Continued from previous post...
The historical context of Jeremiah 38 is the waning days of a besieged Jerusalem just prior to the destruction of the city by the Babylonians in 587 BC.
Recall the history of Israel. After Solomon's death Israel was divided. In 931 BC the division between the Northern ten tribes, collectively referred to as "Israel", and the southern Kingdom of Judah, composed of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was apostate from its very beginning. Israel was presided over by a series of twenty kings, and all of those kings were exceedingly wicked. The Southern Kingdom of Judah, on the other hand, while far from perfect, did have some good kings, and in its history did enjoy some times of relative faithfulness to the Lord.
God continually warned the Northern Kingdom to repent of its evil and turn to God. They did not, and were eventually destroyed by God using the instrumentality of the Assyrians in 722 BC. The Southern Kingdom of Judah would also succumb to the apostasy of its sister Kingdom to the north, and came under God's hand of destruction in 587 BC. This account of Ebed-Melech takes place just prior to 587 BC, when the siege had waxed sore, and the residents of Jerusalem were reduced to the desperation, deprivation, and starvation inherent in sieges; even to eating their own children.
We, the professing true believers of today must heed the warning that, while we do have the great privilege of being ambassadors of the Word, we also must be acutely aware that should we depart from faithfulness to God and to the message of the Bible, we, too would come under the wrath of God.
Jeremiah was left in Jerusalem by God to testify against the kingdom, and to report to us the goings-on there. Jeremiah, for his testimony, came under great persecution, to the point of being cast into a dungeon, under the immenent threat of death from starvation, thirst, or exposure at the hands of the palace of Zedekiah, as we read in Jeremiah 38:1-6:
1 Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying, 2 Thus saith the LORD, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live. 3 Thus saith the LORD, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it. 4 Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. 5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you. 6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.
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3 comments:
"We, the true believers of today must heed the warning that...should we depart from faithfulness to God and to the message of the Bible, we, too would come under the wrath of God."
How can true believers come under the wrath of God?
We know that to be under the wrath of God is to be damned... Is there some sort of middle ground that's applied to the true believers?
I added the word "professing" to "true believers" in the post. I hope that clarifies what I meant. One who is truly regenerate cannot come uner the eternal wrath of God, though a measure of disobedience in this life on the part of the true believer can lead to God's temporal chastisement.
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