Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
I am studying Jeremiah 26, because that is where Pastor Ed will be this Sunday in his verse by verse teaching. I also followed it through verse by verse.
Jeremiah 26:1-4 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word. Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.’ And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “If you will not listen to Me, to walk in My law which I have set before you to heed the words of My servants the prophets whom I sent to you, both rising up early and sending them (but you have not heeded), then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”’”
God tells the people that He will turn from His discipline if they will hear and repent. This is the same speech to the people talked about in Jeremiah 7. Jeremiah is speaking at the gates of the Lord's temple to the people, who have come to worship at the Lord's house. This took place during King Josiah's time...one of Judah's greatest most godly kings. Josiah called the people back to God. Now some of the people might have had hearts for the Lord and His ordinances like Josiah, but the majority did not. They did it because the king commanded it and it was outward only. The people might have been celebrating and sacrificing, but their hearts were far from the Lord. God wants the inward response of the heart. The outward without the inward heart behind it, is an abomination to Him. James tells us that even the demons acknowledge God but true belief stems from the heart and will...make no mistake....affect our behavior.
Jeremiah 26:7-11 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. Now it happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You will surely die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without an inhabitant’?” And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the LORD and sat down in the entry of the New Gate of the LORD’s house. And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and all the people, saying, “This man deserves to die! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”
So as Jon Courson puts it: ""Rather than grab the message of grace and mercy God offered the priests and the prophets and people of Judah chose to grab Jeremiah and tell him he must die.
My daughter, Rebecca, recently wrote a devotional on Acts 6. The people did a similar thing to Stephen...here is a portion of her devotional:
" But when they did look steadfastly, they recognized something about Stephen that was not of man. They looked at Stephen and they saw, not a sinful human, but Christ in that sinful human. The truth about Jesus and His saving work was right there before their eyes, in an earthen vessel named Stephen.
So they killed him. The Freedmen couldn't disprove the truth, so they resorted to lies; the council could not bear Stephen's witness, so they created a mob. Acts 7:58, “Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.”
They stopped their ears. They wouldn't hear. They wouldn't see. They refused to understand. They hardened their hearts. Doesn't it make you cry? How many people do you know who stop their ears to the Lord? Who shoot the messenger because they can't bear the truth? Who are so lustful for their own way that they pull down whoever and whatever they must to have it? And what if YOU are that person?
The truth is right in front of you. It always is. It cannot be rationally or objectively resisted, but it can be denied. The choice is yours. What are you going to do with the truth?"
Jeremiah 26:12-15 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all the people, saying: “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city with all the words that you have heard. Now therefore, amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; then the LORD will relent concerning the doom that He has pronounced against you. As for me, here I am, in your hand; do with me as seems good and proper to you. But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for truly the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
Even though his life was threatened, Jeremiah was not going to change his message. He just tells them that if you kill me your judgment will be greater.... I love it!
Jeremiah 26:16 So the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve to die. For he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.”
Even though the priests and the prophets still wanted him dead, the people and the princes decided not to kill him. They spared Jeremiah's life but still did not repent. The people ignored his message and would lose their lives for it. They had rejected the Lord and His Word. They had rejected His mercy and His grace.
Jeremiah 26:17-24 Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying: “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts:
“ Zion shall be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins,
And the mountain of the temple
Like the bare hills of the forest.”
Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah ever put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and seek the LORD’s favor? And the LORD relented concerning the doom which He had pronounced against them. But we are doing great evil against ourselves.”
Now there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath Jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went to Egypt.Then Jehoiakim the king sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor, and other men who went with him to Egypt. And they brought Urijah from Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.
Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
The elders use two prophets who prophesied very similarly to Jeremiah as precedents for the decision not to kill Jeremiah. The first was, Micah, who prophesied to Hezekiah and as a result Hezekiah and the people sought the Lord and repented. The Lord then turned from the evil prophesied against them. The other was Urijah who prophesied against the city according to all the words of Jeremiah and whose life was also threatened. Unlike Jeremiah, however, he ran away and was captured in Egypt. He was then brought back to Jehoiakim , who put him to death. Jeremiah stood his ground and put his life in the hands of his God. His life was spared.
Quite a lesson for us here in comparing the reactions of Jeremiah and Urijah. Did you remember what Jeremiah said in verse 14. "As for me, here I am, in your hand; do with me as seems good and proper to you." Jeremiah knew that his life was in the hands of the sovereign God. There was nothing man could do to him outside of God's will. If they had decided to put him to death, he knew where he was going. Jeremiah did not equivocate out of fear...he obeyed and spoke exactly what the Lord had put on his heart. Urijah ran to where he thought he would be safe and was captured and brought back and killed. No one could miss that Jeremiah was willing to die for what he believed. That spoke volumes, I am sure, to all around him. Jeremiah's words were not empty, they carried the weight of the Living God of the Universe and reflected what he believed. His heart was behind what he spoke and his actions followed.
Psalm 15:4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the LORD; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
Love
Mom
