One would think that as Nebuchadnezzar’s war machine inched closer and closer to Jerusalem that Jeremiah’s opposers would have second thoughts! That maybe they would consider Jeremiah’s words of warning and call for immediate repentance in light of Babylon’s advance and soon descent upon the city! Surely, they would at least question whether Jeremiah might possibly be the true prophet and the rest liars. They did not. Instead, as the heat intensifies around Jerusalem, so it does around Jeremiah.
Essentially, instead of following Jeremiah’s words to repent and flee the city, Jeremiah gets blamed for the city’s peril. It works this way every time! Those who just do not want to hear the message will blame and attack the messenger. The closer Nebuchadnezzar approached Jerusalem, the more persecution Jeremiah experienced for telling, even pleading for, the Truth!
First, he was banned from the house of the Lord (36:5)! Second, his scroll was burned (36:23). Third, he was beaten and imprisoned (37:15). Fourth, he was dropped into a muddy cistern and left for dead (38:6)!
They just did not want to hear! So they got him out of sight. They rid themselves of his written material. They tried to keep him away from others. At last, they tried to silence him for good. Hostility against the messengers of the Word still comes in these forms today. Many preachers are “banned” from churches, beaten, imprisoned, even killed!
Eventually, Jerusalem did fall just as Jeremiah prophesied! Those who refused to listen were slain or captured. And Jeremiah...well, he was taken care of by the order of Nebuchadnezzar himself!
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