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Royalty and Ruin
The Lord declared, “I have sent to you all My servants the
prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now everyone of
you from your evil way, and amend your doings, and do not go after
other gods to serve them, and then you shall live in the land that I
gave to you and your ancestors.’ But you did not incline your ear or
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obey Me.” “Therefore, ... I am going to bring on Judah and on all
the inhabitants of Jerusalem every disaster that I have pronounced
against them.”
Verses 15, 17
, NRSV.
When people turn from correction until their hearts become hard-
ened, the Lord permits them to be led by other influences. Refusing
the truth, they accept falsehood that leads to their own destruction.
The Chaldeans were to be the instrument by which God would pun-
ish His disobedient people. Their sufferings would be proportional
to the light they had despised and rejected. God now would bring
His displeasure on them as a last effort to stop their evil course.
God pronounced a continued blessing on the Rechabites: “Be-
cause you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, ...
‘Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me
forever.’”
Verses 18, 19
. The lesson is for us. If the requirements of
a wise father were worthy of strict obedience when he took the most
effective means to secure his family—present and future—against
the evils of intemperance, surely God’s authority should be held in
much greater reverence! By His servants He predicts the dangers
of disobedience. He sounds the warning and reproves sin. His peo-
ple are kept in prosperity only by His mercy, through the vigilant
watchcare of His chosen instruments. He cannot uphold a people
who reject His counsel.
The Faithful Youth Were Encouraged
Jeremiah never lost sight of the importance of heart holiness
in the service of God. He foresaw the scattering of Judah among
the nations, but with faith he looked beyond this to restoration.
“‘The days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will raise to David a
Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute
judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be
saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He