Jeremiah


Consolation

Jeremiah 29:4-14

4Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruits. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters. Increase there; do not decrease. 7Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the Lord, for upon its welfare your own depends. ...
10For thus says the Lord: Only after seventy years have elapsed for Babylon will I deal with you and fulfill for you my promise to bring you back to this place. 11For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the Lord—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope. 12When you call me, and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. 13When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, 14I will let you find me—oracle of the Lord—and I will change your lot; I will gather you together from all the nations and all the places to which I have banished youoracle of the Lord—and bring you back to the place from which I have exiled you.

Neither permanent despair nor immediate gratification

Deuteronomistic theology (theodicy, explanation of exile)


New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31-34

31See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, though I was their master—oracle of the Lord. 33But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days—oracle of the Lord. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34They will no longer teach their friends and relatives, “Know the Lord!” Everyone, from least to greatest, shall know me—oracle of the Lord—for I will forgive their iniquity and no longer remember their sin.

How is it different?

Elimination of free will?

Renewal, supplement, or replacement?

Interpretation in Christian history


Parallelism — the main feature of Hebrew poetry

No rhyme or meter

Part A parallels part B

Most often B restates A more strongly


Piety in Jeremiah 20

Unquestioning or questioning

Accepting or challenging

Absolute love or doubt, anger

Submission or compromise

Optimism or despair

Dialogar o discutir