Jeremiah
Suppose you are asked to help prepare an anthology of great quotations from the ancient world. There are going to be two Jeremiah quotes, and you get to pick two of them. Of all of Jeremiah's many quotable lines, which two would you choose? Why these particular lines?
posted by Ancient Art at 2:24 PM
8 Comments:
The two quotes I would pick are as follows:
1) "The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah...I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts...All, from least to greatest, shal know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more."
2)"For I know well the plans I have in mind in for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for your woe! PLans to give you a future full of hope."
These quotes bare a hopeful message amidst Jermiah's many prophecies of destruction for Israel because of their evil ways. Also, these quotes can serve people today. Not only might they give hope to the people of Israel who were now facing being conquered by Babylon, but even people today need something hopeful to look forward to otherwise life itself is too much of a burden.
The first quote that I would add to the anthology would be Jeremiah 17:5-8 "(5) Thus says the Lord: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength. (6) They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wildnerness, in an ininhabited salt land. (7) Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. (8) They shall be like like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit."
These verse are contrasting the view of how Israel and Judah could have been had they trusted and followed God (tree near a stream). However, they are now a shrub in the desert that will wither and die due to a lack of moisure because they did not following God.
The other quote from Jeremiah comes from 23:5-6 "(5) The days are surely coming, say the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righeous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. (6) In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The Lord is our righteousness.' "
This is another prophecy concerning the coming Messiah who would save the people and restore the past glory of Israel and Judah, united as one.
The first would be Jeremiah 10:1-5 because it describes what many today would call a Christmas tree. Even though many people may read these lines few actually think about what he is saying. People tend to explain away what is written by saying that "we don't worship the tree" or "the people back then used to worship the tree".
The second would be Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee;and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." This shows that God does want the message to be given to all nations and that He can/does choose people to fulfill His purpose.
29:11-
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
1:5-
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
These two verses are very quotable, and they both show hope as well as identity and sense of purpose.
I thought that Jeremiah 6:12 was a great verse. It says "Small and great alike, all are greedy for gain; prophet and priest, all practice fraud." I think this is human nature. This is something that all humans can relate on. God is saying this and that He knows that everyone is like this, but I will still forgive you. Most everyone's dream is to get rich, no matter what it takes. Now the second part I think has to deal with more of their time with priests. However, you are starting to see a trend of priests and pastors doing things that are not only sins but are illegal. For example, the Catholic priests and their scandal is a prime example. However, God forgives all, which is something that no human can do. Everyone holds grudges, but God will forgive you if you let Him.
The second verse I found to be very good was Jeremiah 17:5. It says, "Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord." The basic meaning of this is that people will let you down, God never will. If you believe in people being great, you will end up hurt. If you truly believe in God, you will be happy, and find eternal happiness. Like one great professor pointed out. If you believe in God and He and His kingdom isn't real, what do you lose? If you don't believe in God and He and His kingdom are real, you are missing out on eternal happiness. Now I am not saying you should believe in God just in case, but it seems to me that people who truly believe are a lot happier than those going through the motions.
16:19-21 "O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say "Our fathers possessed nothing by false gods, worthless idols that idd them no good. Do men make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!" "Therefore i will teach them- this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the LORD". I found this verse to be interesting because it shows the power and love of the LORD. It says that "this time I will teach them", which I believe means through hard times, the people will learn the power of the LORD.
31:33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, "declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people". I find this verse to be very encouraging, making the burden of Jeremiah much lighter. There will be hard times, but the LORD will give a covenant.
One quote that i found to be influential is chapter 17:7-8, But blessed is the man who trusts in the lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its rooots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; it leaves are always green. It has no worries in a yearof drought and never fails to bear fruit." This quote states that if you find righteousness in the lord and follow his ways, that no matter what comes your way...no matter how big of a burden or obstacle, you will be prosperous. the second quote comes from chapter 50:6-7; "My people have been lost sheep; their shephards have led them astray and caused them to roam on the moountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place. Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, 'We are not guilty, for they sinned against the lord, their true pasture, the lord, the hope of their fathers.' This quote states on how people did have righteousness with the lord but let other gods lead them away, and devoured their souls and felt they shouldn't be punished because those people already did wrong for not staying with their god to be safe and secure.
A quote i found in Jeremiah was chapter 16:19-21 "O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say "Our fathers possessed nothing by false gods, worthless idols that idd them no good. Do men make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!" "Therefore i will teach them- this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the LORD". Basically states on how people that had another god and not the lord were worshiping "fake" gods that were not worthy of the time and he is going to teach them the way of righteous in the lord. The second quote was, chapter 10:10, "But the lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath. This quote is telling us not to upset the lord and make him angry with us for worshiping another god. He is the only one worthy of following
Post a Comment
<< Home