Jeremiah 26: Occupational Hazard

"Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, 'This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city.  You have heard it with your own ears!'" (vs. 11)  The man they are talking about, of course, is Jeremiah.

Being a true prophet of the Lord brings with it a certain amount of occupational hazard.  You just might find yourself cornered by an angry mob calling for your death!  As a prophet, Jeremiah has no choice but to proclaim all the words that the Lord has given him; "Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word" (vs. 2).  In Jeremiah's case, his words are hard ones for the people, especially the religious establishment, to swallow, because they are directed against them!

So it is that Jeremiah finds himself at the Temple delivering a message against it.  He says that what happened to Shiloh will also happen to Jerusalem if the people do not listen to God and follow His laws.  This pronouncement of doom is enough to cause a near riot.  "But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the Lord had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, 'You must die!'" (vs. 8)  Jeremiah got in trouble in spite of the fact that he was being faithful to what the Lord had told him to say.  In fact, he was facing these death threats because of his obedience to God!

We then learn about two other prophets who both had different experiences when it came to how their fiery messages were received.  During the time of King Hezekiah, Micah had prophesied against Jerusalem (vs. 18).  Instead of putting him to death, however, his words had led the king and nation to repentance (vs. 19).

Contrast Micah's outcome with that of Uriah, who was "another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord; he prophesied the same things against this city and this land as Jeremiah did" (vs. 20).  Uriah's story did not end happily, however.  When threatened with death by King Jehoiakim, Uriah fled to the safety of Egypt.  Jehoiakim sent men in pursuit, however, and they captured Uriah and brought him back to be slain for his preaching.

Jeremiah seems to exist in the space between these two approaches.  Threatened with death but not killed outright, tolerated yet not accepted, he endured through bitter opposition.  One thing that may have helped Jeremiah was the help of a friend, Ahikam, who supported him.  Ahikam happened to be the son of Shaphan, who was the royal secretary back in the days of King Josiah in II Kings 22 when they found the book of law in the Temple.

With problems like these, it's no surprise that Paul wrote to his young disciple Timothy, "Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (II Timothy 3:12).  Persecution is an occupational hazard for the faithful man or woman of God.