Books: Stories of the Prophets
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Isaac Landman >> Stories of the Prophets
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"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your
ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this
place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, 'The Temple of
the Lord! The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!
"'For, if you really amend your ways and your deeds, if ye
faithfully execute justice between a man and his neighbor,
if ye oppress not the resident alien, the fatherless and
the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and
do not go after other gods to your hurt; then I will cause
you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your
fathers, forever and ever.'"
Here was a very amazing accusation! What does he mean by saying that
the people are trusting in "lying words?" Jeremiah insisted:
"But now ye _are_ trusting in lying words that cannot profit."
Then he hastened to explain fully and without reserve:
"Will ye steal, murder and commit adultery; swear falsely
and offer sacrifices to Baal, and go after other gods whom
ye have not known, and then come and stand before Me in this
House which is called after My name and say 'We are free to
do all these abominations?'
"Is this, My house, which is called by my name, a den of
robbers in your eyes?
"Behold: I, indeed, have seen it, saith the Lord."
The crowds stood there, mouths agape. They had never heard anything so
outspoken and fearless before. Several so-called prophets were
prepared to go on with the argument, but a number of assistant
priests, who were marshalling the people with their sacrificial
offerings into the Temple in proper order and to their appointed
places, put a halt to the debate.
Word had come from the interior of the Temple that the chief priests
were waiting for the sacrifices. The assistants wanted the people to
move on. So it was arranged that, on the day following, Jeremiah
should meet a chosen few of the Jerusalem prophets to discuss their
differences of opinion publicly, in the Temple courts.
Jeremiah's acceptance of this challenge nearly cost him his life.
CHAPTER X.
_A Narrow Escape._
The issue was squarely drawn.
Either the Temple Prophets were the true spokesmen of the God of Judah
and Jeremiah was an impostor, or Jeremiah spoke the truth that had
been "cut off from their mouth" and the Temple Prophets were feeding
the people on "lying words."
A great concourse of citizens of Jerusalem and pilgrims to the city
gathered for the debate. Jeremiah, much older looking than his years,
was the center of attraction. He was tall and erect. His face was
somewhat drawn and showed wrinkles of worriment. He was dressed in an
unadorned brown mantle that singled him out among the holiday-attired
priests and prophets with whom he was conversing.
Evidently this was to be a friendly argument, without ill-feeling on
either side.
Jeremiah was the first to speak. As soon as he began it was plain to
be seen that his worry was not fear of the arguments with which his
opponents were about to attack him, but that it was deeper-seated. He
started by informing his hearers that he was well acquainted with the
things that were being preached in Jerusalem as the word of God.
"I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright. No man
repenteth him of his wickedness, saying, 'What have I done?'
Everyone turneth to his course as a horse that rusheth
headlong into battle.
"Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed time;
the turtle dove and the swallow and the crane observe the
time of their coming; but my people know not the law of
the Lord."
"Is that so?" queried one of the Jerusalem prophets, with a sneer. In
his reply, he pointed out that both the laws of the religion and the
laws of the State were known to the priests and prophets, in whose
charge were the Temple and the government, and were obeyed by them and
the people. With sweeping gestures he emphasized the prosperity of the
people and the peace of the country. "Thou art the disturber of the
peace," he concluded hotly. "Leave the Temple and the State to the
wise men, the scribes, the priests and prophets in Jerusalem, and all
will be well."
"The same kind of argument," thought Jeremiah, as he listened
attentively to the speaker. "They always fail to grasp the vital
things that God demands of them." In his rejoinder, therefore,
Jeremiah came back forcibly:
"How do ye say, 'We are wise and the law of the Lord is with
us!' But, behold, the false pen of the scribes hath made
falsehood of it. The wise men are put to shame. Lo, they
have rejected the word of the Lord.
"And what manner of wisdom is in them? Every one, from the
least even unto the greatest, is given to covetousness; from
the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
"And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people
slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace."
