Jeremiah 26: 1 – 24
My way or the highway
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying, 2 “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. 3 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.’ 4 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, 5 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), 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”? 7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. 8 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! 9 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. 10 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. 11 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.” 12 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. 13 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. 14 As for me, here I am, in your hand; do with me as seems good and proper to you. 15 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.” 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.” 17 Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying: 18 “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.”?’ 19 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.” 20 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. 21 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. 22 Then Jehoiakim the king sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor, and other men who went with him to Egypt. 23 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. 24 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.
Here is a tough question for you to consider. Does our Holy God have the right to say to us ‘My way or the highway’? My answer is ‘absolutely!’. We are the clay and He Is the Potter and can do whatever He declares. All of us need to be totally submissive to Him for He Is Good.
This term is a predominantly American idiom that dates to the 1970s. It suggests an ultimatum like "take it or leave it", which indicates that the listener(s) (who are typically not able to challenge the options) must totally accept the speaker's decision or suffer negative consequences.
An idea to consider is being in an “expressive” or a “depressive” relationship because of communications. Even though we do not deserve our Great and Wonderful sets forth to communicate with us, His creation as an expressive relationship. In His Awesome Love for us He encourages an open mind and flowing emotions to help us see and learn truth. Thus, His open talking to us solves our problems and promotes the fresh air of change which we need to exist.
In contrast, a depressive relationship encourages closed minds, closed mouths, closed ears, and blocked emotions. Boy does that hit the nail in describing our ways. Thus, defensive talking peppers the relationship and perpetuates problems and promotes the stale air of unfair fights that go nowhere.
When all communication breaks down then the ultimatum words ‘It’s my way or hit the highway’ must be given before the consequences unfurrow.
If you have been studying the book of Jeremiah with us than you have got to start sensing the hurt of our Holy God. He has gone on and on trying to reason with us humans to see the good and perfect ways that He wants us to have. Yet, we defensively keep telling Him to forget it. Our Majestic Ruler has pleaded over and over with us creatures and asks, ‘Why can’t we talk?
As an Empathizer communicator He has tried harder and harder and harder to make things right’ when talks go astray.
In contrast, as Instigator-type communicators we will are quite comfortable giving negative feedback and less comfortable hearing and using negative feedback that heralds change.
People who shut their ears off from receiving counsel develop defensive talk tactics that stall out problem solving and togetherness. When emotions aren’t addressed, and problems aren’t resolved…resentment builds until a breaking point is reached.
Today we are going to learn this fact in actuality. Let learn not to repeat the same sinful errors our Jewish brethren committed against our Father God Yahweh.
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying,
The chapter begins with a statement of his source of authority, ‘the word of YHWH’. ‘In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim -- came this word from YHWH saying --’ (26.1), and goes on to describe a speech made in the Temple which includes a call to repentance, followed by a warning that if they did not take heed their city would become a curse and their Temple would be made ‘like Shiloh’, which was where the original Temple/Tabernacle had been destroyed, presumably by the Philistines, in the days of Samuel. Subsequent attacks on Jeremiah by the priests and prophets are then described, although refined by a counterargument put forward by ‘the elders of the people of the land’ who cite the prophecies of Micah in Jeremiah’s defense. A reminder of what happened to another loyal prophet of YHWH named Uriah is then given.
2 “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.
The command came from YHWH that Jeremiah was to stand and proclaim His word in the outer court of YHWH’s house where a large number ‘from all the cities of Judah’ who had come up to the feast would be present. It is apparent that amidst all their idolatry, the regular worship of YHWH continued, but the problem was that their hearts were not in it, with their loyalties being more directed towards the Baals on the high places.
Jeremiah was to speak what YHWH commanded, and not to hold back from declaring the whole truth, or to relax from declaring all His commandments. He must ‘diminish not a word’ (Deuteronomy 4.2; 12.32). It is the sign of a true man of God that he holds nothing back of what God wants him to say.
