2. Read Jeremiah 1. 1-9, for a taste of his style of writing.
3. One man sacrifices to a heathen god; another tries to bribe Jehovah with a sacrifice as though he were like the heathen gods:
a. Which is worse?
b. Which would the authors of Deuteronomy have considered worse?
c. Which would Jeremiah have considered worse?
CHAPTER XXI[ToC]
KEEPING THE FAITH IN A STRANGE LAND
Twice within twelve years, first in B.C. 597, and again in B.C. 586, the Babylonians took great companies of Hebrews as exiles from Jerusalem to Babylon. Each time there must have been in the line of march some twenty-five thousand men, women, and children—an army which, marching eight abreast, would stretch at least five or six miles.
These must have been sorrowful processions, especially the last of the two. For months they had suffered the horrors of a besieged city. Then had come the break in the walls, the screams of frightened women and children, the heaps of corpses in the streets, and the black smoke and red glare of burning buildings; then the hasty setting out on the long road to Babylon. Some of them perhaps were able to buy asses to carry the little children and a few of their belongings. But most of them had to trudge along on foot, fathers and mothers carrying the babies, and leaving behind them all their possessions except what could be gathered into a towel or a blanket. For a month or six weeks they tramped. If anyone fell sick, there was no time to take care of him. He must drag along with the rest or fall by the wayside until he either recovered or died.