Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 34 and Romans 2

Jeremiah. 34 - With Nebuchadnezzar at the gates, Jeremiah is told to go to King Zedekiah, and tell him the Lord is handing the city over to the king of Babylon.  If he obeys, he will die in peace; if not he will die by the sword.  Only the fortified towns of Lachish and Azekah hold out. 

Zedekiah had agreed to emancipate all Hebrew slaves (presumably to provide more defenders for their side; but maybe also because they knew they had not obeyed the command of YHWH to free them every 7^th year); but the princes of Judah went back on the agreement (perhaps after hearing that Zedekiah had established an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra to help them fight the Chaldeans or Neo-Babylonians). They even took people back into slavery after having freed them. Yahweh was angry about the situation. So he tells them He will “proclaim [them] free. . .for the sword, famine, and pestilence” (34:17). They will be dealt with as animals cut in two in the making of an oath – they have broken their oath. 

Romans 2 – Paul talks about the concept of “judgment” – the judgments human beings make of others and God’s judgment of us all at the end of it all. He warns the Romans that they should not be being judgmental of others. When God judges us all at the end of our lives, He will be weighing us against the standard of truth we set for ourselves. And everyone, he seems to say here, whether Jew or “Greek” [Hellenist “pagans”] or Christian, has a worthy standard (one of goodness and truth) and an unworthy standard (a standard that is self-serving and evil). “God has no favorites” (2:11).

The “pagans who never heard of the Law” (2:12) have access to Truth through their reason or “conscience” “They can point to the substance of the law engraved on their hearts” (2:14).

The Jews, who “know God’s will through the Law” (2:18), must do more than just preach it to others; they must live by it. There is nothing wrong with circumcision or preaching circumcision if you live in accordance with the Law; but circumcision is not magic. It is not the thing that makes you a faithful Jew; “the read circumcision is in the heart—something not of the letter but of the spirit” (2:29).

When, according to Paul, “God, through Jesus Christ, judges the secrets of mankind” (2:16), the truth in everyone’s heart will be known and weighed.

When one considers the whole of Paul’s letter to the Romans, this part of it can be a little confusing to modern readers – it has been to me. He seems to be talking about different groups of people here and coming up with an assessment that many 21^st century westerners would be quite comfortable with – that all people in the world have good people and bad people, good standards and wimpy, self-serving standards.  No matter who you are or what you believe in, God will just look at what your actions are when (and if) you are judged. But I don’t think that is what Paul is saying. It would make no sense. He’s talking about Christians here – those who have come to Christ through Judaism and those Hellenistic “God-Lovers” who have come to Christ from “pagan” roots, albeit Hellenistic and tempered with a philosophical kinship with Jewish values. They have not accepted the rite of circumcision, but have accepted the spirit of the Law that is the central tenet of Judaism. The context will become clearer when we get to the next section of the letter.