Bible In One Year Day 251 (Jeremiah 41-42, Judith 12-14, Proverbs 17:13-16)

  You may subscribe yourself at the Ascension site here and receive notifications in your email, or just follow along on my blog.  Bible in One Year Readings Index 

Day 251: Judith and Holofernes

Agape Bible Study Jeremiah 41-42

Chapter 41: The Assassination of Gedaliah

Jeremiah 41:1-3 ~ The Murder of the Babylonian Governor and Officers at Mizpah

The seventh month was the month of Tishri in the Jewish calendar (September/October). However, the question is what is the year?

1. Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in July of 587 BC.
2. Summer fruits are harvested in August-September (40:12).
3. The seventh month in 41:1 was the month of Tishri in the Jewish calendar (September/October).
4. The pilgrim feast of Tabernacles/Shelters is from the 15^th to the 21^st of the month of Tishri (September/October) and explains the arrival of the pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem in 41:4-5 (see Ex 23:16; Dt 16:13-16).
5. The events in 41:1-18 could be three months after the fall of Jerusalem or three or four years later.
6. Nebuchadnezzar returned to Judah in 582 BC, perhaps as a response to the murder of his governor and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah.

Jeremiah 41:4-10 ~ Pilgrims and Prisoners

The "second day" after the killing is the next day according to the way the ancients counted; the day of the killing was day one. The eighty men were pilgrims from important towns in the former Northern Kingdom who were on their way to the site of the ruined Temple in Jerusalem.

The pilgrims were evidently stopping off at Mizpah to show their respect for the governor, and fearing that they were about to discover his treachery, Ishmael decided to kill the pilgrims by first luring them into the town. The pilgrims were probably unharmed.

Question: How did ten pilgrims manage to convince Ishmael to spare them?
Answer: They bribed him by offering their stocks of wheat, barley, oil, and honey.

Chapter 42: The Flight to Egypt

Jeremiah 42:1-6 ~ The Refugees Appeal to Jeremiah to Petition Yahweh
The military leaders and all the people approach Jeremiah and ask him to "petition and intercede" with Yahweh to advise them on what they should do. For the first time, the name Azariah son of Hoshaiah is added to the list of leaders. He is either a brother of Jezaniah or Azariah is a shortened form of his name. Along with Johanan, he leads the Judaean remnant that came to consult Jeremiah (see 43:2)

Jeremiah 42:7-18 ~ Yahweh's Message to the Remnant of Judah

Yahweh does not give Jeremiah His oracle for the remnant of Judah for a period of ten days. This is not the first time Jeremiah waited for an oracle. He waited a day or two for the judgment against his tormentor Hananiah in 28:12, and at least twice Jeremiah waited an unspecified time for Yahweh's word after being told to expect it in 18:1-5 and 32:6-8; but this situation appears to be different. It may have been a literal ten days, but the number ten in the Bible represents divine order, and therefore, it could mean that the delay was for the period of time God ordained. Other delays of ten days in the Bible include:

1. Laban's request that Rebecca remain with her family for ten days before leaving for Canaan to become Isaac's wife; it was a delay that was refused (Gen 24:55-56).
2. There was a ten day delay between the judgment against Nabal and his death ( 1 Sam 25:38 ).
3. The ten day test in which the Babylonian eunuch allowed Daniel and his companions to live on ritually clean vegetables and water instead of Babylonians foods that were ritually unclean for Jews (Dan 1:8-16).

Yahweh's gives Jeremiah two oracles for the remnant of Judah:

• Oracle #1: Stay in Judah and do not go to Egypt (verses 9-14).
• Oracle #2: If you go to Egypt, you will die there (verses 15-18).

Jeremiah 42:19-22 ~ Jeremiah's Warning to Obey the Word of Yahweh

Imagine Jeremiah's shock and anger when he senses that the remnant of Judah is rejecting Yahweh's merciful plan for them. He feels compelled to add his warning to God's oracles, and he accuses them of being insincere in their petition to hear the will of God for their lives. How did Jeremiah know they were not being sincere? Perhaps during the ten days between their petition and the delivery of Jeremiah's oracle he saw that they were already gathering supplies for a journey to Egypt. In verse 22, Jeremiah repeats God's triple judgment of death by sword, famine, and plague in Egypt.

+++

A Daily Defense 

DAY 251 Assurance of Salvation

CHALLENGE: “Belief in mortal sin denies Catholics assurance of salvation, but God wants us to have it: ‘I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life’ (1 John 5:13, emphasis added).”

DEFENSE: We can have assurance of salvation if we fulfill God’s conditions for it, but self-deception and mortal sin are real possibilities.

We must be careful about the term “know.” Knowledge can mean different things. “I know physics,” “I know it’s raining,” “I know John,” and “Adam knew his wife” involve different senses of knowing.

We often say we know something without implying there is no possibility of being wrong. If you ask someone, “Do you know what you had for dinner last night?” he might say, “Yes.” But if you ask, “Do you have an infallible memory so there is absolutely no possibility you are misremembering?” he would likely say, “No.”

Scripture sets forth the conditions for salvation. In fact, 1 John sets out multiple conditions, including keeping the commandments (2:3–5, 5:1–3) and believing in Jesus and loving one another (3:23–24, 4:20–21). If we have fulfilled these conditions then, per 1 John 5:13, we may know that we have salvation in the ordinary sense of the term “know,” but that doesn’t mean there is absolutely no possibility of being wrong.

Paul says: “I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted [Greek, dedikaiōmai, “justified”]. It is the Lord who judges me” (1 Cor. 4:4). If even a figure like Paul refused to pronounce definitively on his own spiritual state, so must we.

The possibility of self-deception is real. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). Thus the New Testament repeatedly warns Christians against self-deception, particularly with regard to sin and its consequences (1 Cor. 6:9–10, 15:33–34; Gal. 6:7–8; Eph. 5:5–6; James 1:22, 26; 1 John 1:8, 3:6–7).

If we fulfill the conditions Scripture lays out for salvation, then we may be assured of and know that we have salvation. But we cannot claim infallible certitude as if there were no possibility of self-deception.

Further, mortal sin is a real possibility, and John goes on to warn against it right after the verse this challenge is based on (1 John 5:16–17; cf. Day 302).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist