The first years of Jehoiakim’s reign were filled with warnings of approaching doom. All unexpectedly a new world power, the Babylonian empire, was rising to the eastward and swiftly overshadowing Assyria, Egypt, and all other nations.
(SS 220.1)
The king of Babylon was to be the instrument of God’s wrath on impenitent Judah. Again and again Jerusalem was to be entered by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. Tens of thousands were to be taken captive in enforced exile. Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah were in turn to become vassals of the Babylonian ruler, and all in turn were to rebel. Severe chastisements were to be inflicted on the rebellious nation, until at last Jerusalem would be burned, the temple Solomon built destroyed, and Judah fall, never again to occupy its former position among the nations.
(SS 220.2)
Those times of change were marked with many messages from Heaven through Jeremiah. The Lord gave the children of Judah ample opportunity of freeing themselves from alliances with Egypt and of avoiding controversy with Babylon. Jeremiah taught the people by acted parables, hoping to arouse them to a sense of obligation to God and to encourage them to maintain friendly relations with the Babylonian government.
(SS 220.3)
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, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons forever.”“Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, ... The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father’s commandment.” Jeremiah 35:6, 12-14. But the men of Judah had hearkened not to the words of the Lord and were about to suffer severe judgments.
(SS 220.4)
The Lord declared, “I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land which I gave to you and your fathers.’ But you did not incline your ear or listen to Me.”“Therefore, ... I am bringing on Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them.” Verses 15, 17, RSV.
(SS 221.1)
When men turn from admonition until their hearts become hardened, the Lord permits them to be led by other influences. Refusing the truth, they accept falsehood to their own destruction. The Chaldeans were to be the instrument by which God would chastise His disobedient people. Their sufferings were to be in proportion to the light they had despised and rejected. God now would visit His displeasure on them as a last effort to check their evil course.
(SS 221.2)
Upon the Rechabites was pronounced a continued blessing: “Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, ... Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before Me forever.” Verses 18, 19. The lesson is for us. If the requirements of a wise father, who took the most effectual means to secure his posterity against the evils of intemperance, were worthy of strict obedience, 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 chosen instrumentalities. He cannot uphold a people who reject His counsel.
(SS 221.3)
Never did Jeremiah lose 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 to restoration. “The days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Jeremiah 23:5, 6.
(SS 222.1)
Those who should 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, “The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out ... from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.” Verses 7, 8. Such were the prophecies uttered by Jeremiah when the Babylonians were bringing their besieging armies against the walls of Zion.
(SS 222.2)
Like sweetest music these promises fell on the ears of those who were steadfast in their worship of God. In homes where the counsels of a covenant-keeping God were still held in reverence, even the children were mightily stirred, and on their receptive minds lasting impressions were made. Their observance of Holy Scripture brought to Daniel and his fellows 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 for the first time besieged Jerusalem and carried away Daniel and his companions, the faith of the Hebrew captives was tried to the utmost. But those who had learned to place their trust in the promises of God found these all-sufficient, a guide and a stay.
(SS 222.3)
As an interpreter of the judgments beginning to fall on Judah, Jeremiah stood nobly in defense of the justice of God. 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 Decalogue. His words reached every part of the kingdom.
(SS 223.1)
At the very time messages of impending doom were urged upon princes and people, Jehoiakim, who should have been foremost in reformation, was spending his time in selfish pleasure: “I will build me a wide house and large chambers,” he proposed; and this house, “cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion” (Jeremiah 22:14), was built with money and labor secured through fraud and oppression.
(SS 223.2)
The prophet was inspired to pronounce judgment on the faithless ruler: “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbor’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work.”“Therefore thus saith 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 an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.” Verses 13, 18, 19.
(SS 223.3)
Within a few years this terrible judgment was to be visited on Jehoiakim; but first the Lord in mercy informed the impenitent nation of His purpose: “Jeremiah the prophet spake unto 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 his messages had been despised. See Jeremiah 25:1-3. And now, “thus saith the Lord of hosts; Because ye 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 become a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” Verses 8-11.
(SS 223.4)
The Lord likened the fate of the nation to the draining of a cup filled with the wine of divine wrath. Among the first to drink of this cup was to be “Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof.” Verse 18. Others were to partake of the same cup—Egypt and many other nations. See Jeremiah 25.
