Below are the chapters to read this week if you’re following along in my Bible in a year schedule, divided into morning and evening readings. Follow along any way you want: you can just do the evening reading, flip the morning and evening, or read it all. Whatever works for you and your schedule! It doesn’t have to be Bible in a Year for everyone.
This week we read Lamentations and Philippians, then start Ezekiel. Most of the rest of the morning readings this year will alternate between Ezekiel and the minor prophets, and the rest of the New Testament.
Monday, September 30 Morning: Lamentations 1-2 Evening: Job 28
Tuesday, October 1 Morning: Lamentations 3-5 Evening: Job 29
Wednesday, October 2 Morning: Philippians 1-2 Evening: Job 30
Thursday, October 3 Morning: Philippians 3-4 Evening: Job 31
Friday, October 4 Morning: Ezekiel 1-2 Evening: Job 32
Saturday, October 5 Morning: Ezekiel 3-5 Evening: Job 33
Sunday, October 6 Morning: Ezekiel 6-8 Evening: Job 34
A recent post was about Jeremiah’s comparison of false religion to a broken cistern, with God alternatively being “the fountain of living waters.”[1] Jeremiah lived when most of God’s people – including most of the priests and prophets – had turned from Him to follow other gods. As Jeremiah remained faithful, correctly predicting that Jerusalem would fall to Babylon, he was persecuted, including this instance in Jeremiah 38:6, where King Zedekiah’s officials “took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.”
Since God is “the fountain of living waters,” the only path to eternal blessing, it’s incredibly ironic that Jeremiah, one of the few remaining faithful prophets and therefore a rare source of God’s “living waters,” should be cast into a cistern with no water. Perhaps it was broken. King Zedekiah thought he could silence the “living waters” Jeremiah represented by casting them into a cistern, trading truth for falsehood.
Later, Jeremiah seems to recall the cistern experience in Lamentations 3:52-57, where he said:
“I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause; they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; water closed over my head; I said, ‘I am lost.’ ‘I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’”
Returning to the book of Jeremiah, we read that Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch, heard of Jeremiah’s situation and pleaded his case: “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.”[2] This unlikely source – a foreigner – was Jeremiah’s deliverance from God to rescue Jeremiah from the well. Ebed-melech gathered 30 men, “Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.”
Jeremiah was not the only Old Testament figure to suffer for his faithfulness. Many years earlier, King David also referred to “sinking in the mire” in the Messianic Psalm 69, verses 14-15:
“Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.”
David knew this feeling of sinking came not because of his sin, but when he was faithfully serving his Lord. David’s “sinking in the mire” happened under these circumstances from verse 9 of the same Psalm:
“For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.”
In Jeremiah’s case, as well as David’s and that of Jesus, whom Psalm 69 foreshadowed[3], we know that cannot judge our faithfulness based on whether it improves our circumstances. When we do, we might stop being faithful because it seems we are “sinking in the mire.” Being reproached by the world and feeling down aren’t the circumstances we prefer, but “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”[4] Through these and all other circumstances, God develops in us deeper trust in Him.
Therefore, with David may we pray:
“But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.” – Psalm 69:13
And in His time, He will deliver us, perhaps in ways we don’t expect.
Coda
In 1995, Christian rock group Jars of Clay released their self-titled album, and the track “Flood” has similar themes to this post. The song was also a mainstream hit, charting as high as No. 12 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart,[5] amazing for a song that is essentially a prayer like David’s in Psalm 69.
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah faced immense opposition, and in Jeremiah 36:20-25 is recorded an interesting story of King Jehoiakim’s attempts to destroy the prophet’s words, and by extension, God’s words. The king was unable to get his hands on Jeremiah, whose allies helped him to hide, so the king takes a different approach:
“So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments. Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.”
This wasn’t an impulsive, knee-jerk reaction to God’s word, but a deliberate, sustained act of rebellion. This took time, and there’s almost a ceremony to it, as if daring God to stop him. Many Christians today would be outraged if they witnessed something like this. People in positions of authority disrespect God regularly, but imagine if the head of your country burned the Bible publicly on TV, and nobody stopped them, or even objected? Sure, in modern times, people might object on their blog, on social media, or even on smaller TV and radio outlets, but in Jehoiakim’s example, nobody was able to challenge him. He “got away with it.”
This brings up the question of: why does God allow things like this to happen? I’ll suggest a question in response: Would it be a stronger testimony of God’s sovereignty if He had struck King Jehoiakim dead on the spot, or is it a stronger testimony that Jeremiah’s words still exist today all around the world? If the second option is better, the next question is why do we sometimes feel such outrage and lash out (perhaps on our own blog or Facebook page) at such acts? Do we trust God to deal with it, or do we worry that Jehoiakim is right – maybe God doesn’t care?
