Interaction activity: At the very start of the small group session, play clip from the movie “Equilibrium,” the quote at the beginning about the human heart as the root of all our problems, like war, disease, crime, etc.
In the 16th century, a prophet of God came out of the land of Germany. His name was Martin Luther. Of his many writings, he wrote the Larger Catechism, where he said, “Anyone who knows the Ten Commandments perfectly knows the entire Scriptures.” One of the principles from the Reformation was the idea that Scripture was self-interpreting. Since all the prophets from the time of Moses onward recognize the Ten Commandments as God’s revelation, we will examine the book of Jeremiah through the lens of the Decalogue.
Exodus 20:3-6
God frees Israel for His priesthood. Moses receives the Ten Commandments directly spoken from YHWH; this is called REVELATION, God choosing to show us Godself. We, as the people of God are first commanded to place God first in our lives, to love God with all of our hearts. Stanley Hauerwas says that prayer is a protest against idolatry (see his and Willimon’s book “The Truth About God”).
What gods do we place before the LORD?
Jeremiah 17:7-10
This piece reads like Wisdom; like in Proverbs and Psalms 1. Jeremiah is telling the Israelites that there is a life and death choice that they must make. Because the order of the world is sustained by God’s righteousness, God’s people must live righteously. Jeremiah compares his community to a dead shrub but, as John Calvin notes, the appearance of LIFE is on the way. Jeremiah recognizes the futility of human power and wisdom since God knows the heart (Proverbs 3:5-8).
Why does society tell us to follow our hearts?
Jeremiah 29:13-14
Jeremiah promises peace if the people will seek after the LORD. Peace, or shalom, is well-being. Well-being not only with God and neighbor, but also enemies as well. Jeremiah, at God’s Word, tells the people to pray for their homecoming and their captors, the Babylonians. God has a blessing in store for the Israelites lead away in exile. The prophet Jeremiah was arguing with the naysayers in Jerusalem who believed that God had blessed them to stay, but the LORD was telling them the reverse, actually.
Deuteronomy 4:29-31
What are some way that you can show God’s peace to others?
wow, that’s some good stuff. the 10 commandments thing is interesting, i didn’t know luther every made such a statement. reading jeremiah through the lens of deuteronomy is also fruitful, because deut. establishes covenant responsibility (like the decalogue), which the people had abandoned in jeremiah’s day. of course, some scholars have organized a large portion of deuteronomy to sequentially match the 10 commandments (see stephen kaufman, “the structure of the deuteronomic law,”), which reinforces what you’re trying to get across. thanks for the hard work
mike
Thank you Mike!
I will try to get a hold of Kaufman’s book.