Read Jeremiah 1 at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
1:1-3 {p} The prophecies of Jeremiah during the reign of Josiah until the captivity
1:4-6 {s} Before Jeremiah was conceived or born, YHVH had ordained him a prophet
1:7-10 {p} YHVH put His words in Jeremiah’s mouth, to uproot and to plant
1:11-12 {s} Vision of the almond branch: YHVH watches over His word to perform it
1:13-19 {p} Vision of the boiling pot: Calamity will break upon the land from the north
The Strong themes:
1:4-10 {s+p} Jeremiah appointed a prophet to the nations with YHVH’s words in his mouth to pull down and build up
1:11-19 {s+p} Almond branch and boiling pot: YHVH watches over His word, that calamity will break upon the land
The Chiastic structure:
What does Jeremiah seeing an almond branch have to do with God watching over His word to perform it?
To watch is Strong’s H8245, שקד shaqad, also, ‘to awaken, to be alert.’
shin ש = two front teeth (sharp, press, eat, two, again)
quph ק = sun on the horizon (condense, circle, time)
dalet ד = door (enter, move, hang, to and fro)
The Hebrew Root Word parable is of devouring (shin, in the sense of leaving no stone unturned) the circle of the horizon (quph) back and forth (dalet), thus to diligently scan the horizon.
The Hebrew word for ‘almond tree,’ shaqed, comes from the root word shaqad, ‘to watch, to awaken.’ The almond tree is the earliest bloomer in Israel’s winter landscape, bursting into white-pink flowers in January or February, often while snow is still lingering in the hills. It ‘wakes up’ before other trees, heralding spring’s imminent arrival. Farmers and shepherds watched for those blossoms as the sign of winter’s end.
Jeremiah has seen the almond branch, shaqed, signaling that YHVH is watching over His word, shaqad, as it will be budding soon.
Why This Matters: Isaiah also prophesied of disaster coming from the north (for example, Isa 14:31) 110 to 135 years before Jeremiah received his call. It’s like YHVH’s saying, Your great-grandparents heard this message too, but don’t discount it, thinking it doesn’t apply to you, because now it’s closer than ever, and on the horizon!
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