Such a command to ‘Diminish not a word’ was very necessary and a reminder of the difficulty and danger surrounding Jeremiah’s ministry. It would have been very tempting for him to take the sting out of some of what he was saying to make it more acceptable. But he must not do so. Jeremiah was well aware of the feelings and excitable nature of the people and he knew that he was demolishing what they saw as guaranteed truths, namely that:
1). They believed that the land was their inheritance given to them by YHWH forever (while they had seen it taken away from northern Israel, their view was probably that that was precisely because, unlike Judah, they had not remained faithful to the Temple and to the son of David).
2). They believed that the Temple was the dwelling place of YHWH and therefore inviolate as long as they maintained the proper rituals (as in their view was proved by what had happened when Jerusalem was miraculously delivered under Hezekiah). They were probably even more confident in this fact because they were now tributaries of Egypt who ruled as far north as Carchemish, so that any other enemies would have appeared far away. After all what could the others do against mighty Egypt? (They were not to know now that within five years Egypt would have been defeated by Babylon, and that its power would then be limited to within its own borders)
3). They believed that the rule of the house of David over Judah was guaranteed forever unconditionally.
These things being granted, they would have argued, why should they believe that the Temple would be destroyed or that they would be removed from the land? To declare such things was to go against their cherished beliefs, and to attack what they saw as their national and ‘rightful’ heritage.
3 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.’
YHWH declares here what His real desire is. It is that they would listen and turn from their evil ways so that He Himself would not have to bring His severe judgment on them. We are reminded of Peter’s words, ‘The Lord -- is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3.9). It is a reminder that in His love and compassion God desires to give every man a fair opportunity, and that in His heart He longed for Judah’s repentance. This emphasizes the fact that while it was true that Manasseh’s behavior had sealed Judah’s doom (15.4), it was only so because it was his influence that had stirred up their latent sinfulness and had largely made them unwilling to repent. Had they genuinely repented and maintained that repentance, Manasseh’s sin would have counted for nothing.
We have here a reminder that man was created as a free will being who chooses his own way. It is only the fact that he always chooses the way of sin that makes the sovereign work of God in salvation necessary. For the truth is that while men and women may of themselves repent of particular sins, full repentance is something that is beyond them without God’s gracious working. That is why, at its foundation, ‘salvation is of the Lord’, and why all attempts to be saved apart from Him will fail.
4 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, 5 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), 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”?
This abbreviated content of what must have been a larger speech sums up his message, which was that if they failed to walk in accordance with the covenant, and refused to listen to the genuine prophets, then in the end their Temple would be made like Shiloh (destroyed and non-existent) and their holy city would become a curse (subjected to the curses of Deuteronomy 28). In other words he was contradicting all that they firmly believed, and suggesting that they were not as secure as they had thought.
‘If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you.’ YHWH stresses that He had personally spoken to them from Mount Sinai and had made clear to them His requirements. Thus to fall short of obedience to His Instruction (Torah, Law) was to directly disobey Him.
They had also refused to listen to Him subsequently when He had sent His servants, the prophets. We know of many of these prophets and ‘men of God’ from the early records (Joshua-Chronicles), and they would have been known to them from their tradition. And He stresses that He had not been backward in sending them. He had, as it were, risen up early in order to send them, demonstrating real effort and determination.
But they had not listened to them either. Their hearts had been set obstinately against obeying YHWH’s covenant requirements. This indeed was why they now came under the curses contained within that covenant (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 27-28).
And because of their failure to listen to Him and respond to His covenant He would ‘make their house like Shiloh’ and ‘make their city a curse’. What had happened at Shiloh was proof positive, for those who would listen, that God’s Sanctuary was never seen by Him as inviolable. So let them remember Shiloh where the Tabernacle had been erected after the Conquest, and which, as a result of additional outbuildings, had itself become a kind of Temple. But when His people had been disobedient in the time of Samuel that had been destroyed, and furthermore this fact that YHWH had forsaken His Sanctuary in this way was ironically something that they often sang about (Psalm 78.60). It was precisely because YHWH had forsaken it that it was no more. And the same could therefore happen to their present Temple.
On top of this the covenant had been backed up by curses (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 27-28). Thus, if they were disobedient to that covenant they should expect their holy city to be cursed in the eyes of all nations, and to suffer the doom described in the curses. That would in itself vindicate the covenant. It is a salutary reminder that in the end God’s truth is in the final analysis demonstrated by judgment.
