Vayikra (Leviticus) 26:3-27:34 | Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 16:19-17:14
In the Haftarah for Bechukotai, the prophet Jeremiah draws on imagery from several other biblical sources. For example, Psalm one and “the tree planted by streams of water” lies behind the imagery of Jeremiah 16:7-8. Other allusions to the Psalms and Proverbs can be detected. It is the covenant curses and blessings of Leviticus 26, however, which seem to exert the greatest influence over the passage.
The book of Leviticus ends with a section of blessings for obedience to the covenant and curses for disobedience. Therein the Lord warns His people that if they turn away from Him and do not repent, “I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols; for My soul shall abhor you.
I will lay waste your cities as well, and will make your sanctuaries desolate; and I will not smell your soothing aromas. And I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled over it. You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste.” (Leviticus 26:30-33).
The prophet Jeremiah in the Haftarah reading echoes this passage. He exclaims, “O mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty, Your high places for sin throughout your borders. And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance That I gave you; And I will make you serve your enemies in the land which you do not know.…” (Jeremiah 17:2-4). The synonymy between the warning in the Torah and the prophecy of Jeremiah made this passage a suitable candidate for the Haftarah reading.
But neither Jeremiah nor Moses are just prophets of doom. Along with the bitter message of exile and destruction comes a message of hope and restoration. The curses of the covenant are not irrevocable. In Leviticus 26, the frightening litany of curses comes to an end in verse 40 where the Lord promises that He will restore His people if they will return to him, confessing their sin and forsaking their wickedness. The call to repentance is echoed in the Haftarah. Jeremiah refers to the Lord as mikvah of Israel (v. 13), a term that means hope, but can also be translated as “pool of water” used for immersion in purification rituals. Those who place their trust in the Lord will be like a tree planted by streams of water (vv. 7-8 ). After describing the fate of those who reject the Lord, Jeremiah exclaims, “Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, For You are my praise.”
The prescription in Jeremiah is the same as in Leviticus. There is a definite pattern of repentance, forgiveness, redemption, and restoration that God offers to His people. The same pattern of repentance, forgiveness, redemption, and restoration can be followed in the daily prayer of the Shemoneh Esrei (the 18 benedictions). The blessing for repentance (“Bring us back, our Father, to Your Torah…cause us to return in perfect repentance…”) is followed by the blessing for forgiveness of sin (“Forgive us, our Father, for we have erred; pardon us, our King, for we have willfully sinned…”) which is in turn followed by the blessing for redemption (“…You are a powerful redeemer. Blessed are You, Lord, redeemer of Israel.”). Significantly, the blessing for redemption is followed by the blessing for healing and salvation which begins with the very words which end this week’s Haftarah portion, “Heal us, O Lord, and We will be healed; Save us and we will be saved, for You are our praise.”
The pattern laid out in the Torah, in the prophet Jeremiah, and in the daily liturgy is the very plan of salvation taught in the Gospels and the Apostolic Scriptures. Just as Israel’s sins would bring the curses of the covenant upon her, driving her from her land, we learn that our sins have separated us from God and placed us under “the curse of the Torah.” The remedy is laid out in the Torah and Haftarah and even in the Amidah. We must (1) repent and return to Him (2) confess our sins and receive His forgiveness (3) and experience His (Messianic) redemption, part of which is the (4) healing of our brokenness in body and soul.
Jeremiah and the authors of the Amidah probably never read a salvation tract, nor did they ever attend an evangelism class. Instead they found the message of the Gospel in the book of Leviticus