

If I get a chance I will ask them this weekend.

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The words I have underlined are at the heart of the problem. A "quick
look" doesn't do justice to the depth of the book of Jeremiah. Having
studied the Jeremiah/Ezekial period solidly for over a year at one
stage of my life, I have to say that there is a great deal of underlying
theological meaning in the judgement prophesies. Let me make one point.
The clash between Jeremiah and the "false prophets" was primarily in
the theological realm. The "false prophets" understood their relatioship
to God to be based on the covenant that the Lord made with David. It is
possible to trace within the pages of the Old Testament who this covenant,
which was initially conditional on the continued obedience of David's
descendants, came to be viewed as an unconditional promise on the part
of the Lord to keep a descendant of David's upon the throne and to never
allow Jerusalem to subjegated by any foreign power. Jeremiah was not a
Judahite prophet. He was from Anathoth, across the border in what had formerly
been Israelite territory. When he came to prophesy, he came from the
theological background of the covenant the Lord had made with Israel
through Moses. The northern Kingdom had rejected the Davidic covenant
after the death of Solomon. His theology clashed with the theology of the
local prophets. It was out of a very deep understanding of the Mosaic
covenant and an actute awareness of international events that Jeremiah
spoke his prophesies. The "judgement prophesies" were deeply loaded with
theological meaning.

In my opinion, both the Portland earthquake prophesy and the David Wilkerson
"New York will burn" prophesy are froth and bubble compared to the majestic
theological depths of the Jeremiah prophesies.

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Bill Rea                                                            (o o)
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