Instantly there came to Jeremiah's mind the story of the Kingdom of
Israel with its deceitful priests and false prophets, who, at Bethel
and Shiloh, taught and preached untruths about God--and the sad end of
them all. They, too, had thought everything was well with them and
their sanctuary and the peace of the land. So Jeremiah continued:
"Then go now to my sanctuary which is in Shiloh, where I
caused my name to dwell at first and see what I did to it
because of the wickedness of my people Israel.
"And now because ye have done all these deeds, and although
I spoke to you insistently, ye have not heeded, and although
I called you, ye have not answered, therefore I will do to
the house, which ye call by My name, in which ye trust, and
to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I
did to Shiloh."
This speech started several commotions in different parts of the
crowd. From the extreme edge, to the right of the speakers, one man
began to come forward, shouting:
"Blasphemy!"
The cry was taken up all around him. From various directions men,
throwing their arms in the air and yelling at the top of their voices,
made their way with difficulty toward the speakers, crying:
"Blasphemy! Blasphemy!!"
Jeremiah, at first, could not understand the commotion. What had he
said, what had he done, that was blasphemous? Then, as the cry became
general and the surging mob became threatening, the thought came to
him that the people had been taught by the priests and prophets in
Jerusalem that the Temple was inviolable, that no matter what the
political fortunes of Judah might be, God would never permit "the
House which is called by His name" to be destroyed.
Now Jeremiah understood and he was helpless. His simile of the
sanctuary at Shiloh suggested the destruction and ruin of the Temple
in Jerusalem--and that was blasphemy.
He did not know, however, that his opponents had purposely planted men
in various sections of the assembly to wait and watch for any
blasphemous hint in his argument and to raise the cry against him.
"Blasphemy! Blasphemy!" The cry was now general. And the leader who
started it, when he came within reach of Jeremiah, grasped his mantle
and shouted:
"You must die!"
The Temple guard rushed to the prophet's assistance. Blasphemy was
punishable by death, but the punishment must come in the regular,
legal way and not by the hands of the mob.
Under protection of the guard, therefore, Jeremiah was led to the new
gate, built by King Josiah, where the princes sat as judges. At his
heels was the threatening, gesticulating crowd, goaded on by
Jeremiah's enemies, demanding his life.
The trial was opened without delay. Here were thousands of witnesses
who had heard the man and there seemed little hope for him to escape
being stoned to death. One of the prophets opened the case for the
prosecution, addressing himself to the judges:
"This man is worthy of death; for he hath prophesied against
this city in the name of God, saying, 'This house shall be
like Shiloh. This city shall be deserted, without an inhabitant.'"
Turning dramatically to the crowd, he swept his arm over their heads,
adding for the purpose of affirmation:
"As ye have heard with your ears."
"Aye, aye," many responded.
"Blasphemy! Blasphemy!" shouted others.
And still others demanded, "He must die! He must die!"
When a semblance of quiet was restored, Jeremiah stepped forward from
between the two guards who had him in charge, faced the accusing
people, and said, very calmly and humbly:
"It was the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this Temple
and against this city all the words that you have heard."
"Bah!" jeered the leaders of the opposition, and many took up the
signal and joined in the jeering. Jeremiah did not permit the jeers to
interrupt him:
"Now therefore reform your ways and your acts and obey the
voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent of the
evil that he has pronounced upon you."
"Hear him! Hear him!" arose from all directions. "He blasphemes! He
blasphemes!" Jeremiah paid no attention to these outcries, but turned
to the judges and concluded his defense:
"But as for me, see, I am in your hand; do with me as
appears to you to be good and right.
"Only be assured that, if you put me to death, you will
bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and
upon its inhabitants, for verily the Lord hath sent me to
you to speak all these things in your ears."
Jeremiah ceased. He walked back to his place between the two guards to
await his sentence. The mob was rather taken by surprise at the
prisoner's defense. He made no arguments for release, no pleas for his
life, but stated his belief in his work and his faith in God, trusting
for the rest in the justness of his cause.
