20150903 Thursday, September 3 2015
Jeremiah 11: Why Were The Prophets Of Truth Hated?

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the Law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us"

The LORD (Who was and is Jesus Christ; see The LORD God Our Saviour) called His prophets for one, primary purpose - to warn people to stop doing the evil that they were doing before it was too late. In most cases, the prophets were not sent to recognized criminals (i.e. murderers, thieves), but rather to the "leaders," as well as the population in general, who were, by "virtue" of their self-righteousness, committing as much evil in the eyes of the LORD as any other criminals against genuine God's Law. The result was a defiance toward the Word of God and a Satanic-minded hatred for those who delivered it.

Consider the people's response to the prophet Isaiah - and the LORD's answer to their defiance:

"30:9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: 30:10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 30:11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

30:12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: 30:13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant." Isaiah 30:9-13 KJV)

All of the true prophets experienced it - while the many false prophets, the "harlots in pulpits," were loved and revered because they preached nothing but the delusions and fantasies that the decadent people and their "leaders" wanted to hear about themselves (see Iniquity In History And Prophecy and Decadence In History And Prophecy).

In the time of the Messiah's first coming, the "we're right because we say so" people assassinated the two greatest prophets, John the Baptist and the Messiah (see The Ministries Of The Two Greatest Prophets), because they spoke the Truth to people who hated the Truth. Not all of the Truth-haters were political and religious "harlots" alone. Some, as in the case of the murder of John the Baptist, were sexual harlots also who resented the LORD's Laws of health and morality.

Herodias was the granddaughter of Herod the Great (who tried to have Jesus Christ killed as an infant in Bethlehem). She was first married to her uncle Herod II (a son of Herod the Great), but she later fell in lust with her brother-in-law Herod Antipas, her husband/uncle's brother, which meant that he, like her first "husband," was also her uncle. Herodias and Herod Antipas divorced their spouses and were married, thereby making Herodias the "wife" of two of her uncles. It was for that lust-driven adultery and incest that John, according to the Law of God, rightfully and publicly rebuked both of them - one a princess of the "royal" Herod line, the other the reigning royal governor of Galilee.

"14:3 For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. 14:4 For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.

14:5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 14:6 But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. 14:7 Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. 14:8 And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. 14:9 And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. 14:10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison." (Matthew 14:3-10 KJV)

An excerpt from the Encyclopedia Britannica, a secular encyclopedia of history that confirms the historic account of the Holy Bible:

"Herodias (d. after AD 39), wife of Herod Antipas, tetrarch (ruler appointed by Rome) of Galilee, in northern Palestine, from 4 BC to AD 39; she conspired to arrange the execution of John the Baptist. Her marriage to Herod Antipas (himself divorced), after her divorce from his half brother Herod Philip was censured by John as a transgression of Mosaic Law."

Jeremiah also experienced the people's hatred of reality - including the people of his own home town of Anathoth (a town located just north of Jerusalem in the tribal territory of Benjamin) who rejected the LORD's Word that He sent Jeremiah to deliver to the Kingdom of Judah (see Why Didn't Jeremiah Live In The Kingdom Of Israel? and Jews - Three Tribes and Three Meanings) and then threatened to kill Jeremiah for speaking it. As was also the result for all of the true prophets, the LORD attended to them: "Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand: Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine: And there shall be no remnant of them."

"11:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 11:2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 11:3 And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, 11:4 Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God: 11:5 That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.

Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.

11:6 Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. 11:7 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. 11:8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.

11:9 And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 11:10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. 11:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them. 11:12 Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 11:13 For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.

11:14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.

11:15 What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest. 11:16 The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.

11:17 For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.

11:18 And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings. 11:19 But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying,

Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered. 11:20 But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.

11:21 Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand: 11:22 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine: 11:23 And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation." (Jeremiah 11:1-23 KJV)

Fact Finder: Who will be the last two prophets before the Messiah's return to establish His Kingdom of God on Earth?
See The Battle Of The End-Time Prophets