Jeremiah 40:6-10: a reflection

6Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land. 7Now when all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and of the poorest of the land, of those who were not carried away captive to Babylon, 8then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men came to Gedaliah to Mizpah. 9Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you. 10As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who will come to us; but you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.”

After the fall of Jerusalem, a remnant is left in the land, and Gedaliah, the governor, counsels them not only to settle without fear, but to take up ordinary, productive life again: Gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken. After the upheaval, they are not to sit idle in despair, but to resume the ordinary work of living, gathering the harvest, filling their vessels, dwelling in their homes. The call after the calamity is to take up ordinary, faithful, productive life again, not to remain paralyzed by what had happened.

Notice the counsel after the upheaval: resume ordinary, productive life. The people had been through calamity; the nation had fallen, and they might have sat paralyzed in grief and fear. But Gedaliah counsels them to take up the ordinary work of living again, to gather the harvest, to fill their vessels with wine and fruit and oil, to dwell in their homes. Life was to go on; there was ordinary, faithful, productive work to be done, even after the calamity. They were not to remain paralyzed, but to resume the good ordinary rhythms of living, gathering, storing, dwelling. The call was to take up life again, faithfully, in the midst of what remained.

That is worth taking to heart, for after upheaval in our own lives, we are often called to resume ordinary, faithful, productive life again. After a calamity or upheaval, we can be paralyzed, sitting idle in grief and fear, unable to take up life again; but the remnant was counseled to gather the harvest and dwell in their homes, to resume the ordinary work of living. There is a time, after the upheaval, to take up again the ordinary faithful rhythms of life, gathering, working, dwelling. After an upheaval in your life, do not remain paralyzed in grief and fear; resume the ordinary, faithful work of living, as the remnant was told to gather the harvest and dwell in the land. Take up ordinary, faithful, productive life again after upheaval, gathering and working and dwelling rather than remaining paralyzed, as the remnant was counseled to gather the summer fruits and dwell in their cities; for after the calamity there is ordinary faithful work to be done, and the call is to take up the good rhythms of living again rather than to sit idle in despair.

Lord, after the fall of Jerusalem, a remnant is left in the land, and Gedaliah, the governor, counsels them not only to settle without fear, but to take up ordinary, productive life again: gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken. After the upheaval, they are not to sit idle in despair, but to resume the ordinary work of living, gathering the harvest, filling their vessels, dwelling in their homes. Show me the counsel after the upheaval: resume ordinary, productive life. The people had been through calamity; the nation had fallen, and they might have sat paralyzed in grief and fear. But Gedaliah counsels them to take up the ordinary work of living again, to gather the harvest, to dwell in their homes. Life was to go on; there was ordinary, faithful, productive work to be done, even after the calamity. They were not to remain paralyzed, but to resume the good ordinary rhythms of living. Take that to my heart, for after upheaval in my own life, I am often called to resume ordinary, faithful, productive life again. After a calamity or upheaval, I can be paralyzed, sitting idle in grief and fear, unable to take up life again; but the remnant was counseled to gather the harvest and dwell in their homes. There is a time, after the upheaval, to take up again the ordinary faithful rhythms of life. After an upheaval in my life, keep me from remaining paralyzed in grief and fear; help me resume the ordinary, faithful work of living, Lord, as the remnant was told to gather the harvest and dwell in the land.