Jeremiah 26:16-24. \u00a0In yesterday\u2019s reading Jeremiah warned the prophets, priests, and people about the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem if they would not return to him and start listening to the true prophets.\u00a0 This happened \u201cat the beginning\u201d of the reign of Jehoiakim.\u00a0 Some scholars think that that term is a technical term that means between the time the king is crowned and the next New Year\u2019s celebration.\u00a0 If that is correct then chapter 26 happened in between September 609 BC and March 608 BC.\u00a0 Perhaps this was a warning to the incoming king as well to change police and turn the kingdom back to God.\u00a0 Instead of listening the people wanted Jeremiah executed and put him on trial.\u00a0 In yesterdays part of the trial The people made it clear that they wanted Jeremiah executed and why; he had predicted the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem.\u00a0 The people saw this as a contradiction of what God would surely want, so Jeremiah must be a false prophet deserving death.\u00a0 Jeremiah\u2019s response or defense was basically, \u201cYep.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I said because Yahweh (the personal name of the God of the Israeiltes, the one true God) told me to.\u00a0 If you decide to kill me you will be the guilty ones because I am innocent (of being a false prophet.\u201d\u00a0 In today\u2019s reading we will see the verdict by the \u201cofficials\u201d, the political leaders, and also get a glimpse of how serious this trial was for Jeremiah.<\/p>\n
In verse 15 Jeremiah repeated his claim that his message was entirely from Yahweh.\u00a0 In verse 16 we see that the leaders decided that he was telling the truth, his message was from Yahweh, and he would not be executed.\u00a0 In verses 17-19 some elders step forward and remind the people about an event in their history that was very similar, and how one of their good kings handled it.\u00a0 The people thought that the destruction of the Jerusalem and the Temple could never happen; they incorrectly thought that they had unconditional protection from Yahweh.\u00a0 Jehoiakim was one of three sons of Josiah.\u00a0 His younger brother, Jehoahaz, had been put on the throne by the people when Josiah died in a battle with Pharaoh Neco in 609 BC.\u00a0\u00a0 Jehoahaz was only king for three months when Pharaoh Neco removed him and put Jehoiakim ( also called Eliakim) on the throne instead.\u00a0\u00a0 Eventually the third brother Mattaniah (also called Zedekiah) would also rule Judah.\u00a0 Josiah had been king from 640-609 BC and had tried to turn the people back to Yahweh.\u00a0 It worked during his reign but they quickly turned back to their false gods after his death (see 2 Kings 23:32, 37).\u00a0 Josiah\u2019s family had been on the throne of Judah for a long time, a few of his ancestors had been considered good kings, faithful to Yahweh, but most were not.\u00a0 Josiah\u2019s great \u2013grandfather, Hezekiah, was one of the good ones.\u00a0 During his reign the prophets Isaiah and Micah brought messages to him from God, which helped him honor God during his reign.<\/p>\n
Looking back to those days, some of the elders at Jeremiah\u2019s trial remembered that Micah had made a very similar prediction about the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple.\u00a0 Depending on the translation you are reading verse 18 might say Temple or house, sometimes the Temple was called the house of the LORD, and Micah clearly was saying that the hill that the Temple was built on would one day would become overgrown like other hills in Judah. The good king, Hezekiah, and the people of Jerusalem didn\u2019t execute Micah, instead they listened to him started to honor God with their lives.\u00a0 And God did not destroy Jerusalem and the Temple at that time.\u00a0 At the end of verse 19 the elders who had come into Jeremiah\u2019s trial suggest that the people of their time do the same thing.\u00a0 They seemed to recognize that the path they were on was evil and that it would have consequences; they probably recognized that Jeremiah\u2019s predictions might come true if they didn\u2019t change their ways.<\/p>\n
