Jer 20:1-6 (NIV) When the priest Pashhur son of
Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying
these things, 2 he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the
Upper Gate of Benjamin at the Lord's temple. 3 The next day, when Pashhur
released him from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, "The Lord's name for
you is not Pashhur, but Magor-Missabib.
4 For this is what the Lord says: 'I will make you a terror to yourself
and to all your friends; with your own eyes you will see them fall by the sword
of their enemies. I will hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon, who will
carry them away to Babylon or put them to the sword. 5 I will hand over to
their enemies all the wealth of this city — all its products, all its valuables
and all the treasures of the kings of Judah. They will take it away as plunder
and carry it off to Babylon. 6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house
will go into exile to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and all
your friends to whom you have prophesied lies.'"
NOTE: When I read
this passage, my thoughts go to the verse that says God's ways are not our
ways. Two things happen here, both of
which are the opposite of what we think should happen. There is no denying that God is in charge as
history itself is proof. First, God
promises to protect Jeremiah, and Jeremiah is thrown into prison. Well, that would not be my idea of
protection, but apparently God did not promise Jeremiah that bad things would
not happen to him, only that he would ultimately protect him. Jeremiah is protected, but Jeremiah
suffers. And by the verses which follow,
he suffers emotionally in his faith as well.
Secondly, Pashur is judged for his action of throwing Jeremiah into
prison. What happens to Pashur? He goes on to live through the attack and
into exile into Babylon. He will die in
Babylon, but he will not die by sword or plague or famine or any other
incredibly painful death. Instead, he
watches as Jeremiah's prophecy is fulfilled and his prophecies turn out to be
lies. I suppose that is a punishment,
but it seems light on the surface. Maybe
he spends the rest of his life trying to figure out how he thought he could be
so right and yet so wrong. Maybe he
doesn't care. And maybe he is too
thick-headed to even recognize the truth.
Still, in both cases, God is sovereign, and God does as he pleases. His ways are not my ways, and I suppose that
is a good thing.
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