©Michael Player
Chapter 27:12-22 (ESV) - To Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke in like manner: “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people and live. Why will you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the LORD has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. I have not sent them, declares the LORD, but they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.”
Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the LORD's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,’ for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation? If they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, then let them intercede with the LORD of hosts, that the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away, when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: They shall be carried to Babylon and remain there until the day when I visit them, declares the LORD. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.”
Question to consider: How could the people listen to Jeremiah when he seemed so weird?
In yesterday’s study, I wrote about how difficult I believed it must have been for Jeremiah to give the LORD's message of coming judgment. A man from the priestly town of Anathoth in Benjamin who from his youth aspired to be a priest now spoke to the king and to the priests with a yoke strapped to his back to plead with them to go into Babylonian exile according to the word of the LORD.
Furthermore, the esteemed prophets said to the king, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.” They said to the priests, “The vessels of the LORD’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon.” How could Jeremiah compete with that when the LORD had him looking like a crazy person and speaking in a way that suggested Jerusalem was not the LORD’s favored city, and the people were not the apple of God’s eye?
The LORD was the one who delivered Israel from being slaves in Egypt. The LORD was the one who instructed Moses concerning the building of the vessels. The LORD was the one who gave Solomon the means to build the temple. The LORD was the one who provided victory for Israel over nations like Babylon. Surely Jeremiah had to be the false prophet to state that the LORD was now calling them to surrender and go into exile!
We know from hindsight that Jeremiah spoke the truth, and the other prophets were liars, but how could the king, the priests, and the people know it at the time? I’d argue that they should have recognized that the LORD had left Jerusalem. The city was littered with symbols and vessels of Baal and Asherah. The Law of God was not being read and remembered according to the warnings of Moses in Deuteronomy, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) The LORD was not Baal. Loving the LORD meant reading, teaching, and remembering His Law.
The message of the false prophets was that the LORD loved the people of Jerusalem and would never let anything happen to them. The message of Jeremiah was, “Repent of your idolatry and turn back to the LORD so that He may show mercy.” It was as simple as remembering the primary command of the LORD as given to Moses, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:2-6)
Dear heavenly Father, please give us the discernment and courage to oppose those who profess to speak in Your name while preaching worldly glory instead of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins. Christ is the name above all names. Help us to proclaim and reflect this truth to the world. Amen.