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The hindrance of GROUP obedience, Jer. 34:8-10.
This event took place
in the reign of Zedekiah, the last King of Judah before the Babylonian
captivity. It involved the freedom
granted to Jewish brethren who had become enslaved to fellow-Jews. Every seven years Hebrew slaves were to be
set free. In the story, including in the
words of Jeremiah, there is an emphasis on everyone. When they heard the law required this freedom
everyone agreed to do it. Then when (apparently) it became apparent
that they might lose money in this deal, everyone
decided to take back their slaves. All
this took place with the Babylonian army in the neighborhood.
This kind of group-think was not new for Israel.
·
For example, in Exodus 19-20 when God first gave
the law (the Ten Commandments), there was a rousing agreement on the part of
the people, We will obey (Ex.
19:7-8)! Yet, within forty days they had
violated the first two commands in a powerful way in the worship of the golden
calf.
·
Again, in Joshua 24 Joshua, at the end of his
life, had called the people to a renewed obedience to the Lord. It was at the time when God had given them
tremendous victories in the land. The
people again agreed in unison: We will worship God only and keep the
commands! But Joshua knew better and
warned them of the coming days of disobedience which in fact happened, as
recorded in the book of Judges.
·
In the days of King Josiah there was a great
revival (2 Chr. 34-35). The people as
one man turned to the Lord, or so it seemed.
The book (of the Law) had been
found while cleaning out the temple.
There was obedience, including the killing of false prophets as well as
a keeping of the Passover as it had never been celebrated. But as Jeremiah himself pointed out, it was a
pretense by treacherous Judah (Jer.
3:6-10), people who listen but don’t obey (Ezek. 33:31-32).
·
Even after the Babylonian captivity this
continued, as seen in Nehemiah 9-10.
Nehemiah called the people to another renewal of the covenant, to which
the people agreed. Yet by the time
Nehemiah went back to the capital for a visit and then returned to Jerusalem
the people had turned away from the things they had promised to do.
There is a danger in
large group spiritual movements that is obvious; within the group individual hearts
might not actually be in sync. People,
not wanting to buck the crowd, will go along with what everyone else is
doing. That’s a problem because
obedience is always a matter of the heart.
It’s not necessarily a problem with the prophet/preacher, although his
approach or failure to warn people can contribute to the problem. Ultimately it is a problem with individuals
whose hearts have not been truly changed.
Evangelicals in the
United States should be aware of this.
It has been seen in the Great Awakenings
in our history when so many communities that saw mass movements to Christ
within a few years were darker spiritually than before the awakening. Often there are copy-cat movements, meaning events or
situations that look like the real thing but that are devoid of the work of the
Spirit. Group commitments are impressive
on the outside; but there is always a potential that individuals within the
group are only being moved by the group.
Remember, as Jeremiah
points out, before God gave Israel the Law (His call to live righteous lives)
He called them to heart-obedience (Jer. 7:22-23).
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