Jeremiah 21-25
In these chapters, we learn that the wrath and judgments of God are not spread among the people of Israel equally. As Jesus would say hundreds of years later: among the disobedient, some will be beaten with many stripes, some with few (Luke 12:47-48), according to their culpability.
Here we find two ways God will differentiate the effects of this disaster:
Those who fight and those who surrender! Read about the two baskets of figs in Jeremiah 24; one basket is full of ripe, good figs; the other is full of rotten figs. Those who remain in Jerusalem and resist the Babylonians are like the rotten figs; they will be destroyed. Those who surrender to the Babylonian siege forces are like the good figs. God will watch over them in exile and will bring them back to the land! This will take place after 70 years (25:12).
Those who lead and those who have been led! The overarching theme of these chapters reminds me of James 3:1, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” Throughout these chapters, God pronounces judgment on the leaders of Israel. God rejects Zedekiah’s request in chapter 21, pronounces judgment on all Israel’s evil kings in 22, and describes the sins of Israel’s shepherds in 23.
I often read these words as if the Lord were speaking to me, and warning me. For “pastor,” you understand, means “shepherd.” And everything God said to the shepherds of Israel could just as easily apply to the shepherds of Christ’s church. Here are some of the questions, Jeremiah 23 cause me to ask myself: Do I use power unjustly? Am I committing adultery even by thought? Am I preaching false hope? Do I speak my own mind, instead of God’s? Do I stand in the counsel of the Lord?
The Lord was so disgusted with the shepherds of Israel that He promised to come and Shepherd the people Himself! (Jer. 23:1-8)
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
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