by Tom Stewart
Jeremiah and Micah (Jeremiah 26:1-19)
- "In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this Word from the LORD, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD'S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all the Words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a Word:" (Jeremiah 26:1, 2).
The prophet Jeremiah was commissioned to speak "in the court of the LORD's house, all the Words that [the LORD] command[ed him] to speak unto them; [and to] diminish not a Word" (26:2). God's prophets have been called upon to correct defects in the worship of God in both Israel and now the Church.
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins" (Isaiah 58:1).
The Apostle Paul succinctly told the Ephesian elders, "I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). Even so, Jeremiah was faithful in delivering his commission.
- "If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent Me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings" (Jeremiah 26:3).
The Holy Jehovah declares to Jeremiah some of His purposes and counsels.
"Thy counsels of old are Faithfulness and Truth" (Isaiah 25:1).
"If so be they hearken, and turn every man from his evil way" (Jeremiah 26:3), demonstrates that "God is a merciful God" (Deuteronomy 4:31). Though it is completely just for the Almighty to reward the "wages of sin" with death (Romans 6:23), it is "according to His mercy He saved us" (Titus 3:5).
- "And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to Me, to walk in My Law, which I have set before you, To hearken to the Words of My servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the Earth" (Jeremiah 26:4-6).
God deals with His moral subjects as those who should use their "image of God" (Genesis 1:27), i.e., their moral agency, to freely choose right from wrong. "If ye will not hearken to Me... Then will I make this house like Shiloh" (Jeremiah 26:4, 6). Their disobedience is threatened with the abandonment of His Temple in Jerusalem -- in the same way as He did to the Ark of the congregation at Shiloh --
"The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there" (Joshua 18:1). In the days of Eli, the Ark was taken" (1 Samuel 4:11) by the Philistines, because Eli, his sons, and Israel were wayward.
The LORD remonstrated with Eli, "Wherefore kick ye at My sacrifice and at Mine offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honourest thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings to Israel My people?" (2:29).
Tragically, the result was that Israel lost the Ark of the congregation for 7 months to the Philistines (1 Samuel 6:1). "He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed among men" (Psalms 78:60).
- "So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard, Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
Why hast thou 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, then they came up from the king's house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD'S house. Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears" (Jeremiah 26:7-11).
God's prophets already understood that their lives may be forfeited for their faithful reproduction of the LORD's message to His "stiffnecked people" (Exodus 32:9).
"They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the Earth" (Hebrews 11:37, 38).
And, the LORD Jesus warned us that "whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service" (John 16:2).
- "Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the Words that ye have heard" (Jeremiah 26:12).
The prophet Jeremiah fearlessly proclaimed his credentials in the hearing of all the people, i.e., the "LORD sent me" (26:12). Ezekiel also knew the same type of audience that Jeremiah addressed.
"And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forebear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them" (Ezekiel 2:5).
Jeremiah's message was uncomforting to the hearers because it spoke of God's judgment for their sin.
"Go and proclaim these Words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will cause Mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed My Voice, saith the LORD" (Jeremiah 3:12, 13).
- "Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the Voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent Him of the evil that He hath pronounced against you" (Jeremiah 26:13).
The familiar Words of God's Prophet, the LORD Jesus Christ, rings out, "Repent: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). Likewise, Jeremiah clearly and faithfully delivered the LORD's message to sinful Israel.
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7).
Jeremiah was giving away God's merciful favor, but at the cost of the sinners' repentance.
"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1).
- "As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you. But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these Words in your ears" (Jeremiah 26:14, 15).
But, back to the physical reality of Jeremiahs situation, i.e., "I am in your hand" (26:14).
"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace" (Daniel 3:23).
"The brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions" (6:16).
"Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob" (Psalms 44:4).
Further, Jeremiah warned that ill would happen to them if they killed him.
"Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm" (Psalms 105:15).
- "Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the Name of the LORD our God" (Jeremiah 26:16).
Thank God for His opportune intervention!
"When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Proverbs 16:7).
- "Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying, Micah, the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of Hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented Him of the evil which He had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls" (Jeremiah 26:17-19).
The prophet Micah's foretelling of Zion's judgment is here remembered by certain princes and elders of the land. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah during the reign of Hezekiah.
"Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest" (Micah 3:12).
King Hezekiah humbled himself before the LORD God of Israel.
"For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs... Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us" (2 Chronicles 29:6, 10).
What was the point of recounting Micah's prophecy? Just as Jeremiah threatened God's judgment upon Jerusalem, i.e., "If ye will not hearken to Me, to walk in My Law, which I have set before you... Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the Earth" (Jeremiah 26:4, 6)., Micah had previously pronounced the certainty that "Jerusalem shall become heaps" (26:18) to Hezekiah -- who believed him and caused reformation in the land.
The point was that Micah had pronounced the certainty of judgment against the land during Hezekiah's reign in Jerusalem. Micah prophesied that the "LORD cometh [present tense, is coming] forth out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the Earth" (Micah 1:3). The result will be that "Jerusalem shall become heaps" (3:12).
Hezekiah led Judah in repentance before the prophecy could be fulfilled.
"Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah" (2 Chronicles 32:26).
But, who was complaining about the lack of fulfillment of Jerusalem's destruction, since "the LORD repented Him of the evil which He had pronounced against them" (Jeremiah 26:19)? A situation had developed which changed God's mind.
