Wednesday 09 July 2008
- Bible Book:
- Jeremiah
"Thus says the Lord: Just so I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own will and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. For as the loincloth clings to one's loins, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord, in order that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. But they would not listen." (v.9-11)
Background
You have to admit it, until now you may have not have thoughtabout a Bible study using knickers or underpants as a startingpoint. But in today's passage Jeremiah does just that. Imaginegetting designer underwear and then destroying them to make a pointabout God. Jeremiah did.
Words like comfortable, athletic, elegant, soft, classy andseductive may well belong in a catalogue for underwear but do theybelong on Bible study web pages? The answer is yes. They make thepoint that Jeremiah wanted to make. God's people had been made tobe something special in the eyes of God but they did not listen toGod.
In a style typical of Jeremiah the prophet turned to action in away that would speak louder than words. The people, who were closeand trusted, had become proud and betrayed the Covenant promisethat bound them together with God. The river Euphrates (used toruin the loincloth) that flows from Babylon represents how Godwould punish the people using Babylonian oppressors.
Someone walking around in their underwear might look strange to ustoday, but it was the most basic item of clothing preservingmodesty to Jeremiah. It was not about looking strange, but aboutsomething deeper. God and Jeremiah were bound together in a commonlove for the people. In previous chapters God and Jeremiah talkdirectly with each other. Their words have the tone and feeling oflovers betrayed. Two souls yoked and hurting together.
Mahatma Gandhi was the father of modern India. His quest forjustice, equality and unity for his people led him to reject hisprivileged background and live simply. He dressed in the simplestway, wearing the traditional dhoti (underwear) and shawl. There isa picture of him from 1931 outside 10 Downing Street (see above).He looks strange in the English climate next to a suitedpolitician. In a powerful way the two people show why liberationfrom the colonising English was inevitable.
To Ponder
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you,then they fight you, then you win." What similarities can you seebetween these words of Mahatma Ghandi and God's relationship withthe people of Israel?
"A people, a name, a praise, and a glory" (verse11). How might these words best describe our relationship withGod?