March 12, Jeremiah 40
"The LORD your God pronounced this disaster against this place. The LORD has brought it about, and has done as he said. Because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you." - Jeremiah 40:2-3
Suppose we were playing a game together. One player reads a quotation from the Bible to the other player. The second player must identify the Bible character or writer who spoke those words. If you had not already read the chapter (which I hope you do before reading each of these essays) you might guess that Jeremiah said these things. These words match a lot of other things we know he said. Or maybe you would guess that God spoke these words to Jeremiah. And you'd be half right. Jeremiah was the person to whom they were spoken. But would you have guessed that the speaker was Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard of Nebuchadnezzar's forces? Would you think a Babylonian would have said such a thing about God?
Jeremiah was freed from prison in the court of the guard in Chapter 39. Still, when the long march to exile began, Jeremiah was chained like the other exiles. But unlike the others, when the exiles reached Ramah, the captain of the guard let Jeremiah go. He removed his chains and freed him to do whatever he wished to do. If he chose to go on to Babylon with the exiles, the captain promised to look after him well. But if he choose to stay in Judah with the poorest of the poor that were left behind, he was free to do that as well. Nebuzaradan allowed the prophet to stay behind and live with the governor at his headquarters in Mizpah.
The surviving bands of soldiers who had been in the countryside came to Mizpah also, along with other Judeans who had fled when the invasion began. The governor told them to dwell in the land in peace and security, and to grow their crops. The Lord blessed the returnees with an abundance of wine and other fruits of the harvest. The leader of one group of soldiers warned Gedaliah about a plot against his life. Gedaliah did not believe the informant, and did nothing about the threat.
How did the Babylonian Nebuzaradan know what he said about God's hand in the invasion and destruction? Did he overhear the captives talking about Jeremiah's preaching? Did God reveal it to him, or did Jeremiah preach to him as they marched along the way to Ramah? We don't know. But he somehow knew and said the truth about God's hand in the nation's fall. You may believe (as I do) that God influenced the Babylonian king and his officers to be kind to Jeremiah. Once the captives arrived in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar would learn even more about God from his faithful servants.
Perhaps we could also learn a lesson from the way Gedaliah handled the news about the plot to kill him. Was Gedaliah overconfident? Was he gullible? Was he a poor judge of character? Whatever the case, he didn't listen to the warning from a loyal servant, and it proved to be a fatal error, as we will see in the next chapter. A leader obviously cannot follow everyone's advice. But it is wise to know when to listen and take serious threats seriously.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—March 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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