According to Jeremiah 18:5-10, we read:
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
So what this passage is saying is that if Yahweh announces, at any time, that a nation or kingdom is to uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, and that nation repents of its evil then Yahweh will relent. And if a nation is to be built up and planted, Yahweh will reconsider the good that he intended for it if this nation does evil.
The problem was, according to Till, that this passage is clearly wrong. Judah had repented of its evils in the time of King Josiah yet even though Judah repented, Yahweh was still going to destroy it. This was despite the fact that Josiah devoted himself heart and soul to following Yahweh and his law and had Judah and all of the men of Jerusalem do the same. While I agree that Till was right and that the story of Josiah and his reforms in 2 Kings did nothing to avert the destruction that Yahweh had promised even though Jeremiah 18 promised otherwise, I believe that Till's case could've been made much stronger than even he seemed to realize. To do this, I will quote from Till's article and then analyze passages from Jeremiah that make Till's case stronger than he might have imagined.
Here is what Till wrote in the article referenced above:
"In one particular case, however, he refused to relent for a people whose penitence and religious reformation were perhaps unparalleled in biblical history. When Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, assumed the kingship in Judah, he "did evil in the sight of Yahweh" (2 Kings 21:2). He rebuilt the altars of Baal that his father had destroyed, offered his own son in pagan sacrifice, and "did much evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger" (21:3-6). He even put graven images in the temple (21:5,7).
"So provoked was Yahweh that he vowed to destroy the nation of Judah:
And Yahweh spoke by His servants the prophets, saying, "Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations (he has acted more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols), therefore thus says Yahweh God of Israel, `Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies, because they have done evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day'" (2 Kings 21:10-15)."Manasseh's evil ways continued after the prophetic judgment was pronounced. He "shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another" (21:16), and then he died, apparently a natural death, and "rested with his fathers" and was buried in the garden of Uzza (21:18).
"Manasseh's son Amon then became king, but he was assassinated after reigning only two years. In those two years, however, he carried on the tradition of his father and "did evil in the sight of Yahweh" (21:20) and worshiped and served the idols his father had installed in the land (v:21). Then on Amon's death, his son Josiah was made king and reigned for 31 years (22:1).
"It was in the reign of Josiah that the phenomenal religious reforms previously mentioned occurred. The "Book of the law," presumably lost for some time, was discovered in the temple during renovation work and was presented to Josiah in the 18th year of his reign (22:3-10). Upon hearing the book read in his presence, king Josiah, realizing that the commandments of the law had not been observed by his people, rent his clothes in a gesture of penitence (v:11). He called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem and read the "Book of the Covenant" to them (23:1-2). He then swore to observe the commandments and statutes of the book "with all his heart and all his soul" (v:3).
"There followed, as I said, a religious reformation that was unparalleled in biblical history. Josiah ordered the removal of all relics of Baal from the temple and burned them outside Jerusalem "in the fields of Kidron" and carried their ashes to Bethel (v:4). He removed from office all the idolatrous priests who had been ordained by his predecessors (v:5) and burned their wooden images. He tore down all the ritual booths in the pagan "high places" and cast out their priests from Geba to Beersheba (vv:7-8), put an end to human sacrifices to the god Molech (v:10), and destroyed many other pagan worship sites too numerous to detail (vv:11-15). He even carried his reforms into the northern kingdom of Israel, where he destroyed all the pagan shrines and executed all the priests "of the high places" (vv:18-20).
"On his return to Jerusalem, he ordered a Passover celebration the likes of which "surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah" (vv:21-22). He ordered an end to the cultic practices of mediums and spiritualists and the worship of "household gods and idols" (v:24). The story of Josiah's reforms ends with this statement: "Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to Yahweh with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him" (v:25). David was a man after Yahweh's own heart (1 Sam. 13:14), who had done "that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh and turned not aside from anything he [Yahweh] commanded him all the days of his life" (1 Kings 15:5), so if Josiah's godliness exceeded even David's, his personal character has to stand without parallel in the Old Testament.
