Daily Prophets
Day 127
“Have no fear, My servant Jacob, be not dismayed Israel. I will deliver you from far away, your seed from their land of captivity. But you, have no fear…For I am with you…I will not leave you unpunished, but I will chastise you in measure.”(Jeremiah 46:27,28).
These words seem to have been spoken before the destruction of Israel and they could have been spoken after as well. Jeremiah is trying to reassure the people that their exile will end while earlier in this chapter he spoke of Egypt and Amnon being completely overtaken by Babylon.
Jeremiah is promising the people that God has not forgotten them, even though they have forgotten God. He is assuring them that God’s loyalty and love is not fleeting as theirs is. He reiterates “Have no fear” twice in 2 verses because he and God know that the people are afraid. They are seeing Egypt and Amnon be overtaken, they are seeing Babylon at their gates, at their Temple and taking away their leaders, etc. so of course they would be afraid. We/they are in the most fear when we know we have done something wrong and we realize we are going to have to experience the consequences of our behavior. Jeremiah and God are telling us to not fall into fear and despair at what is going on around us, rather know that God is still the Deliverer God was in Egypt and ever since.
Deliverance is an important word/concept here, I believe. God is not saying “don’t worry, children, nothing bad will happen even though you have betrayed My covenant”, “it is okay for you to do follow false gods and I will protect you and let you go howling after Baal, with no consequences,”; God and Jeremiah are teaching us that we have to experience the consequences of our behaviors AND their is still deliverance from exile and captivity. So many people today, do not heed this teaching.
Many of us today still want to do whatever we want to and have no consequences, ie, the College Admission Scandals happened because people believed they were above the rules. Yet, the prophet Jeremiah is reminding us that no one is, no country is, above God’s Rules. Israel/Jacob have a special bond with God, yet they too suffer the consequences for their behaviors and are sent into exile.
The difference between God and us is that God seeks to take us out of our captivity and exile no matter how many times we break the covenant. Yet, many human beings seek to keep some of us in captivity and exile. We are afraid of the power that a prophet has so we exile them, put them in jail, demean them, smear their name, etc in order to not face the truth and change the ways of those in power. Power is the goal and the prize-once achieved, hold onto it at any and all costs. It doesn’t matter that the people who have it then go against the principles they purported to have when they were out of power, it doesn’t matter that they lie, cheat and steal to gain and hold onto power. Nothing matters except their power and showing everyone how they wield it, no matter whom it harms and they would never seek to bring their exiles back nor let them out of jail because of fear of the ones they treated so poorly.
In recovery, we are aware of our exile and our captivity. We know that without the help of God, (the Universe, higher power, higher consciousness, etc) we would still be stuck in exile and a captive to the forces that trapped us before. We know that we have been delivered and rescued. We also know that we will be imperfect in our carrying out our covenant with God (or whatever you call the creative force of the universe) and God knows it too. We are no longer afraid of our imperfections, nor do we need to hide them as we know that God just wants us to improve. We have experienced the prophet’s words:”I will not leave you unpunished, but I will chastise you in measure”. We know, that we have been treated kindly and lovingly by God for our misdeeds and our betrayals. In recovery we begin and end each day with gratitude, knowing that God’s grace is always with us.
I have been an exile, a captive and a free person. In fact, I have been free while being imprisoned, thank you Rabbi Mel Silverman. I have also been one who takes captives and pushes people into exile. Prior to recovery, I was aware of what I was doing and I knew why-to gain power and allay my fears of powerlessness. In recovery, I have not been aware of doing it, as I always leave the door open for T’Shuvah and reconnection. I realize I have not been as clear about this as I needed to be, so people don’t know that exile is temporary, God will deliver them back to all of us and we will rejoice in their return. Because of my ways of doing things, I have been made into a horror and terrible person by some and I am sad that some people in power have exiled me with no path back-these liberal/progressive people who “care so much” for whomever the underdog is, rather than for what is right in the moment. It was difficult to accept and this teaching from Jeremiah explains to me why and now I can be in acceptance a lot more and feel sad for those who need to keep me and so many others in exile because they are afraid to see themselves and their errors. “Chastise in measure” is not good enough for these people in power, they want to crush and write some of us out of the narrative so they can feel good about their decision to be as UNGODLY as possible. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark