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Jeremiah 26:1-19, 24
Jeremiah Threatened With Death
Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2 “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4 Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5 and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.’”
7 The priests, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the Lord. 8 But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the Lord had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You must die! 9 Why do you prophesy in the Lord’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?” And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10 When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the Lord and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s house. 11 Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!”
12 Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. 13 Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. 14 As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. 15 Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man should not be sentenced to death! He has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”
17 Some of the elders of the land stepped forward and said to the entire assembly of people, 18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“‘Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,
the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.’
19 “Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did not Hezekiah fear the Lord and seek his favor? And did not the Lord relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!”
24 Furthermore, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.
Scholars in a number of fields speak about a phenomenon they call “recency bias.” It’s the assumption we tend to come to that things that are newer are somehow more valid and relevant than thinking from some time ago. There’s no question that in some fields great progress has been made. But there’s also no question that the thinkers and philosophers of the past have insights to share with us.
I sometimes think that recency bias affects our thinking about the Old Testament. Because its books were compiled long ago in a patriarchal and semi-nomadic culture, we assume those books have nothing to say to us as people living in a global culture in a digital age. But sometimes, you come across a passage that seems surprisingly relevant — something you could imagine reading about in the digital edition of the New York Times.
Today’s Old Testament reading is a good example — it took place almost 2600 years ago, but change the costumes and scenery, and it could happen in many parts of the world today.
This story took place in the period before the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, which occurred in 587 BC. God sent the prophet Jeremiah to warn the people of Judea that unless they repented of their sinful ways, he would allow Jerusalem to be destroyed by their enemies. The way Jeremiah puts it is that God would make the temple “like Shiloh.” Shiloh had been the most important Israelite shrine before Jerusalem became the nation’s capital, but God had withdrawn his blessing from Shiloh, largely because its priests became corrupt. (If you’re interested, you can read about these events in the opening chapters of the First book of Samuel.)
Jeremiah came calling the nation to repent of its sins, and strangely enough, it was the religious leaders who reacted with the most furious anger. You might think they would be more concerned than anyone with sinfulness among the covenant people, but the religious leadership seized Jeremiah and demanded that he be executed. Fortunately, some officials of the government show up and point out that during the reign of an earlier king, God had sent another prophet with a call to the people to repent, and because they did, God relented of his anger and the nation was spared.
But the king in this period before the Babylonian conquest — his name was Jehoiakim — had already had one prophet hunted down and murdered for issuing a call to repentance like the one Jeremiah had made.
It’s worth taking a minute to remind ourselves that there were two kinds of prophets in ancient Israel and Judea. There were official, “establishment” prophets who operated under the authority of the King and the temple. But the prophets who have books of the Old Testament named after them – people like Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah – those prophets were ‘outsiders.’ They weren’t part of the establishment, and they condemned the corruption and unfaithfulness of the religious leadership, as well as of the government and the society in general.
These unofficial outsider prophets condemned the behaviors we associate with them, like sexual immorality and the worship of foreign gods. But they also spoke out against injustices like the oppression and neglect of the poor and the marginalized. But that meant criticizing the rich and powerful, and as happens so often to those who stand up in public and do that, lots of these prophets came to a bad end. This story is an example of the hostility those prophets encountered.
Some things don’t change much. In today’s world as in ancient times, those who boldly speak truth to those in power risk persecution and even death. Look how many critics of Vladimir Putin wind up accidentally falling out of high windows. In today’s world, as in ancient Judea, those who speak out against the regime can be labelled “enemies of the state” and a threat to morale. And in today’s world, rulers know they can tighten their grip on power by making people feel threatened – as the people of Judea were in today’s reading.
Throughout the world, thousands of people are in prisons because they stood before the powers of the world and declared God’s truth. Many of them are our fellow followers of Jesus. Life is hard for the prophets. Archbishop Oscar Romero was murdered. So was Martin Luther King. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But it’s usually through the bold, endangered voices of the prophets that God’s truth is most clearly proclaimed in every time and place.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you that you have chosen to speak into the world in moments of crisis – both in times of real crisis and in times of ‘manufactured crisis’ – and to call your people to repent of their sins and to turn back to ways of faithfulness and justice. Give us the courage to stand before the powers of our time and to issue that same call on your behalf. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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