Reading for today:  Jeremiah 38-40 and Psalm 74, 79
Original Post:  August 25, 2014


Well, the astute among us will note that this post didn't actually go up until the next day.   Much like the destruction of Jerusalem, it took a while to develop.     Today we read about Jeremiah being tortured because of his message, and how a man named Ebed-Melech came to his aid.

Why throw the prophet down into a cistern?   Because what he said made people angry.  I know WHAT Jeremiah said, but I wonder HOW he said it.   Did he deliver his message with an air of superiority, or was he heavy handed and blunt?    Actually, I doubt it.  You will remember that he is known as the "weeping prophet", which leads me to believe that he would have been in the public square pleading and wailing and creating a scene....but not "lording" his message over the people.  

Do you know anyone who is so passionate about something that they can't discuss it rationally?   I have some friends who can't watch a football game, or discuss football without becoming crazy.    I have some friends that can't discuss different political views without coming to blows.   All this  passion about things that don't really matter...and a lack of passion for the one thing that does.    Why aren't all of us like Jeremiah?   Clearly, only one thing mattered in his life....hearing and serving God.  Sure, he had a family, and probably lived a full life in between prophetic messages...but when God spoke to him, he allowed it to sink into his very core.   God was angry, so Jeremiah was in tears.  

Passionate people tend to create a stir.  Jeremiah had that effect on those around him.   I'll bet that some people really liked him, and obeyed everything he said.  Others thought that he was an annoyance, and was "creating fear and panic" among the people.   It probably seemed like a good idea to them to silence his message.   Thank God for people like Ebed-Melech, who risked disfavor and went to the aid of Jeremiah.    Ebed pulls Jeremiah out of the well, and in a later chapter God reveals to Jeremiah that Ebed will not be killed when the army storms the gates.  He will live, and not be persecuted.    It chills me to think that inside the city there were godly people like Ebed who were killed and/or persecuted because of the sins of the entire community.  Certainly their eternal fate is different, that's some consolation.

The psalms we read today were written sometime after the city is destroyed.  They are insightful in helping us understand the completeness of the devastation, and the mindset of the people some time after the destruction.  It sounds as if the people have repented, or at least are beginning to recognize who truly is God.    To my point above about the righteous being swept away in the conflict, you will see a sentence about "the blood of the saints is poured out.." or something like that.   It stands to reason that God fearing people perished as well.

I want to tuck that thought away for our discussion on the tribulation, when we read Revelation.

PR