What happens when we don’t trust our leaders or what they tell is the truth? We end up with a crisis of trust.
The crisis can be very complicated. We are feeling this right now.
And this is sadly echoed in our history.
Torn between tough or worse choices, and leaderless, the remaining refugees of Judea turn to the prophet Jeremiah for divine visions of clarity- but soon they will turn on his as well. Doubt has consumed them.
Where should they go? Stay among the ruins or desert their homeland to become refugees or immigrants in Egypt, far away from everything they know?
Jeremiah waited ten days before delivering the message he received, or so he says, from God: They should stay in Judea and help to rebuild - not head south to Egypt.
But it’s not what they want to hear, although they sought him out - for the first time in 43 chapters of this book and over at least four decades. They discard and disregard the divine message. That’s not what he wants to hear either, although by now he is used to being disregarded and ignored.
How can we tell if our leaders lie or not -- or if they deliver us the news that we don’t want - but might need? Do we listen to the promises of ease or the invitation to work harder for a long game that is worth the toil?
The Judean refugees, who suffered so much, want to get out. They want ease. Who can blame them? Egypt beckons them, peaceful and prosperous. They want to start again.
But Jeremiah represents the old dream of legacy and land connected to their future - for the last remaining refugees to leave means betrayal of the hope and so he goes into a rage. One of Jeremiah's longest speeches is recorded here, seven verses long, and it contains his bitterness, humiliation, anger, and despair.
The leaders of the flock wait patiently. They do not interrupt the prophet while he wails and rails at them.
But then they speak and accuse him of fraud:
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר עֲזַרְיָ֤ה בֶן־הוֹשַֽׁעְיָה֙ וְיוֹחָנָ֣ן בֶּן־קָרֵ֔חַ וְכׇל־הָאֲנָשִׁ֖ים הַזֵּדִ֑ים אֹמְרִ֣ים אֶֽל־יִרְמְיָ֗הוּ שֶׁ֚קֶר אַתָּ֣ה מְדַבֵּ֔ר לֹ֣א שְׁלָחֲךָ֞ יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֵ֙ינוּ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר לֹא־תָבֹ֥אוּ מִצְרַ֖יִם לָג֥וּר שָֽׁם׃
Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant people said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The ETERNAL our God did not send you to say, ‘Don’t go to Egypt and sojourn there’!
Jeremiah 43:2
Rabbi Benny Lau unpacks more of what’s at stake here:
“The word "lie," sheker, hits Jeremiah like a knockout punch. No prophet uses this term more. Of the 109 times it appears in Scripture, thirty-five occur in the Book of Jeremiah. And this is the only time it is directed against him.
Perhaps the people are taken aback by the prophet's transformation from a broken and listless shell of a man to a newly inspired and energetic spirit. The decision to continue on to Egypt has been made. Jeremiah finds himself part of the convoy heading south, along with his faithful secretary, Baruch.
And now the scene changes -- we don’t know how long it took them, but the next scene comes to us from Egypt - a location called Tahpanhes, where the refugees now settle.”
Tahpanhes may be the Hebrew transliteration of “Tḥpnḥs”, a place mentioned in a Phoenician papyrus letter of the 6th century BCE from Egypt. This text refers to “Baal-Zephon and the gods of Tahpanhes”. In 2003, the British Egyptologist David Michael Rohl proposed to identify Tahpanhes with the biblical location of Baal-Zephon, mentioned in the narrative of the Exodus from Egypt (see Exodus 14:2-4, Numbers 33:7).
Ancient Tahpanhes is identified today with Egyptian Tell Defenneh, located on the shore of Lake Manzala on the Tanitic branch of the Nile. It is now situated on the Suez Canal.
Jeremiah has another vision here, and performs another prophetic act that predicts the future, but the people may have lost their faith in him. Their accusation that he is a liar, or a leader who they feel has betrayed them, will echo louder in the coming chapter - which contains one of the most dramatic debates in the bible, and sets the stage for Jeremiah’s final words.
It’s not easy to be a prophet, or a leader, especially when the crisis is real and the trauma is present. Sometimes it takes generations to make sense of prophecies that only manifest much later.
Our hero, now in Egypt, lives among the refugees, the visions of regret and hope co-mingled in his heart. The Judeans, as survivors do, try their best to overcome their isolation by turning to the local - many - gods of Egypt. What’s true? Who lies? Real or false prophet? What is The Truth?
Unmoored and resettled the people, then, now, struggle to make sense of reality. The next chapter will record a historical religious debate that questions the very core of the sacred story, to this day.
Peace. Hope. Healing.
Join me to talk about:
Jeremiah & the Queen of Heaven, A Conversation about the Ancient Hebrew Goddess of Compassion
The book of Jeremiah is a literary masterpiece, painting evocative images crafted into metaphors of nuance and power. But what most stands out in Jeremiah is his vivid rendering of the agony of an abandoned heart.
Rev. Elizabeth M. Edman
Next Below the Bible Belt Zoom Live Conversation with Rabbi Amichai
October 18, 5pm ET
As we wrap up our long journey with the Prophet Jeremiah, during these difficult of war, and as witnesses to the tragic fall of Jerusalem in this biblical narrative, we get to ponder and ask some big questions. Some of these were heard among the survivors and the refugees of Jerusalem’s destruction, some still echo today. What do we learn from these chapters about the ways we face our own big questions and keep cultivating hope?
And who is this goddess of care that our ancestors speak for?
Join the Free Zoom Conversation with your questions and thoughts:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88915392821
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