Readings:
Jeremiah 40-41
Hebrews 8

Jeremiah 40-41

Jeremiah is freed by the Babylonian captain who was leading people to captivity in Babylon because he recognized on some level that Jeremiah was a prophet. He even offered him to accompany him to Babylon not as a prisoner but as his guest, but Jeremiah took the second option offered to him and stayed in Israel.

He then recounts some political intrigue and infighting taking place among those who’ve been left behind in the land. Part of the reason is to show that they’ve devolved back to waring tribes and clans like they were in the days before the monarchy was established.

Hebrews 8

The author tells us right here that this is the entire thesis of this book; Jesus is the high priest of a new and better Covenant, one that was foretold by God, foreshadowed in the Old Covenant, and ministered in a better temple than the one in Jerusalem because it was only a copy itself.

When Moses was shown the tabernacle’s blueprint on Sinai he was told to build exactly what he saw, and the temple in Jerusalem was modeled after this tabernacle, but they were both modeled after heaven itself. It was a reflection in our temporal world of the reality in the heavenly realm, like how Paul explains looking through a mirror.

He goes on to quote the part of Jeremiah that we read a few days ago, where God promises a new covenant. The Mosaic Covenant was carved in tablets of stone, but the one inaugurated by the passion of Christ is written on the hearts of his children.

The perfect fulfillment of the Law could be the work of none but the divine legislator, born subject to the Law in the person of the Son. In Jesus, the Law no longer appears engraved on tables of stone but “upon the heart” of the Servant who becomes “a covenant to the people”, because he will “faithfully bring forth justice”. Jesus fulfills the Law to the point of taking upon himself “the curse of the Law” incurred by those who do not “abide by the things written in the book of the Law, and do them”, for his death took place to redeem them “from the transgressions under the first covenant”.

CCC 580

He says that the new covenant is superseding the old, and because it’s been surpassed it is now ready to pass away. This is seen as a huge hint that this letter is being written pre AD 70 when the temple is destroyed and sacrifices in the Mosaic Covenant cease for all time.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Jeremiah 42-44
Hebrews 9