The cistern

Jeremiah 38:1-13 - Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, "This is what the LORD says: 'Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. He will escape with his life; he will live.' And this is what the LORD says: 'This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.' "

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.

But Ebed-Melech, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, Ebed-Melech went out of the palace and said to him, "My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city."

Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, "Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies."

So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, "Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes." Jeremiah did so, and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

I wonder why Jeremiah's enemies didn't just kill him outright. Why did they go through the trouble of putting him into the cistern. He could still shout his prophecies from there if he wanted to.

I wonder why King Zedekiah waffled so much regarding the fate of Jeremiah. One minute he gives Jeremiah over to his enemies and the next he allows him to be rescued.

I wonder if Ebed-Melech was a personal friend of Jeremiah. I wonder how many friends Jeremiah had amongst the palace officials.

Irijah

Jeremiah 37:11-15 - After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh's army, Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there. But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, "You are deserting to the Babylonians!"

"That's not true!" Jeremiah said. "I am not deserting to the Babylonians." But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.

I wonder how Irijah knew; that is, recognized Jeremiah. Maybe he didn't have to know him by sight. Maybe he had to ask everyone leaving the city who they were and what their business was.

I wonder why Irijah decided to pick on Jeremiah. Did he accuse any others of desertion? Was it just because Jeremiah was a prophet of God that Irijah arrested him? Did Jeremiah accidentally do something to arouse Irijah's suspicions? If not (and he probably didn't), what did Irijah have to gain by falsely accusing him? Had he worked out some deal with Jeremiah's enemies?

The Recabites

Jeremiah 35:6-10 - But they replied, "We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jonadab son of Recab gave us this command: 'Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine. Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.' We have obeyed everything our forefather Jonadab son of Recab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops. We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jonadab commanded us.

I wonder if people thought the Recabites were a little strange. They didn't do some very common things that pretty much everyone else did.

No drinking
No houses
No farming

Nothing wrong with any of that, but wouldn't you think someone like that was a little strange even today? They don't drink alcohol. They don't owna home. Maybe they move from Motel 8 to Motel 8 because their jobs keep them constantly on the move.

Any one of those traits by itself -- or even two -- isn't so strange, but try to find someone with all three. And whole families for generations besides!

I wonder if any of the Recabites ever wanted to live a more "normal" life.

I'm curious. Could you please tell me what brought you to this page by mentioning it in a comment? I won't publish the comment, if you ask me not to.

Jeremiah wakes up

Jeremiah 31:26 - At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.

I wonder how long it took Jeremiah (or almost any Bible write, for that matter) to write his book. That is, on how many different occasions did he have a message to write, and how long were the periods in between writings? Sometimes clues are given as when a historic event or a king's reign is mentioned. But in this case, Jeremiah just says that he woke up from a pleasant sleep in which the Lord had been speaking to him. When did that revelation start? Was it just a few sentences earlier (verse 23)? Was it a whole chapter? The whole book to this point?

Seventy years later

Jeremiah 29:10-14 - This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

I wonder (but not very much) if there were some exiles who, upon hearing these words, said, "Yeah, right!" All but the very young would probably die in Babylon, so they knew the words of this promise were for the next generations. Even some of the young ones would be in their "retirement" years by the time they would return. Yet their must have been a few such people, because we know that later, when they did return, some wept when the foundations of the new Temple were laid as they remembered what the previous Temple had looked like.

I wonder how often those who did believe the promise told their descendants about it.

Sending the letter to the exiles

Jeremiah 29:3 - He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.

I wonder why King Zedekiah sent Elasah and Gemariah to Babylon. I doubt it had anything to do with Jeremiah's letter. I wonder if Jeremiah had to "sneak" it to them. Apparently he trusted them. I wonder if they were perhaps even good friends.

Letter to the exiles

Jeremiah 29:1 - This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

The words of chapter 29:4-23 are only a copy of the letter Jeremiah wrote to the exiles. The actual letter itself went to Babylon with Elasah and Gemariah. So there were at least 2 copies of it. I wonder if there were ever any more. It was sent to all the exiles as if everyone was supposed to read it or at least hear it read to them. I wonder if they all did get to hear it word for word. The elders and priests probably did, but I wonder about the rest of the people.

Pashhur ben Immer

Jeremiah 20:1-6 - When the priest Pashhur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the LORD's temple. The next day, when Pashhur released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD's name for you is not Pashhur, but Magor-Missabib. For this is what the LORD says: 'I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword of their enemies. I will hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon, who will carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. I will hand over to their enemies all the wealth of this city—all its products, all its valuables and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder and carry it off to Babylon. And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.' "

I wonder if Pashhur put any stock in Jeremiah's warnings. Sure, he hated Jeremiah and what he was prophesying, but that doesn't automatically mean he didn't believe any of it. After all, I think by this time Israel knew about Babylon and the threat it posed.

