This second look at the complaint psalms continues to focus on Psalm 22. Part three will return to Jeremiah…

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This post starts to talk about Psalm 22, mentioning Job 10 on the way, we will examine these passages as a way into understanding “complaint psalms”. Complaints are the commonest type of psalm in the book of psalms. You might like to listen to my earlier post “Arguing with God: Jer 12:1-4” first, it sets the scene for this one, and should probably have been called “Complaint psalms: Part One”!

I hope the next post – in a few days – will follow up looking some more at Psalm 22.

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My earlier podcast: The last Confession of Jeremiah: Jeremiah 20: Yahweh seduces his prophet I simply assumed the translation seduce” for patah But “seduce” is not a translation favoured by English translations.

I dealt with this issue briefly in a blog post Did Yahweh seduce Jeremiah? with a bibliographic note Did God seduce Jeremiah? Addendum but since the issue was raised orally it seems right to deal with it orally here.

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So, in Jer 20:7ff does Jeremiah claim YHWH seduced him, or not? Listen to the podcast and then you decide!

As well as Jer 20:7ff. these other places where patah is used in the piel are mentioned:

• Gen 9:27
• Ex 22:15 (v.16 in English)
• Jud 14:15; 16:5
• 1 Kgs 22:20,21,22 cf. 2 Chron 18:19,20,21
• Ps 78:36
• 2 Sam 3:25
• Pr 24:28
• Hos 2:1
• Pr 1:10
• Ez 14:9

Jeremiah by Michaelangelo from the Sistine Chapel roof (Wikimedia)

Sorry this podcast is firstly out of order (it should have come before the last confession and then late (it should also have come a while back but I’ve been busy trying to get a paper on Isaiah finished

This fourth confession illustrates strongly both the dramatic narrative character of these “confessions” and that they are not to be taken as examples to follow, or as a mine from which we can quarry “texts”. For anyone who followed Jeremiah’s example would be rightly shunned, and any text torn screaming from this matrix would yield most unchristian applications!

No! Rather read this “confession” as a further episode in the continuing drama of Jeremiah and his Yahweh. As you read, allow yourself to be read, and you will listen with profit to the prophet

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Jeremiah gets more personal in his complaints, but his “conversation” with YHWH still seems to shut out any response… curiouser and curiouser… and which ending will you choose of this series?

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Pulpit Bible by contemplativechristian

Jeremiah’s third confession is a monologue, mainly (or all, depending where we think it starts) addressed to God. Complaint is the dominant tone, and Jeremiah asks for vengeance on his opponents. So this text raises interesting questions about the nature of Scripture, and how God might read (some parts of) the Bible…

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Continuing a series on The Confessions of Jeremiah, we’ll explore the second of these rich and complex texts Jer 15:10-21. Although I only have 5 minutes I hope I’ll give you material to spark several times that of study of the biblical text for it is out of such personal wrestling (sometimes like Jeremiah’s struggles with Yahweh) that we grow and learn from our Bible reading

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An Act against Atheism and Blasphemy, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1697 (Wikimedia)

In the previous two podcasts in this series I’ve introduced “the Confessions of Jeremiah” and the first confession (11:18-12:6). Here we’ll look at this text from the point of view of how it portrays the characters of Jeremiah (in the book the speaker of the passage) and his God (whom he often addresses and on whose behalf he speaks to others).

I’ll suggest that this passage is far from a neat static cartoon of Jeremiah and God on one side and the Judeans (or the “Men of Anathoth”) on the other, goodies and baddies. Rather it shows a rich depth of character as Jeremiah learns to experience God more profoundly.

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Before thinking about this “confession” we’ll first look at lament psalms briefly. Lament psalms often contain:

• an address (maybe simply “O God” or “O Lord”)
• a/some complaint(s)
• a request for help addressed to God
• the affirmation of trust in God, as thanks for past action or simply as praise and conviction God will act
• a vow to praise God when the crisis has passed (44:8; 80:18).

The first Confession of Jeremiah is a good illustration of both how these speeches are like, and that they are unlike Lament psalms. We will also notice how in Jeremiah the lament-like material works with its surrounding text. The condfessions are not a separate part of the book, they are parts of the book. (The next podcast will continue to look at this text, building on this material.)

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In What is the Bible (Part 1) I talked of the Bible as witness, and mentioned stories where Abraham and Amos haggle with God, and ended with a reference to arguing with God in the Bible. Here I’ll begin to explore Jeremiah’s side of the conversation from Jer 12:1-4 (we’ll get to God’s reply later!)