Moves and countermoves. That was the game being played on the war board. The times were volatile and war had finally come. It was the war Jeremiah kept telling them about but no one would listen.
The Babylonians from the East were pounding on Jerusalem’s door. But now Pharaoh’s army in Egypt was on the march. The Israelites were sure Egypt would come to save them. Alliances and all.
Jeremiah had warned them. A) Babylon will come. B) Do not trust in Egypt, they will not save you. C) Surrender to the Babylonians.
Not a single part of that did the officials of Jerusalem want to hear. The first part of Jeremiah’s prophecy had already happened and Babylon came to besiege them. And now it was all about Egypt.
Jeremiah warned them again. Just because the Babylonians were withdrawing once they heart that Egypt was on the march didn’t mean anything. Even if the Babylonian army was completely wiped out and only a few of the wounded remained, those wounded would burn down Jerusalem.
So as the Babylonian withdrew, Jeremiah tried to go to the land of Benjamin to stake a claim on his land. But when he was at the gate of Benjamin probably transacting business, they falsely accused him of trying to desert.
He adamantly denied it but they didn’t believe him. So they placed him in a jail in the house of Jonathon. It was so terrible Jeremiah though surely he would die.
While he was there King Zedekiah who still had a shred of decency sent for Jeremiah to ask him what the LORD was saying. Jeremiah then pleaded with him not to be sent back to the house of Jonathan for prison as he would soon die. Zedekiah then had Jeremiah sent to the courtyard for imprisonment and no longer at Jeremiah’s house.
The conversation with Zedekiah would continue. But for now Jeremiah found himself in a different place.
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It’s so frustrating when people don’t listen, especially when what is said is true. We too have entered into a time where common sense, reasonableness and truth have been cast aside. The result is that just like in Jeremiah’s time, those who hold to the truth are targeted.
Nevertheless, we must hold fast to the truth. Even when we are falsely accused.
Once evil has taken the upper hand, the righteous will suffer. And suffer terribly. But it is necessary and worth it. We must prepare our hearts now that we will be people who maintain the truth even when it brings about hostility.