But we can clearly see why, spoken to an excitable people, made more excitable by the festival atmosphere, these words could cause more than a stir. They had come to the feasts with such confidence that ‘they were doing right by YHWH’, and so full of self-satisfaction at being uniquely ‘the people of God’, that to be informed that that was not sufficient would have appeared to be almost blasphemy. They forgot the words of Samuel, Isaiah, Hosea, Amos and Micah that obedience counted for more than offerings, and to do YHWH’s will was more important than the fat of rams. Like we so often are, they were limited in their spiritual vision. They had eyes, but they saw not.
7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.
It is emphasized that Jeremiah’s words were heard by ‘the priest and the prophets and all the people’. Such was his impact that even the priest and the false prophets had come to listen to his words, spoken in the outer court of the Temple to the festival crowds. It is a reminder that the same thing happened to our Lord, Jesus Christ, Who was also called to account for what He proclaimed and did in the Temple.
8 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!
The whole of the populace who were present were at first aroused against him, ‘the priests, the prophets and all the people’, although excluding the civil authorities. When he had finished speaking he was by popular consent, and by the authority of the priests and prophets, arrested, it being declared that he was worthy of death. They were enflamed at the thought of what he had said, and no doubt considered his prophecy to be patently false, making him worthy of death (Deuteronomy 18.20).
9 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.
They demanded to know why he had dared to prophesy in the Name of YHWH that the Temple would be destroyed in the same way as Shiloh had been, and that the city would become a deserted city, a ghost town, a place where no one lived. It was the very opposite of what the priests and prophets were telling them They probably did not even think of what Micah had previously said (verse 18), as they may well not have known about it. The ‘princes and elders’ would prove to be better informed.
Jeremiah found himself surrounded by an enflamed people, encouraged on by the priests and the prophets, those who should have been most concerned for the truth of YHWH. What probably saved him from instant death was the sanctity of the Temple. They would not want to shed his blood in the Temple and thus defile it during the feast.
10 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.
Meanwhile news of the disturbance had reached ‘the princes of Judah’, the tribal leaders and the royal court gathered at the king’s palace, and they came down to the house of YHWH to quell the disturbance and try the case. They consequently sat in session in the entry of ‘the new gate of YHWH’s house’. We do not know which gate this was. Possibly it was the high gate built by Jotham (2 Chronicles 27.3). ‘The gate’ in each city was the place where the elders of the city would meet to hold trials. Jerusalem, of course, had a few gates, but this was the one seemingly seen as the correct site in which to hold a trial
11 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.”
It was the priests and prophets, who recognized that Jeremiah had spoken against them in what he had said, who put forward the case for the prosecution. (It was Jeremiah against those who professed to speak in YHWH’s name). They declared in open court that Jeremiah was worthy of death because he had prophesied the destruction of the city (including the Temple).
12 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.
Jeremiah then provided his defense which was that it was YHWH Himself Who had sent him to prophesy against both the Temple and the city with the very words that they had heard. He was thus claiming that he was YHWH’s messenger. Note the exclusion of the mention of the priest and the prophets. They were the main accusers, baying for his blood. There was little point in appealing to them. The very people who should have been supporting his words were the ones most bitterly opposed to him.
13 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.
He then boldly called on them to amend their ways and their doings, their attitudes and their actions, and to start obeying the voice of YHWH. Then they could be assured that He would alter His purpose with regard to them and change His mind about the evil that He had pronounced against them. It will be noted that this change of mind by YHWH is not to be seen as describing an arbitrary ‘change of mind’, as though He had previously got it wrong, It was a change of mind based on the fact that they had first changed in their attitude towards Him and His covenant. It was an indication that God would respond to man’s change of heart.
14 As for me, here I am, in your hand; do with me as seems good and proper to you. 15 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.”
He then declares that as far as he was concerned, they could do what they liked with him. He was not important. What mattered was the truth of YHWH. But let them only remember that they would be judged for the choice that they made, so that if they shed his innocent blood, they would bring that blood on themselves, the blood of YHWH’s messenger, both on themselves, and on their city and on its inhabitants. And this was because it was YHWH Who had sent him to speak these words to them.
