Texts in Conversation
In Jeremiah, God says he would refuse to listen even if Moses and Samuel were to plead for the people. Psalm 99 refers to those same figures, along with Aaron, reflecting a tradition of mediators between God and the people.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Jeremiah 15:1
Hebrew Bible
1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for these people, I would not feel pity for them! Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! 2 If they ask you, ‘Where should we go?’ tell them the Lord says this: ‘Those who are destined to die of disease will go to death by disease. Those who are destined to die in war will go to death in war. Those who are destined to die of starvation will go to death by starvation. Those who are destined to go into exile will go into exile.’ 3 “I will punish them in four different ways: I will have war kill them; I will have dogs drag off their dead bodies; I will have birds and wild beasts devour and destroy their corpses.
Psalm 99:6
Hebrew Bible
5 Praise the Lord our God. Worship before his footstool. He is holy! 6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests; Samuel was one of those who prayed to him. They prayed to the Lord and he answered them. 7 He spoke to them from a pillar of cloud; they obeyed his regulations and the ordinance he gave them. 8 O Lord our God, you answered them. They found you to be a forgiving God, but also one who punished their sinful deeds.
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Notes and References
“... In his further reply (15:1-9) to the people’s second prayer (14:19-23), God again rejects the possibility of prophetic intercession. God is exasperated! Earlier Moses and Samuel, noted as effective intercessors (Exod. 32:11-14; Num. 14:13-19; 1 Sam. 12:9-23; Ps. 99:6), had both secured answers from God in emergency situations: Moses brought water from a rock (Num. 20:1-11); Samuel’s prayer in a national crisis brought thunderings, and presumably rain (1 Sam. 7:9-11). But now even were Moses and Samuel, these “greats” from the past, to intercede, God will not hear. A people’s cry will indeed go unanswered (cf. 11:11). ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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