Reading Jeremiah

My daily reading has brought me to Jeremiah. This is one of the big books of woe in the Old Testament. It was of course written to the people in Judah. Israel had fallen years before and now it was going to be Judah's turn.

It is very tempting to read this book as if it was written to America. We face the same problem of spiritual whoredom that they did. We worship our share of false gods. We make unholy alliances with other nations. The recent swings in the economy have brought our greed to light.

So this begs a big hermeneutic question. This book was written to a specific people at a specific time. Yet God preserved it as part of our canon. Does that mean it applies to just any nation?

I don't think so. We like to think of ourselves as the "good guys" in any story that we read. However, I don't think we have the same standing before the Lord as the nation of Israel did. I'm not sure that the current nation of Israel has the same standing either.

I don't have this all settled in my mind. If anyone reading this would like to give some feedback I'd appreciate it.