Jeremiah Chapter 21

⁸ “Now you shall say to this people, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹ He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be as a prize to him. 

~ Jeremiah 21:8-9

As we start the new year, I, surprisingly, found the above verses apt for our reflection.

King Zedekiah of Judah had sent Passhur to meet up with Jeremiah with the intention of asking for God’s help in stopping the attacks on Jerusalem.

This sounds the right thing to do but God’s answer was baffling!

God said He will destroy the city and there was nothing the people could do about it. And not only that, they had a choice to make – one will bring them death while the other one life. If they stayed in the city, they will die. Otherwise, if they surrender to the enemy and be taken captive, they will live. The choice was left to the people.

Er… did Zedekiah not seek God out for a positive outcome? Why was God’s judgement so pronounced?

To understand this better, we need to know what kind of king Zedekiah was. He was the last king of the Southern Kingdom and was placed there by the king of Babylon – more like a vessel king. His name was originally Mattaniah but was changed to Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17). Zedekiah’s name means “the Lord is righteous” but nothing in his life showed the righteousness of God.

2 Chronicles 36:12-14 summarises his life…

¹² He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. ¹³ And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁴ Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the Lord which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

So while he may have aspirations of righteousness when he chose the name Zedekiah, just adopting the name did not automatically confer on him a righteous character.

He was weak. He wanted to take a stand against the foreign king and yet, tolerated all the lawless practices of the leaders and priests that had remained behind. The Bible even said he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning to God, despite him taking the name of righteousness.

And in today’s chapter, he now puts on a show to come before Jeremiah, seeking for God’s help to get out of this dire situation.

It might seemed to be a change of heart of Zedekiah and he was taking these steps of faith. But this was his idea and not God’s. Zedekiah was hoping that God would join him. He was trying to manipulate God and have God do what he wanted. How do we know this? Because there was no change in the king’s heart in response to any of Jeremiah’s messages.

So would there be a change in God’s answer?

No of course!

Where do we stand today? Are we truly heeding God’s words and living a righteous life? Or are we just hearers of the word but not doers?

We need to make a choice today. And let us make the right choice for this year and the rest of years to come!

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