20150919 Saturday, September 19 2015
Jeremiah 26: When Truth Is Called Treason

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears"

The English-language word "treason" originated from a Latin word, traditio, that meant to deliver. The wrong of "treason" is not immediately obvious in the definition to deliver (deliver can be a good thing too - depending on what is being delivered), but becomes evident when one realizes that the word trade, trader and traitor all originated from that same Latin word - as did tradition (again, all of those words can be good too - depending on what is being delivered). From those words (the Hebrew words of the Holy Scriptures have identical meanings) and the wrong of when people trade what is truly right for their own trade-itions, was made plain by the Messiah when He rebuked the actual traitors to the LORD because of what they had traded for His Truth:

"7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. ... 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." (Mark 7:9,13)

The prophet Jeremiah was faced with the same sort of religious and political hostility because Jeremiah spoke the same Truth from the same LORD Who was born as the Messiah (see The Identity Of The LORD God and The LORD God Our Saviour). In both cases, the self-righteous hostile and blasphemous rejection of the Word of God by the "leaders" (see Iniquity In History And Prophecy) resulted in the fall of Judah and the destruction of what became their Temple - to Babylon in 586 BC, in Jeremiah's time (see Why Did Judah Fall To Babylon?) and in 70 AD to Rome, exactly as prophesied by the Messiah (see What Did Jesus Christ Say About Those Stones?). In the end, Truth always wins and real traitors are always destroyed.

"26:1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying, 26:2 Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD'S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word: 26:3 If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings. 26:4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, 26:5 To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; 26:6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

26:7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. 26:8 Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. 26:9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

26:10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD'S house. 26:11 Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.

26:12 Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard. 26:13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. 26:14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you. 26:15 But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.

26:16 Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.

26:17 Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying, 26:18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying,

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

26:19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls. 26:20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:

26:21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt; 26:22 And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt. 26:23 And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

26:24 Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death." (Jeremiah 26:1-24 KJV)

Fact Finder: When will all of Israel and Judah return to the true Way of the LORD?
See When Zion Awakes and When Will The United Kingdom Be Restored?