Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Conscientiousness
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*JEREMIAH* 8:20
Jeremiah is known as the “weeping prophet” or sometimes as the “prophet of doom” because of the impression of his message.
Jeremiah lived during the last years of the 7th century BC in the historical crisis of the last days of Judah.
The final blow was struck in 587 BC by the Babylonians and everything that was central to political and religious life in Jerusalem was destroyed.
This was not in accordance with the ‘/royal-temple’ ideology/ of Israel in Jeremiah’s day.
The claim was that the God of Israel had made irrevocable promises to the temple and the monarchy, had taken up permanent residence in Jerusalem, and was for all time a patron and guarantor of the Jerusalem establishment.
In such a view, obedience is not a crucial dimension of faith.
The governing paradigm for the tradition of Jeremiah is Israel’s covenant with Yahweh, rooted in the ‘blessings’ and ‘curses’ of the covenant of Sinai.
The invasion and deportation was the result of the covenant curse being inflicted for continuous rebellion.
In spite of this, however, Yahweh wills a continuing relation with Israel.
Throughout the book, we see God’s inexplicable yearning or pathos.
This pathos explains the tension often seen through the book: the severity of covenant sanctions, and the power of God’s yearnings.
The pathos of God allows the book of Jeremiah to move beyond the crisis and death of the exile to envision a newness that is wrought out of God’s gracious resolve and powerful will, introducing an articulation of hope.
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*THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE PEOPLE *
The message that is presented uses the technique of asking questions to probe people’s perception of their situation and to stir them up to a realisation of their danger.
The message makes use of three commonsense observations to bring out how unnaturally Judah was responding to circumstances.
#. *Unnatural Conduct [4-7] *
!
The Lord’s message begins with a series of questions to prod the people into thinking about their situation.
*a. **A People *
* i.
**The Actions *
The actions: “/shall they fall and not arise/…” [8:4].
* הֲיִפְּל֖וּ - “/fall/” [8:4], ‘drop from high elevation to low elevation’; * יָשׁ֖וּב - “/turn/ /away/” [8;4], ‘make linear motion to a point previously departed from’;
* ii.
**The Normal Behaviour *
The expected response: “/and not arise/…” [8:4].
* יָק֑וּמוּ - “/arise/” [8:4], ‘be in a standing position’;
* וְלֹ֥א יָשֽׁוּב - “/not/ /return/” [8:4], ‘make linear motion to a point previously departed from’;
* iii.
**The Spiritual Problem *
The question: “/why then is this people of Jerusalem slid back/…” [8:5].
* שׁוֹבְבָ֜ה - “/slidden back/” [8:5], polel perfect, ‘make linear motion to a point previously departed from’;
* נִצַּ֑חַת - “/perpetual/” [8:5], ‘enduring’; ‘lasting always’;
* מְשֻׁבָ֣ה - “/backsliding/” [8;5], ‘waywardness’; ‘apostasy’; ‘faithlessness’;
* iv.
**The Accusation *
The accusation: “/they hold fast deceit/…” [8:5].
* הֶחֱזִ֙יקוּ֙ - “/hold/ /fast/” [8:5], ‘be harsh, hard’; ‘to be in a state of high degree of intensity’; hiphil ‘to grasp an object’;
* בַּתַּרְמִ֔ית - “/deceit/” [8:5], ‘delusion’; ‘accusation of blame which is untrue’; ‘the delusive beliefs promoted by the false prophets’;
* מֵאֲנ֖וּ - “/refuse/” [8;5], piel perfect, ‘to be in a state of rebellion and in defiance of authority’;
*Application *
The picture may simply be that of someone going away from home, whether to work in the fields, or on a longer journey.
* If he goes away, you would expect him to come back.
* It may also depict an individual going of the path, and after getting lost, making every endeavour to retrace his steps back to the right route.
* The people had deliberately and unnaturally rejected moving back to the Lord.
* *
*b. **Horses *
* i.
**Their Speech *
The people’s speech and conversation: “/I hearkened and heard, but they spoke not aright/…” [8:6].
