Lesson Four- The Prophets- Painting the Broader Canvas of a Troubled Society

1. Lesson Five - The Prophets:Painting the Broader Canvas of a Troubled
Society
I. Re-cap and Introduction – this session is, in a way, a continuation of the
previous two. We’ve talked at length about how a cycle of bad or corrupt
leadership weakens a society, especially by inducing in the people a failure
to expect and respect good leadership. This further worsens leadership, and
this cycle spirals down.
We’ve discussed ways in which the people are weakened and corrupted in
the process. Today, we’ll look even deeper into the status of such a society
in a spiritually and ethically unhealthy community.
I’ll begin by referring to a few verses at the end of last week’s lesson and
encourage a brief discussion of their meaning. Also, we’ll talk about the
promising episode of life under King Hezekiah and consider reasons why it
might not have been enduring.
II. Prophetic Sayings to Consider
A. “They are like well-fed horses rising early, each man neighing to
the wife of his acquaintance.” Jeremiah 5:8
The imagery here is so powerful I thought we’d look at it briefly.
What do we see?
Do we see any of this in our world?
(Discussion)

2. B. The people is “foolish and without a heart. They have eyes, but
cannot see; they have ears but cannot hear…” Jeremiah 5:21
Thoughts? Isn’t this the fundamental problem in a society that
goes wrong?
(Discussion)
C. 1. “For because you put your trust in your accomplishments and
in your treasures, you (Moab), too, will be conquered.” Jeremiah
48:7
2. ”Moab was complacent from its youth, tranquil on its lees and
not being poured from container to container, and did not go into
exile; therefore its taste has stayed in it, and its scent was not
diminished.” 48:11

3. 3. “We have heard of the pride of Moab, it was excessively
prideful: his conceit, his pride, his haughtiness, and the arrogance
of his heart.” 48:29
What are the ways of Moab that are decried?
(Discussion)
D. ”Why do you (Ammon) take pride yourselves on the valleys,”
you who “trust in her treasures,” saying, ‘Who could ever attack
me?’” Jeremiah 49:4
What are the ways of Ammon that are decried?
(Discussion)
E. As to Edom, “counsel has been lost from the children; their
wisdom has tuned putrid.” 49:7
What’s the problem here?

4. (Discussion)
F. “The Chaldeans will become plunder; all its plunderers will be
sated…because you (Babylonia) are glad, because you exult, you
tramplers of My heritage; because you fatten yourselves like a calf
in the grass and neigh like mighty steeds; your mother is very
shamed; the one who bore you is embarrassed…” 50:10-12
“Repay her according to her actions…” 50:29
“Babylonia will be a heap…” 51:37
Even Babylon, which conquers Judah, will face an awful fate. What
do we learn from it?
(Discussion)
G. “Woe to those who arise early in the morning to pursue liquor,
who stay up late at night while wine inflames them.” Isaiah 5:11

5. We know a good bit about the problem here. Any special insights
brought on by the wording of the verse?
(Discussion)
H. Note Jeremiah 9:22-23, in which God warns the wise man not to
glorify in his wisdom, the strong man not to glorify in his strength,
and the rich man not to glorify in his wealth. One can only glorify
in contemplating and knowing the God who does kindness, justice,
and righteousness in the land.
It’s as if such self-glorification was also abundant in the society
Jeremiah was criticizing. Explain the problem.
I. The people who strayed and were wicked “fall and not rise.”
However, if they would “repent,” God would return to them.
Why then would the people not repent, especially after they saw
the bones of many removed posthumously and God making clear
that “death will be preferable to life” for the surviving remnant?
Look in Jeremiah 8:4-6: “When people fall down, do they not get
up?”

6. (Discuss)
J. Let’s now look at other ways in which the people’s ways are
characterized by God and Jeremiah. “They cling to deceit; they
refuse to return.” 8:5
1.“They all follow their course like a horse racing headlong in War.”
8:6
What does this suggest?
2. “The stork in the heavens knows its migration seasons, and the
turtle-dove, the swift, and the crane keep the time of their arrival.”
“Yet, My people do not know the judgment of their God.” 8:7
What does this mean?
K. “Thus said God: So shall I destroy the pride of Judah and the
immense pride of Jerusalem - this evil nation, who refuse to hear
My words, who follow the vision of their heart, who went after
gods of others, to worship them, to prostrate themselves to
them…” Jeremiah 13:9-10

7. God loves the pride of Jacob and wants to establish it as the
people’s inheritance. Psalms 47:5
Why is pride seen as so odious here?
(Discussion)
L. “Can a leopard (change) its spots? So, too, can you - in whom
evil is ingrained – be or do the good? Jeremiah 13:23
Does a society become so corrupt that it gets close to impossible
to be made clean? Or is the answer enough into doubt that the
question at least becomes fair to ask? What evidence have we
seen in subsequent societies or cultures that would give rise to
this question appropriately being asked? What has likely happened
for conditions to be this bad?
(Discussion: Do we see examples in our civil war, Nazi Germany, et.
al., with the price of war, exile, bloodshed, destruction, etc?)
M. “The people has become like fuel for a fire; they have no mercy for
one another. He snatched from his right and remains hungry; he

8. consumed on his left but they are not sated; everyone will eat the arm
of his own flesh.” Isaiah 9:18-19
Have you seen examples in literature or history of people acting cruelly
to nearby others due to panic, etc., as one burning log ignites a nearby
log?
Have you seen, on the other hand, people who, though incredibly
stressed, did not turn on each other, serving as fuel for their and others’
destruction, but rather as sources of comfort and support?
(Discussion)
N.1. “From the sole of the foot to the head, nothing in him is whole…”
Isaiah 1:6
What does this suggest?
Does the fact that all isn’t whole mean that all are sinful in the same
way? If not, how might there be different ways?
N. 2.“…they are all hypocritical and evil, and every mouth utters
degeneracy.” Isaiah 9:16

9. How is this to be explained?
Can you show how this unfortunate web might operate in our own
time?
(Discussion)
N. 3. “ God will cut off from Israel the head and the tail, the canopied
tree and the reed, in one day. The elder and the distinguished man, he
is the head; and the prophet who teaches falsehood, he is the tail. The
guides of this people mislead, and the guided ones are corrupted.”
None escapes responsibility. Isaiah 9:13-16
We’ve discussed this before. Responsibility for a corrupt society spreads
throughout, as will punishment. What added understanding do these
verses provide?
(Discussion)
N. 4. “I am filled prophecies of the wrath of God…Pour it out on the
children in the street and on the gathering of youths, for men and

10. women alike will be caught up in it, the elders with the aged.” Jeremiah
6:1
What does this verse add to our understanding?
(Discussion)
O. “Go, and buy a potter’s earthenware bottle; and take with you some
of the elders of the Kohanim. Then go out to the Valley of the Son of
Hinnom…Then break the bottle before the eyes of the men who go with
you, and say to them: Thus said Hashem, Master of Legions: So shall I
shatter this people and this city, just as one breaks a potter’s vessel,
which cannot be fixed any more…” Jeremiah 19:1-2, 10-11
The surface analogy to things that can be broken is pretty easy to see.
But why does the text use a bottle specifically as a metaphor for the
society?
III.Conclusion