This morning we start the book of Jeremiah and will be in the book for several weeks. Since no prophet ever lived in a vacuum, let’s look first at the context of Jeremiah’s life and ministry. The tectonic plates of three empires – Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia – were moving and pushing against each other with Israel, as usual, in the middle. It was a time of instability, changes, uncertainty, shifting power, volatility, movement of people across borders, leadership turnover, and threats (real and imagined). In other words, Jeremiah stepped into a world just like ours today. With Assyria declining after 200+ years of dominance, Babylonia on the rise and…

1The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.” 2Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a little oil.” 3Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. 4Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars,…