I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 7-9.

    Jeremiah warns the people of Jerusalem that God will bring judgment against them for their sins. There were those among them who thought they were safe because the Temple was in Jerusalem, that God would never let Jerusalem fall because the Temple was there. However, Jeremiah told them that unless they stopped exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows God would bring suffering into their midst. Today in this country if you listen to the debate over illegal immigration you realize that we are guilty of exploiting the foreigners among us. Further, one realizes that the reason for the issue even being debated is because the foreigners are being used to allow those in positions of power to exploit the least powerless among us, the orphans and the widows(although, not just the orphans and widows). With few exceptions, those in power propose solutions appealing to one side or the other in the debate which serve to further this exploitation not correct it. There is one further point which the prophet makes on this specific subject. Those who are oppressing the foreigner, the widows, and the orphans (the powerless) are harming themselves. We will only turn away from our sins when we recognize that they cause more harm to ourselves than whatever pleasure they bring us. We will only convince others to repent of their sins when we both recognize and communicate this fact.

    Jeremiah speaks of the people of Jerusalem, from the least to the greatest, who are not ashamed of their sins, of their detestable conduct. Look around at our society today and you will see the same thing. People are not ashamed of having done wrong when they are caught. They are ashamed that they were caught doing wrong! They condemn others for doing wrong, but when they are caught doing the same sort of things, they place the blame on those who revealed their wrongdoing. They attempt to convince people that the person who revealed their wrongdoing did worse by revealing it than they themselves had done. It is easiest to see this behavior among our political leaders, but everyone does it. Until we value honesty in ourselves more than we value anything else, this problem will continue.