In verses 20-23 we get a little picture of how dangerous what Jeremiah was saying and doing was.\u00a0 In verse 20 we meet Uriah another prophet who was speaking for Yahweh.\u00a0 We are told that his message was very similar to the one Jeremiah had delivered; Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed.\u00a0 Maybe the officials running Jeremiah\u2019s trial had heard him too and that helped convince them that Jeremiah was telling the truth.\u00a0 One person who did not appreciate the message was Jehoiakim, the king.\u00a0 According to verse 21 Jehoiakim, his soldiers, and all of the officials heard the prediction of Uriah and were very unhappy.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if the officials in charge of Jeremiah\u2019s trial were part of this or not.\u00a0 Either way it is really amazing that they had decided not to execute Jeremiah, as we will see.\u00a0 The king decided he wanted Uriah dead.\u00a0 Uriah ran away to Egypt but Jehoaikim sent a representative to bring him back.\u00a0 Remember that Jehoiakim had been put on the throne by Neco the king of Egypt.\u00a0 Basically Judah was a territory or province of Egypt at this time and Jehoiakim would have had authority to get Uriah back.<\/p>\n
The representative Jehoiakim sent was named Elnathan and we are told he was the son of Achbor.\u00a0 In the Bible there are a couple of guys named Achbor, one was a king of Edom long before the time of Jeremiah.\u00a0 Another one was a spiritual leader or advisor to Josiah (Jehoiakim\u2019s father) during his reign at the time when they found scrolls of the Old Testament that had been hidden in the temple (2 Kings 22:1-10).\u00a0 It seems likely that Elnathan was the son of that same Achbor.\u00a0 If so then the son of the advisor became an advisor and representative to the son (say that three times fast).\u00a0 It also seems<\/span> like, just as Jehoaikim had turned his back on his father\u2019s love for God, that Elnathan had done the same.\u00a0 Elnathan traveled to Egypt and brought Uriah back to Jerusalem.\u00a0 In verse 23 we see that the king immediately executed Uriah, no trial here, no remembering former prophets and their messages.\u00a0 As a further insult Jehoiakim had Uriah\u2019s body thrown out where other unknown people\u2019s bodies were disposed of.\u00a0 According to 2 kings 23:6 this was in a valley near Jerusalem called the Kidron Valley.\u00a0 It was a place where trash was dumped and burned.\u00a0 People dumped there were usually quickly forgotten.\u00a0 Uriah on the other hand has been remember down through history.<\/p>\n In verse 24 we return to the trial and see that Jeremiah is protected from the people (who still seem to want him dead in spite of the official\u2019s decision and the elder\u2019s advise) and he is not executed.\u00a0 We are told that he was protected by Ahikam the son of Shaphan.\u00a0 Back in the days of Josaih, when Achbor was one of his advisors, we see another one of the key people involved with the restoration of the Temple and the finding of the scrolls was a guy named Shaphan.\u00a0 It seems pretty likely that this is the same Shapahn who\u2019s son protected Jeremiah.<\/p>\n There are a couple of interesting parts to this whole story.\u00a0 First it is interesting that Jeremiah (well actually probably Baruch at this point) puts the story of Uriah right in the middle of the story about Jeremiah\u2019s trial.\u00a0 I think the key to this is in the information that he includes.\u00a0 First we are told that both of these prophets said pretty much the same thing.\u00a0 Second the author includes information about two guys who had the two prophets lives in their hands.\u00a0 The author also included information about both of these guys that tie them both back to the reign of Josiah; both of their fathers were guys who loved Yahweh and were involved in influencing the king and the\u00a0 people in the same direction.\u00a0 Unfortunately only one son followed his fathers good example, doing what was right (see Jeremiah 26:14), protecting God\u2019s true prophet, and standing against the evil king, while the other sold out to the evil king and led another true prophet to be executed.\u00a0 From this story I see that it can be dangerous to live for God.\u00a0 Both prophets proclaimed the same message in basically the same place at the same time to the same people.\u00a0 In one case the prophet was protected from execution in the other he lost his life.\u00a0 It reminds me of Peter and John after the resurrection.\u00a0 Jesus was having a pretty intense talk with Peter in which he challenges Peter about his love and devotion.\u00a0 He instructs Peter that if he really does love Jesus that he needs to care for the people who have placed their eternity into Jesus\u2019 hands.\u00a0 Jesus then predicts that Peter will eventually die for his faith in Him.\u00a0 At that point Peter looks over at John, another one of Jesus closest follower and basically asks, \u201cHim too?