Follow Me: Jeremiah

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Translation

Now the word of Yahweh came to me and said, “Before I shaped you in your mother’s belly I knew you, and before you went out from the womb I consecrated you. I gave you to the nations as a prophet.” Then I said, “Alas, My Lord Yahweh, Look: I don’t know how to speak, for I am just a boy!”
So Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am just a boy’, for you will go to all whom I send you, and you will speak to all whom I command you. Do not be afraid when you are before them, because I am with you so that I will deliver you.” Thus speaks Yahweh.
Now Yahweh stretched out his hand and touched my mouth. Then Yahweh said to me, “Look: I have put my words in your mouth. You see, today I have appointed you to the nations and to the kingdoms, to pull up and to pull down, to kill and to break, to build and to plant.”

Prophecy as Gift?

Prophecy also something we think highly of. 1 Cor 14:1-4
The New Revised Standard Version Gifts of Prophecy and Tongues

Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy. 2 For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit. 3 On the other hand, those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 4 Those who speak in a tongue build up themselves, but those who prophesy build up the church.

Jeremiah, however, doesn’t seem to portray it as the kind of gift everyone would want!
Makes excuses
His prophecy is the kind that gets people killed
He is eventually thrown into a muddy pit to shut him up
Prophecy is a gift, but also a burden and responsibility
Prophecy “builds and plants” but first “kills and destroys”

Prophet as Seer?

Apostle … and Prophetess...
The “prophets” predicting presidential election
Even in bible, there are true and false prophets
What do real prophets look like? Signs:
Does the prophecy come true? Deut 18:20-22
The New Revised Standard Version A New Prophet Like Moses

20 But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” 21 You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the LORD has not spoken?” 22 If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.

Is this consistent with God’s actions in the past?
This is why bible, tradition, and a personal relationship with God are all important
When prophets in the Bible do presume to speak about politics (and they do, quite often), it is almost always bad news for the king.
Modern prophets consider prophecy as “seeing the future”
Are biblical prophets just fortune tellers and seers?
More to prophecy than mere “fortune telling”

Providence and Freedom

Problem with prophecy as always merely “seeing future”: determinism
Not everything is certain, even in prophecy. Jer 18:6-11
The New Revised Standard Version The Potter and the Clay

6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. 9 And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

Prophet as Visionary

Prophecy Today

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