* הִקְשַׁ֤בְתִּי - “/hearkened/” [8:6], hiphil perfect, ‘to accept information as true and respond to it’;
* וָֽאֶשְׁמָע֙ - “/heard/” [8:6], ‘use perception of hearing to process information’;
* יְדַבֵּ֔רוּ - “/spoke/” [8:6], ‘speak, tell, say, communicate’;
* ii.
**The Failure *
The people failed to stop and think of what they had done: “/no man repented him of his wickedness/…” [8:6].
* נִחָם֙ - “/repented/” [8:6], ‘be in a state of sorrow over wrong’;
* רָ֣עָת֔וֹ - “/wickedness/” [8:6], ‘wrongdoing’; ‘covenant breaking’;
* מֶ֣ה - “/what/” [8:6], interrogative,
* עָשִׂ֑יתִי - “/I done/” [8:6], ‘to perform an action’;
! iii.
The Accusation
The accusation: “/everyone turned to his course/…” [8:6].
* שָׁ֚ב - “/turned/” [8:6], qal participle, ‘make linear motion to a point previously departed from’;
* בִּ מְרֻ֣צָ֯ותָ֔ם - “/his/ /course/” [8:6], ‘running’; ‘manner of movement from one place to another at a speed faster than walking’;
* שׁוֹטֵ֖ף - “/rushes/” [8:6], ‘charging’; ‘making swift, powerful movement into an area’;
*Application*
Oblivious to th4e dangers around them, they sweep headlong in deliberate and vigorous action which is unstoppable.
* The people commit themselves to a ‘headlong career’, something that is taken at a gallop so determined are they to get on with what they started.
*c.
**Migrating Birds *
* i.
**The Migratory Instinct *
The migratory birds observe the God-appointed pattern for living: “/the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times/…” [8:7].
* חֲסִידָ֣ה - “/stork/” [8:7], ‘water bird, stork, heron’;
* יָֽדְעָה֙ - “/knows/” [8:7], ‘possess information about’;
* מֽוֹעֲדֶ֔יהָ - “/appointed time/” [8:7], ‘appointed time’; ‘seasons’;
* שָׁמְר֖וּ - “/observe/” [8:7], ‘cause a state or condition to remain’;
* עֵ֣ת - “/time/” [8:7], ‘season’; ‘right time’;
* בֹּאָ֑נָה - “/their/ /coming/” [8:7], ‘to come, go’; ‘to arrive’;
* ii.
**The People *
The people of Judah behave in a different way: “/but my people know not/…” [8:7].
* לֹ֣א יָֽדְע֔וּ - “/know not/” [8:7], ‘possess information about’; ‘carries the idea of inward commitment’;
* מִשְׁפַּ֥ט - “/judgement/” [8:7], ‘decide a legal dispute or case’; ‘all acts of God’s kingly administration’;
* The name of the “/stork/” [8:7] derives from the same root as hesed, ‘steadfast love’ [2:2], but the behaviour of God’s people reveals no such faithfulness’.
*Application*
In the long-standing tradition in Israel, animal behaviour was not regarded as the product of instinct or an impersonal natural law, but of a divinely implanted norm.
* Because animals regularly follow this pattern, they provide an object lesson to humans whose behaviour is erratic.
* The people “knew” the requirements of God’s law at an intellectual level but there was no sense of inward commitment.
#.
*Unwise Conduct [8-12] *
This passage reflects a period when Jeremiah was in conflict with the religious leader of the community.
*a. **The Question *
* i.
**The People’s Claim *
!
The question implies that they think they have mastered the law: “/how do we say, we are wise/…” [8:8].
* חֲכָמִ֣ים - “/wise/” [8:8], ‘capacity for understanding and discernment’; * וְתוֹרַ֥ת יְהוָ֖ה - “/law/ /of/ /the/ /Lord/” [8:8], ‘Torah’; ‘legal prescription with a covenant context’;
* אִתָּ֑נוּ - “/with/ /us/” [8:8],
* ii.
**The Actual Contrast *
Introducing a strong contrast to the behaviour of those possessing the Law of the Lord: “/lo, certainly in vain made he it/…” [8:8].
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