One of the challenges in the book of Jeremiah is the way it is organized. It is not linear with one chapter beginning at a certain time and the next chapter following where that left off. It is more like snapshots of different times in your life. We could show you at ten years old and then skip to when you were married. After that we see who you were at seventeen and then jump to your 25th wedding anniversary. It would be hard to piece together your life, wouldn’t it? We are used to albums and stories that take us from start to finish in a logical way. That is not the book of Jeremiah and here this morning is a good example of that.
In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”
So, Jeremiah began his ministry in the 17th year of Josiah and he is now in the 4th year of the reign of Jehoiakim. That is a total of 18 years and the reigns of three kings – although one of those kings only reigned for three months before he was carried off to Egypt and died. That means Jeremiah has been told by the Lord to compile all of his words for the last 18 years and have them written down on a scroll to be read.
That’s quite a task, isn’t it? A few years ago I started to compile all the Sunday School lessons I have taught over the years and it turned into a much bigger project than I thought. I had saved most of them but still thrown many away after teaching as I did not think about how long I would be teaching in my life. But those I kept were already written down while Jeremiah had 18 years of material that was only in his memory and had not been put down in writing. That’s a lot of words and, fortunately, he remembered every one of them.
So, where are those 18 years of words? They are in the first seven chapters of the book. What are the themes of the first seven chapters? Let’s flip back and look at those themes to see the message that Jeremiah has been instructed to capture in writing.
What fault did your ancestors find in me,
that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols
and became worthless themselves.
11 Has a nation ever changed its gods?
(Yet they are not gods at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glorious God
for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, you heavens,
and shudder with great horror,”
declares the Lord.
13 “My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and no spring rains have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
you refuse to blush with shame.
14 Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved.
How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?
15 A voice is announcing from Dan,
proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
16 “Tell this to the nations,
proclaim concerning Jerusalem:
‘A besieging army is coming from a distant land,
raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.
17 They surround her like men guarding a field,
because she has rebelled against me,’”
declares the Lord.
18 “Your own conduct and actions
have brought this on you.
This is your punishment.
How bitter it is!
How it pierces to the heart!”
3 Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
You struck them, but they felt no pain;
you crushed them, but they refused correction.
They made their faces harder than stone
and refused to repent.
4 I thought, “These are only the poor;
they are foolish,
for they do not know the way of the Lord,
the requirements of their God.
5 So I will go to the leaders
and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the Lord,
the requirements of their God.”
But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke
and torn off the bonds.
6 Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them,
a wolf from the desert will ravage them,
a leopard will lie in wait near their towns
to tear to pieces any who venture out,
for their rebellion is great
and their backslidings many.
Among my people are the wicked
who lie in wait like men who snare birds
and like those who set traps to catch people.
27 Like cages full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
they have become rich and powerful
28 and have grown fat and sleek.
Their evil deeds have no limit;
they do not seek justice.
They do not promote the case of the fatherless;
they do not defend the just cause of the poor.
29 Should I not punish them for this?”
declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?
30 “A horrible and shocking thing
has happened in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy lies,
the priests rule by their own authority,
and my people love it this way.
But what will you do in the end?
“From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
14 They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.
15 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when I punish them,”
says the Lord.
16 This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 I appointed watchmen over you and said,
‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. 3 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
It takes a full year for Jeremiah to speak those seven chapters and Baruch, his new scribe, to write everything down. Jeremiah then instructs Baruch to go into the Temple itself and read these words to the people worshiping there. Tradition says he read from one of the windows in the Temple which might be like reading from the balcony in church.
What was the response?
When Micaiah heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll, all the officials sent Jehudi to say to Baruch, “Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch went to them with the scroll in his hand. They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.”
So Baruch read it to them. When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.” Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”
“Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”
Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”
I’ve been reading some of the history of the Pentagon Papers which were published after Daniel Ellsberg smuggled the report to the newspapers. He was horrified by what he learned through his work at the Rand Corporation and their research for Robert McNamara on why the U.S. had not succeeded in Vietnam and what lessons could be learned. Afterwards he told his family that he fully expected to either serve the rest of his life in prison or be killed. Some of his co-workers and government officials were incensed about what he had done while others quietly supported him. It was a mixed reaction of fear, anger and sympathy as it was here by the offficials.
Some likely thought the king needed to hear the warnings about their country. If they did not change their ways then they would be conquered. Some likely thought they did not want to be the bearers of bad news but the king needed to hear the message. I suppose there were some who had a little piece of their hearts that was hopeful the king would be discouraged and give up the throne or run to Egypt. As in all courts and bureaucracies there are all kinds of motivations and agendas.
But all of them knew what the consequences would be for Baruch and Jeremiah – the same as it often is for whistleblowers and prophets. Denial, anger and prison if not death.
How does the king respond to being read these seven chapters that took over a year to write?
It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.
That’s quite a measured response, isn’t it? No emotion. No resolve to reform like his father Josiah. No explosions like Ahab. No tearful repentance like David. No childish outburst like Rehoboam. No depression like Saul. Nothing at all. Just calmly slicing the scroll and putting the slivers into the fire. It’s either a very self-controlled man or a sociopath. I would go for the latter.
Rabbinical literature describes Jehoiakim as a godless tyrant who committed atrocious sins and crimes. He is portrayed as living in incestuous relations with his mother, daughter-in-law, and stepmother, and was in the habit of murdering men, whose wives he then violated and whose property he seized.
All his officials showed no fear, no remorse, no shame, no repentance. Why? Were they blind and deaf to the truth? Were they so deceived by the charisma of the king that they were as arrogant and misled as he was? Were they simply afraid to show themselves as weak men by being afraid of the truth? We don’t know but we do know one thing.
After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?” Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.’”
So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.
Not only did Jeremiah repeat what Baruch wrote but he added three more chapters:
From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
11 They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
when there is no peace.
12 Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when they are punished,
says the Lord.
They make ready their tongue
like a bow, to shoot lies;
it is not by truth
that they triumph in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
they do not acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.
4 “Beware of your friends;
do not trust anyone in your clan.
For every one of them is a deceiver,[c]
and every friend a slanderer.
5 Friend deceives friend,
and no one speaks the truth.
They have taught their tongues to lie;
they weary themselves with sinning.
6 You] live in the midst of deception;
in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”
declares the Lord.
21 The shepherds are senseless
and do not inquire of the Lord;
so they do not prosper
and all their flock is scattered.
Six years later, Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah and Jehoiakim is captured and killed along with all the officials who had been so loyal to him. The historian Josephus wrote that his body was thrown out like trash without any burial. It was an appropriate ending for a man who was so deadened to truth and human qualities of any kind that he would be remembered for the rest of time as the one of the most corrupt and stupid kings of Israel. He ends up on the trash heap of history.
Deceit, especially from the top of a society eats away like a cancer until the bonds that hold us together dissolve. A nation can withstand almost anything except the destruction of trust. The king and his attendants, even the religious leaders, may have given themselves over to deception but we can commit to the pledge of Alexander Solzhenitsyn: “Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”