes his words, a young man named Elihu, who has yet to speak, begins to voice his anger against Job since Job’s friends have done a poor job thus far.

It won’t be long before Job receives a proper rebuke from Elihu and then from God Himself, but until that time Job continues to vent and express frustration with the situation he finds himself in. His friends keep telling him to repent of his evil, assuming that his sin is the cause of his state. Meanwhile, Job continues to declare himself as pure, which also a falsehood. Job thinks so highly of himself that he unabashedly accuses God of not executing justice properly, and in so doing, exalts himself above His Maker. At times he gives God his due with words, but in his heart, Job is sure that God has been unfair.

Job’s friends are insulted that he would reject their wisdom, especially because they are drawing their conclusions from that which was commonly assumed by the culture and by their ancestors. Job wants to find comfort and consolation from his friends, but they continue to make a case against him. In an earlier speech, Job spoke of God’s justice, but as he responds to his friend Zophar, we can see that he struggles, like many of us, to understand why the wicked are allowed to flourish while the righteous perish. Even if Job goes to the grave, he remembers that his Redeemer lives, and will testify over his grave on his behalf.