1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchiah and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying, 2 “Inquire of the Lord for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all his wonderful deeds and will make him withdraw from us.”
3 Then Jeremiah said to them: “Thus you shall say to Zedekiah, 4 ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and with which you are fighting against the king of Babylon and against the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls. And I will bring them together into the midst of this city. 5 I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath. 6 And I will strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. 7 Afterward, declares the Lord, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the pestilence, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their lives. He shall strike them down with the edge of the sword. He shall not pity them or spare them or have compassion.’
8 “And to this people you shall say: ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war. 10 For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’
REFLECTION:
From the beginning of this chapter to chapter 28, Jeremiah predicted that King Nebuchadnezzar would besiege Jerusalem from 588 to 586 BC. The central message that Jeremiah preached was: Those kings and false prophets who lead the people astray will be judged by God. Jeremiah had predicted that Jerusalem would be destroyed, but he was denied and ridiculed by the leaders of the city. Zedekiah, King of Judah, decided to fight against Nebuchadnezzar. The politicians of the country urged King Zedekiah to ally with Egypt. It was not until the last resort that Zedekiah asked God for help, but he still ignored God’s warnings and did not confess his sins. King Zedekiah quoted historical events during the reign of Hezekiah, thinking that Jehovah miraculously saved them and saved Jerusalem from the destruction by Sennacherib, King of Assyria, and this time history will repeat itself. Jeremiah’s answer broke the illusion of Zedekiah. When Judah was taken into captivity in 586 BC, Zedekiah finally became the last king of Judah. Today, many people of God often forget God in good times, ignore God’s warnings, and ask God for help only until they are desperate. However, God wants to establish a long-term relationship with us. Think about whether you are trying to establish an intimate relationship with God in your daily life, or do you only find Him to relieve your problems when you are in trouble?
PRAYER:
Pray for God to enlighten you and give you a vigilant heart so that you do not leave God in a stable and prosperous life; resolve to God, whether it is smooth or difficult, you are willing to get close to God and experience God’s presence in your daily life, and establish an intimate relationship with Him.
1 Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. 2 Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. 3 The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. 4 For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. 5 Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”
REFLECTION:
Pashhur was the official responsible for maintaining order in the temple, and he was also a priest and pretending to be a prophet. After listening to Jeremiah’s words, instead of thinking about it seriously and repenting by action, he beat Jeremiah and put him in the stocks. Although the truth sometimes irritates people, how to treat the truth reflects a person’s character. We can deny the accusations of the truth, eliminate the evidence of mistakes, or accept the facts humbly and honestly, and let the truth transform us. Pashhur thinks he is a mighty leader, but in fact he is just a coward. The name “Pashhur” originally meant “Prosperity All Around”, but it became “Magor-missabib”, which means “Terror on Every Side”. Jeremiah’s prophecy that he said to Pashhur about the subjugation of the kingdom was finally fulfilled when Babylon invaded Judah three times in 586 BC, and Pashhur was also taken into captivity with King Jehoiakim. God’s words will never fail. We should use Pashhur as a negative example, and receive all God’s words to us with awe, including the words that we are not willing to hear. If you despise or disobey the word of God, you will have serious consequences.
PRAYER:
Come to God quietly and ask God to examine your heart. Ask God to give you greater faith and more wisdom, so that you can understand all God’s guidance in your life, including those that hurt you. Trust that God’s words and arrangements that you are unwilling to listen to are all for your benefit. Ask God to give you deeper humility so that you can obey all God’s guidance in your life.
1 Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy a potter’s earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests, 2 and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. 3 You shall say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 4 Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— 6 therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. 9 And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’
REFLECTION:
Hinnom Valley is a public garbage dump in Jerusalem, and Topheth means “land of fire”. The Judahites burned their children in Hinnom Valley and sacrificed to Molech (32:35). The massacres prophesied by Jeremiah occurred twice, once in 586 BC when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his troops to attack Jerusalem; the other was when Roman General Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. During Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, there was an extreme shortage of food, which caused the horror of cannibalism in the city. Some people even ate their own children, fulfilling what God said (v9). God is loving, righteous and holy at the same time. Judah’s idolatry was corrupted to the point that they even burned their children to sacrifice to the false gods. They greatly offended God and incurred severe retribution from God. Do we often offend God today? Although we may not be as corrupt as the Judahites back then, will we ignore our family in pursuit of worldly values? If so, today is the time to confess your sins to God and repent!
PRAYER:
Come to God humbly, ask God to enlighten you, so that you understand where you have sinned against God, and confess your sins to God and repent. Ask God to give you more love and live out the love of Christ in your family. Be a good witness for the Lord among your relatives, so that they can have a closer relationship with you, and also enable you to develop a closer relationship with your family and God.
