Jeremiah 26 Commentary
Chapter 26 records for us one of the many times when the prophet Jeremiah was nearly killed by the mob. Interestingly, the priests and the prophets were at the head of this mob!
Of course, the LORD had hoped Jeremiah’s message would provoke repentance and consequently halt the pending disaster on the nation. But who was interested in the message? Instead, God’s messenger, Jeremiah, was bound and about to be killed. Sad reading indeed.
Many saints think of God’s word in terms of power and authority. And they are right. But not everyone thinks this way. It is trash to many, an inconvenience and a disturbance to the orderly flow of life.
Anyone on the side of God’s word is hated. You are not the most popular boy or girl for holding on to the word of the LORD.
Governments won’t support you, as another prophet named Uriah sadly learned.
Isn’t Jeremiah’s case different? Didn’t the LORD promise to support and protect the prophet at commissioning? Of course, yes, but why are we here? Does this scenario look like God’s protection?
“Yes,” says Chapter 26. Many times God’s protection and guidance look like this confusion here – a near miss. You go home with a headache, asking if at all you need to say yes to the next assignment!
Probably remembering Psalm 23, Jeremiah pondered the presence of the LORD in his deepest and darkest valley when he walked the thin line. Yes, he had just come out of the valley and knew the LORD was with him!
Yet, for all his well-known troubles, Jeremiah isn’t the greatest example of faith. One man would go into the valley alone. God had forsaken him. And he didn’t come out of the valley at all. He died. And he was innocent!
But look closely and see that this man wasn’t innocent at all. Read the charge sheet against this man, and you will see your own sins. He carried them. He died because of your sins and mine.
The reader must ponder the death of the man Jesus Christ and see how it brings salvation to them.
“Eloi eloi lama sabachthani,” he cried. It was for you and me.
This chapter provokes thoughts on suffering. The general thought is that suffering comes because we have made mistakes. In this chapter, suffering comes to both prophets because they have obeyed God.
The prosperity gospel promotes comfort and says no to suffering regardless of the cause.
Ask the right question, and you see it for what it is. What does it mean to prosper God’s way?
Sinners satisfy vanity wickedly by injustice, greediness, and other countless evil ways. Believers want to satisfy vanity using God’s word, hence the prosperity gospel.
Therefore, the question for the believer isn’t about the means, but the vanity underneath the effort. Of course, you may also question how they read God’s word and how they understand it, but that is secondary to the real issue.
Using the name of the LORD in vain (in vainity pursuits) is the real issue for humanity.
Suffering isn’t confined within the description of God’s messengers only. The LORD promises to inflict pain and suffering on the entire disobedient nation. In this case, suffering is self-inflicted. How the LORD hates this kind! How the LORD fights this kind! See how He risks His own prophets in an attempt to save Judah from this kind of suffering!
King Ahab was a wicked man, but he didn’t kill Elijah when confronted over Naboth’s vineyard. David didn’t kill Nathan when the prophet confronted him over his greediness, adultery, and murder cases. But Urijah’s murderer is a special kind. King Jehoiakim is zero on godliness!
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