\u201d\u00a0 Jesus answer is that Peter needs to walk the path Jesus has for him and John will walk the path Jesus has for him.\u00a0 Not all servants of God live the same lives or die the same deaths.\u00a0 The point is to trust God and be faithful to what ever he asks of us<\/span>.\u00a0 In Revelation 18 we see a picture of Heaven during the last 7 years of human history before Jesus take ultimate control of the earth; a period sometimes called the Great Tribulation.\u00a0 In\u00a0 Revelation 18:20 we see the saints (dedicated ones, believers in Jesus), apostles (including Peter and John, Matthew 10:2), and prophets (Do you think this included Jeremiah and Uriah?\u00a0 Probably.) in heaven happy about the fact that evil is finally being dealt with.<\/p>\n Years ago 5 missionaries in South America were trying to help a tribe of Indians learn about Jesus.\u00a0 They camped near the tribe and made some contact.\u00a0 After some initial contact the Indians brutally killed all five.\u00a0 The missionaries had weapons that they refused to use against the Indians.\u00a0 Some of the wives stayed in the area and continued to try to reach the same Indians for God and eventually did.\u00a0 At some point before his death one of the missionaries, Jim Elliot, was asked about risking his life to help others learn about Jesus.\u00a0 He said, \u201cNo man is a fool who gives up what he cannot keep, in order to keep what he cannot lose.\u201d\u00a0 His point was that we die, no one can keep his here and now life forever.\u00a0 But if we love Jesus and trust him with our eternity (as seen in honoring him with our lives like Jeremiah and Uriah did) then we are assured a place in his forever kingdom; we gain what we can never lose.<\/p>\n The other thing that I think is interesting is the two men who were involved with the two prophets.\u00a0 Both men came from families who loved God, or at least had fathers who loved and honored God.\u00a0 \u00a0But the two sons lived completely different lives.\u00a0 Ahikam chose to risk his own life to honor God and protect one of God\u2019s messengers, Elnathan chose to \u201cplay it safe\u201d and help the evil king Jehoiakim execute an innocent man.\u00a0 It is clear that our relationship with God has noting to do with who our family is.\u00a0 It\u2019s not about who our parents are or who our children are.\u00a0 Even in the line of kings of Judah we see a few good kings surrounded by extremely evil ones.\u00a0 Hezekiah\u2019s dad was evil, his son was evil, his grandson was evil, his great-grandson was good.\u00a0 Each man had to make their own decision as god gave them a choice.\u00a0 Peter had a choice, to follow Jesus where ever that led (and he was warned it would lead to his death).\u00a0 John had a choice that had a different path. But all of these obedient lives led them, and others, to the same place eternity with God.\u00a0 The question for us is will we follow the path before us that honors God and leads others to Jesus even if it is narrow and difficult or will we take the \u201ceasy\u201d way out and find ourselves on the outside in eternity? (Matthew 7:13-14).<\/p>\n God help me chose the path that honors you.\u00a0 Help me make the right\u00a0 decisions even if they are hard or even seem impossible.\u00a0 Let me keep eternity in mind.\u00a0 Help my actions benefit those around me.\u00a0 Thank you for giving me a choice and helping me see and make the right one.\u00a0 Help me continue to make choices that honor you.\u00a0 Help my children make the right choice and choices too.\u00a0 Let my legacy be a dynasty of Christ honorers.\u00a0 Let me show your goodness and mercy to all who meet me.\u00a0 Thank you for Jeremiah and Uriah\u2019s faithfulness.\u00a0 Keep me faithful.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeremiah 26:16-24. \u00a0In yesterday\u2019s reading Jeremiah warned the prophets, priests, and people about the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem if they would not return to him and start listening to the true prophets.\u00a0 This happened \u201cat the beginning\u201d of the reign of Jehoiakim.\u00a0 Some scholars think that that term is a […]<\/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-1752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752","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=1752"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1753,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752\/revisions\/1753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}