Since last week, things have changed dramatically for Judah, Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria. As we know, Judah was reviving economically, politically and spiritually under Josiah. There was a renewed belief in the future of the country. Everyone – except Jeremiah and God – was optimistic.

Egypt wanted to join forces with Assyria to attack Babylonia whose rise was a threat to their regional power. To do that, the Pharaoh’s army had to travel through Megiddo which is part of Judah. For some uncertain reasons, Josiah went out to challenge him and was killed by Pharaoh Neco. It could be that Josiah thought his opportunities for expansion were better with a much weakened Assyria so he aligned himself with a Babylonia which was on the rise. He certainly had no reason to trust Babylonia but it was the best of two bad options. It was a tragedy for Judah as the whole revival was dependent on Josiah’s leadership. His son became king and the entire nation began to slide into a permanent decline. The religious reforms and renewal that had begun with Josiah became a hindrance to genuine revival as the people were simply paying lip service to religious words and customs. They were depending on what they saw as God’s promises without any change in their behavior. They saw themselves as exceptional and special in spite of their moral rot. The priests and false prophets only reinforced this fantasy. Meanwhile, Josiah’s son was put in chains by Neco and taken to Egypt where he died. From then until the final fall of Jerusalem, Judah had a series of puppet kings installed first by the Egyptians and then by Babylonia.

So, as we begin this morning, Zedekiah is the fourth and final installed king and he is powerless. After the death of Josiah, Egypt and Babylonia had installed weak pretenders. After that, everything begins to unravel for Judah. Zedekiah’s predecessor misread the moment and rebelled against Babylonia. He is defeated by mercenaries hired by Babylonia and carried away to Babylon along with the high officials and all the leading men of the country. Not only all the leading men but all the experienced fighting men and officers and all the craftsmen and artisans. All the best leadership talent of Judah was exported and those remaining were left with “only the poorest people of the land.” In fact, his nephew, the captured king, now in Babylon, was still considered by many to be the legitimate king by his subjects and the Babylonians.  As well, all the treasure from the Temple and the King’s palace had been shipped to Babylon. Zedekiah, a puppet king with no genuine support, had nothing going for him. Well, nothing but bad advisors and poor counsel. He was surrounded by people who saw him for what he was but their self-interest and desire for power kept them from deserting him. For obvious reasons, Nebuchadnezzar left him with second rate priests and false prophets. With no resources or hope of being successful, he rebels against Babylonia and is soon surrounded by the finest fighting force in the world. “Stupid is as stupid does.”

We pick up in 20:1-2: “When the priest Pashur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the Lord’s temple.”  If you want to silence a critic you beat him and imprison him. Better yet, beat him and put him in the stocks in a very visible place where his friends and enemies can pass by. It will embarrass his friends and amuse his enemies. Hopefully, that one experience will teach him a lesson and he will reconsider his criticism against the King, the priests and the prophets. Humiliation has been used for thousands of years as a tool to control critics. The objective of humiliation is to eliminate resistance by undermining self-image. It makes a person think less of themselves and, hopefully, acquiesce.

Unfortunately, we see it used today. We see parents who humiliate their children either as punishment or as motivation.  I read the story of a mother who forced her son who had done badly in school to stand on a street corner with a sign around his neck telling everyone who saw him that he was lazy and ignorant. I’ve seen parents and teachers who use sarcasm to defeat children and students and kill their spirits. As a teacher, I asked students once what rules applied to me – not just them. Rule #1 was never use sarcasm with us. We’ve all seen spouses who mock or ridicule their husband or wife in public. They don’t just embarrass them – they insidiously and repeatedly attack their self-worth and make fun of them or deride them. If you have seen the face of a spouse who has had to suffer through this you will never forget it. It’s abuse that doesn’t leave bruises but it destroys the heart and soul of a person over time.

 I’ve seen employers use ridicule as a motivational tool. I read of a cashier who was wearing bunny ears at her post. A customer thought it was cute until she learned that the employee had to wear them because she had not made her quota last month. She was the laughing stock of the rest of the company…but she needed the job. That’s the special work of humiliation. No one is safe around those who humiliate others. In some circumstances it is more than merely not safe. The results of humiliation can be lethal. When you see the horrible news of “losers” who come to school with weapons and first kill their classmates and then themselves you are witnessing the horrendous effects of years of humiliation. One writer calls it the “nuclear bomb of emotions.” The fear of humiliation appears to be one of the most powerful motivators of individual and collective behavior. Mark Twain said, “There is no character, however, fine, that cannot be destroyed by ridicule.” Personally, I would rather take a beating than be ridiculed or laughed at in public. All of us have memories of being made to feel foolish or worthless or humiliated. Humiliation searches for and finds the most important and most protected point of our pride – and attacks it. It seeks out and destroys that which is most precious and fragile to us.