From out among the princes arose Ahikam, the eldest son of Shaphan,
who was the Royal Scribe for Jehoiakim, as his father had been for
Josiah. Ahikam and Jeremiah had been close friends as young men, even
as their fathers had been all their lives. Recently, however, they had
not seen much of each other. Jeremiah was busy about his business and
Ahikam was permanently stationed in Jerusalem, at the palace.
Jeremiah hardly recognized Ahikam when he began to address the judges.
His interest in the speaker was greatly stirred, however, when he
heard Ahikam say that he had no apology to offer for the position he
was taking, nor for his friendship and love for the man who was
accused of the crime of blasphemy. He said that he believed that his
and Jeremiah's fathers were of the greatest service to King Josiah in
the prosperity that attended his reign, and that, though the priests
and prophets of Jerusalem might not understand it, Jeremiah wanted the
peace and prosperity of the nation and of the capital, not their doom.
Then, rising to a pitch of oratorical flight, he cried:
"This man is not worthy of death, for he hath spoken to us
in the name of the Lord our God."
Up jumped Pashhur, the chief officer of the Temple, and told the story
of Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, who also had prophesied in the Temple
in the name of God. Pashhur continued:
"And he prophesied against the city and against this land
according to all the words of Jeremiah; and when Jehoiakim,
the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard
his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when
Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt.
"And Jehoiakim, the king, sent men into Egypt, and they
fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him unto
Jehoiakim, the king, who slew him with the sword, and cast
his dead body into the graves of the common people."
But Ahikam, who, like his father, was acquainted with the history of
his people, arose and answered Pashhur:
"Micah the Moreshtite, prophesied in the days of Hezekiah,
king of Judah, and he spake to all the people of Judah,
saying, 'Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: "Zion shall be plowed
as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain
of the house as the high places of a forest."'
"Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah put him to death?
Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord
so that the Lord repented him of the evil which he had
pronounced against them? But we are on the point of doing
great injustice to ourselves."
To the surprise of the priests and the prophets Ahikam's argument
prevailed with the princes who sat in judgment, and with the people
themselves. They dispersed without further ado, but they continued
discussing the situation among themselves.
No punishment was visited upon Jeremiah, but he had a narrow escape.
Jeremiah and Ahikam left the gate arm in arm. They were happy at the
renewal of their friendship, even if it took place in the shadow of
death.
Ahikam warned his friend to be more careful, when they parted.
Jeremiah left him with much to think about. It was the first time that
he had been attacked and his life threatened. In addition, though
Jeremiah did not hear of it that day, Pashhur had sworn to corner
Jeremiah yet, so that he could not escape.
CHAPTER XI.
_A Taste of Martyrdom._
Jeremiah returned home a very sad man, but not a wiser one from the
point of view of his safety. He kept much to himself in the city of
Anathoth and devoted his time to teaching a group of young men with
whom he had surrounded himself.
Among them was Baruch, son of Neriah, of a distinguished Jerusalem
family, whose members had always stood high in the counsels of the
kings. Baruch was not only a disciple of Jeremiah, but also acted as
his secretary when writing was to be done.
Baruch was intimate with Jeremiah's family in Anathoth, and he
informed Jeremiah that his cousins did not approve of his actions in
the Temple. They did not like the notoriety it brought them and hoped
he would hold his peace.
These cousins did not have the courage to speak their mind to Jeremiah
face to face, and so he did not trouble about them, their likes or
dislikes, their approval or disapproval. He had on his mind a very
troublesome problem when it began to be rumored that Jehoiakim was
about to re-introduce human sacrifices in Ge-Hinnom.
Ge-Hinnom was the "valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry
of the gate of potsherds, called Tophet." The southwestern gate of the
City of Jerusalem overlooked this valley where an altar had been
erected for the atrocious Moloch-worship, but which was destroyed by
Josiah during the Reformation.
Jeremiah had but to hear of the king's proposal to re-establish the
Moloch-rites, to act.
He went to Jerusalem, despite the pleading of Baruch not to go,
gathered a number of the Elders who had been his father's and Josiah's
friends and co-workers, and asked them to accompany him to Tophet.
They proceeded through the southwestern gate, "the gate of the
valley," followed by a number of idlers, the curious who keep at a
distance to see what will happen.
Arrived at the ruins of the altar of Moloch, Jeremiah drew from under
his mantle a potter's earthen bottle, and, without giving a hint of
what he was about to do, broke it on one of the altar stones. Turning
to the Elders, he said:
"Thus said the Lord of Hosts: 'Even so will I break this
people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel,
that cannot be made whole again.'"
That was all! He had portrayed more vividly than he could ever have
done in a long speech what would be the consequences if the king
persisted in bringing back the horrible worship of Moloch.
Returning to the city, Jeremiah stopped at the Temple. He had not been
in Jerusalem since he narrowly escaped stoning at the hands of the
mob. As soon as he was recognized--and the word of his coming had been
spread by the onlookers, who had returned from Tophet ahead of him--the
crowd gathered about him, anxious to hear what he would have to say.
He told them a story first. He had been down at a potter's house that
morning, watching the potter at work. The vessel the potter made
didn't suit him, so he destroyed it while the clay was yet soft and
pliable. Then he made another vessel out of that same clay, "as seemed
good to the potter to make it." This story he followed up with a
passionate plea to the people:
"'O house of Israel cannot I do with you as this potter?'
saith the Lord. 'Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand,
so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel.'
"'At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and
concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to
destroy it; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken,
turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I
thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and
to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that
they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good,
wherewith I said I would benefit them.'
"'Now, therefore,' thus saith the Lord: 'Behold, I frame
evil against you, and devise a device against you. Return
ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and
your deeds.'"
Several of the Jerusalem prophets, upon Jeremiah's coming to the
Temple, gathered quickly in Pashhur's chambers to talk the matter
over. They had thought that the charge of blasphemy had frightened
Jeremiah so that he would not return; but here he was again, as
persistent in his course as ever. Not one was willing to admit that
there was some truth in Jeremiah's pleadings and threats, but all of
them came to this conclusion:
"Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law
shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise,
nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him
with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words."
Pashhur listened to all their talk with amusemsnt. Jeremiah had been a
nuisance around the Temple, of which he was chief officer, long
enough. Here was his chance to fix him, he thought.
"Come, and let us smite him with the tongue?" he asked, with a jeering
laugh. He told them that they were fools to argue with the pest. He
would show them how to deal with him.
Pashhur buckled up his mantle, gritting his teeth. He fairly ran to
the open place where Jeremiah was speaking. He burst through the crowd
with curses upon them all. Facing Jeremiah, he shouted:
"Thou--" but his anger and hate overcame him. He almost foamed at the
mouth with rage and could not speak a word.
Before Jeremiah understood what the matter was, Pashhur slapped him on
both cheeks with his hands. Then he struck him square on the jaw with
his right fist--and Jeremiah dropped to the slabbed marble of the
courtyard, where he had been standing.
The crowd was startled and amazed at what had happened. But Pashhur
gave no opportunity for remonstrance. A number of the Temple guards,
who had come up with their chief, dispersed the people with curses and
blows.
Pashhur stood over the prostrate body of Jeremiah, like the victor
over his defeated adversary--waiting for him to show signs of rising
that he might strike him again. When Jeremiah regained consciousness,
however, the brutal Pashhur had thought better of it. Another such
blow and he would have killed the prophet--and Pashhur knew the law on
shedding innocent blood.
Therefore, when Jeremiah had fully recovered and had once more risen
to his feet, Pashhur arrested him and had him led to the upper Temple
gate, which is the gate of Benjamin. There he put him into the stocks
with his own hands.
That whole day and that whole night Jeremiah remained pilloried.
Hundreds of people passed him. Some, urged on by the priests and the
false prophets, mocked at him; some, pitying him from the depths of
their hearts, sympathized with him; some spat upon him.
Near the pillory, all that day and night, there hovered a gray-haired
Ethiopian who longed to speak a word of cheer and comfort to the
unfortunate prophet and to give him water to drink and food to eat,
but he dared not because of the guard that Pashhur had placed over him.
