THE COMPLAINT OF JEREMIAH.
Jeremiah 11:18-20.
The last of the ‘good’ kings of Judah was Josiah, whose name means ‘he will be sustained of the LORD’ (2 Chronicles 34:2). Long story short, having purged the land of idols, Josiah sent men to repair the Temple (2 Chronicles 34:8), and they found ‘the book of the law of the LORD given by Moses’ (2 Chronicles 34:14). Josiah made a covenant with the LORD on behalf of all his people (2 Chronicles 34:31), and held a great Passover feast, such as had never been seen before (2 Chronicles 35:18). After this Josiah made his one great mistake: he went out against the Pharoah of Egypt, and was fatally wounded in the battle of Megiddo. ‘And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah’ (2 Chronicles 35:25).
Jeremiah, whose name means ‘the LORD will cast forth’, was the son of a priest, from a priestly settlement in the land of Benjamin (Jeremiah 1:1). At the beginning of our chapter, Jeremiah was commissioned by the LORD to pronounce a curse against those who would not obey ‘the words of this covenant’ (Jeremiah 11:1-3).
However, despite all Josiah’s outward reforms, the LORD ‘found a conspiracy’ against His covenant (Jeremiah 11:9-10). ‘Therefore thus saith the LORD,’ pronounced the prophet (Jeremiah 11:11) … ‘The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken’ (Jeremiah 11:16).
In our text for today, Jeremiah 11:18-20, the LORD gave Jeremiah “knowledge” and “showed him the doings” of the men of his own hometown (Jeremiah 11:18), that they sought his life (cf. Jeremiah 11:21)! Prior to this, Jeremiah was oblivious to, and had no knowledge of the plots against him: “I knew not that they had devised devices against me” (Jeremiah 11:19b).
‘Jesus Himself testified, that a prophet has no honour in his own country’ (John 4:44), and even He moved His base of operations away from His hometown of Nazareth to Capernaum.
The words which they spoke against Jeremiah parodied his earlier words from God (cf. Jeremiah 11:16). “Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof,” they mocked, “and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be no more remembered” (Jeremiah 11:19cd).
“But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter,” complained the prophet (Jeremiah 11:19a). The same is said of Jesus: 'Behold the Lamb of God' (John 1:29). ‘He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter’ (Isaiah 53:7). Yet Jesus complained not (cf. Acts 8:32). And whilst Jesus’ sufferings were unique (1 Peter 2:24), the Apostle Peter reminds us that God’s people in every generation are also called to suffer after His example (1 Peter 2:21).
Having heard of his neighbours’ threats, Jeremiah, like Jesus after him, committed himself to the One who judges righteously (Jeremiah 11:20; cf. 1 Peter 2:23). Unlike Jesus, Jeremiah called for the vengeance of the LORD, but he was asking for no more than justice. ‘Behold, I will punish them,’ answered the LORD (Jeremiah 11:22).
We live in a different era, when sin has already been dealt with at the cross of Calvary. Jesus exhorts us to ‘pray’ for those who ‘despitefully use’ us, and ‘persecute’ us (Matthew 5:44). The Apostle Paul reminds us that vengeance belongs to the Lord, and that rather than avenging ourselves, we should overcome evil with good (Romans 12:19-21). It is the LORD who will fight our battles (Exodus 14:14).
