Journey - Lesson 13 - Prophets in Judah (2)

By Marcel Gervais

This is the 13th lesson of the Journey Bible Study Program series. In this lesson selected passages from the books of Jeremiah and Zephaniah are analyzed. Chapter 1 describes the historical setting of Jeremiah and presents a commentary on selected passages. In Chapter 2 we meet Zephaniah and look at selected passages from the prophet Zephaniah. In this lesson we discover how much some prophets suffered in order to proclaim God's word.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Emmaus Publications
• Release date: Jan 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781927766163

Marcel Gervais

About the Author Archbishop Gervais was born in Elie Manitoba on September 21 1931. He is the ninth of fourteen children. His family came from Manitoba to the Sparta area near St. Thomas Ontario when he was just a teenager. He went to Sparta Continuation School and took his final year at Saint Joseph`s High School in St. Thomas. After high school he went to study for the priesthood at St. Peter’s Seminary in London , Ontario. He was ordained in 1958. He was sent to study in Rome. This was followed by studies at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem. He returned to London to teach scripture to the seminarians at St. Peter’s Seminary. In 1974 he was asked by Bishop Emmett Carter to take over as director of the Divine Word International Centre of Religious Education. This Centre had been founded by Bishop Carter to provide a resource for adult education in the spirit of Vatican II. This Centre involved sessions of one or two weeks with many of the best scholars of the time. Students came not only from Canada and the United States but from all over the globe, Australia, Africa, Asia and Europe. By the time Father Gervais became the director Divine Word Centre was already a course dominated by the study of scripture to which he added social justice. This aspect of the course of studies was presented by people from every part of the “third world”; among which were Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez and Cardinal Dery of Ghana. In 1976 the Conference of Ontario Bishops along with the Canadian conference of Religious Women approached Father Gervais to provide a written course of studies in Sacred Scripture for the Church at large, but especially for priests and religious women. This is when Fr. Gervais began to write Journey, a set of forty lessons on the Bible. He was armed with a treasure of information from all the teachers and witnesses to the faith that had lectured at Devine Word. He was assisted by a large number of enthusiastic collaborators: all the people who had made presentations at Divine Word and provided materials and a team of great assistants, also at Divine Word Centre. The work was finished just as Father Gervais was ordained an auxiliary bishop of London (1980). He subsequently was made Bishop of Sault Saint Marie Diocese, and after four years, Archbishop of Ottawa (1989). He retired in 2007, and at the time of this writing, he is enjoying retirement.

Book preview

Journey-Lesson 13- Prophets In Judah (2)

by Marcel Gervais, Emeritus Archbishop of the diocese of Ottawa, Canada

Nihil Obstat: Michael T. Ryan, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

Imprimatur: + John M. Sherlock, Bishop of London

London, March 31, 1980

This content of this book was first published in 1977 as part of the JOURNEY Series By Guided Study Programs in the Catholic Faith and is now being republished in Smashwords by Emmaus Publications, 99 Fifth Avenue, Suite 103, Ottawa,ON, K1S 5P5, Canada on Smashwords

Cover: ... So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the well... (Jer 38:6).

COPYRIGHT © Guided Study Programs in the Catholic Faith, a division of The Divine Word International Centre of Religious Education 1977. Reproduction in whole or in part is Prohibited.

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Jeremiah

Chapter 2 Zephaniah

Answer key to practice questions

Self-test

Answer key to self-test

Recommendations for group meeting on Lesson Thirteen

About The Author

Psalm 69

This prayer of the psalmist reflects in his life a time of deep suffering. His prayer is well suited to the lives of the prophets, especially Jeremiah. He is troubled and cries to the Lord for help. Although admitting his faults (vs 6), the psalmist speaks boldly of his fidelity to the Lord (vss 10-12) which has in turn caused his enemies to persecute and ridicule him. He lashes out at them hoping God will exercise his judgment immediately (vss 2-30). Having no clear knowledge of life after death, the psalmist yearns to see justice fulfilled while he is alive. Later, he turns from his enemies to praise God's goodness (vss 30-35). He asks the Lord to raise him up from his oppressive state so as to be a sign of hope and a cause for rejoicing for the humble and those who are in need, This psalm is frequently quoted in the New Testament in relation to the suffering of Christ. Here, the psalmist's harsh words for his enemies are changed into an act of love (Luke 23:34). The meaning of suffering reaches its fullness in the redemptive cross of Christ.

Lesson Objective To analyze selected passages from the Books of Jeremiah and Zephaniah.

Note: For the purposes of the general objective on historical information as a background to the ministry of Jeremiah and Zephaniah, it will be sufficient for you to describe the main events of the reign of Josiah and the two stages of the exile, the first being the capture of Jerusalem and the deportation of 598 and the second being the final capture and destruction of Jerusalem with deportation in 587/6. It can be helpful if you refer to the appendix in Lesson Ten, "The Kings of Judah and Israel," while reading the history which follows.

History

Hezekiah was the king in Judah when Isaiah finished his ministry. This king was greatly praised for his reformation of the worship and for his honesty and integrity. He was considered the best king since David (2 Kings 18). He was followed by his son.

Manasseh was as bad as his father was good. He brought back the idolatrous worship his• father had banned. He cooperated with the Assyrians, even though there were signs that the Assyrians were beginning to lose their grip on the middle eastern kingdoms. His son succeeded him (2 Kings 21),

Amon was like his father, but did not rule for long. Part of the military staged a coup against him. He was murdered. The common people revolted against the military and managed to get their choice of king on the throne, a descendant of David's line (2 Kings 21).

Josiah was brought to the throne by this popular movement, but he was only eight years old. He was clearly under the guidance of the priests and prophets of Jerusalem. As a young man in his mid-twenties he inaugurated the most massive reform the kingdom of Judah had ever known (2 Kings 22-23). In the course of repairs to the Temple, an ancient book was found which contained a covenant renewal ceremony, the like of which the People seem never to have known. It was read to the king, who was so moved by what it said that he ordered its laws put into effect. (It is believed that the book discovered in the Temple was the core of what we now know as Deuteronomy. The