"One would think, then, that if any nation were ever entitled to have Yahweh "relent" of the disaster he had pronounced upon it, Judah under the reign of Josiah would certainly have qualified. But it didn't. After all the reforms of Josiah had been described in detail, the writer of 2 Kings made this astonishing announcement:
Nevertheless Yahweh did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. And Yahweh said, "I will also remove Judah from My sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, `My name shall be there'" (23:26-27)."From this one can only conclude that it wasn't always true that when Yahweh spoke "concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it" that he would "relent of the disaster" that he had thought to bring upon it if the nation turned from its evil. Judah certainly turned from its evil, in terms of the biblical sense of evil, in the reign of Josiah, yet despite this national repentance, Yahweh refused to relent of the disaster he had pronounced upon it. One chapter later, the writer of 2 Kings concluded his book with an account of Judah's destruction by the army of Nebuchadnezzar. The repentance of an entire nation brought no mercy from the infinitely just Yahweh. So what does this do to the claim that the Bible is so unified in its themes that only divine inspiration can explain its amazing harmony? "
I agree with Till. However, his case could be made much stronger. Heck, his case can be made very strong and completely without Jeremiah 18: 5-10. Let's look at Jeremiah 25: 1-14:
25 The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 2 So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: 3 For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
4 And though the Lord has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. 5 They said, “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the Lord gave to you and your ancestors for ever and ever. 6 Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not arouse my anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.”
7 “But you did not listen to me,” declares the Lord, “and you have aroused my anger with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.”
8 Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. 10 I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
12 “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the Lord, “and will make it desolate forever. 13 I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. 14 They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”
A few facts are evident from this passage. First, according to the beginning of this passage, Jeremiah was giving this message from Yahweh to all of the people of Judah and everyone in Jerusalem in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah. So, this message is being given to all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the people of Judah after Josiah's reign had come to an end. Second, according to verse 3, Yahweh has had Jeremiah repeatedly speak to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem but they haven't listened. Third, Jeremiah isn't the first prophet to warn the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to repent; they have been sent prophets before and have been warned before to repent of their evil ways. Another passage can be found in Jeremiah 26: 1-16:
26 Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2 “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4 Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5 and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.’”
7 The priests, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the Lord. 8 But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the Lord had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You must die! 9 Why do you prophesy in the Lord’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?” And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10 When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the Lord and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s house. 11 Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!”
12 Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. 13 Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. 14 As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. 15 Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man should not be sentenced to death! He has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”
From this passage, more than a few facts are evident. First, Jeremiah is issuing this prophetic warning after the reign of Josiah. Second, like the passage quoted above from Jeremiah 25, this warning is directed to the people of Judah. Third, in verse 3, Yahweh promises that if the people of Judah listen, he will relent and not bring the promised destruction. Forth, like in the passage from Jeremiah 25, Yahweh states that he has warned the people again and again but they haven't listened. Fifth, according to verses 12 and 13, Jeremiah warned all of the officials and people that Yahweh sent him to prophesy against them and warns them to repent and tells them of Yahweh's promise to relent if they reform their ways and obey Yahweh.
But why should they trust Yahweh? Yahweh didn't relent in the time of Josiah. Even though Josiah introduced reforms and turned his heart towards Yahweh, Yahweh didn't relent. Till quoted 2 Kings 23: 26-27, and I am quoting it again (New American Standard Bible):
26 However, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. 27 The Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”
And later in 2 Kings24: 1-4, we read (New International Version):
During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he turned against Nebuchadnezzar and rebelled. 2 The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by his servants the prophets. 3 Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, 4 including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.
So the destruction of Judah happened because Yahweh commanded it to happen on an account of Manasseh and his sins. Manasseh shed innocent blood and filled Jerusalem with it and Yahweh was not willing to forgive. This passage confirms 2 Kings 23: 26-27; both state that it was because of Manasseh's sins, particularly the shedding of innocent blood in Jerusalem that brought all of this on Judah and Yahweh was not wiling to forgive any of it.
