We have noted that not every Biblical woman with a story to tell has a name, and not every woman gets to tell her story. A few do get to tell their own story, like Ruth and Naomi. Some are characters in a story that is told by men reporting on events in Scripture, like Jael or Jezebel. Many appear only as “a woman” or “the wife of X,” or “a widow.”   The story today is one of a widow who does get to tell her own story. She does not complain about her misfortune in losing her

Where are we in the story? Get your bearings. If you are lost at the beginning, you are not likely to discover the intended meaning of the story.    Jeremiah, a prophet from a family of priests in Anathoth, north of Jerusalem, has been called by God to preach a series of warnings to the king, priests, and people of Judah. Why? Because what they are doing does not match who they pretend to be when they go to temple worship on Sabbath. It's the equivalent of Christians not bein

Elijah was hiding from a rogue king and queen who did not like his prophecies that called for the worship of the one true God. YHWH, unlike Ba’al, was not a God of reckless war and hyper-vengeance. Here is how God described himself, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful  and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin …" (Exodus 34: 5-6).   That is w

Where are we? We are studying the Book of Jeremiah who is often called “The Weeping Prophet.” There are several good reasons for that. Jeremiah preached to the government, to the religious leaders, and to the people of Judah, which was the remaining southern kingdom of the people of Israel. Such a task was no fun, and it was dangerous.   The people were following the same broad path as the northern Kingdom of Israel, the path that ended in suffering, death, and defeat. The wh

As the kingdom of Israel wore on, a succession of unfaithful and power-hungry kings failed in their commission to shepherd the people of Israel. As things went astray, and the priests tended to side with the administration; that's where the power, money, and privilege was. As part of the loyal opposition, God raised up itinerant prophets to remind the government of its duty and to tell the people outright not to follow such kings.   One of the fiery prophets was Elijah, whom

Since this book of the prophet Jeremiah is a collection of his sermons over a period of more than 40 years, we can expect some abrupt starts and stops. Did Baruch the scribe arrange the sermons chronologically? Probably, though it is not out of the question that he might pair up some sermons with similar themes even if one is early and another one later.   Also, certain themes might shift in meaning over time. For example, in the early sermons when Jeremiah said, as God told