Part of the scroll Jehoiakim burned may have included these words of Jeremiah about the king himself: “With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried, dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”[1] And “He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night.”[2] Therefore God knew both that justice would be done to Jehoiakim, and also that his burning of the scroll had only symbolic and temporary effect. In contrast, God’s justice and God’s word are eternally immutable and effective. As Isaiah said: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”[3]
There’s also another question for us: if God had chosen in His sovereignty to redeem Jehoiakim, would we be angry like Jonah at the repentance of Nineveh[4], or would we praise God for His profound and measureless grace? The same grace that brought Jeremiah’s words back from the futile fire pot of King Jehoiakim. The grace that was purchased by Christ on the cross.
This word of God will stand as well: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” – Romans 12:19-21
Do we believe it?
[1] Jeremiah 22:19 [2] Jeremiah 36:30 [3] Isaiah 40:8 [4] See my earlier, short post on Jonah’s anger.
Below are the chapters to read this week if you’re following along in my Bible in a year schedule, divided into morning and evening readings. Follow along any way you want: you can just do the evening reading, flip the morning and evening, or read it all. Whatever works for you and your schedule! It doesn’t have to be Bible in a Year for everyone.
Monday, September 16 Morning: Jeremiah 29-30 Evening: Job 14
Tuesday, September 17 Morning: Jeremiah 31-32 Evening: Job 15
Wednesday, September 18 Morning: Jeremiah 33-34 Evening: Job 16
Thursday, September 19 Morning: Jeremiah 35-36 Evening: Job 17
Friday, September 20 Morning: Jeremiah 37-38 Evening: Job 18
Saturday, September 21 Morning: Jeremiah 39-41 Evening: Job 19
Sunday, September 22 Morning: Jeremiah 42-43 Evening: Job 20
Sometimes word pictures in the Bible weren’t written for people like me. In my life I haven’t thought much of cisterns, but the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah refer to them a few times in their prophecies, and Jeremiah ends up thrown into one. To Jeremiah’s original audience, and others living now, the meaning behind these pictures might be obvious. But for me, it took a little research.
A cistern-centered comparison in Jeremiah 3:12-13 particularly drew my attention, where broken cisterns are used as a picture of false religion and idolatry:
“Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
God is the “fountain of living waters,” but how is false religion like “broken cisterns”?
Looking up “cistern” in the American Heritage Dictionary I find it is: “A receptacle for holding water or other liquid, especially a tank for catching and storing rainwater.” So, a cistern is not a fountain, a source of water, but instead is dependent on another source (usually rain) for its water. So, Jeremiah’s accusation is that false religion can’t create its own water, which brings us to the second point…
The false religions of Judah in Jeremiah’s day weren’t even good cisterns – they were broken. While a cistern is a vessel for storing water in reserve when there is no rain, when broken it’s not even that. Even with another source of water, putting it into a broken cistern was no better than pouring it out into the sand. Jeremiah’s second accusation is that false religion can’t even store good things from other sources. The picture here is that if they took parts of true worship and mixed them with other religions, not only were the other religions wasted, but whatever they would have gained from God is also wasted.
Without God, many things are like broken cisterns. Things that make us happy in this world are temporary and require our Creator God to provide us with more. A food you like might satisfy you for a while, but eventually you need to find more food. Rain may satisfy your garden plants, but eventually they will need more water. Money may seem alluring for its own sake, but it only buys things that are temporary like everything else.
In Jeremiah 2:18, he tells the people not to look anywhere other than the true God of Israel for the source of living water and eternal satisfaction:
“And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?”
Like a cistern, even the Nile and Euphrates only get their water from some other source. They can’t make their own, and God can even determine if the rivers are empty or full. Later, in Jeremiah 14:2-3, he says that because Judah had forsaken God, He had caused a drought, and therefore:
“Judah mourns, and her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up. Her nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns; they find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed and confounded and cover their heads.”
The people mourned their earthly problem but did not care about their spiritual problem which is infinitely more important. No provision – any science, philosophy, or religion – can defend against a drought caused by forsaking God, because false gods – anything we put in His place – cannot deliver rain. They are but broken cisterns.
Consider that if there is no Creator behind the workings of nature, or if that Creator doesn’t care about us, why should we expect the world to act in ways that predictably bless us, instead of just being completely unpredictable and random? Why do things seem to work most of the time? Rain, friction, food, gravity, math, and on and on. Fortunately, our God “sends rain on the just and on the unjust,”[1] and to His own He gives “a spring of water welling up to eternal life”[2]
He calls all people to know Him as “the fountain of living waters.” No cistern needed.
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 