November 18, 2011
Jeremiah warns Zedekiah that he will be taken captive and that he will see it with his own eyes. "And you will go to Babylon." He was not going to escape from what God planned. The LORD also promised him that he would not be killed by a sword but that he would die peaceably. He couldn't escape from God's plan of captivity, but he would not die violently.
Zedekiah attempted to do at least one thing the way God wanted it to be done. Zedekiah made an agreement with the people in Jerusalem to free all the Hebrew slaves. They were not to put or keep their fellow Jews as slaves. I Corinthians 6 in the New Testament makes it clear the same rule applies to us. We should not be doing things to enslave fellow believers.
The people agreed to free their slaves, but then they changed their minds and, "they took back the people they had set free and made them slaves again." God freed them but they refused to free others. God said, "A short time ago you changed your hearts and did what I say is right. Each of you gave freedom to his fellow Hebrews who were slaves. And you even made an agreement before me in the place where I have chosen to be worshiped. But now you have changed your minds. You have shown you do not honor me." So this is what the LORD says: "You have not obeyed me. You have not given freedom to your fellow Hebrews, neither relatives nor friends. But now I will give freedom, says the LORD, to war, to terrible diseases, and to hunger." You will be hated and I will hand you over. I will bring their enemies back. The enemy will fight against them, capture and destroy everything they own... says the LORD.
Addendum: 7/27/16 ~ "But now I will give freedom... to war, to terrible diseases, and to hunger." Oh my goodness. It is startling to think about the comparison between what God freely gave us through Christ's death on the cross—freedom from sin—and compare that to God giving freedom to disasters to come against us when we refuse to follow His commands. What makes us (people) think we can do whatever we want without there being consequences for it?
Next Entry: Jeremiah 34:1 – 35:19 (Continued)
Jeremiah warns Zedekiah that he will be taken captive and that he will see it with his own eyes. "And you will go to Babylon." He was not going to escape from what God planned. The LORD also promised him that he would not be killed by a sword but that he would die peaceably. He couldn't escape from God's plan of captivity, but he would not die violently.
Zedekiah attempted to do at least one thing the way God wanted it to be done. Zedekiah made an agreement with the people in Jerusalem to free all the Hebrew slaves. They were not to put or keep their fellow Jews as slaves. I Corinthians 6 in the New Testament makes it clear the same rule applies to us. We should not be doing things to enslave fellow believers.
The people agreed to free their slaves, but then they changed their minds and, "they took back the people they had set free and made them slaves again." God freed them but they refused to free others. God said, "A short time ago you changed your hearts and did what I say is right. Each of you gave freedom to his fellow Hebrews who were slaves. And you even made an agreement before me in the place where I have chosen to be worshiped. But now you have changed your minds. You have shown you do not honor me." So this is what the LORD says: "You have not obeyed me. You have not given freedom to your fellow Hebrews, neither relatives nor friends. But now I will give freedom, says the LORD, to war, to terrible diseases, and to hunger." You will be hated and I will hand you over. I will bring their enemies back. The enemy will fight against them, capture and destroy everything they own... says the LORD.
Addendum: 7/27/16 ~ "But now I will give freedom... to war, to terrible diseases, and to hunger." Oh my goodness. It is startling to think about the comparison between what God freely gave us through Christ's death on the cross—freedom from sin—and compare that to God giving freedom to disasters to come against us when we refuse to follow His commands. What makes us (people) think we can do whatever we want without there being consequences for it?
Next Entry: Jeremiah 34:1 – 35:19 (Continued)
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