THE WAVERING OF THE KING – Jeremiah, Various Passages
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 12, 2012 under 2012 |
Preached February 12, 2012
from
Jeremiah; various passages
Theme: The story of King Zedekiah’s waverings warns us of the kind of situations that cause us to be unstable in God’s good ways for us.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
First, turn with me to the New Testament book of James. The writer of this little epistle, James, was a pastor. He was, in fact, the first pastor of the first Christian church in history—the church in Jerusalem. He wrote words of instruction to his brothers and sisters who were living in turbulent times. And at the very beginning of his instructions to them, he told them this:
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:2-8).
Look at that last phrase—about “a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways”. God means for His people to be stable in all their ways. The patience or endurance during trials to allow God to work in us what is needed; the wisdom from God to know the right thing to do, and the faithfulness to do it; the faith to stand strong when the winds and waves of circumstances force themselves against us—as James’ words suggest to us, these are qualities that are essential to a faithful walk with Jesus Christ. As man and woman of God, we must diligently build these qualities into our lives, so that our walk with Christ will be characterized by stability.
The apostle Peter stressed the same thing. Turn with me a few pages ahead in your Bible to 2 Peter 1:5-11. The apostle Peter also wrote to Christians who were living in turbulent times. He wrote to assure them of the sure grace of God that had been given to them through Jesus Christ—great and precious promises from God by which they had been made partakers of the divine nature. But he wrote to them about the need to work diligently toward stability. He told them;
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-11).
These passages stress to us the need for stability in our Christian walk so that we will never stumble from the Lord’s way for us. They show us that God has made the provision of His saving grace to us through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. He has given us all that is necessary to follow the path that will lead us all the way to eternal glory in Christ, and unto a rich eternal reward. But these passages also show that it is up to us to stay true to that path, remain stable in our walk, and not allow ourselves to stumble or slide off of it.
That need for stability has been much on my mind as we have been studying the life of the last of the Old Testament era Kings of Judah—King Zedekiah. I believe that the key characteristic of his life was ‘instability’. He was a man that the apostle James might describe as ‘a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways’. He was a man that Peter might describe as having ‘stumbled from the way’ and into ‘barrenness and unfruitfulness’.
The Bible gives us a remarkable amount of information about this man Zedekiah. And most of that information is found in the Old Testament book of the prophet Jeremiah. This morning, I’m going to ask that we read through several of the passages from Jeremiah that tell us about King Zedekiah’s instability. And my prayer is that, by doing so, we can see some of the types of situations that led to his being “unstable in all his ways”—and that we will learn to guard ourselves from slipping and stumbling in the ways that he did.
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Now; the big-picture of Zedekiah’s story needs to be kept in mind. He became king during the last days of his kingdom’s history before it was taken captive by the Babylonian empire for seventy-years. This promised captivity was a judgment from God; and God sent His prophet Jeremiah to warn His people to submit to this captivity and live.
Perhaps you’ll remember the vision that God gave to Jeremiah of the two baskets of figs. It’s a vision that we looked at not long ago from Jeremiah 28. One basket contained figs that were ripe and delicious; the other contained figs that were rotten—so bad, in fact, that they couldn’t be eaten. Jeremiah wrote;
“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart” (vv. 4-7).
God was calling His people to submit to the discipline He was bringing upon them through the Babylonians, and to allow themselves to be carried away into captivity. Those who submitted to God’s expressed will would live. If I may put it this way, they would end up “stable”.
Sadly, Zedekiah—and many of those around him—would not submit to God’s expressed will, and would not yield themselves to captivity to the Babylonians. Jeremiah went on to say that the Lord told him;
“‘And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the Lord—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers’” (Jeremiah 24:8-10).
Zedekiah was represented by that bad basket of figs. He would not submit to God’s good way for him. He reigned for eleven years over Judah—and throughout that time, he was characterized by instability. Eventually, he was led away a prisoner to die in Babylon, and the city of Jerusalem was burned to the ground.
