Jeremiah 26:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have the sermon Jeremiah preached, and it stirred up such anger that his life was in danger. It is left on record as an appeal to fair-minded people in every age. They can judge whether Jeremiah deserved to die for speaking this message from God, and whether his enemies were not deeply wicked and unreasonable.

First, God directed Jeremiah where, when, and to whom to preach it, so no one should blame him for poor judgment in the setting. He was told to preach in the court of the Lord’s house, right in the area controlled by the priests, who were already his enemies. He was also to speak at one of the great festivals, when people had come from all the cities of Judah to worship in the Lord’s house. Those worshipers likely respected the priests and would be quick to believe whatever the priests said against Jeremiah, which made the setting especially dangerous.

Still, Jeremiah was not to be afraid or soften the message. God told him not to leave out a single word, but to speak everything he had been commanded. God’s messengers must follow their instructions closely and not change the message, either to please people or to protect themselves from harm. They must not add to it or take away from it (Deuteronomy 4:2).

Second, God also told Jeremiah what to preach, and it was a message that should have offended only those who were determined to keep sinning. He was to tell them that if they repented and turned from their sins, God would stop the coming judgment, even though ruin was near. This was the main purpose of sending Jeremiah, to see whether they would return from their evil ways so that God could turn away his anger and withdraw the punishment. God is willing, even eager, to show mercy, but he waits until people are ready to receive it in a way that honors his justice and holiness.

On the other hand, if they kept refusing God’s calls and stayed stubborn in disobedience, their city and temple would surely be destroyed (Jeremiah 26:4-6). What God asked of them was simple: obey what he had already spoken through the written law and through his prophets. They were to walk in all his law, the law of Moses, and listen to the prophets, who taught nothing against that law but only what agreed with it. The law was the standard God had set before them, and the prophets were his own servants, sent early and with great care, so they would not come too late after people’s prejudice had hardened.

They had long refused to listen to either the law or the prophets. Now God simply required them at last to pay attention and make his word their rule. That was a fair demand. If they refused, the city and temple would suffer the same fate as Shiloh and the tabernacle there, which had been rejected earlier because the people would not walk in God’s law or listen to his prophets. The principle is plain: if two cases are alike, they should be treated alike. If Jerusalem became like Shiloh in sin, why should it not become like Shiloh in punishment?

This warning was not new, either; Jeremiah had already said something like it before (Jeremiah 7:12-14). When the temple, the pride of Jerusalem, was destroyed, the city itself would become a curse, because the temple was what made it a blessing. If salt loses its flavor, it is good for nothing. In this way, Jerusalem would become the model of a curse, so that anyone wishing to curse another city would say, “May God make it like Jerusalem.” Those who will not submit to God’s commands place themselves under God’s curse.