Gedaliah, or Ishmael, or Johanan? (5)

“Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters and all the people who were left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had put under the charge of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; thus Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and proceeded to cross over to the sons of Ammon.

“But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done. So they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and they found him by the great pool that is in Gibeon. Now as soon as all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and the commanders of the forces that were with him, they were glad. So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the sons of Ammon.” (Jeremiah Chapter 41).

Ishmael entered Mizpah with ten men (Jeremiah 41:1), he returns to Ammon with eight men. Treachery and murder has cost Ishmael nothing but two men, who likely meant nothing to him - for life meant nothing to him - other than perhaps his own life. Yet, how can even a man’s own life mean anything to him when he trades his soul to the devil to fulfill his lust for power, blood, position? Jesus asks the question, “What shall it profit a man (or woman) if he gains the whole world and yet loses his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” This great exchange occurs daily, we see it on television, we hear it on the radio, it is communicated via the internet, we see it in the workplace - men and women trading their souls for elusive temporal pleasure, for the fleeting spotlight, for a short-lived ego boost, for a moment of attention.

Ishmael traded his birthright as a son of the royal family of Judah for the patronage of the idolatrous king of Ammon. Ishmael plotted to kill, he killed, and then when Johanan caught up with him he ran back to Baalis the king of Ammon. The snake returned to its hole, it slithered back under the rock, it took its shrivelled soul back to worship the idols of Ammon. Ishmael killed the faithful of the land, he killed Gedaliah who thought no ill of him, who even defended his reputation from Johanan. Noble Ishmael! Courageous Ishmael!

When a people, as Judah; or a king, as Zedekiah; or a leader, as Ishmael; harden themselves against the Word of God a callous insanity overtakes them, a maniacal thirst for rebellion against God and others pervades them, an “everyman for himself” cry issues from his heart and throat. The actions of Judah, Zedekiah, and Ishmael were not rational; again and again God had demonstrated the fulfillment of His Word of judgement, again and again God sent prophets and their words were fulfilled - and yet rather than repent, rather than submit to God’s Word, rather than cry out to God for deliverance - the insanity persisted, the denial increased, as hideous darkness enveloped the people. How hideous? “The hands of compassionate women boiled their own children; they become food for them because of the destruction of the daughter of my people” (Lamentations 4:10).

Can we hear ourselves saying, “It’s the economy. We must do what we do to preserve the economy”? How do we rationalize away the injustice in our world? In our land? In our state? In our city? How do we justify the filth we expose our children to - whether in entertainment or, sadly, in many of our schools? How do so many churches justify dismantling the teachings of Scripture in the name of sociology, relevancy, and church growth when doing so represents the destruction of protections for young hearts and minds awash in a sea of pollution? We ought not to be too quick to condemn the mothers (and fathers) of Lamentations 4:10, for just maybe we are letting others consume our own children...in the name of our own selfish narcissistic preservation.

Children, and this includes teenagers, need adults to say, “This is wrong. Adultery  is wrong. Fornication is wrong. Lust for power is wrong. Using people is wrong. Lust for glamour is wrong. Murder is wrong. Violence for the sake of entertainment is wrong and it desensitizes our souls. Not caring for our neighbors is wrong. Might does not make right, whether that might is military and police and legal power, or whether it is economic power or political power. The repudiation of the image of God is wrong and the legal fostering of that repudiation upon others is heinous. These things are wrong and they are sinful and when a society embraces them that society is in rebellion against the True and Living God.

Adults need other adults to say these same things.

Think about this, if this language seems a bit strong then it only illustrates how far from Scripture we are removed, for compared to the Biblical prophets this language is mild. It seems that while we have no sensitivity when it comes to the language and images we expose ourselves (and others, including children) to in our entertainment, that we are particularly adverse to the language and images of the Bible when God’s Word condemns sin and rebellion (see Ezekiel Chapter 23 for a passage that would offend people in church and get pastors fired if they used it in preaching). We think nothing of watching sexual promiscuity on television or in the movies, but we will not tolerate God telling us that our society and much of the professing church is spiritually and morally promiscuous. God does not dumb down His condemnation of sin - and if we do then we do it at the peril of others, at the peril of those who we say we love.

As Ishmael demonstrates, when we persist in rebellion against the Holy One we lose our sense of bearing, our consciences are deadened, and our souls grow dark. What occurred to Judah and Jerusalem is recorded for our instruction (1 Corinthians 10:6 & 11).

Shall we live as Ishmael, as Johanan, or as Gedaliah?