Jail Time

Jeremiah 37:11-21

Have you ever said, now that was not the plans I had, and I bet you never began a trip and ended up in a prison?  This writer was fearful that he might have that result, when traveling on business from Saudi Arabia to Qatar.   On my arrival in Qatar, the authority at the check-in informed me that without a visa I was not welcome and in a booming voice told me to go back to where I came from.  It is a longer story than we have time for but let me share it did not end up with me going to jail.  But that was not the case with Jeremiah. The Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem, so Jeremiah is going to the land of Benjamin to claim his land; you recall it was the property he had just purchased from his cousin Hanamel.

But there is a problem at the Benjamin Gate, an officer of the guard named Irijah had apprehended Jeremiah and charged him with deserting to the Chaldeans.  Now, let’s pick up the rest of the story in verses 14-16, “That’s a lie,” Jeremiah replied. “I am not deserting to the Chaldeans!” Irijah would not listen to him but apprehended Jeremiah and took him to the officials. The officials were angry with Jeremiah and beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison. So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and stayed there many days.”

Jeremiah is God’s man, His prophet, and mouthpiece and I wonder what Jeremiah is thinking?  I can assure you that in Qatar I had no clue of what this person who was yelling at me to go back where I came from was going to do next.  But God, He was not sleeping, and God put into King Zedekiah’s mind to invite Jeremiah to his house for a private meeting.  

The question the King had for Jeremiah; “Is there a word from the LORD?”  I want you to pay to Jeremiah’s reply; “There is,” Jeremiah responded, and he continued, “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people that you have put me in prison? Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and this land’? So now please listen, my lord the king. May my petition come before you?  Don’t send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”

The message Jeremiah gave the King had not changed, but it looks as if the King is beginning to understand he is dealing with a man of integrity, a man who had not lied to him in the past nor would in the future.  “So King Zedekiah gave orders, and Jeremiah was placed in the guard’s courtyard. He was given a loaf of bread each day from the baker’s street until all the bread was gone from the city. So Jeremiah remained in the guard’s courtyard.”  Do you understand truth won over the lies of the false prophets?  It was not the word the King hoped to hear, but one must wonder at this point if he had begun to fear the God of Jeremiah?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice