Friday, March 22, 2024

Jeremiah 14: false prophets have a positve message

 In Jeremiah 14 we read about a severe drought.

4-5  Because the ground is [b]cracked,
For there has been no rain on the land.
The farmers have been put to shame,
They have covered their heads.
5 For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young,
Because there is no grass.

Would the Lord let his people die because they are sinners? The prophet prays:

7 Though our wrongdoings testify against us,
Lord, act for the sake of Your name!
Our apostasies have indeed been many,
We have sinned against You.
8 Hope of Israel,
Its Savior in time of distress,
Why are You like a stranger in the land,
Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?
9 Why are You like a confused person,
Like a warrior who cannot save?
Yet You are in our midst, Lord,
And we are called by Your name;
Do not leave us!”

The Lord answers the prophet:

11 So the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for a good outcome on behalf of this people. 12 When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to put an end to them by the sword, famine, and plague.”

Jeremiah argues for Judah. They were misled by false prophets who have a "positive mindset" that are in fact lies.

13 But I said, “Oh, Lord [c]God! Behold, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” 14 Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own [d]minds. 15 Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying: ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! 16 And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour out their own wickedness upon them.


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