Choose The Path of Life or Path of Death?

Jeremiah 21:8

Today’s chapter is very specifically historical - but also timeless, and echoes eerie on this second day of Rosh Hashanah. 

The year is 587 BCE, and the Babylonian army, led by Nebuchadnezar, is approaching the city to quell King Zedekiah's mutiny and kill the 20th and last Judean king of Jerusalem. In despair, the King sends messengers to ask Jeremiah to intercede and pray to YHWH for a miracle. A similar request was made a century earlier - by the king’s ancestor King Hezekiah to Jeremiah’s predecessor, the prophet Isaiah - and at that time Sanherib, the Assyrian general did indeed turn away. 

But not this time.  Jeremiah refused to pray and has a strong message to the king: It’s too late. But he also has a message to the people -- reminding them and us of our free agency -- of how much is in our own hands: 

וְאֶל־הָעָ֤ם הַזֶּה֙ תֹּאמַ֔ר כֹּ֖ה אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֑ה הִנְנִ֤י נֹתֵן֙ לִפְנֵיכֶ֔ם אֶת־דֶּ֥רֶךְ הַחַיִּ֖ים וְאֶת־דֶּ֥רֶךְ הַמָּֽוֶת׃

“And to these people you shall say: YHWH spoke: I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”

Jeremiah 21:8

Why does Jeremiah refuse to offer hopeful prayer and delivers this message to the people, under siege, mid battle? 

Rabbi Lau writes: 

“He watches the military buildup in Jerusalem, the bravery of the soldiers, their devotion to the cause — and it all seems futile. God is about to turn their own weapons of war against them as the battle reaches the city's streets. Jeremiah knows there will be a catastrophe. And after the initial massacre when the Babylonians breach the city, the leaders — the king and his entourage, and the rest of the survivors — will be delivered into the hands of the King of Babylonia, who will slaughter them mercilessly. 

Jeremiah instructs them unambiguously: Surrender. Give yourselves up to the Babylonians. He does not beat around the bush: "Whoever leaves and surrenders to the besieging Chaldeans shall live."

When the prophet tells them they have a choice he’s being practical - surrender and live, even as slaves - or fight for nationalist glory and die defending the city. Some will heed Jeremiah’s advice. Most, including the leadership, will not. 

We pray today that the book of life includes us this coming year, that our choices will be wise, our health and happiness prosper, our loved ones safe, another year of love and life. But who knows? And what choices can we make, like the people of Jerusalem, no matter how painful, that will help us lean more into life and less stuck with stubborn persistence to what once was all we knew and cared for? 

We listen to Jeremiah today as we shed some of our past and hopefully resolve to live lives of better choices, each alone and all of us together. 

Shana Tova.

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