{"id":1749,"date":"2014-08-22T09:37:37","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T16:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/?p=1749"},"modified":"2014-08-22T09:37:37","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T16:37:37","slug":"jeremiah-261-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/?p=1749","title":{"rendered":"Jeremiah 26:1-15"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeremiah 26:1-15. \u00a0Yesterday I talked about how prophets were supposed to be messengers from God and that a big part for their job was to remind people about things God had already communicated in the Bible.\u00a0 In Jeremiah\u2019s day that would have been part or most of the Old Testament.\u00a0 You might want to read \u201cThe Old Testament Connection\u201d <\/a>to get an idea of what the Old Testament is mainly about (Hint:\u00a0 It\u2019s about our messed up relationship with God and how God is going to fix it).\u00a0 Jeremiah has been warning the people about how their relationship with God is messed up and what they needed to do about it.\u00a0 Yesterday we saw the warning extended to \u201call the kingdoms of the Earth\u201d.\u00a0 We want to keep in mind that God is not really about punishing or destroying; he wants us back (2 Peter 3:9).\u00a0 But sin (disobedience and rebellion toward Him) has consequences and he will ultimately banish from his forever kingdom those who reject Him.\u00a0 The accuracy of the prophets in the Old Testament show us that this in no fairy tale but reality.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s reading starts a section of Jeremiah that goes all the way through chapter 45.\u00a0 Most Bible experts believe that this part of the book was written down by Jeremiah\u2019s secretary, Baruch.\u00a0 The events are about Jeremiah and his messages from God are in it but he probably didn\u2019t write it.\u00a0 If you notice those sorts of things the writing changes from first person to third person.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let it bother you that this part wasn\u2019t written specifically by Jeremiah.\u00a0 God used many people to write just the right words to be a part of His<\/span> book, the Bible.\u00a0 Jeremiah was a part of what the people of Jesus time (including Jesus) considered the writings of God (in the New Testament they usually use the word \u201cScriptures\u201d as the name for their Bible.\u00a0 A word that translates as \u201cwritings\u201d and mostly refers to what we call the Old Testament).\u00a0 If you have read \u201cThe Old Testament Connection\u201d<\/a> you know that the Old Testament (and the rest of the Bible as far as that goes) tells the story of certain people and events that is important to know in order to understand the mess we are in with God and what it is going to take for that mess to be fixed.\u00a0 Many parts of these stories had to be finished by people who were not the main authors of the different \u201cwritings\u201d; or books as we call them.\u00a0 Obviously Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Bible, couldn\u2019t write about his own death, someone else finished that part of the story.\u00a0 But God was in control of all of it (1 Peter 1:20-21).<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s reading jumps back a little in time from what we have been reading (Remember that these \u201cwritings\u201d were not written to be a \u201ctimeline\u201d of history but had a purpose.\u00a0 Sometimes the events are in order and sometimes the author jumps around to make his point).\u00a0 The message in chapter 25 was originally given in the \u201cfourth year of Jehoiakim\u201d (Jeremiah 25:1) now we are \u201cat the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim\u201d (Jeremiah 26:1).\u00a0 In verse 2 Jeremiah is told to go to the Temple (called the house of the LORD) and to talk to \u201call the cities of Judah who are there to worship.\u201d\u00a0 In Israel there were certain feast days when the citizens of Israel were supposed to go to the Temple to remember God and honor him.\u00a0 Of course not every Jew could go every time and there were provisions in the Law of Moses for that, but Jerusalem would be very crowded on those days and all of the cities of the kingdom would have probably been represented.\u00a0 On any given day in the Temple offerings were being made and even on a regular day most of not all of the cities of Israel might have some of their people there.\u00a0 Visiting the Temple would have been a big deal to any Israelite interested in God and hearing a prophet speak would have been a big deal too. If Jeremiah was speaking in the Temple it would have gotten around.\u00a0 Of course we want to remember that by Jeremiah\u2019s time the nation of Israel had been split in two, the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, and that the Northern Kingdom (also called Israel) had been destroyed by the Assyrian\u2019s 100 years earlier. That left only the people of the Southern Kingdom (called Judah) to hear from Jeremiah.<\/p>\n