Have you read “Unbroken”, the story of Louis Zamperini? It’s hard…but inspiring to read an account of such extraordinary endurance and courage. He lived through his plane going down at sea and spending 47 days in a small raft with hardly any food and water. He drifted onto an island occupied by the Japanese and he was shuffled from one hellish POW camp to another. He experienced the full expression of systematic and perfected humiliation. The object was not to kill the prisoner but to destroy him over time – to take away his humanity. It was a special kind of torture that created dead men walking. What the Japanese (and others) have discovered is physical violence makes us angry and creates resistance but repeated and increasing humiliations break the spirit and create what is called “impotent fury.” People who have been effectively destroyed this way do not lead revolutions. They do not become martyrs either. They become slaves. Humiliation, as we said, is ultimately about power and control. We learned that when we were in Cambodia years ago. Sex trafficking is not really about sex but about subjecting another person to humiliation and controlling them. That is what the leadership of Judah would have wished for Jeremiah. He would be silent and passive and neutered. They did not want a martyr. They wanted a fool.

The central part of this passage is what is called “Jeremiah’s complaint” and it is what many scholars believe represents his thinking and prayers during that night in the stocks. It’s broken up into three distinct segments. The first is verses 7-10. “I have been deceived.” In Jeremiah’s mind, God overwhelmed him and now he is trapped and betrayed. He is ridiculed and mocked. “Nothing I say has any effect and things are only worse. I am weary of speaking and yet when I hold it in I cannot help but speak.” What happened to the assurance that God would make him a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land.?

We don’t know how long Jeremiah’s thoughts stayed here but at some point he becomes buoyant and confident. The sun breaks through the clouds and he has a brief moment of relief and belief that God will take vengeance on his enemies for doing this to him. God will save him from humiliation and disgrace…”for to you I have committed my cause.” God is on my side and He sees what is happening. He will rescue me because my cause is just. This is always an excruciating moment for anyone undergoing this pain. We first feel betrayed and then we have a surge of confidence because God will surely rescue us. We sing to the Lord and wait. Sometimes we wait…and wait…and wait…and no rescue comes. Many of God’s people have gone through this before us and yet it is different when it is us. It is personal, isn’t it? This is not supposed to happen. It’s not in the “happy songs” we sing about God stepping in and relieving our pain and wiping away our tears. What we find is God does not support “our cause”. He supports His cause…and that is different. Very different. It’s dark here. It’s lonely here. It’s agonizing here. This is when Job says, “Though He slay me yet will I trust Him.” Jesus in the Garden says, in spite of feeling forsaken, “not my will but Thine.” For Jeremiah, he realizes while his life may end in shame – not victory – he is committed to God. All of them come to the same conclusion – not my will, not my cause, not my plans – but Thine. This is the difference between humiliation and humility. One is resignation and resentment and the other is absolute trust. One destroys everything and the other exposes the core of what we believe and the One in whom we believe that cannot be destroyed.

Finally in 21:1-10, we transition from Jeremiah the critic to Jeremiah the traitor. Pashur and Zedekiah talk among themselves and become convinced that God will deliver them if they can convince Jeremiah to petition him as Isaiah did for Hezekiah. “Perhaps the Lord will perform wonders for us as in times past so that he (Nebuchadnezzar) will withdraw from us.” Yet, the situation is entirely different. Zedekiah has no army, no leadership, no faith and he is surrounded by an overwhelming enemy. He’s looking for a Churchill moment – but no Churchill and no English bravery. He is still believing Judah is an exception in history and they are too precious to God to fail. He and Pashur are thinking back to the time when Sennacharib and the Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem when Hezekiah was king. Sennacharib met with Hezekiah outside the gates and made an offer. “Choose life and not death. Surrender to me and you will live.” God’s response was to kill 185,000 Assyrians and send the army packing in retreat. Jerusalem was miraculously saved against all the odds. God can surely do it again.

God’s response this time was different. “I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in anger and fury and great wrath.” Then he says through Jeremiah exactly what Sennacharib said years before. “See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death…whoever goes out and surrenders will live; he will escape with his life.” That is treason, isn’t it? That’s not the same as being critical or being a gadfly. This is worthy of death.

Have you been watching the news from Russia this week? The Wagner Group turned on the military and called the Russian troops to join them in their revolt. Of course, Prigozhin did not call it a coup. Instead, he says, “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice. The evil embodied by the country’s military leadership must be stopped.” What was Putin’s response? This is treason and he will destroy the Wagner Group. This is no longer a heated disagreement or Prigozhin complaining about the incompetence of the Russian military leaders. He is telling the people they have been deceived about the reasons for the war against Ukraine and that it is an illegitimate cause. He is telling them that their leaders are intentionally destroying the country and are traitors themselves.

Most of you are old enough to remember your feelings when you saw the picture of Jane Fonda sitting in the seat of the anti-aircraft gun in Vietnam. That is how Zedekiah and Pashur felt at that moment. You remember how Jane Fonda and others organized rallies that encouraged soldiers to desert, surrender and refuse to fight?

That is exactly what Jeremiah is doing here. He is telling them to throw down their weapons and join the enemy. He has turned on his own country. He has become an agent of the enemy. The game has changed and we are going to see how that plays out in the weeks to come. But things will never be the same. The line has been drawn in the sand and there is no going back. This is a fight to the death.