“Go up to Gilead and get balm,
    Virgin Daughter Egypt.
But you try many medicines in vain;
    there is no healing for you.“
Jeremiah 46:11 (NIV)

For much of my life, I was a radio guy. I listened to the radio a lot. As a child, I woke up every morning to my dad tuning into WHO radio. I always remember it being on in the mornings. Sunday mornings he tuned to KRNT’s Hymn Time sponsored by Anderson-Erickson dairy as we got ready for church. In college, I did a couple of years as the morning guy on the college radio station, and I loved it. When I was younger and spent a lot of time on the road for work, I listened to countless hours of radio.

With the advent of streaming music, podcasting, and having audiobooks right on my phone, I don’t listen to much radio anymore other than to have the Cubs game on while I’m doing something else. One of the genres of radio that I first lost all interest in was that of Sports Talk radio. If you love it, that’s cool. I just got to the point that I thought it was all the same. Some bombastic, loud talker (often with a New York or New Jersey accent) speaking this sort of code language they’ve developed for their show and followers. Rather than intelligent conversation about sports it’s like an on-air version of professional wrestling with people insulting one another and their rival teams.

I thought of Sports Talk radio as I read today’s chapter. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post/podcast, we’re entering the final chapters of the compilation of Jeremiah’s prophetic messages. It’s sort of an appendix to the compilation with some one-off messages Jeremiah delivered during his ministry. Today’s chapter was delivered to the nations of Egypt and Babylon way back during the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon’s reign.

Jeremiah’s message to Egypt reads like a Sports Talk smackdown on the highest level. It’s dripping with sarcasm and full of irony. Let me provide an apt sports metaphor.

The Egyptians had been the perennial Imperial power in the region forever. They were the nation everyone feared. They were rich and used their wealth to sign free-agent contracts with the greatest mercenaries in the world. Egypt was the New England Patriots at the height of their Tom Brady dynasty. They were a powerhouse. They were unstoppable.

Babylon, on the other hand, were like my Minnesota Vikings. Sure they’d had a few good seasons in the past but, but lately they’d been an average team in fly-over country overshadowed by others in their division (like the Assyrians). However, the Babylonians have a new quarterback at the helm, a young rookie named Nebuchadnezzar. He’s newly drafted and untested. There’s a huge battle anticipated between lowly Babylon and the powerhouse Egyptians.

Jeremiah’s message is basically his Sports Talk take on upcoming showdown between the two nations.

Consider the verses I quoted at the top of the post/podcast:

“Go up to Gilead and get balm,
    Virgin Daughter Egypt.
But you try many medicines in vain;
    there is no healing for you.“

Egypt was well-known for their medicinal knowledge and practices. They’d learned a lot embalming and mummifying people for centuries. Gilead was a small town in Judah known for spices and healing balms. Jeremiah is writing these lines is like a Minnesota Vikings fan calling a Sports Talk station in Boston and saying:

“The Patriots are going to be so utterly destroyed by the Vikings that they’re going to have to rush Tom Brady to Mayo Clinic, but even Mayo Clinic won’t be able to heal the damage that the Vikings defense is going to do to him!”

To take the sports metaphor one more step. Jeremiah’s prognostication of a Babylonian defeat of Egypt was equivalent to Joe Namath’s promise of a Jets victory in the Super Bowl. It’s NC State winning the Big Dance. It’s the Miracle on Ice. And, he was right.

The battle of Carchemish (a city on the Euphrates River) in 605 B.C. remains one of the most important and decisive victories in history. It completely shifted power in the Near East.

In the quiet this morning, I find it interesting that Jeremiah’s prophetic works mark a major shift of thought. To this point in the Great Story, the narrative has been almost entirely focused on God’s relationship with the Hebrew people. Other nations are mentioned as they play various supporting roles in the story, but the focus has always been on the Hebrews. Jeremiah’s prophetic works are the first time that God claims another leader of another nation to be His “chosen servant.” Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t even know or worship the God of Abraham and Moses, though God uses Daniel and his friends to make the introduction.

Along most of my spiritual journey, I’ve focused time and energy on my personal relationship with God. As I’ve progressed, I’ve learned to increasingly embrace the understanding that God is at work in every person’s story. Like Nebuchadnezzar, a person may not recognize it and may freely and willfully reject the idea. It doesn’t change God’s desire to know and be known by that person.

I’ve also come to embrace the knowledge that my role as a disciple of Jesus is to be a loving conduit of God’s love to the Nebuchadnezzars in my life. That’s why I’ve purposefully tried to diminish my personal judgment and condemnation of others, no matter who they are or what they’ve said, believed, or done.

When I look at others through the lens of God’s love for them and God’s desire to be in relationship with them, it changes how I see them. That is foundational to what Jesus came to teach me.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.