It seems interesting that God specifically told Jeremiah not to leave anything out from the message (v. 2).\u00a0 I wonder if Jeremiah though, \u201cReally?\u201d\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t in the habit of leaving parts out.\u00a0 Or maybe he though, \u201cWhatever!\u201d Knowing the people didn\u2019t really want to hear what he was going to say and were becoming more and more hostile to him.\u00a0 The fact that the people were not in the habit of listening can be seen in verse 3 when God says, \u201cMaybe they will listen and every one will turn away from this bad ways\u2026\u201d\u00a0 There is something more interesting in this verse though, why does God say \u201cmaybe\u201d or \u201cperhaps\u201d?\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t God know how the people will react?\u00a0 In Psalm 139:4, 16 the Psalm writer insist that God knows what he is going to say before he says it and that he knows what is going to happen in every day of the persons life even before he lives even one of them.\u00a0 So what God is saying to Jeremiah has nothing to do with what he knows it has to do with how people (like you and me) are going to respond.\u00a0 God knows what we are going to do but we still need to live out our lives and make those decisions that he know about.\u00a0 We also see in this verse that God\u2019s actions are dependent on ours.\u00a0 We don\u2019t control God but he doesn\u2019t control us either.\u00a0 He gives us real choices\u00a0 with real consequences good and bad.\u00a0 The warnings for their bad actions were conditional; \u201cif\u2026then\u2026\u201d\u00a0 God still controls the universe he just decided to give us freedom to chose or reject Him.\u00a0\u00a0 In verse 4 we see the \u201cif\u201d and in verse 6 we see the \u201cthen\u201d.\u00a0 In this case it is a negative, \u201cif you will not<\/span> listen and obey, then \u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n

The \u201cthen\u201d mentions several things.\u00a0 First he says that he will make \u201cthis house\u201d the Temple) like Shiloh.\u00a0 Many years earlier, when Joshua led the Israelite people into the land they honored God in the \u201ctabernacle\u201d, sort of a portable church or temple that they had used during the forty years they had spent wandering around in the desert before entering the land.\u00a0 In fact the Tabernacle was where the Israelite people honored God for about 450 years after they entered the land.\u00a0 For the first 400 years they had no central government, God was supposed to be their king, and they were held together by their worship of Yahweh (the personal name of God).<\/p>\n

One place that the Tabernacle was set up after they entered the land was in a town called Shiloh.\u00a0 One important item that was in the Tabernacle was the \u201cark of the covenant\u201d.\u00a0 It was a fancy box or chest, covered with gold with carved angles on top of it.\u00a0 Inside were the stone tablets that God carved and gave to Moses with the first ten rules for the people on them (the Ten Commandments).\u00a0 It also had a jar of \u201cmanna\u201d in it (the miraculous food God had provided during the 40 years of wandering) and the staff (walking stick) that belonged to Aaron (Moses\u2019 brother) that he used during the miracles that were supposed to convince Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt (Exodus 7-12).\u00a0 (See also Hebrews 9:4).\u00a0 This \u201cark\u201d represented the presence, promises, and power of God in the Israelite\u2019s live.\u00a0 In 1 Samuel 4 the Israelites lost a battle to the Philistines (some of the original inhabitants of the land that the Israelites were to conquer).\u00a0 The Israelites mistakenly thought that they were in control and that all they needed to do was take their magic box out to the battlefield and they would win the next battle.\u00a0 They lost again and this time the Philistines took the \u201cark\u201d.\u00a0 The destruction of Shiloh that Jeremiah talks about probably happened at that time, the year was about 1050 BC.\u00a0 Eventually the Israelites Got the Ark back from the Philistines and kept it in a place called Kiriath-Jearim for a while.\u00a0 Eventually it was taken to Jerusalem that became the new capital of Israel and finally the third king of Israel, Solomon, built a Temple as the permanent place for honoring God (about 950 BC).\u00a0 Here in Jeremiah almost another 400 years later the Temple was in danger of being destroyed just like Shiloh had been and for very similar reasons.\u00a0 The people in 1 Samuel though that they could manipulate God and here in Jeremiah\u2019s time the false prophets and the people were doing the same thing; going their own way (See Judges 21:25 which describes the attitudes at the end of the first 400 years in the land about the time of the 1 Samuel story).<\/p>\n

