Jeremiah 11

Surprisingly, Jeremiah’s first persecution comes from those of his hometown (v21a).  They insisted that Jeremiah stop preaching about sin and judgment (v21b).  Perhaps Jeremiah thought that these ones he knew and who knew him would listen.  After all, Anathoth was a priestly town, given to the descendents of Levi (Josh. 21:17-18).   Jeremiah was one of them (Jer. 1:1).  Yet they devised a scheme that left him feeling like “a docile lamb brought to the slaughter” (v19).

This message was well-suited for these men of the Law of Moses.  The point of Jeremiah’s preaching was that God was doing what Moses said He would do.
•    v1-5: Jeremiah reminds them of the Mosaic Covenant.  God made this covenant out of the reality of His favor on Israel, bringing them out of the iron furnace of Egypt (v4).  The Covenant was simple: it promised blessing on obedience and a curse on disobedience.  The presence and prosperity of the nation in the land flowing with milk and honey depended on obedience.  Deut. 11:8-12 is one of many places where this is recorded in the Law of Moses. These priests and Levites had no excuse for not knowing this.
•    v6-10: Now Jeremiah was called to tell the people they had failed to keep this Covenant.  God was about to fulfill the promise of cursing upon the nation because they were persistently disobedient.  God had promised He would hide His face from them (Deut. 32:20).  (If you want to see this clearly in the Mosaic writings study Deut. 28:15-68; 30:17-20; 31:17-18.)  God would be faithful in keeping the curse as He had been in keeping the blessing.
•    v11-17:  The God of truth, MUST keep His word.  Thus Jeremiah is told not to pray for them.  “I will not listen”, God says (v11), even when they cry out in trouble (v14).  Imagine Jeremiah’s sadness that God would not hear his prayer of intercession.  But sadness or not, Jeremiah must be faithful to the God who called him, and who Himself would be faithful to keep His word.

Are we faithful to proclaim God’s truth in every situation?  While in Bible college I served as a youth pastor in several churches.  In one I inherited a group of more than a hundred.  After a year and a half the group had “grown” to about 40.  To be honest I didn’t have the abilities (or inclinations) to entertain the crowd as my predecessor had done.  I did what God laid on my heart which was to engage them in age-appropriate Bible study.  It would be years later I would realize that what I did with some naïveté was what I needed to do.  The effect of ministry in some of those young people was evident for years afterwards.

The Apostle Paul held back nothing that was helpful when he proclaimed the news of salvation, by which he meant that he testified of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:20-21).  Let us not neglect to announce the bad news of sin and guilt as we proclaim the good news of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Let us give out what is truly helpful!