In chapter 27, Jeremiah is given another tangible way to symbolize God's message to the people. Through the enactment of a wooden yoke around his neck, he demonstrates that the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, will subjugate the Judah and the surrounding nations. The only sensible course, he advises, is surrender and submission.
According to the Lord speaking through Jeremiah, the choice is clear. "If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the Lord, until I destroy it by his hand" (vs. 8). "But if any nation will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the Lord" (vs. 11).
The yoke symbolizes that Judah must humble herself and willingly serve Nebuchadnezzar if she wishes to avoid a worse fate. Otherwise, the nation will be overwhelmed, destroyed, and exiled from the land.
I sometimes wonder how Jeremiah appeared to his countrymen. Did they think of him as a treasonous spy for Babylon? Did they view him as disloyal to his own nation? We know, from the perspective of history, that he was accurate in what he was prophesying and that the Lord was speaking through him. At the time, however, he may have just seemed like a crazy guy wearing a yoke!
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