Antiochan (Syrian) Orthodox Daily Readings For 15 November

From dynamispublshing.org:

Daily Readings:

DYNAMIS!


A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral

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Jeremiah 46:1-8; 52:1-13 (11/15-11/28) Thirty-sixth Reading in Kellia from Jeremiah’s Prophecies







The Fall of Jerusalem ~ Judgment and Hope: Jeremiah 46:1-8; 52:1-13, especially 52:8, 9, 11, 12: “In Riblah, the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah and all the rulers of Judah before his eyes. He blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in shackles; and the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon, and....Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served before the king of Babylon...burned the house of the Lord and the kings’s house, and all the houses of the city...with fire [and] pulled down every wall around about Jerusalem.” With one stroke the Babylonians ended Judah’s national existence, discontinued its institutions, destroyed the Temple and left nothing but small ‘remnant of the people’ to till the land (vs. 13). Clearly, the Lord God permitted this calamity to fall upon His People, yet He enabled them to survive, chastened and humbled, to build a new way of life. Read through the five chapters of Jeremiah’s Lamentations as he grieved over Israel’s defeat amidst Jerusalem’s desolation, for his words express the pain known by every defeated people. Compare his hopeful lament beside his stark account of his people’s defeat, before their destruction, captivity, humiliation, and derision.



“...the city was broken through...”(Jer. 52:5), and Jeremiah laments: “Her oppressors have become the master, and her enemies prosper; for the Lord humbled her because of the multitude of her ungodliness” (Lam. 1:5). The Prophet declared, and the Lord fulfilled His word: He allowed just retribution for the people’s transgressions, committed without regret or shame.



“All the leaders of the king of Babylon went in and sat in the middle gate...” (Jer. 46:3). The Prophet confessed that, “The Lord has done what He purposed; He has carried out His words which He commanded in days of old....and caused the enemy rejoice over you” (Lam. 2:17). The Lord permitted pagans to rule over the holy city, having shattered her former splendor.



“...all the men of war went out at night....[and] the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him...” (Jer. 52:5, 6). Thus, Jeremiah cried: “But you visited us in anger and drove us away. You have put us to death and not spared us...hunted...down without cause, like a sparrow....O Lord, you pleaded the case for my soul; You redeemed my life” (Lam. 3: 39,48,54).



“...and brought [Zedekiah] to the king of Babylon at Riblah; and he pronounced judgment against him” (Jer. 52:7). What horror for God’s People: “Her princes have become like rams that find no pasture, and they journey in weakness before the face of the pursuer....When her enemies saw this, they laughed at her deportation” (Lam. 1:6,7).



“In Riblah, the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah and all the rulers of Judah before his eyes”(Jer. 52:8). The Prophet could only weep: “There was no one who escaped, or was left in the day of the Lord’s wrath” (Lam. 2:22).



“Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard...before the king of Babylon burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and all the houses of the city [and] pulled down every wall around about Jerusalem” (Jer. 52:10-12). The greatest pain was the destruction of the Temple: “As in a forest of trees, with axes they cut down the doors thereof together....with fire have they burned down Thy sanctuary, they have profaned...the habitation of Thy Name” (Ps. 73:7,8).



“But the captain of the guard left the remnant of the people to be vinedressers and farmers” (Jer. 52:13). Thus Jeremiah completes his lamentation: “But You, O Lord, shall dwell forever....Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we shall be converted...” (Lam. 5:19,21). Do read all of Jeremiah’s Lamentations that humble us before the ways of the Lord with His People!



Thy mercies, O Lord, never end, and Thy compassions fail not; they are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness, saith my soul, therefore shall I ever hope in Thee.