Buying a jar

Jeremiah 19:1-2 - This is what the LORD says: "Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate.

I'm surprised Jeremiah could convince anyone to go with him out to the Valley. I wonder what these elders were thinking.

Elder to self: "Gah! This time he's carrying a jar."

Elder to Jeremiah: "Jeremiah, what's in the jar?"

"Nothing."

"What are you bringing it along for?"

"You'll see."

"Where are we going?"

"Ben Hinnom."

"Ben Hinnom! What for?"

"You'll see."

Elder to elder: "I told you this was gonna be weird."

"Weird? I think it's almost laughable. I mean, look at him. Here's this wacko taking a brand new, empty jar outside for who knows what and.... Ya know what? Twenty shekels says he breaks it over his own head."

"Twenty-five says he fills it with mud first."

"You're on." [low chuckles]

Third elder to first two: "You know what's really sad? We took the time to follow him out here to watch him do it."

"Hm, point taken. Then again, didn't have anything better to do back at the Temple anyways."

Shouting at the gates

Jeremiah 17:19-27 - This is what the LORD said to me: "Go and stand at the gate of the people, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem. Say to them, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates. This is what the LORD says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your forefathers. Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline. But if you are careful to obey me, declares the LORD, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it, then kings who sit on David's throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever. People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings, incense and thank offerings to the house of the LORD. But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.' "

It must have been business as usual every Saturday -- the Sabbath. Why else would Jeremiah have to repeat these words not just at one but at every city gate -- and there were many -- of Jerusalem. I can imagine that this was one of the first commandments that went by the wayside after idolatry set in. It was all about the almighty shekel. I imagine that at first just a few less religious businessmen kept their shops open on the Sabbath. Then when outside traders heard about them -- which probably took all of 2 or 3 days -- they came in through the gates to make a killing on Saturday too. It wouldn't have been long -- maybe a few months to a couple of years -- before nearly everyone was doing it just to keep up with the competition, stay in the black, or even gain that slight edge on the guy across town.

"Hey, Hassan, did you hear Shekaniah's date shop is open on Sabbath now?"

"Yeah, and so is Josh's leather goods. I'm gonna check it out this weekend. I hear he's got some sweet deals on belts. Mine's about shot. What about you? You busy this Sabbath?"

"Not too. Me and Martha were maybe gonna take the kids down to the river to pray for a while, but then I might play around with the scales a bit myself...see if it would make sense to keep the mill open on weekends too."

"Not you too, Abe! I never thought I'd hear something like that come from your lips!"

"Yeah, well...we got to move these kittels and ephods. We got to move these colorful fleeeeece."

I wonder if Jeremiah could even be heard above the din that there must have been at each gate.

When was the last time you had something more important to do on Sunday morning than to worship God for just 1 hour? You've got the whole rest of the day to go shopping. After all, almost every store is open 8 days a week.

Signs

Jeremiah 10:1-2 - Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the LORD says:
"Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the sky,
though the nations are terrified by them.

I wonder what signs in the sky terrified the people. Consider the various phenomena that could be called signs:

• clouds
• storms
• thunder
• lightning
• eclipses
• comets
• moon phases
• auroras
• meteors
• planets

Some (all?) of the people recognized signs in the sky. God himself says there are signs -- it's just that the people shouldn't be afraid of them. I wonder what they are signs of. Why would people be afraid after seeing them?

On being chosen

Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19 - The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

"Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

Have you ever hoped God would choose you for some special task? Has he given you gifts that you think could be used in a unique way to further the spread of his saving word to all nations? If so, "Get yourself ready!" Perhaps you too have been chosen before you were born for a specific purpose, much like Jeremiah.

Jeremiah didn't think he was so special though. Notice how much encouragement God had to give him right from the start. I wonder if Jeremiah thought, "What could possibly be headed my way (or what am I heading into) that is going to require so much help from God? It sounds like I'll be worse off if I try not to do what he says though. Well, I better get ready."

Stuff was going to happen that could terrify him. He had to be made tough as iron and bronze. He would need rescuing. I wonder how many of us today could handle such a message -- living in our cushy lifestyle as we do.

Peace

Isaiah 57:1 - The righteous perish,
and no one ponders it in his heart;
devout men are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.

