September 13, 2020: Day 22 – Jeremiah 22

There does seem to be a bit of an emphasis in looking out for those who have been robbed.  We see a hint of this in chapter 21:12 and now it is raised again in vs.3 that God will act with justice and righteousness for those who have been robbed.  Then the verses continue in speaking up for the orphan and the widow and the alien.  This does seem like a bit of a disjointed blast to the past where God says if you obey my commands then you will be able to live out your life in prosperity and peace just like King David did.  Now, we already know that this is a bit like water passed under the bridge.  The people have not been faithful, they have turned their back, they are not acting with justice and righteousness to either the victims of robberies, or the widows, or the orphans, or the aliens.

There is then a historical drop with Shallum who was serving as king but was carried away into captivity into Babylon.  He was the son of Josiah who was a great reformer and brought the people closer to the Lord by the rediscovery of the law.  But his son was not like his father.  He did lead the people away from the Lord like so many other of the kings of that time.  

We then get into a castigation of those who are in construction and are cheating their way into prosperity.   Look at vs.13 where we read: “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbors work for nothing, and does not give them their wages.”  Now, I am assuming that this is not a literal dig at construction workers but rather at any who build their wealth in a way that they bury those under them.

There is a mournful cry as we read: “O land, land, land…”  There is a mourning that the land was literally lost and taken over by another population.  You can palpably sense the loss that is being expressed through those words.  There is a sense that at this time in the history of our nation I want to call out and say the same words: “O land, land, land…”  Not because we are being overtaken by another nation or another people, but because we are seeing the land rent asunder by our own actions and our own turning our back on the Lord.