Jeremiah's Fictitious Headlines

What would the Jerusalem newspaper have looked like during the Babylonian seige? Jeremiah survived slander

produced by static force llc sometimes things don't change.

Transcript

Title: JEREMIAH'S FICTITIOUS HEADLINES

SubTitle: Jeremiah survived slander

Description: A Scripture about dressed stones hints at sufferings Jesus would overcome centuries later.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2076577/episodes/17979185

#GospelAccordingToTheRock

Jeremiah’s Ficitious Headlines

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC

There's a piece of old mail on my table that's titled Old News. My mother used to subscribe me to the mailing.

The issue I'm looking at is dated December 2007. The idea of the mailing was to give old news -- history -- in the form of a newspaper article. It could be called an OLDSPAPER article.

The headline on the front page reads, "Benjamin Franklin Invents Bifocals". It relates how Benjamin Franklin appeared to the Paris public wearing bifocals -- a style never before seen. I used to wear bifocals, but now I'm fortunate to have a lens planted in my right eye that lets me read the headlines without any glasses.

The idea of this episode is something like the Old News mailing. It's to take history and fix a headline to it.

WHY JEREMIAH? WHY LAMENTATIONS 3?

I was asked to preach about something old earlier this week. I found myself preaching a verse out of Jeremiah's book of Lamentations chapter 3, which looks like it happened almost 600 years before Christ.

Jeremiah suffered during his ministry -- in some ways very like Jesus would suffer more than five centuries later. So I want to touch on parts of Jeremiah's life with Oldspaper-style headlines.

Two Scriptures triggered me to write some fictitious headlines about Jeremiah. The first Scripture is Lamentations 3:22 which describes a wave of hope Jeremiah experienced going through the starvation and destruction of Jerusalem.

Lam 3:22

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

-- Lam 3:22

The other Scripture I noticed as I read Lamentations 3. It has to do with stones, so I pondered it:

Lam 3:9

He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;

He has made my paths crooked.

-- Lam 3:9

Hewn stones are stones that have been chiseled and shaped to either contain water or fit together into a wall. Hewn stones have been shaped to a purpose. I believe these were stones that Jeremiah looked at while he was in prison.

In a way it's fitting to write headlines about Jeremiah because large parts of his writings have been disrupted. I'm told that scraps that survived the siege have been put together in the best order possible.

Lamentations is a summary. Some of the details are found in the book of Jeremiah, especially chapters 37-39.

So, here are some of the headlines and some of the story lines you might have seen about Jeremiah if there were newspapers in Jerusalem during the Babylonian attack.

JEREMIAH THREATENS CITY

Even when the Chaldeans have retreated because of our ally in Egypt, Jeremiah still doesn't grasp reality.

CITY'S MORALE IMPROVES AS JEREMIAH REMOVED FROM WATER RATIONS

Jerusalem needs everyone's support during this crisis.

Jeremiah has constantly been a drag on our efforts to preserve the city. Some officials noted that Jeremiah has been moved to a private location and has been given another chance to repent. 

THIS JEREMIAH SONG IS A JERUSALEM HIT

Our stones keep it dark

AND he sees that they fit!

KING TRANSFERS TRAITOR TO PUBLIC PRISON

Following a private audience with the king, Jeremiah has been put back on water rations. Will the mercy of our king change Jeremiah? Some don't think so.

That's the end of the headlines.

It's worth noting that five centuries later Jesus suffered some of the same things as Jeremiah. One accusation against Jesus was that he said he'd tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days. 

His accusers never comprehended -- or admitted -- that Jesus was talking about His body.

But, like Jeremiah before Him, Jesus put His trust in God. Jesus recognized that even though He died, He was not ultimately consumed.

All content © 2025 Static Force, LLC