Jeremiah
29:20-32
Hear
you therefore the word of YHVH, all you of the captivity, whom I
have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:…
The
opposition between Jeremiah and the false prophets is one of the most
interesting phenomena of the period to which these prophecies belong.
It is a real battle, albeit not with earthly weapons. The question
between them could not be suffered to remain doubtful, as it involved
immense consequences. A striking correspondence is discovered in the
antagonism to the labors of the apostles. There is the same
barefaced, fearless lying and dishonesty, the same terrible
denunciation of judgment. (We are reminded of the sentence on Simon
Magus, "Thy silver perish with thee," etc., Acts
8:20-24; and
the reply to Ananias, the high priest, "God shall smite thee,
thou whited wall," Acts
23:3.) How is
the latter to be regarded? Evidently as the word of God through his
true servants, and not as the expression of vindictive feeling. In
regard to this punishment notice -
I. ITS NATURE. It had
direct reference to that concerning which they spoke. From the future
they had denied they were to be cut off. In the case of Ahab and
Zedekiah the instrumentality of man is indirectly employed; in that
of Shemaiah it is brought about by what we might regard as natural
causes. In both instances the penalty was:
1. Exceptionally
were. The fate of the lying
prophets, even apart from its associated consequences in the eternal
sphere, was tragic in the extreme, and presents hardly an element of
hope. Ahab and his companion are subjected to a fearful death and an
eternity of shame in Israel. Shemaiah is consigned to effacement and
deprived both as regards himself and his posterity, of the promised
blessings.
2. Exemplary.
Unmistakably these men were but the leaders of many of like mind, and
it was intended they should be marked out for signal retribution.
Their fate would appeal to the imagination and spiritual feeling of
their people, and in either case it corresponded closely with the
peculiarity of their conduct. In their heathen exile they were to be
taught that God's hand could still reach them and that an exact
justice waited upon their actions. Ahab and Zedekiah so lived that
even a heathen monarch had to make them examples.
3. Graduated
according to heinousness of offence.
II. ITS
JUSTIFICATION.
1. The
opposition to God's truth was necessarily direct and malicious,
Nothing could well be more consciously wicked than their whole
behavior. It occurred at a critical period, when great destinies were
determined. The prophet of God was thereby discredited and hindered,
and the people prevented from receiving and acting upon his message.
In every season of critical consequence and great spiritual activity
such manifestations occur. Merely to overcome them is not sufficient.
The victory must be signal and conspicuous.
2. The offense
was one to which God himself is ever most sensitive.
It affected his character and prerogatives, and was therefore nothing
else than blasphemy (cf. Matthew
12:32. "Even
I know, and am a witness, saith YHVH," ver.
23).
3. The interests of truth
required the penalty. The people had to be overawed by the
presence of the supernatural; their obedience had to be won to the
direction of the true prophet, and the spiritual ends of the
Captivity were thus to be secured. A moral demonstration like this
was requisite, and enables the human mind
Don