In verses 7-9 we see the reaction of the priests and prophets (the religious leaders who were supposed to be helping the people honor God) and all the people.\u00a0 The clearly hadn\u2019t learned much over the 400 years since Shiloh, they were still confusing places and things with a living God.\u00a0 Because Jeremiah predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple they thought he was speaking out against God.\u00a0 In Deuteronomy 18:18-20 we see God promising to send prophets to the people to \u201cspeak all that [He] commanded\u201d them to speak.\u00a0 If the people didn\u2019t listen they would be punished but if the prophet spoke on his own and claimed it was from God then he was to be put to death.\u00a0 Because they improperly linked God to the Temple and the city the people of Judah felt Jeremiah was making his own predictions and deserved to die.<\/p>\n

In verses 10-19 we have an actual trial.\u00a0 In verse 10 the political leaders of the territory gathered near the Temple to conduct the trial.\u00a0 In verse 11 the priests, prophets, and people present they claim and ask for Jeremiah to be put to death.\u00a0 It is interesting that they propose the punishment before they even make their case.\u00a0 In verses 12-15 Jeremiah gives his defense.\u00a0 Really his only defense is his claim that he actually is speaking for God.\u00a0 He then repeats his warning about how they are living and appeals to them to turn back to God.\u00a0 No question about what he said, the only question is did he speak from God or not.\u00a0 He said he was.\u00a0 In verse 14 he then puts his \u201cfate\u201d in the hands of the leaders hearing the case.\u00a0 But he warns them that if they put him to death that they will have innocent blood on their hands. In another part of the Law we learn that killing an innocent person is a serious offence (Deuteronomy 19:1-13).\u00a0 In verse 15 Jeremiah tells them that he expects them to do what is \u201cgood and right\u201d and then ends by repeating his claim to be speaking for God.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow we will see the outcome of his trial but will also see what happened to another prophet who was giving the same message around the same time.\u00a0 For us today we need to see that it can be difficult to honor God with our lives.\u00a0 He has given each one or us a job to do and words to speak to those around us (2 Corinthians 5:16-20).\u00a0 At least for now, for us here in the United States, most of us will probably not be faced with death for standing up for God.\u00a0 In other parts of the world people are not so fortunate.\u00a0 We need to be careful to \u201cspeak all that God has commanded us and to not omit a word\u201d.\u00a0 Jeremiah didn\u2019t get that bold over night remember at this point he had been speaking out for God at least 19 years, and in the beginning it was easy during the reign of the good king Josiah.\u00a0 We need to practice now while we have a chance so that if and when more serious trouble comes we will be able to say to our enemies, \u201cI am in your hand, do what is good and right, I have spoken honestly to you from God.\u201d<\/p>\n

God help me get lots of faithful practice being your representative in the world (ambassador, 2 Corinthians 5:20).\u00a0 Help me repeat all that you have given me to say.\u00a0 Let me leave nothing out.\u00a0 Give me boldness, strength, and peace.\u00a0 Let me be strong and courageous in the face of our enemies.\u00a0 Help me remember that this life is passing but that eternity is forever.\u00a0 Let me bring you honor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeremiah 26:1-15. \u00a0Yesterday I talked about how prophets were supposed to be messengers from God and that a big part for their job was to remind people about things God had already communicated in the Bible.\u00a0 In Jeremiah\u2019s day that would have been part or most of the Old Testament.\u00a0 You might want to read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1749"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1750,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions\/1750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}