I decided to focus on a single verse this week: This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths,ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Jeremiah 6:19 Analyzing the Hebrew, there are two “pathy” words present: דֶּ֫רֶךְ (derek, crossroads and way) and נְתִיבָה (nitivah, path). They seem to be synonyms. The former is used over 700 times while the latter is only used a couple dozen times. They can refer to a literal road or path or a metaphorical […]
Author Archive: Brian Johnson
Jeremiah 5
The pending judgement still looms large as Jeremiah continues. Jeremiah 5:1 hints back to Abraham and Lot in Genesis 18:23-33. Abraham asks if God would destroy the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if there were some number of righteous people found within them (talking the Lord down to ten in good Middle Eastern bargaining fashion). This feels similar. The word rendered “honesty” or “truth” here is אֱמוּנָ֑ה (emunah) in Hebrew, but typically is translated “faith/faithfulness”. The Hebrew mindset doesn’t separate thoughts/beliefs (faith) from actions (faithfulness). The Lord is searching for at least one person in Jerusalem who is faithful, […]
Papyrus
Our tour van maneuvered the crowded Cairo streets to our final stop for the day: a papyrus shop. There we learned the art of making papyrus paper. Gathering around a demonstration table, someone showed us a long papyrus plant. Taking a chunk of it, he cut off the outer green and then proceeded to slice it into thin strips. Then he took out a mallet and hammered the slices to compress it and make it stronger. Next, it was placed in water to soak for some time. Then he started laying out the strips in a crisscross pattern. Once complete, […]
Jeremiah 4
In the previous chapter, God called his people to repentance. This chapter confronts them with the consequences of continuing to turn away from him. Verses 23-26 have a rhythmic structure “I looked…and behold!…” repeated four times. They hint back at Genesis 1, unmaking creation. Describing the earth as “formless and empty” in verse 23 is the same phrase as Genesis 1:2. There was a lack of light (Genesis 1:3). Birds are fleeing in verse 25 (Genesis 1:20-21). The term “fruitful land” (v. 26) is a different word than what is used in Genesis 1. However, you may still find it […]
Jeremiah 3
The Lord continues in this chapter to describe how his people have been unfaithful to him, comparing them to a prostitute going after other lovers (other gods), which is reminiscent of the book of Hosea, where God commands the prophet to marry a prostitute as a demonstration. In both cases, while God is heartbroken by his bride’s unfaithfulness, he nevertheless calls them back to repentance. Think about it: he wants them back! Despite their betrayal, he continues to give them a chance to turn back to him until the very end. The Hebrew is שׁ֣וּבוּ (shuvu – a plural imperative, […]
Jeremiah 2
This is what the Lord says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me?They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. Jeremiah 2:5 I imagine God saying in exasperation, “What did I do to deserve this?” God had been faithful to his people over and over and yet they continued to slide further away from him. The word “worthless” (idols isn’t in the original) is the Hebrew word hevel (הֶ֖בֶל). Other translations include “vain”, “deluded”, or “empty”. The same root is used as a noun and verb in Hebrew. More literally: “They went/walked after the vain, and they […]
The Cairo Museum
A new day dawned, and we hit the road to arrive at our first destination of the day: the Cairo Museum. Last time I was in Egypt, we had rushed through it in an hour because of our packed day. While we got to see the highlights, there was much left unseen. Thankfully that was mostly corrected this time, spending about 3 hours there. The museum is over a century old. The artifacts are jumbled around it, separated by time period and category. They’ve been working on a new museum for over a decade, which should be open “soon”. We […]
Jeremiah 1
Welcome to the first installment of the Bible study! Over the next year we will be exploring the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was given a difficult task as a prophet to the people of Israel just before, during, and after the exile to Babylon. He had an unpopular message to deliver to people who didn’t want to listen. From the opening verses, we learn that Jeremiah prophesied from about 629 BC until his death in Egypt around perhaps 580 BC (hard to say). Jeremiah means “the LORD throws/hurls”. The verb is first used in Exodus 15:1: “Both horse and driver […]
Dusty Old Books
During our time in Old Cairo, we also visited the Ben Ezra synagogue. While the current building dates to a remodeling in the 1890’s, its predecessors date back probably another millennium. The Jewish story in Egypt didn’t end with the Exodus. There were thriving communities by the time Jesus’ family sojourned there and that continued until modern times. When the modern state of Israel was born, most Jews moved there, effectively ending their long presence in Egypt. What makes this synagogue remarkable is that there were many old documents found there dating back as much as 1000 years, ranging from religious […]
Jesus Comes to Egypt
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” Matthew 2:13 There are not many countries that can say Jesus visited them. Egypt is one of them. It’s part of the Christmas story in Matthew 2. When King Herod tries to kill Jesus, viewing him as potential competition for his throne, Joseph takes the family and escapes by fleeing to Egypt. The […]