During all the terrible agony and shame, Jeremiah did not utter a loud
word of complaint or condemnation.
On the following morning Pashhur ordered Jeremiah to be brought to his
chamber. There twenty-one stripes were administered to him; and after
warning him never to enter Jerusalem again, Pashhur ordered him to
leave the city and be thankful he wasn't carried out of it a corpse.
Before going, however, Jeremiah turned on Pashhur and said to him:
"The Lord hath not called thy name Pashhur, but Magor
(Terror), for thus saith the Lord: 'Behold I am about to
make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends; and
they shall fall by the sword of your enemy before your very
eyes. But thee and all Judah will I give into the hands of
the King of Babylon, and he will carry them into captivity
and slay them with the sword.
"'Moreover, I will give all the riches of this city and all
its possessions and all the treasures of the king of Judah
into the hands of their enemies, and they shall carry them
away to Babylon; and thou and all that dwell in thy house
shall go into captivity, and thou shalt die at Babylon and
be buried there, together with all thy friends to whom thou
hast prophesied falsely.'"
Here, for the first time, Jeremiah spoke of Babylon as the source from
which all the evil impending over Judah was to come. For, one of the
Elders who had accompanied him to Tophet, the day before, had
whispered to him that Jehoiakim was preparing for a revolt from
Nebuchadrezzar.
The reason why such a dangerous idea had entered the mind of Jehoiakim
was that Nebuchadrezzar had received word, while yet at Riblah, that
his father, Nabopolassar, had died. Without delay, and before having
subdued the Palestinian states to his entire satisfaction, he marched
to Babylon to be crowned and to establish himself firmly upon his
throne.
Jehoiakim thought he saw an opportunity here to regain his
independence. Jeremiah knew how foolhardy and impossible this
undertaking would be. He so informed Pashhur, therefore, and received
a kick and a cuff for his pains, as a farewell from that worthy
officer upon leaving Jerusalem.
CHAPTER XII.
_The Woe of the Prophet._
"What now?" Jeremiah asked himself.
Without an idea as to what his next move should be or where he should
now turn, he took the road leading to Anathoth.
A day and a night in the stocks and the smarting lashes at Pashhur's
hands, had given him a taste of martyrdom, and left him sick of heart
and soul. He wanted to go home! Yes, he would go home where he would
find, among his relatives and those dear to him, the shelter and
comfort and rest that he longed for so much. His heart yearned for
love and his soul for peace.
He turned northward. Head bent, spirit crushed, wounded in mind and in
body, he approached the town of his birth, where he had spent the
happy days of his youth, where he had received his call to prophesy,
that ended now in humiliation and disgrace.
The painful, bitter thoughts that passed through his mind were
suddenly disturbed by the noise of someone running toward him and
calling his name. Jeremiah looked up to see young Baruch, all out of
breath, coming toward him, both his arms waving in the air as if
giving a warning.
"Flee, master, flee!" Baruch cried, looking back in fear lest some one
was pursuing him or would overhear him.
"Baruch!" exclaimed Jeremiah, stretching out his arms in welcome. The
sight of the young man was the first moment of joy he had had since
his encounter with Pashhur.
Baruch did not hear the joyous note in his master's greeting. His face
was pale and he was trembling from head to foot. Mechanically he ran
into Jeremiah's embrace, but did not return it. Facing Anathoth and
pointing toward it, he whispered, rapidly, "They have devised devices
against thee, saying, 'Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof;
let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be
no more remembered.'"
Jeremiah finally succeeded in calming Baruch and drew out of him the
fact that his cousins had conspired to kill him, and that, to save
himself, he must not enter Anathoth.
Jeremiah's family had been poor but respectable citizens of Anathoth
for many generations. They traced their ancestry back to Eli and to
the high priest, Abiathar, who served in the Temple during the time of
David, but whom Solomon banished to the suburb.
His relatives had always looked upon Jeremiah as the black sheep of
the family. Now, in addition to their poverty, he had cast ridicule
upon them by his actions, and contempt by his punishment in the
stocks. So they decided to put him out of the way and be rid of him,
once for all.
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