Opus 2026-143: Pardon My Brain

There are times when I wonder if I am going to need to disconnect my brain to be comfortable in the congregation of believers.  Let me try to give an example before you write me off as hopeless.

We were “studying” Jeremiah 25.  From verse 18 to 25 there was a long list of political units that no one has ever heard of and the claim was that God was going to make them “drink of the cup”.  Okay.  Then we come to this verse:

Jeremiah 25:26 (KJV) And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

Being the contrary person I am I asked, “If you are going to say ‘all the kingdoms of the world’ why do you have a list of all these kingdoms?”  I was not trying to be silly.  It seems like there must be an answer.  The answer I got was, “Well, if it wasn’t important it would not be in the scripture.”  Well, thank you.  I also know water is wet because water is wet.  Now how about a real answer like “It was a literary device used in ancient Israel to show emphasis like Jesus saying ‘Verily, verily’ for emphasis.”  Or they could have said, “It might be a literary device…”.  Those answers I could accept.

And as you read through the chapter you have phrases like “perpetual desolations” regarding areas that you know were not perpetually desolate.

I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God.  That includes literary devices and figurative language.  When things don’t make sense literally then they can make sense if understood properly . What I don’t tolerate well is mindless endorsement of obvious contradictions.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-142: Every Coin Comes with Two Sides

I don’t know what labels to use or categories to indicate, but we have a group of people who believe the modern nation of Israel can do no wrong because of what they call Bible prophecy.  This comes to mind, not because I dwell on it but because we covered one of those prophecies in our journey through the book of Jeremiah.

Notice this verse,

Jeremiah 25:5 (KJV) They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

This is just one place we see this “promise of the land” as it is called.  This is just one example to indicate what I am referring to.

The interpretation of this is that God gave them a specific land and it would be theirs forever, thus when the nation of Israel was established in 1948 it was considered a continuation of this promise.  They like a literal interpretation which ignores the first part of the verse and only sees “the land”.  Other places you can find a description which fits nicely with the greatest extent of Solomon’s kingdom from a branch of the Euphrates River in northern Syria to just below the Gaza Strip.

The problem this group encounters is found only a few verses later,

Jeremiah 25:8-9 (KJV) 8 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words, 9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.

otice that this verse declares that as a result of ignoring the first part of verse 5 He will “utterly destroy them”.  When I pressed the pastor on this he declared it to not apply to everyone, in other words it was figurative.

I don’t ask for much.  All I want is for people to take the entire Bible and be consistent with what it says and not switch horses in order to fit it into your narrative.  If a phrase in verse 5, ignoring its context, it taken as a literal promise how can a similar phrase in verse 9, declaring utter destruction, is just a figure of speech?

The consistent way to look at this is to declare them both as conditional statements in context.  You find this all through prophecy.

Is modern Israel the nation of prophecy?  Like so much of prophecy it could go either way depending on them and the context of unfolding history.  So far I see a very small percentage of the population that would be considered faithful but that could have been said about any time in Israel’s history.

Stay tuned.  The final chapter has not been written yet.

homo unius libri