(SS 224.1)
To illustrate further the coming judgments the prophet was bidden to “take 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, RSV) and there dash to pieces a “potter’s earthen bottle” (Verse 1) and declare in behalf of the Lord, “Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again.” Verse 11. Returning to the city, he stood in the court of the temple and declared, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear My words.” Verse 15.
(SS 224.2)
The prophet’s words aroused the anger of those high in authority, and Jeremiah was imprisoned, and placed in the stocks. Nevertheless, his voice could not be silenced. The word of truth, he declared, “was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” Jeremiah 20:9.
(SS 224.3)
About this time the Lord commanded Jeremiah to write the messages. “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and
(SS 224.4)
Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” Jeremiah 36:2, 3, RSV.
(SS 225.4)
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 unto him.” Verse 4. These were written on a roll of parchment and constituted a warning of the sure result of continual apostasy and an earnest appeal for the renunciation of all evil.
(SS 225.1)
Jeremiah, still a prisoner, sent Baruch to read the roll to the multitudes at the temple on a national fast day. “It may be,” the prophet said, “their supplication will come before the Lord, and that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” Verse 7, RSV.
(SS 225.2)
The roll was read before all the people. Afterward the scribe was summoned before the princes to read the words to them. They listened with great interest and promised to inform the king, but counseled the scribe to hide himself, for they feared the king would seek to slay those who had prepared and delivered the message.
(SS 225.3)
Jehoiakim immediately ordered the roll 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 about an open fire. The king, far from trembling at the danger hanging over himself and his people, seized the roll and in a frenzy of rage “cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire ... until all the roll was consumed.” Verse 23.
(SS 225.4)
Neither the king nor his princes “was afraid, nor rent their garments.” Certain of the princes, however, “had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.” The wicked king sent for Jeremiah and Baruch to be taken, “but the Lord hid them.” Verses 24-26.
(SS 225.5)
God was graciously seeking to warn the men of Judah for their good. He pities men struggling in the blindness of perversity. He seeks to enlighten the darkened understanding. He endeavors to help the self-complacent to become dissatisfied and seek for a close connection with heaven.
(SS 226.1)
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 penitent one. He who permits the chastisement to fall inquires, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” Mark 10:51.
(SS 226.2)
But King Jehoiakim and his lords, in their arrogance and pride, would not heed the warning and repent. The gracious opportunity offered them at the time of the burning of the sacred roll was their last. God declared He would visit with special wrath the man who had proudly lifted himself up against the Almighty. “Thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.” Jeremiah 36:30.
(SS 226.3)
The burning of the roll was not the end of the matter. The written words were more easily disposed of than the swift-coming punishment God had pronounced against rebellious Israel. But even the written roll was reproduced. “Take thee again another roll,” the Lord commanded His servant, “and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.” Verse 28. The words were still living in the heart of Jeremiah, “as a burning fire,” and the prophet reproduced that which the wrath of man had destroyed.
(SS 226.4)
Taking another roll, Baruch wrote therein “all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.” Verse 32. The means by which Jehoiakim had endeavored to limit the influence of the prophet gave further opportunity for making plain the divine requirements.
(SS 227.1)
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 will have no sure refuge. God’s chosen servants should meet with courage the sufferings that befall them through reproach, neglect, and misrepresentation. They should discharge faithfully the work God has given them, ever remembering that the prophets, the Saviour, and His apostles also endured persecution for the Word’s sake.
(SS 227.2)
It was God’s purpose that Jehoiakim should heed the counsels of Jeremiah and thus win favor in the eyes of Nebuchadnezzar and save himself much sorrow. The youthful king had sworn allegiance to the Babylonian ruler, and had he remained true to his promise he would have commanded the respect of the heathen. But Judah’s king willfully violated his word of honor, and rebelled. This brought against him bands of marauders. Within a few years he closed his disastrous reign in ignominy, rejected of Heaven, unloved by his people, and despised by the rulers of Babylon, whose confidence he had betrayed.
(SS 227.3)
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 which were once more besieging the fated city. Nebuchadnezzar “carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land,” several thousand in number, together with “craftsmen and smiths a 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.
(SS 227.4)
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, changing his name to Zedekiah.
(SS 228.1)