Words of dire importance to listeners is what God calls His servants to speak.
Isaiah 57:15 says, “For this is what the high and exalted One says— He who lives forever, whose Name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”
“Lord, please help me to be contrite and lowly. Please revive my spirit and my heart in You!”
“Now Zedekiah the son of Josiah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah, reigned as king in place of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the Words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.” Jeremiah 37:1-2
Coniah is a slang form of the name Jeconiah. A disrespectful way of saying his name! [2] King Jeconiah reigned three short months in between the reigns of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. He did not listen to the Lord. His reign was cut short.
“And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to the Lord our God for us.’” Jeremiah 37:3
This is the second time, King Zedekiah sent Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 21:1-2, he sent Zephaniah to Jeremiah to ask him to enquire of the Lord. He said, “Perhaps the Lord will perform wonders for us.”
The Lord does wonders! He did wonders for Moses, for Joshua, for King David, and for King Hezekiah as they prayed prayers full of faith in His mighty power. Up until now, Zedekiah had showed little regard for God and God’s Word. No where do we read that he repented of his sin, and yet he hoped (in vain) that God would be swayed to help him if Jeremiah prayed for him.
Once, I was in dire need, a fellow missionary said to me, “The only way up is down.” Down on my knees before God in repentance and prayer! I wanted empathy at that moment, not a seeming accusation that I was not humble, but I held my tongue. The Second Chapter of Acts music group had just released a new album. On it, was a song, “Humble Yourself.” The song’s chorus was, “Humble yourself before the Lord, humble yourself.” Thankfully, the Lord helped me to hear what that caring Christian sister had said to me, and to humble myself before the Lord, and the Lord intervened for us.
“Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison. Then Pharaoh’s army came up from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem.” Jeremiah 37:4-5
Jeremiah has not yet given his answer to King Zedekiah’s messenger, but it seems that God has intervened. As Egypt’s army advanced towards Jerusalem, Babylon’s army retreated from them.
“Then the Word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city and take it and burn it with fire. Thus says the Lord: do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,’ for they will not depart. For though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.” Jeremiah 37:6-10
Egypt lost the battle against Babylon. Egypt only delayed the inevitable defeat of Judea.
2 Kings 24:7 says, “The king of Egypt did not march out from his own country again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.”
Previously, King Josiah had joined with Assyria against Egypt and lost his life. Egypt won that battle. Now, Josiah’s son, King Zedekiah joined sides with Egypt against Babylon and Egypt lost, and by extension, he did too. [3]
Psalm 118:8-9 says, “It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man. is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in princes.”
The answer that God gave to Jeremiah in respect to King Zedekiah’s request was that Babylon would return to destroy Jerusalem, and there was absolutely no possibility for victory.
This is the curse of the Law at work among the covenant breaking people of Judea. The Lord had told them that if they forsook Him, He would fight against them on the side of their enemies. In Deuteronomy 28:25, the Lord told them, “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven.” They did not listen with their ears to what the Lord had said to them.
“And it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans left the siege of Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, that Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there among the people. And when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ‘You are defecting to the Chaldeans!’ Then Jeremiah said, ‘False! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans.’ But he did not listen to him. So, Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.” Jeremiah 37:11-14
Captain Irijah was the grandson of Hananiah. Hananiah was a false prophet. In Jeremiah 28:16, Jeremiah prophesied that Hananiah would die for lying to God’s people. He died within a year.
Captain Irijah accused Jeremiah of being a traitor. He arrested Jeremiah. In truth, Jeremiah left Jerusalem to claim the land that he had recently purchased from his uncle.
I wonder if Jeremiah had prayed about his travels that day. Did he need to claim his property at this time? God had him purchase it more as a sign of things to come than to enjoy at this time.
When you live among a people who are at war with God and by extension at war with those who profess and serve God, it is important to pray before going places. Ask the Lord, “Is now the appropriate time to do this?” “Which route should I take?” “What’s the spiritual climate like right now?” “Is the government cracking down or easing up on those it persecutes?”
Once while doing missionary work in China, my wife and I prayed while on our way to join a Christian gathering. The more we prayed, the more unsettled we felt about going. Finally, sensing no peace at all from the Lord about continuing on, we turned around and went back home. That night, soldiers invaded that gathering and arrested the Christians.
The Spirit of the Lord inspired King David to write quite a few prayers about deliverance from enemies. For example, Psalms 27:12, “Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.” And Psalms 35:11, “False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.”
