Scripture: Jeremiah 11:1-23 (NKJV)
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 “Hear the words of
this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem; 3 and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Cursed is the
man who does not obey the words of this covenant 4 which I commanded your
fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron
furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so
shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’ 5 that I may establish the
oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them ‘a land flowing with milk
and honey,’ as it is this day.”‘”
And I answered and said, “So be it, LORD.” 6 Then the LORD said to me,
“Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of
Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I
earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of
Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.” 8
Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates
of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this
covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.’”
9 And the LORD said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah
and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the
iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have
gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”
11 Therefore thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them
which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will
not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they
will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13 For according to the
number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of
the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars
to burn incense to Baal.
14 “So do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I
will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their
trouble. 15 What has My beloved to do in My house, having done lewd deeds with
many? And the holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you
rejoice. 16 The LORD called your name, Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good
Fruit. With the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire on it, and its
branches are broken. 17 For the LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced
doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah,
which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering
incense to Baal.”
18 Now the LORD gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their
doings. 19 But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter; and I did not
know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, “Let us destroy the tree
with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his
name may be remembered no more.” 20 But, O LORD of hosts, You who judge
righteously, testing the mind and the heart, let me see Your vengeance on them,
for to You I have revealed my cause.
21 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your
life, saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, lest you die by our
hand’—22 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them.
The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die
by famine; 23 and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring
catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their punishment.’”
Devotion
Judah will be judged, just as Israel had been judged earlier. Constantly
expressing the people’s need to repent if they are to avoid destruction,
Jeremiah tries to rouse his hearers from their fatal complacency by labeling
their apostasy a revolt against God. Their unfaithfulness was not the sin of a
weak moment, but a deliberate conspiracy to defy God. Nor could they profess
ignorance of wrongdoing, for they had God’s Word. According to the words of the
covenant He would be their God and they His people, if in response to this
undeserved gift of grace they would obey His voice and keep His commandments.
In the stubbornness of an evil heart and in the face of persistent warnings
they repudiated the sacred pledge of obedience. Hence, the curse pronounced on
disobedience in the covenant will go into effect. Chosen to be God’s beloved,
the covenant nation faces imminent destruction. Neither Jeremiah’s prayer or
its hypocritical ceremonial observances in God’s house can avert its doom.
It is not surprising that rebels, conspiring to dethrone God, should also plot
to silence His messenger. After the Lord revealed to Jeremiah that his own
townspeople of Anathoth devised schemes designed to cut him off from the land
of the living, they openly threatened him with death if he were to continue to
prophesy in the name of the Lord. These wicked machinations would not go
unpunished, for in reality they were but another revolt against God Himself. In
answer to Jeremiah’s appeal for God’s vengeance on those who persecuted His
ambassador, the Lord of hosts authorized him to announce the evil to come upon
the men of Anathoth.
The Lutheran Herald is a publication of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of
North America. These daily devotions are authored by the bishop, pastors, and
deacons of the diocese. Daily posts are provided by The Reverend Jeffrey A.
Ahonen.
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