Judah’s Amazing Stubbornness

Picture: Judah’s Amazing Stubbornness2TC 210.1

The first years of Jehoiakim’s reign were filled with warnings of approaching doom. All of a sudden a new world power, the Babylonian empire, was rising in the east and swiftly overshadowing Assyria, Egypt, and all other nations.2TC 210.2

The king of Babylon was to be the instrument of God’s wrath on unrepenting Judah. Again and again the armies of Nebuchadnezzar would enter Jerusalem. Tens of thousands would be taken captive in forced exile. One after another, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah were to become vassals of the Babylonian ruler, and all in turn were to rebel. Severe punishments would be inflicted on the rebellious nation, until at last Jerusalem would be burned, the temple that Solomon built destroyed, and Judah fall, never again to occupy its former position among the nations.2TC 210.3

Through Jeremiah, many messages from Heaven marked those times of change. The Lord gave the children of Judah ample opportunity to free themselves from alliances with Egypt and to avoid controversy with Babylon. Jeremiah taught the people by acted parables, hoping to awaken them to a sense of obligation to God and to encourage them to maintain friendly relations with the Babylonian government.2TC 211.1

To illustrate the importance of obedience to God, Jeremiah gathered some Rechabites into the temple and set wine before them. As expected, he met with absolute refusal: “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever.’” “Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ... “The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, and obey their father’s commandment.”’” Jeremiah 35:6, 12-14. But the people of Judah had not obeyed the words of the Lord and were about to suffer severe judgments.2TC 211.2

The Lord declared, “I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now everyone of you from your evil way, and amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall live in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors.’ But you did not incline your ear or obey Me.” “Therefore, ... I am going to bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem every disaster that I have pronounced against them.” Verses 15, 17, NRSV.2TC 211.3

When people turn from correction until their hearts become hardened, the Lord permits them to be led by other influences. Refusing the truth, they accept falsehood that leads to their own destruction. The Chaldeans were to be the instrument by which God would punish His disobedient people. Their sufferings would be proportional to the light they had despised and rejected. God now would bring His displeasure on them as a last effort to stop their evil course.2TC 211.4

God pronounced a continued blessing on the Rechabites: “Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, ... ‘Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever.’” Verses 18, 19. The lesson is for us. If the requirements of a wise father were worthy of strict obedience when he took the most effective means to secure his family—present and future—against the evils of intemperance, surely God’s authority should be held in much greater reverence! By His servants He predicts the dangers of disobedience. He sounds the warning and reproves sin. His people are kept in prosperity only by His mercy, through the vigilant watchcare of His chosen instruments. He cannot uphold a people who reject His counsel.2TC 212.1

The Faithful Youth Were Encouraged

Jeremiah never lost sight of the importance of heart holiness in the service of God. He foresaw the scattering of Judah among the nations, but with faith he looked beyond this to restoration. “‘The days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’” Jeremiah 23:5, 6.2TC 212.2

Those who would choose to live holy lives amid apostasy would be enabled to witness for Him. The days were coming, the Lord declared, when people would no longer say, “‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel ... from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.” Verses 7, 8. Such were the prophecies that Jeremiah spoke when the Babylonians were surrounding the walls of Zion.2TC 212.3

These promises fell like sweetest music on the ears of the steadfast worshipers of God. In homes that still held in reverence the counsels of a covenant-keeping God, even the children were mightily stirred. Their receptive minds received lasting impres sions. Their observance of Holy Scripture gave Daniel and his companions opportunities to exalt the true God before the nations of earth. The instruction these Hebrew children received in the homes of their parents made them strong in faith. When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem for the first time and carried away Daniel and his friends, the faith of the Hebrew captives was tested to the utmost. But those who had learned to place their trust in the promises of God found these promises to be all-sufficient, a guide and a support.2TC 212.4

As an interpreter of the judgments beginning to fall on Judah, Jeremiah stood nobly in defense of God’s justice. He extended his influence beyond Jerusalem by frequent visits to various parts of the kingdom. In his testimonies he constantly emphasized the importance of maintaining a covenant relationship with the compassionate Being who on Sinai had spoken the Ten Commandments. His words reached every part of the kingdom.2TC 213.1

The Perversity of King Jehoiakim

At the very time Jeremiah was urging messages of impending doom on princes and people, Jehoiakim, who should have been leading a reformation, was spending his time in selfish pleasure. He proposed, “I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers, ... paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion.” Jeremiah 22:14. This house he built with money and labor he obtained through fraud and oppression.2TC 213.2

God inspired Jeremiah to pronounce judgment on the faithless ruler: “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor’s service without wages and gives him nothing for his work.” “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: ‘They shall not lament for him. ... He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.’” Verses 13, 18, 19.2TC 213.3

Within a few years Jehoiakim would experience this terrible judgment. But first the Lord in mercy informed the rebellious nation of His plan: “Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah,” pointing out that for more than twenty years he had borne witness of God’s desire to save, but that the people had despised his messages. See Jeremiah 25:1-3. And now, “thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, ... and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land. ... This whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.’” Verses 8-11.2TC 213.4

The Lord compared the fate of the nation to the draining of a cup filled with the wine of divine wrath. Among the first to drink from this cup was to be “Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes.” Verse 18. Others would partake of the same cup—Egypt and many other nations. See Jeremiah 25.2TC 214.1

To illustrate further the coming judgments, God instructed the prophet to “take with you some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests, and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom” (Jeremiah 19:1, 2, NRSV) and there dash to pieces a “potter’s earthenware jug” (verse 1) and declare in behalf of the Lord, “Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be made whole again.” Verse 11. Returning to the city, he stood in the court of the temple and declared, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.’” Verse 15.2TC 214.2

The prophet’s words stirred the anger of those high in authority, and they imprisoned Jeremiah and placed him in the stocks. Still, his voice could not be silenced. The word of truth, he declared, “was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.” Jeremiah 20:9.2TC 214.3

About this time the Lord commanded Jeremiah to write his messages. “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. It may be that when the house of Judah hears of all the disasters that I intend to do to them, all of them may turn from their evil ways, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” Jeremiah 36:2, 3, NRSV.2TC 214.4

In obedience to this command, Jeremiah called his faithful friend, Baruch the scribe, and dictated “all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him.” Verse 4. Written on a parchment scroll, these words constituted a warning of the sure result of continued apostasy and an earnest appeal for them to renounce all evil.2TC 215.1

Jeremiah, still a prisoner, sent Baruch to read the roll to the crowds at the temple on a national fast day. “It may be,” the prophet said, “that they will present their supplication before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” Verse 7.2TC 215.2

Baruch read the scroll before all the people. Afterward the princes summoned the scribe to read the words to them. They listened with great interest and promised to inform the king, but they counseled Baruch to hide himself, for they feared the king would try to kill those who had prepared and delivered the message.2TC 215.3

Jehoiakim immediately ordered the scroll read in his hearing. One of the royal attendants, Jehudi, began reading the words of reproof and warning. It was winter, and the king and princes were gathered around an open fire. The king, far from trembling at the danger facing himself and his people, seized the scroll and in a frenzy of rage “cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire ... until all the scroll was consumed.” Verse 23.2TC 215.4

Neither the king nor his princes “was afraid, nor did they tear their garments.” Certain of the princes, however, “implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them.” The wicked king sent for Jeremiah and Baruch to be arrested, “but the Lord hid them.” Verses 24-26.2TC 215.5

God was graciously seeking to warn the people of Judah for their good. He pities those who struggle in the blindness of self-will. He seeks to enlighten the darkened understanding. He tries to help the self-complacent become dissatisfied and seek for a close connection with heaven.2TC 215.6

How God Tries to Save Us

God’s plan is not to send messengers who will please and flatter sinners. Instead, He lays heavy burdens on the conscience of the wrongdoer to prompt the agonizing cry, “What must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:30. But the Hand that humbles to the dust is the Hand that lifts up the repentant one. He who permits the punishment to fall inquires, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Mark 10:51.2TC 216.1

But King Jehoiakim and his lords, in their arrogance and pride, would not accept the warning and repent. The gracious opportunity offered to them at the time of the burning of the sacred scroll was their last. God declared He would bring special wrath on the man who had proudly lifted himself up against the Almighty. “Thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: ‘He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.’” Jeremiah 36:30.2TC 216.2

Jeremiah’s Second Book

The burning of the scroll was not the end of the matter. It was easier to dispose of the written words than of the swift-coming punishment that God had pronounced against rebellious Israel. But even the written scroll was reproduced. “Take yet another scroll,” the Lord commanded His servant, “and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned.” Verse 28. The words were still living in the heart of Jeremiah, “like a burning fire,” and the prophet reproduced what human anger had destroyed.2TC 216.3

Taking another scroll, Baruch wrote on it “all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words.” Verse 32. Jehoiakim’s very attempt to limit the prophet’s influence gave further opportunity for making the divine requirements plain.2TC 216.4

The spirit that led to the persecution of Jeremiah exists today. Many refuse to heed warnings, preferring to listen to false teachers who flatter their vanity and overlook their evil-doing. In the day of trouble such people will have no sure refuge. God’s chosen servants should courageously meet the sufferings that come to them through accusation, neglect, and misrepresentation. They should discharge faithfully the work God has given them, ever remembering that the prophets, the Savior, and His apostles also endured persecution for the Word’s sake.2TC 216.5

It was God’s intention for Jehoiakim to obey the counsels of Jeremiah and so win favor with Nebuchadnezzar and save himself much sorrow. The young king had sworn allegiance to the Babylonian ruler, and if he had remained true to his promise he would have won the respect of the heathen. But Judah’s king willfully violated his word of honor and rebelled. This brought bands of raiders against him. Within a few years he closed his disastrous reign in disgrace, rejected by Heaven, unloved by his people, and despised by the rulers of Babylon, whose confidence he had betrayed.2TC 217.1

Jehoiachin [also known as Jeconiah, and Coniah], the son of Jehoiakim, occupied the throne only three months and ten days when he surrendered to the Chaldean armies that were once more surrounding the doomed city. Nebuchadnezzar “carried away Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land,” several thousand in number, were also taken, together with “craftsmen and smiths, one thousand,” and “all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house.” 2 Kings 24:15, 16, 13.2TC 217.2

The kingdom of Judah, broken in power and robbed of its strength, was nevertheless still permitted to exist as a separate government. At its head Nebuchadnezzar placed Mattaniah, a younger son of Josiah, and changed his name to Zedekiah.2TC 217.3