I wonder how many attendees at a Christian's funeral realize they should only be sad or cry for themselves and others who are still alive. The dead "righteous" person, the Christian, is having a grand time in the afterlife. Survivors who can mange it ought to be shouting, "Yes! Woohoo! Way to go! Congratulations!" as if the deceased had just won the lottery.

Do you think that's insensitive? Stop reading this for a few moments and think about it. Stop reading! Close your eyes and think. Resume with the next paragraph after some thoughts of your own.

Then think again.

The dead Christian just got what he's been "working" for his whole life (possibly). He got what the rest of us can only look forward to. Should that make us sad? If it were any other good thing that he got, we wouldn't be. So we shouldn't be sad for his sake now that he's dead either.

I can still recall being sad, watery-eyed, at my 20-something cousin's funeral. She had had cancer for about 6 months. I was fine until I saw her little sister crying. See, I wasn't sad for my older cousin. She was fine now! I was sad for the family who would miss her. I don't think that family has been the same (with one exception) since.

Proper perspective = peace.

Free lunch

Isaiah 55:1 - "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost."

I wonder if there was a common saying like, "There's no such thing as a free lunch" in Isaiah's day. In this verse, God is offering a "free lunch" to everyone. It's free to us because the price was paid in full by someone else. Jesus paid the fare, the tab, the bill because there's no way we could. No amount of dish washing could ever have covered the cost. But since Jesus did step in, we can "delight in the richest of fare" -- heaven -- forever.

Twinkle, twinkle

Isaiah 40:25-26 - "To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One.

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

That's a lot of names.

I wonder if we can infer from this that no stars or other major heavenly objects have ceased to exist since the beginning of creation. Even if the universe is 10,000 years old, maybe that's not long enough for a star that scientists would consider "old" to be completely burned out or dead.

A really bad boil

Isaiah 38:1 + 21 - In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover."

Isaiah had said, "Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover."

What kind of a boil leads to death? Or wasn't it the boil itself that would have killed Hezekiah? Was it only a symptom of something else? Or was this a cancerous boil?

What was in the poultice that healed him? (It goes without saying that the Lord actually did the healing. But he might have used the chemicals in the poultice to do so.)

Wha' happened?

Isaiah 37:36-37 - Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

I wonder if Sennacherib (among others) discovered all the dead soldiers on his own or if someone delivered the message to his tent -- possibly even waking him to do so.

I wonder how many soldiers were left in his army after the 185,000 were gone. There were obviously not enough left to fight with in his opinion.

I wonder what thoughts went through his mind when he first learned about his decimated troops. Did he consider that there was a connection between his boasting and the killing? Did he attribute the deaths to natural causes? What did he tell the families of the soldiers when he got back home? The truth? I doubt it. That they died gloriously in battle? Probably something like that. I wonder if he tried to silence those survivors who knew the rest of the story.

Countdown

Isaiah 21:16-17 - This is what the Lord says to me: "Within one year, as a servant bound by contract would count it, all the pomp of Kedar will come to an end. The survivors of the bowmen, the warriors of Kedar, will be few." The LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.

How does "a servant bound by contract" count differently from anyone else? Or does he mean the attitude with which he counts -- eagerly awaiting the end of the contract? Then again, what if the servant had a good contract? Would he be full of despair or worry or trepidation that the contract was going to end and he might not get another as good -- if he got one at all?

Buck nekked

Isaiah 20 - In the year that the supreme commander, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it - at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, "Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet." And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot.

Then the LORD said, "Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt's shame. Those who trusted in Cush and boasted in Egypt will be afraid and put to shame. In that day the people who live on this coast will say, 'See what has happened to those we relied on, those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How then can we escape?' "

I wonder what people thought of Isaiah during and after this "stunt." Did they consider it a stunt? Did they think he was insane? Apparently no one tried to "put him away." Did they think he was crazy but mostly harmless?

I wonder if Isaiah was totally naked 24 hours a day for all 3 years. Did he have a family of his own -- wife and children -- at this time? What did his other relatives think of him? Did anyone try to make him get dressed?

I find it interesting that such a striking display was used "as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush." It wasn't even Israel that he was warning! He went through all this for 3 years for a bunch of foreigners -- Gentiles!

Isaiah and the prophetess

Isaiah 8:3-4 - Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. Before the boy knows how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria."

I wonder if God told Isaiah to go to the prophetess in order to have a son. I have the feeling that he did because of the name he was told to give the boy and because of the symbol that the boy was to be.

I wonder if God had told the prophetess about his plan for her and Isaiah. I wonder if she would have been surprised if she hadn't been forewarned.

I wonder if Isaiah and the prophetess were considered husband and wife from this point on.