On today's episode...The Rev. Rick Morley returns from vacation, and we get to hear some of his takes on the prophets generally before we jump into Jeremiah specifically.
Rick reminds us that all three of the major prophets’ books – Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel – are all in some ways trauma documents, since they are all dealing with the Babylonian exile.
We remind ourselves of when these prophets were living and aligned them with the Kings found in 2 Kings, which we discussed back in April. We look at the composition of Jeremiah – the longest book of the Bible by word count – and how it may have been organized literarily. It is not as clearly delineated as Isaiah, and that makes for a bit of a difficult read.
We discuss that Jeremiah is either a student or a teacher of the Deuteronomistic Historian – you can see that theology reflected throughout the text. We discuss an interesting scholarly hypothesis of who that historian might have been, and his relationship to Jeremiah. We continue to talk about where in the language you can find these hints. We also note the contrast with much of the language of Isaiah.
We then spend some time discussing the dominant metaphor in Jeremiah of God as like a husband and the people of Judah/Israel like an unfaithful wife. We discuss why it may have resonated at the time, but also why it is problematic. There are many other metaphors found in our scriptures, including within Jeremiah itself.
As we discuss the prolific metaphors in Jeremiah, we’re also given examples by Elliot of places where those same metaphors reappear in the New Testament writings. This is something to look forward to noticing when we go through the New Testament later this year. Elliot mentions his sermon on The Widow’s Mite, which you can listen to here.
Rick then poses the question of why Jeremiah is not the one so often quoted in the New Testament and why Christian theologians and artists have so preferred Isaiah? We share our different theories before Elliot then asks how we deal with the strong judgements in the earlier sections of Jeremiah. Natalee especially appreciates the distressing effectiveness of a particular metaphor. Rick helps us think through human nature in our response to those sections as well. All of this brings us to a conversation on the difficult and dangerous road of any prophet, and what it takes to make a person truly a prophet. (Hint: it’s not speaking into your own echo chamber.) We close in a conversation on what it is to preach into a specific community – the challenges of being in community and sharing the word that those people need to hear.
PS: Natalee laughs at the end not at the fall of Jerusalem itself, but at the prospect of "enjoying" reading about it.
Cross Connections is a ministry of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Wayne, PA. Season two, Cover to Cover is hosted by the Rev. Rick Morley, Elliot VanHoy, and Natalee Hill.
A full copy list of readings for 2025 may be found on our website at https://stdavidschurch.org/crossconnections
If you have questions for us, you can call us at 484.588.5656 and leave a voicemail with your name, where you’re from, and your question or comment. Please note, we may use your recorded voice in an upcoming episode of Cross Connections. You can also email us at crossconnections@stdavidschurch.org.
Logo graphic design and podcast production by Natalee Hill. Stock Media Music provided by Marscott and MoodMode / Pond5.
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