Jeremiah 26:7 - Meaning and Application

One would have hoped that a sermon like the one in the verses before this, so clear and practical, so reasonable and moving, and given in God’s name, would have affected even this people. It was especially fitting that they heard it while they were at worship, and it should have led them to repent and change. But instead of awakening their conscience, it stirred up their sinful anger, as this account shows.

First, Jeremiah is treated as a criminal for preaching this sermon. The priests, false prophets, and people heard him speak these words (Jeremiah 26:7). It seems they were patient enough to let him finish. They did not interrupt him while he was speaking, but waited until he had said all that the Lord commanded him to say (Jeremiah 26:8). In that, they acted more fairly than some who have persecuted God’s ministers. Yet they may have done so only to find a better charge against him. When they found none, they used this one: He has said, “This house will be like Shiloh” (Jeremiah 26:9).

Notice how unfairly they report his words. He had said, in God’s name, “If you will not listen to me, then I will make this house like Shiloh.” They leave out God’s part in the judgment, “I will make it so,” and also the people’s part, their refusal to listen to God’s voice. Then they accuse Jeremiah of speaking against this holy place, the same charge made against the Lord Jesus and Stephen: “He said, ‘This house will be like Shiloh.’” David complained in the same way, “All day long they twist my words” (Psalm 56:5). We should not be surprised if we, and what we say and do, are also misrepresented.

Since the accusation was so weak, it is no wonder the sentence was unjust: “You must die.” What Jeremiah had said agreed with what God had already said when he took possession of the temple (1 Kings 9:6-8): if they turned away from following him, this house would be abandoned. Yet he is condemned to die for saying it. Their anger does not come from concern for the honor of the temple. It comes from their refusal to give up their sins, while they still foolishly imagine that the temple of the Lord will protect them. So, right or wrong, “You must die.”

This cry from the priests and prophets stirred up the crowd, and all the people gathered against Jeremiah in a noisy uproar, ready to tear him apart. Some read it as meaning they surrounded him. They came together, some shouting one thing and some another. The people who had first been present were already angry with him (verse 8), and their shouting brought even more people in, only to find out what was happening.

Second, Jeremiah is brought before the highest court they had. The princes of Judah were his judges (Jeremiah 26:10). These were the men who sat on the thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. When they heard about the uproar in the temple, they came up from the king’s house, where they usually sat near the court, to the house of the Lord. They came to look into the matter and keep order. They sat down at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house and held court, as if by special appointment to hear the case.

The priests and prophets were his accusers, and they were fiercely against him. They appealed to the princes and to all the people, as though asking the court and the crowd whether this man was not worthy of death (Jeremiah 26:11). Corrupt priests and false prophets have often been the bitterest enemies of the Lord’s prophets. They had their own interests to protect, and they thought preaching like this would hurt them.

When Jeremiah prophesied in the king’s house about the fall of the royal family (Jeremiah 22:1 and following), the court, though very corrupt, seems to have tolerated it. We do not read that they persecuted him for that. But when he comes into the house of the Lord, and touches the priests’ territory, and contradicts the lies and flattery of the false prophets, then they say he is worthy to die. “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power” (Jeremiah 5:31).

Notice that when Jeremiah is accused before the princes, they stress what he said about the city, because they think the princes will care most about that. But about the words themselves, they appeal to the people: “You have heard what he has said; let it be used as evidence.”

Third, Jeremiah defends himself before the princes and the people. He does not try to deny the words or soften them. He stands by what he has said, even if it costs him his life. He admits that he prophesied against this house and this city, but he says he did so with good authority, not out of hatred, rebellion, or dislike for his country or its government, in church or state. “The Lord sent me to prophesy this” is how he begins his defense (Jeremiah 26:12), and he ends it the same way, because that is what he is sure of and will hold to (Jeremiah 26:15): “The Lord truly sent me to you to speak all these words.”

As long as ministers stay close to the commands they have from heaven, they need not fear the opposition that may come from earth or hell. Jeremiah says he is only a messenger. If he faithfully delivers his message, he should not be blamed. But he is a messenger from the Lord, to whom they are accountable, just as he is. So they ought to listen. If he says only what God told him to say, then he is under God’s protection, and any insult to the ambassador is an insult the King who sent him will notice.

He also shows that his message had a good purpose. It was not meant as a final sentence of doom, but as a fair warning. If they would take the warning seriously, they might escape the judgment (Jeremiah 26:13). Should I take it badly when someone warns me of danger while I still have time to avoid it? Should I not rather thank him for doing me the greatest kindness he could? “I have indeed prophesied against this city,” Jeremiah says, “but if you will now change your ways and your actions, the threatened ruin will be turned away.” That was his goal in giving the warning.

It is very unfair to complain about ministers for preaching about hell and judgment when their aim is to keep people from that place of torment and lead them to heaven and salvation.

He warns them of the danger they will bring on themselves if they go against him (Jeremiah 26:14). In effect, he says, “As for me, it is not a great matter what happens to me. I am in your hands. You know I am powerless here, and I cannot use any influence to stop you. It is not such a concern for me to save my own life that I will resist you. Do with me as seems right to you. If I am led to death, it will be like a lamb.”

This is a good reminder that God’s servants, when they preach with zeal, should also be calm in suffering and submit quietly to rulers, even when those rulers are hostile. But Jeremiah also tells them that if they put him to death, they will do so at their own peril: “You will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves” (Jeremiah 26:15). They may have thought that killing the prophet would silence the prophecy, but they would be badly mistaken. It would only increase their guilt and make their ruin worse.

Their own consciences should tell them that if Jeremiah was truly sent by God to deliver this message, then they were in great danger if they treated him like a criminal. Those who persecute God’s ministers do not hurt the ministers as much as they hurt themselves.