Jeremiah 23

“Scattering” might work on two levels. For one, the people lose their way spiritually. They stray from God and begin worshipping idols. Judah’s leaders led that scattering, by worshipping idols themselves. But the scattering more importantly, perhaps, refers to the coming exile of those who survive the Babylonian invasion of 586 BC. They would be exiled to what is now Iraq, the Babylonian homeland.

The name in Hebrew is Yahweh yehwih ṣedeq. Many translate the phrase as the “LORD is my righteousness,” which might elicit a “Huh?” Some think this name is a play on the name of Judah’s last king, King Zedekiah. His name in Hebrew is ṣidqiyyāhû, often translated “My righteousness is the LORD.” Similar words but in different order. Jeremiah’s point might be that while Zedekiah was named after the goodness of God, the shoot from David’s tree would be the genuine article: true goodness from God. Zedekiah ruled from 597-586 BC. Some say he ruled until 587 BC. He might have seen the lights go out in Jerusalem if King Nebuchadnezzar hadn’t blinded him. The last thing he saw was the Babylonians execute his sons. Nebuchadnezzar apparently got fed up with rebel kings in this family. One after another ignored his orders and the power he had to enforce them. Zedekiah died a prisoner in Babylon.

Babylonian invaders deported the Jewish people west to what is now Iraq, not to the north. But the invaders attacked Judah from the north. That was the typical caravan route, alongside the rivers and the Mediterranean Sea. The most direct route from Iraq would have been to cross the Arabian desert. But it’s difficult to carry enough water to make that crossing.

When Jeremiah talks about “prophets,” read “false prophets.” Jeremiah and other prophets weren’t on good terms with one another.

The adultery may be both spiritual and physical. Spiritual: worshiping native Canaanite gods instead of being faithful to God. Physical: Some of the worship practices seemed to involve fertility rituals such as sex with shrine prostitutes and priests.

Baal was one of the main gods of what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territory. He was the god people turned to for matters of flocks, fields, and family. Many scholars say there is plenty of evidence to show that worship practices involved sexual rituals. That alone would have been an attraction for many men. See Numbers 15.

Sodom and Gomorrah got scorched off the planet in a firestorm, with no trace of them left behind (Genesis 19:24).

Literally “wormwood,” a bitter herb, Artemisia absinthium. It’s known also as Absinthe and Absinthium. And it’s an ingredient in the spirit absinthe and in other alcoholic drinks such as vermouth. The plant is native to parts of North Africa and the Middle East. Some varieties of the plant can produce convulsions and death if consumed in large doses. Jeremiah seems to use wormwood and poisoned water as a metaphor for punishment. They’ve bitten off more than they would ever have wanted to chew. Or, another metaphor for fans of vermouth: when God is done with them, they would be miserable enough to sour a drink.

Many people in ancient times—Jews, Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, and others—seemed to believe that dreams were clues to the future. Many taught that God or gods often communicated to people in dreams. Prophets in the Bible sometimes called vivid dreams “visions of the night.” Dream interpreters even wrote handbooks about how to interpret dreams. Parts of one Egyptian dream book from the 1200’s BC, roughly the time some scholars say Moses lived, showed up in the cemetery at Deir el-Medina. That’s at Thebes, a little more than 300 miles (480 km) upriver from Cairo, as the crow flies along the Nile. Written on papyrus, it lists bad dreams (written in red ink) and good dreams. Example of a bad dream: bed catches on fire. It means you’re driving your wife away. Good dream: burial of an old man. It means you’re coming into money. Or, perhaps, sheep—possibly from inheritance.

Chaff is the fiber wrap that holds the kernel of grain. The grain is nourishing. But the chaff is trash, blown away in the wind—like the words of a fake prophet predicting a future that never comes true.

Jeremiah had been predicting the fall of Judah, but the fake prophets had been assuring the people that there was nothing to worry about. Deported into what is now Iraq, those prophets had to live with the people who lost everything because they believed those prophets over Jeremiah.