This week in class, we started learning about Yirmiyahu. (Sophie's blog post gives an excellent comparison of the books of Yishayahu and Yirmiyahu so far, in case you were interested.) I want to specifically discuss Yirmiyahu's message and how he delivers it. In Perek 1, we hear about Yirmiyahu's first prophecy ever, in which G-d told him his purpose and mission. Yirmiyahu's purpose was to uproot and destroy but also rebuild and plant. Keep in mind that this all happened after the rule of Chizkiyahu, when the kingdom was crumbling in the wake of the people's sins. This purpose is different from the purposes given in other situations because it contains both a positive and a negative. Yirmiyahu has to uproot and destroy the evil. This uprooting and destruction will come with the exile by Bavel, so Yirmiyahu's real task is to rebuild and plant the people of Yehuda in that he has to help them return to G-d.
The portrayal of Yirmiyahu in Yirmiyahu intrigue me. In class, I was given Perek 4 to examine. Perek 4 contains a part of Yirmiyahu's mission. The mission, as originally stated in Perek 1, contains several steps. The most important of these steps is that Yirmiyahu must tell the people what G-d has decreed for them as a result of their sins. This is what we see in perek 4.
Perek 4 has an interesting structure: Yirmiyahu first talks about what the people have to do to be saved and then continues to tell the people what will happen if they don't. This is particularly fascinating because he could have written the Perek about one subject only, either a description of the destruction or how to avoid the destruction. However, the structure that actually appears in the Sefer makes me think about Yirmiyahu as a person. Maybe he was just passing on the word of G-d verbatim. I personally think that he didn't want to give up on the people of his time. (Yishayahu was the "prophet on record"; his mission stated that he had to warn the people and give up on them.) Yirmiyahu, as a new prophet, probably isn't prepared to assume the worst about people. We have been learning all year about how immoral the people were. They might have been good religiously, but morally, they were beyond repair. If I were Yirmiyahu, I would also try my hardest to get my people to repent; death and destruction in any form is not good.
The emphasis in Perek 4 seems to be on the positive things the people can do to prevent Bavel from exiling them. When I went through the perek and made a list of the five major ideas, positiveness was one major theme. (I will now list my 5 major ideas.) First, proper Teshuva can stop the destruction from coming. This is repeated numerous times throughout the perek. Second, the people are on the wrong track but they don't think so. They believed that Assyria's downfall was a positive thing for them. Third, Bavel is G-d's tool and is sending destruction as a result of the people's actions. The thing that I find most interesting is that Yirmiyahu seems to put a twist on this statement. He does make it sound as though Bavel's coming should strike fear into the hearts of Bnei Yisrael and they will repent. This is definitely a nice initiative by Yirmiyahu and or G-d. Fourth, the people will have no more chances for repentance. Previously, G-d gave them a new chance every time there was a spark of repentance. Now is their last shot at salvation. Fifth, a remnant will always remain. No matter how bad the people are, G-d will always leave a remnant that can be built off of.
Maybe it's just me projecting my positiveness on this material but I genuinely feel that Yirmiyahu didn't want to give up on the people.
For more on Yirmiyahu and Perek 4, stay tuned for the presentations in class tomorrow. :)
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