As we study the details of his life—as they are found in the prophet Jeremiah—we see three basic patterns in Zedekiah’s instability. They are ways by which—if we’re not careful—we too might be made to stumble from a fruitful walk with the Lord.
One of those ways is . . .
1. WHEN WE LISTEN TO FALSEHOOD INSTEAD OF GOD’S WORD.
Just think of it! Zedekiah’s reign was benefited by the immediate word of the Lord to him through no less a prophet than Jeremiah. The problem was that Zedekiah also listened to the false prophets of the day who were telling him what he wanted to hear.
In Jeremiah 37, we’re told of how King Zedekiah flopped back and forth when it came to hearing a word from God. Sometimes he wanted a word from God, and sometimes he didn’t. We’re told,
Now King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:1-2)
But in the very next verse, we’re told,
And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Pray now to the Lord our God for us” (v. 3).
Zedekiah ask for this word from the Lord a time when the Babylonians were threating his kingdom. The Egyptians came up from Egypt and caused the Babylonians to back away. Zedekiah hoped that he would hear from God that God was changing His mind about sending Zedekiah’s people into captivity to Babylon. But the message God gave through Jeremiah was the very message that Zedekiah did not want to hear.
Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Thus you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.”’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,” for they will not depart. For though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire’” (Jeremiah 37:6-10).
Zedekiah would repeatedly send to Jeremiah for a word from the Lord; but the message was the same, and he repeatedly disliked what God told him. He much preferred to hear the comforting and flattering lies that the false prophets of the day were telling him. Jeremiah wrote about the things he said to the kings of his day at the beginning of their reigns; and in Chapter 27, he wrote;
I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live! Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you; for I have not sent them,” says the Lord, “yet they prophesy a lie in My name, that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you” (Jeremiah 27:12-15).
Zedekiah grew to disliked God’s word through Jeremiah so much, in fact, that—even while the Babylonians were surrounding the city of Jerusalem and besieging it—he shut God’s prophet up in prison. We’re told,
For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house. For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face, and see him eye to eye; then he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him,” says the Lord; “though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed”’?” (Jeremiah 32:2-5).
Can you see how thoroughly Zedekiah repeated what God was saying to him through Jeremiah? He knew precisely the content of God’s message to him. But he flip-flopped pathetically. He’d go to Jeremiah to seek a word from the Lord; but then, he’d listen to the false prophets who told him what he wanted to hear. When he didn’t hear from Jeremiah what he wanted to hear, he’d throw him into prison. Then he’d take him out of prison, and ask again for a word from the Lord.
In Jeremiah 37:16-17, we read,
When Jeremiah entered the dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days, then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” And Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, “You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!” (Jeremiah 37:16-17).
What a ridiculous pattern! But it shows us, dear brothers and sisters, how unstable we become when we dislike the hard things that God tells us in His word, and prefer to listen to the flattering and appealing lies of this world instead. The apostle Paul once warned Pastor Timothy;
I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables (2 Timothy 4:1-4).
May God help us to refuse to hear the flattering lies of the devil, and stay true to God’s sure word!
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Another way that Zedekiah’s life illustrates how we might fall from our stability is . . .
2. WHEN WE PLACE OUR OWN WISHES OVER GOD’S WILL.
Zedekiah demonstrated that he was a king who knew very well what it was that God required of him. But at the end of the day, he chose to follow his own desires rather than God’s good commandments.
Apparently, there was a time when Zedekiah realized that he and his people had not been keeping one of the commandments of God. Whenever any of their Jewish countrymen had to sell themselves into servitude because of their debts, the law that God gave through Moses1 commanded that all such debtors were to be released every seven years. It may be that, because the Babylonians were threatening his kingdom, the king renewed his obedience to this command in order to appeal to God’s mercy. But whatever his motive may have been, he placed his people under a covenant of obedience to this command from God. Jeremiah wrote;
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them: that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage.
Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should set free his male and female slaves, that no one should keep them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and let them go (Jeremiah 34:8-10).
Even if Zedekiah’s motives for doing so were not good, at least he obeyed God’s law and showed mercy to his people. But it didn’t last. Perhaps it was because he felt pressured by the threat of the Babylonians. Or perhaps it may have been because he really wanted the benefits of enslaving his people. Whatever the reason was, the king did something that was extremely wicked and oppressive. Jeremiah goes on to tell us;
But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves (v. 11).
Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, “At the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you.” But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear. Then you recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. Then you turned around and profaned My name, and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into subjection, to be your male and female slaves’” (vv. 12-16).
Do you notice the reason God gave for why the people did what they did? It was “at their pleasure” (v. 16). In other words, when push came to shove, they imitated their king; and they preferred their own wishes over God’s expressed will. And as a result, God told Zedekiah that He was going to now proclaim “liberty” to Zedekiah—liberty to the sword, and pestilence, and to famine.
Zedekiah exhibited a preference of his own will over God’s—and was unstable as a result. And this also shows us, dear brothers and sisters, how unstable we become when we do the same. We are not to be an unstable people—obeying God’s commandments one moment and then the dictates of our own will the next. As the apostle Paul put it;
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:17-24).
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So then; we learn from Zedekiah’s tragic example that we can easily slip into instability when, first, we listen to falsehood instead of to God’s sure word; and, second, when we place our own wishes over God’s expressed will.
Finally, a third way—a way that, I’m afraid, is dreadfully common among us as profession Christians today—is . . .
3. WHEN WE FEAR PEOPLE MORE THAN WE FEAR GOD.
In Jeremiah 38, we read of how the people under Zedekiah’s authority rose up in hostility against the prophet;
Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ‘He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.’” Therefore the princes said to the king, “Please, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm.” Then Zedekiah the king said, “Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you” (Jeremiah 38:1-5).
Of course Zedekiah could do something against them! He was their king! But he was a weak man who feared the people.
So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire (v. 6).
It’s hard to imagine things being more depressing for Jeremiah than that. He was thrown into a deep, dark, stinking pit of muck—no doubt so that he might die by drowning or by starvation. He perhaps could only barely keep his head above it all. He’d have to try to stand on a rock; and he could never lay down to rest. What a dreadful, dire situation!
But we’re told of a man who rose up heroically to save him.
Now Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, Ebed-Melech went out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying: “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is no more bread in the city.” Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.” So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah. Then Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Please put these old clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so. So they pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison (Jeremiah 38:7-13).
Ebed-Melech was a man who trusted God. And God promised later to reward him for his faithfulness in saving the life of Jeremiah2. But look at the pathetic interaction that Jeremiah then has with his weak and fearful king:
Then Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.” Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the Lord lives, who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you surely surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.’” And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they abuse me” (Jeremiah 38:14-19).
Later, he pleaded with Jeremiah;
“Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare to us now what you have said to the king, and also what the king said to you; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,’ then you shall say to them, ‘I presented my request before the king, that he would not make me return to Jonathan’s house to die there’” (Jeremiah 38:24-26).
Proverbs 29:25 tells us, “The fear of man brings a snare . . .”; and it most certainly does! Once we allow ourselves to be ruled by a fear man, we will no longer be free to do what God tells us to do. But if we fear God first of all, we will never need to fear anything or anyone else. Jesus said;
“And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:4-7).
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Dear brothers and sisters; when we refuse to allow ourselves to fear men more than we fear God, and when we follow God’s faithful commandments instead of our own fleshly will, and when we are careful to heed God’s word rather than the flattering lies of this world, we become a people who cannot be shaken from God’s good way for us. We become characterized by stability.
May God make us stable in all His ways for us!
See Leviticus 25:39-46 and Deuteronomy 15:12.
