NOTES for Jer 25:1-38

God sends catastrophe upon His people... Perhaps many of us will meet this formulation with bewilderment and protest: God does not do evil, does not cause suffering, and has nothing in common with death. How can Jeremiah see God's will behind all this? We do not understand it; the inhabitants of Jerusalem, confident in their safety, did not understand it; and the prophet himself did not understand it—the connection between God and catastrophe, obvious to him, became the tragedy of his life. It is impossible to accept faith in an evil, vindictive God, for then life would become a nightmare and faith an absurdity. And it is impossible—at least for Jeremiah—to see what is happening as a process independent of God: God cannot “lose control of the situation,” cannot fail to save those He loves, even if they are unfaithful to Him. Two paths remain. One can divide the world into those whom God loves and those whom He hates—the easiest and most absurd of paths. Or one can stand in awe before the mystery of evil, knowing and believing that the mystery of God is nevertheless deeper and stronger.