Till referenced the Bible above to argue that Josiah turned to Yahweh with all of his heart. But what about the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem? Did they repent or was it just Josiah? Inerrantists might argue that this was the case; Jeremiah is accurate; the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem never repented; it was only Josiah who repented. Actually, according to the Bible, the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem repented. According to 2 Kings 23: 1-3 (New International Version)
Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. 3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
According to this passage, Josiah stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of Yahweh and then "all of the people pledged themselves to the covenant". The people who pledged themselves to the covenant were "the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets-all the people from the least to the greatest." There can be no doubt, then, that it wasn't merely Josiah, but all of the people whose hearing that he read all of the words of the "Book of the Covenant".
As a last ditch effort to avoid a discrepancy, inerrantists might argue that the passages from Jeremiah 25 and 26 aren't meant to be taken literally. Maybe when Yahweh says in Jeremiah 26: 1-6 that the people of Judah have never listened, despite being repeatedly warned, it was meant to be hyperbole. Maybe the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem repented once or twice but that was it so passages like these contain hyperbole:
26 Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2 “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4 Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5 and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.’”
But is this hyperbole? When according to Jeremiah 25-26, the people have never listened and that Yahweh has sent prophet after prophet, when Jeremiah being the latest, isn't this just an exaggeration?
Actually, there is strong evidence from Jeremiah 35 that the statements in bold from Jeremiah 25 and 26, quoted above, were meant to be taken literally. In Jeremiah 35: 1-19, we read:
35 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: 2 “Go to the Rekabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the Lord and give them wine to drink.”
3 So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons—the whole family of the Rekabites. 4 I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. 5 Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Rekabites and said to them, “Drink some wine.”
6 But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jehonadab son of Rekab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine. 7 Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’ 8 We have obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab son of Rekab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine 9 or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops. 10 We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jehonadab commanded us.
11 But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Come, we must go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”
12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: 13 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?’ declares the Lord. 14 ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab ordered his descendants not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather’s command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me. 15 Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, “Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you have not paid attention or listened to me. 16 The descendants of Jehonadab son of Rekab have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.’
17 “Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.’”
18 Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’ 19 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab will never fail to have a descendant to serve me.’”
A few facts are evident from this passage. First, Jeremiah is instructed to go to the whole family of the Rekabites and he pours them wine and tells them to drink. Second, they replied that they do not drink because their ancestor, Jehonadab, gave them the order that they must never drink wine. According to verse 8, the whole family hadn't drunken any wine since having been given this command. Third, Yahweh instructs Jeremiah, in verse 12, to go to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem to follow the example of the Rekabites. According to verse 14, Yahweh states that Jehonadab ordered his descendants not to drink wine and this command has been kept, even "to this day they do not drink wine" and Yahweh notes that the people have not paid any attention or listened to him despite being repeatedly warned.
This demonstrates that the statements in Jeremiah 25-26 are literally true; if it was just hyperbole, then the Rekabites wouldn't have been the best parallel to use. If the statements that the people of Judah and Jerusalem's inhabitants never listened or paid any attention to Yahweh, and hence never repented, are all hyperbolic, then why didn't Yahweh have Jeremiah remind them of their repentance in the days of Josiah when Josiah had everyone in Jerusalem (meaning all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the people from Judah, and their elders) pledge themselves to the covenant? This would have been a much better comparison. That the reforms of Josiah, including having everyone repent and pledge themselves to the covenant, aren't mentioned in Jeremiah 35 and the Rekabites are mentioned as an excellent example of faithfulness goes to show that the statements found in Jeremiah 25-26, quoted and highlighted in bold, above, are literally true statements.
Thus, Till was right. A proven discrepancy is shown to exist and the doctrine of perfect harmony of the Bible, that the Bile is the "inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God" is shown not to be true.
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