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.”
How quickly the mood of a crowd can change. Shortly before ‘all the people’ had been clamoring for his blood. Now they were siding with the judges in recognizing his innocence. His defense had impressed the hearers, and so much so that they turned on his accusers and declared that Jeremiah was not worthy of death because he had spoken to them ‘in the Name of YHWH our God’. In their view he was a true prophet. And Israel/Judah had a history of accepting such prophets (although usually too late for their own good).
17 Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying:
The ‘elders of the land’ were probably the leaders of the people from around the country, in contrast with those who dwelt in Jerusalem. We can compare the phrase, ‘the people of the land’ which often meant the landed gentry who were not so caught up in high level politics. And it was some of them, visitors to Jerusalem for the festival, who now spoke up on Jeremiah’s behalf. We have here the memory of an eyewitness who remembered who said what. There is also here an indication that, unlike in Jerusalem (5.1), among the wider people were those who still feared YHWH, at least to a certain extent.
18 “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.”’
Jeremiah’s sterling defense had brought to mind the words of previous prophets, and they consequently pointed back to the prophecy of Micah 3.12, an interesting indication that the writings of the early prophets were already available to them and were seen as carrying authority. They brought out that he too had prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah (and thus in the latter part of his ministry). Indeed he had declared that it would be so emptied that it came under the plough, with Jerusalem being turned into heaps of rubble and the Temple mount becoming overgrown. He had been no less emphatic than Jeremiah.
19 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.”
And what had the then king done with Micah? Had he and all Judah sought to put him to death? No, rather they had listened to what he had said and had ‘feared YHWH,’ responding to the covenant positively and reforming their lives. They had then called on YHWH’s mercy with the result that YHWH’s anger against them was stayed. He had changed His mind about His judgment that he was bringing on them. (If only they had gone a stage further and had themselves truly repented, the history of Judah might have been different). The argument was important as indicating the decision of the house of David regarding a similar situation. It suggested that the present king Jehoiakim, and his courtiers, should have the same attitude.
The main point was that a prophet of YHWH had been listened to by both king and people, even though he had warned of dire things, with no attempt being made to silence the prophet.
It is quite clear that this was not a part of the defense put forward by the elders, for it presents the opposite picture to that of Micah, and seeks a different verdict. In the case of Uriah, the king and his courtiers did not hear and repent, they remorselessly hunted him down. It may thus be that this was the counterargument put forward by Jeremiah’s opponents, countering the argument of the elders.
20 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.
Uriah had, in the Name of YHWH, prophesied in precisely the same way as Jeremiah. he too had prophesied ‘against the city and against the land’. ‘According to all the words of Jeremiah’ may simply indicate similarity of message, or it may be an indication that he obtained much of his message from Jeremiah and his prophecies.
21 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.
Uriah’s words had especially upset Judah’s fighting arm . Both would have seen their positions as undermined by Uriah’s words. And the result was that they had sought to put him to death, at which Uriah had, in alarm, fled to Egypt.
22 Then Jehoiakim the king sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor, and other men who went with him to Egypt. 23 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.
But he had not been safe there, because Jehoiakim was a vassal of Egypt, and sent his men there to obtain Uriah’s extradition. And they brought Uriah to the king who had him executed and then buried ‘among the common people’ that is in the graveyard where the poor were buried (2 Kings 23.6) in unmarked graves. He was determined that Uriah would not be remembered. (It is of interest to note that Jehoiakim himself would subsequently suffer worse shame on his death - 22.18-19).
24 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.
In contrast Jeremiah was protected from the king’s wrath and the wrath of the people because of the activity of Ahikam the son of Shaphan. He was clearly someone in high authority who took Jeremiah’s side and arranged for his protection. God often has His representatives in high places. He was one of the five who, as a young man, went with his father to Huldah the prophetess on behalf of Josiah when the law book was found in the Temple (2 Kings 22.12). He was also the father of Gedaliah who would later become governor of Judah after Jerusalem was destroyed.
