The Tanakh Podcast

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.

Jeremiah delivers his prophecy at the Temple and is almost issued a death sentence. He is saved by the officials and the common people who believe that he is delivering an authentic Godly message. We discuss one of these people in particular - Ahikam ben Shafan - and also the idea, expressed powerfully here, that society cannot execute the mouthpiece of unpopular ideas.

In the fourth year of Yehoyakim, Nebuchadnezzar comes to power. Now Jeremiah's predictions are indeed transpiring. We see a double prophecy: 1. The promise of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the ascendancy of Babylon for 70 years 2. The theme of the "poisoned chalice" which will be drunk by Jerusalem, but then will be fed to all the nations around as God "summons the sword against all the inhabitants of the earth."

Jeremiah sees two baskets of figs, one of supreme quality, the other totally inedible. What is the message that God is sending to the nation?

We see two sets of problematic leaders: The kings who misguided the nation - the "negligent shepherds" who lose their flock; and the false prophets who claim to have "dreamt a dream" from God, but are pretenders, phonies, merely uttering falsehoods.