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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
all the words that ye have heard. Therefore now amend your ways and
your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord
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will repent Him of the evil that He hath pronounced against you. As
for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and
meet unto you. 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.”
Had the prophet been intimidated by the threats of those in high
authority and the clamoring of the rabble, his message would have
been without effect, and he would have lost his life. But the courage
with which he discharged his painful duty commanded the respect of
the people and turned the princes of Israel in his favor. Thus God
raised up defenders for His servant. They reasoned with the priests
and false prophets, showing them how unwise would be the extreme
measures which they advocated.
The influence of these powerful persons produced a reaction in the
minds of the people. Then the elders united in protesting against the
decision of the priests regarding the fate of Jeremiah. They cited the
case of Micah, who prophesied judgments upon Jerusalem, saying:
“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.” They
put to them the question: “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.”
So, through the pleading of Ahikam and others, the prophet
Jeremiah’s life was spared; although many of the priests and false
prophets would have been pleased had he been put to death on the
plea of sedition, for they could not endure the truths that he uttered
exposing their wickedness.
But Israel remained unrepentant, and the Lord saw that they must
be punished for their sin; so He instructed Jeremiah to make yokes
and bonds and place them upon his neck, and to send them to the
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kings of Edom, of Moab, of the Ammonites, and of Tyrus and Zidon,
commanding the messengers to say that God had given all these lands
to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and that all these nations
should serve him and his descendants for a certain time, till God should