July 13, 2026 - Jeremiah 9-12

The words of Jeremiah:  “Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (9:1)  Jeremiah is often called “the weeping prophet.”  Most of his 40 year ministry was comprised of pointing out the people’s sins and treacheries while announcing the coming end of the kingdom and consequent exile.  His was a difficult and painful ministry.  He was a young man when first called to the prophetic ministry, and he appears to have been very tender hearted.  For example, in the previous chapter, Jeremiah says, “My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me” (8:18) & “For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me” (8:21).  The Old Testament prophets sometimes get the reputation of being nothing but cold-hearted preachers of judgment.  Jeremiah preached what he must but he took no pleasure at all in calling out Israel’s failures and seeing her disciplined.  A faithful minister of God!  Jeremiah reminds us of Jesus, doesn’t he?  Remember when Jesus wept over Jerusalem?  “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” (Luke 19:41-42).

Did Christ o’er sinners weep,

And shall our cheeks be dry?

Let floods of penitential grief

Burst forth from every eye.

The Son of God in tears

The wondering angels see;

Be thou astonished, O my soul;

He shed those tears for thee.

He wept that we might weep;

Each sin demands a tear;

In heaven alone no sin is found,

And there’s no weeping there.   -- Benjamin Beddome (1787)