Jeremiah 15:14: “And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not.”
“I have no trouble with my enemies, I can take care of my enemies alright, but my d***
Friends – they’re the ones who keep me walking the floor at night.” Warren G. Harding
The phrase; I will make thee to pass (over) with thine enemies… is difficult to understand. The word avar does mean to pass over, but it just doesn’t make sense here. However, the translators of the Septuagint saw this word as avid rather than avar. The Resh and Daleth look very similar and are often mistaken. Thus, you will find the Septuagint and many modern English translations rendering this as servant rather than pass. This is also in a hiphal perfect form.
Thus, this passage would probably be better rendered as “I have already caused you to serve your enemies.” This not only makes more sense but it is also historically correct. Jeremiah did end up serving the Babylonians, his enemy and they knew all about this fellow Jeremiah who was prophesying in his land long before they conquered Judah.
God called Jeremiah to preach something that was completely theologically and culturally unsound. He was supposed to preach that in the coming conflict between Judah and Babylon, Judah was going to lose. You don’t think that got the ire of the religious community and flag waving patriots going? They were very quick to put old Jeremiah down. “Jeremiah, how dare you preach such a negative Gospel. God is not a God of defeat, God is a God victory. You go around speaking such negative things you may bring it about. Why, where is your faith? We are, after all, the people of God. Look there is the temple. Do you believe God would allow an enemy to come in and destroy his own temple? His dwelling place? Be reasonable man.” And indeed there were a lot of prophets around who were predicating great things for Judah. They prophesied big break throughs, big financial victories and total destruction of the enemy. They prophesied horrible things that would happen to Babylon if they dared to touch God’s chosen people.
Then there was Jeremiah with his little store front ministry prophesying something that just defied all logic. Jeremiah was threatened, beaten and even imprisoned, not so much for prophesying in the name of God, but for his unpatriotic behavior and treason. Also the fact that people believed that if you made such negative speech you may just bring it about. In the meantime other prophets who knew how to prophesy in ways that the people liked moved from their storefront ministries to very prosperous ministries with high profile platforms. They predicted victory and the coming destruction of their enemy Babylon.
When you stop to consider the prophesies of the false prophets, it made more sense than the prophesies of Jeremiah. After all Judah was the only nation in the world that was a monotheistic, Jehovah Worshipping nation. Sure they may have some idols and an element that worship them. But for the most part the people of Judah were good, religious people. They celebrated the Sabbath, they kept all the festivals, and paid their tithes to the temple. If God wouldn’t spare the land for that reason, then look at their tradition, mission and calling. If anything God would spare them for the sake of getting his message out. Then, if but for no other reason, consider this. The very temple of God rested in Jerusalem. This was God’s dwelling place. How would God allow his very temple, his resting place, fall into the hands of the pagan nation of Babylon.
But if that isn’t enough to prove Jeremiah as a false prophet, consider what else he is prophesying. He is saying that Judah should just give up, surrender to the
Babylonians without a fight and admit defeat before the battle even started. What kind of God would allow such irresponsibility? Not only would this prove that Jeremiah was a false prophet, but he was obviously in the employ of the Babylonians, a spy and a traitor.
Sitting in prison Jeremiah cries out to God in Jeremiah 20. “Why do you make me say these awful things. Look at old Ruben there, he preaches victory and prosperity and boy does he have a big platform and runs a growing ministry with the kings attention. Me, I preach from my heart, a word burning in my heart and what happens, I end up in prison.”
Yet, within Jeremiah’s lifetime all those ministries of the false prophets collapsed, many were imprisoned and many were executed by the Babylonians. The king was tortured and blinded by the Babylonians, the temple was destroyed and what of Jeremiah? Well he turned out to be some sort of folk hero to the Babylonians, the toast of the town because he supposedly supported the Babylonian cause and was given a comfortable position in the avid, the service of his enemies.
Five hundred years ago there lived another Jeremiah, a Catholic monk who spoke the words on the hearts of many religious leaders and followers who were too afraid to voice those words. This monk was named Martin Luther who not and stood before the Holy Roman Emperor with all his books laid out, all which went against the party line of the church, but spoke the heart of this one who sought to know the heart of God and not some political position. He was asked to recant and take a position more in line with the teachings of the church. He responded by saying: “I cannot nor will not recant for my conscious is captive to the Word of God and to go against conscious is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, God help me.”
A hundred years later a group of Jeremiahs called Pilgrims who also were captive to the Word of God and would not taut the party line in England fled to a new world where they and their descendants could study the Word of God and let the Holy Spirit dictate what to believe and not was dictated by a group of religious leaders or experts.
I guess there are times we just needed to remind ourselves of that freedom and the unique privilege we have in 2014 that few have had in the last 2000 years of Christianity. This country is ready and needs 21st Century Jeremiahs who will speak the heart of God and not the party line, more ready than it has ever been before.
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