The ninth episode of the third season of the Retelling the Bible Podcast is posted today (July 31, 2019). You can listen to the episode and subscribe to the podcast by following one of these links or by searching for the podcast on your favourite platform:

SHOW NOTES

This episode is based on Jeremiah 4:8-22 in the Old Testament of the Bible with the general context and character names taken from and 2 Kings 25:1-26. The description of a covenant-making ceremony is taken from Genesis 15:7-21. (Click the references to read the original texts). Any direct biblical quotations in the episode are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Here are a few of my thoughts on the episode:

The fall of Jerusalem

This episode takes place during the final weeks and months before the ultimate fall of the city of Jerusalem to Babylonian invaders. This is an event that is fairly well attested historically. The Babylonian Empire was ascendant at that period of time and none could resist their advance. Indeed, at this point in history, the Babylonians had already conquered Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had removed the previous king of Judah, Jehoiachin, and had put King Zedekiah in his place.

Zedekiah had chosen to rebel against his Babylonian overlords which set up a final confrontation and resulted in the ultimate destruction of Jerusalem.

Throughout this entire period, the prophet Jeremiah had consistently counselled, in the name of God, against resisting Babylonian military might. This resulted in him being identified as an enemy of the crown and being confined to the court of the guard and even, at one point being imprisoned in an underground cistern.

All measures to resist and to quash dissent, however, were fruitless and the city fell and was reduced to rubble.

The covenant with the slaves

This story focuses on a last-ditch effort to save the city when it was under siege. The Bible doesn’t actually tell the story of the making of the covenant, it only reports Jeremiah’s prophecy at the time the covenant was broken. We have to reconstruct the events based on what Jeremiah said about them, but this is not that hard to do.

The forgiveness of debts and freeing of debt slaves was not an uncommon act in the ancient world. It does not make much sense to us as modern people. We understand that nothing would crash a modern economy faster than a general forgiveness of debts because our economies are built around debt. But ancient economies were very different. The free landholding farmer was considered to be the very foundation of the economy and the cornerstone of defence. This made it necessary, from time to time, to cancel debts and free debt slaves. It is not surprising that the leadership of Jerusalem should have taken such steps to shore up the defence of the city when it was threatened with destruction.

But, while most ancient civilizations had a mechanism for releasing debts and debt slaves, there was something unique about how the Israelites approached this issue. They believed in a God who had freed them from slavery in some distant past — who desired that his people should be slaves to no one. And so the matter of forgiving debts and releasing slaves was not just a matter of civil order to them; it was a divine command and included in their most sacred laws. This adds a rather unique element in this drama that unfolds and gives an opening for Jeremiah to speak on behalf of God with a powerful rebuke.

I have written extensively on the Jubliee and its practice in Ancient Israel in a book that I published a few years ago called, “Caesar’s Census, God’s Jubilee.” I would refer you to that book if you are interested in finding out more about this powerful idea. (You can click on the title above to go to the Amazon.com page for the book.

Inspirations

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE