Jeremiah 21:1-2 (ESV)
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchiah and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying, “Inquire of the LORD for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us.”
To fully understand the above verses you have to remember everything that Jeremiah has been saying to these leaders of Jerusalem. Here is a brief summary from an earlier passage:
Jeremiah 19:6-8 (ESV)
... therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds.
Jeremiah has repeatedly stated words like this for the past 20 chapters. God is displeased with their idol worship and their constant sin and their disdain and treatment of their fellow man. God is sending the Babylonians to punish them. Yet, after hearing this message from Jeremiah over and over and over, they now ask Jeremiah to ask God to do something.
In the above passage we read that a prophet named “Pashhur” is also asking Jeremiah to interceded in prayer for them. Yet, it was him who beat Jeremiah and put him in prison because Jeremiah was prophesying this message of doom. He, too, comes to Jeremiah, asking for intercessor prayer and their behalf.
This is very much like the world and those who do not have true faith in God. They reject God for most of their life and when they hear the Word of the Lord they scoff or ignore. But, when a serious pain and suffering come along they ask for intercessory prayer on their behalf. They act as though God owes them something. Their thought in the above passage was that maybe God will do a work “according to all His wonderful deeds.” NOW they recognize God’s power and sovereign control over the things of man. Before they rejected God sovereignty over their lives. In fact, Jeremiah once took them (chapter 18) to a potter, to observe the potters sovereignty over his own pot. Jeremiah asked them:
Jeremiah 18:5-6 (ESV)
Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
The unrighteous ignoring God and then asking for help from God is not a new thing. Note what Solomon wrote decades before:
Proverbs 1:24-31 (ESV)
Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when terror strikes you,
when terror strikes you like a storm
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
would have none of my counsel
and despised all my reproof,
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
and have their fill of their own devices.
Don’t be surprised when the unrighteous ignores God and then clamors for God. Don’t be surprised when God laughs at their cries and ignores their need. That does not make God unloving. That shows man’s depravity.
No comments:
Post a Comment