This being said, if not delivered from persecutors, that does not mean you failed. It means that your persecutors failed. They failed to listen to God. God does, however, use what was meant evil, namely their mistreatment of you, to the good of all involved. Just wait and see!
“Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison.” Jeremiah 37:15
In Luke 22:64, Jesus too was struck for the Word of God. “And when they had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face, and asked Him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote You?”
In Acts 23:2, Paul was struck in the mouth for speaking for Christ. “And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth.”
Jesus told the Christians Revelation 2:10, “Fear none of those things which you shall suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried; and you shall have tribulation ten days: be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.” Jesus limited the length of their suffering for the Gospel’s sake, and He rewarded them afterwards.
In 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” The Lord’s rewards for those who suffer for His Name’s sake are great.
The Lord speaks very loudly to our people through our sufferings. I remember feeling like such a failure as one thing after another seemed to go wrong for us during our missionary service, but then, one day, a Chinese sister in the Lord said to me, “You know we don’t always understand you, but we see all the suffering that you and your family go through for Jesus and we are deeply touched by it.”
“When Jeremiah entered the dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days, then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, ‘Is there any word from the Lord?’ And Jeremiah said, ‘There is.’ Then he said, ‘You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!’” Jeremiah 37:16-17
Jeremiah’s prison likely consisted of a pit with vaulted cells round the sides of it. Think of a circular space surrounded by a wall with several doors and behind each door a room! The word for “cells” is from a Hebrew word that means “to bend one’s self.” These small rooms were used to imprison dangerous criminals. Jeremiah was confined there many days. “Unbelief, constantly demanding toleration and charity, is unbelievably intolerant and cruel against opposition.” [4]
Why did Zedekiah meet with Jeremiah secretly? Did he hope that a one on one meeting with Jeremiah would yield a better word for him? Did he fear those who hated Jeremiah?
After being locked up in a prison for many days, King Zedekiah invited Jeremiah into his house. From prison to palace in a day, but with a catch! The king wanted a word from the Lord.
Jeremiah had nothing new to say. He hated being locked up but could not alter God’s Word for the sake of personal gain. Is there a word from God for Zedekiah? “There is. You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!”
Before the king could say a word about sending him back to prison, Jeremiah asked Zedekiah...
“What offense have I committed against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?’ Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land?’ Therefore please hear now, O my lord the king. Please, let my petition be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.” Jeremiah 37:18-20
Proverbs 17:13 says, “Whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.”
Zedekiah had rewarded Jeremiah with evil for his good works.
In John 10:32, Jesus asked the religious leaders, “Many good works have I shown you from My Father; for which of those works do you stone Me?”
In Galatians 4:16, Paul asked his listeners, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”
Calvin wrote, “The prophet naturally shrank from death, which makes his spiritual firmness the more remarkable; he was ready to die rather than swerve from his duty.”
“Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah to the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus, Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.” Jeremiah 37:21
God moved Zedekiah to give Jeremiah an upgrade. Thus, Jeremiah was moved to a better prison cell and given daily bread from a bakery. Proverbs 21:1 says, “In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that He channels toward all who please him.”
The Lord has given us precious promises in His Word. Psalm 37:17 says, “In times of disaster they [the blameless] will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.” Psalms 33:18-19 says, “Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.” The Lord preserved Jeremiah’s life. Jerusalem fell, but he remained.
The sufferings of Jeremiah are a type of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Like Jesus, Jeremiah was a persecuted for his prophesying. Jeremiah prophesied of the downfall of Jerusalem because God was going to rebuild a better Jerusalem. Jesus prophesied of the destruction of the temple because God was going to rebuild a better temple. In Ephesians 2:20-22, the new temple is us, the body of Christ. Like Jesus, Jeremiah was arrested and mistreated for teaching God’s Word.
Special Counsel to President Nixon, Chuck Colson, testified that the imprisonment he suffered opened up many doors for him to speak with people. He said: “My greatest humiliation—being sent to prison—was the beginning of God’s greatest use of my life.”
After Judea was decimated by Babylon, Jeremiah lived. Jeremiah is alive today. His words continue to be read and heard around the world. Praise the Lord!
[1] Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22; 13:9; Matthew 11:15, 13:9; Mark 4:9, 23
[2] Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
[3] 2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 36:13; Ezekiel 17:15-17
[4] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, page 292
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