Jeremiah Chapters 39 - 44 record the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and its aftermath. While the prophet Jeremiah remains a central figure in the chapters dealing with events subsequent to the fall of Jerusalem, he shares the stage with a faithful Ethiopian, Ebed-melech, and three men of Judah - Gedaliah, Ishmael, and Johanan.
Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry under the godly king Josiah, the balance of his ministry and life in Judah were under Josiah’s ungodly successors (Jeremiah 1:1-3). We learn in 1:1 that Jeremiah was born into a priestly family, something to note when we consider that much of the opposition and persecution he suffered came from the priests, and that Yahweh spoke words of correction and judgment to the priesthood through Jeremiah, one of their own. It may well have been that some of those who persecuted Jeremiah were among those he grew up with, those who had known him all of his life.
Isaiah prophesied the coming of Babylon and God’s judgment on Judah and Jerusalem; Jeremiah continued that line of prophecy and lived through it, suffering persecution from his own countrymen, his own extended priestly family, and ultimately displacement by his own people from the land of his birth, taken as a captive to Egypt. The idolatrous insanity of Judah that Isaiah lived through continued into Jeremiah’s time, and even though Jeremiah’s contemporaries experienced the fulfillment of prophetic judgment they would not repent, they would not listen to the Word of God, they were mad men - men gone crazy, women gone crazy - rejecting the God who loved them for their own insatiable ways.
Had Jeremiah lived in our own time, in our own nation, we would have vilified him just as did ancient Judah and Jerusalem. Many of us would brand him as a false teacher and prohibit him from speaking in churches, many Christian publishers would not publish his writings, and he would undoubtedly be on a “watch” list and suspected of treason. After all, he not only prophesied the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, but he also preached that Judah should submit to the Babylonian Empire and that if the government and people submitted to Nebuchadnezzar that things would go well with them. This would be beyond our comprehension just as it was beyond the comprehension of ancient Judah; God does not always ask us to understand what He says, but He does always require that we obey what He says; disobedience has consequences.
The idolatrous insanity of Judah resulted in a searing of their collective conscience and hardening of their heart; they were drunk with material, religious, and sexual promiscuity - too drunk to know their ship was sinking. In fact, the rulers and false prophets and priests kept telling the people that things were going to be okay, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” When a people drink the wine of violence, evil will consume them - they become agents of their own demise.
Were Jeremiah to live in our day Conservatives would brand him a Liberal for his refusal to espouse “God and Country” and wrap the worship of Yahweh with the flag. Liberals would brand him a Conservative for his refusal to endorse syncretistic religion and his insistence that there is such a thing as True Truth. They might both try to win him over, to use him, and then perhaps they’d both agree that he has to go; like Jesus, Jeremiah would likely unite the opposition. Churches across the spectrum would rather he not show up, after all, he denounces sin. Wall Street and Washington would marginalize him for he insists on legal and economic equity and justice.
Perhaps the saddest thing of all, were Jeremiah to live in our day he would see that things haven’t changed; and just as he was lonely in ancient Judah, he would be lonely today.
To be continued...
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