Running with the Horses!
Running with the Horses!
Introductory Notes to Jeremiah
I. The Man
The name “Jeremiah” means “whom Jehovah appoints.” Apart from this appointment by God, certainly the prophet could not have continued to minister faithfully. He was of the priestly line and lived in the priests’ city of Anathoth. Apparently he had some personal wealth because he was able to purchase real estate and even hire a scribe. He was called to the ministry when but “a child” (1:4–6); this was in the year 627 B.C.
II. The Times
Jeremiah ministered during the last forty years of Judah’s history, from the thirteenth year of Josiah (627 B.C.) to the destruction of Jerusalem and beyond (587 B.C.). He lists the kings during whose reigns he served (1:1–3), the last leaders of the once-prosperous kingdom of Judah. Josiah was a godly king; he died in 608 B.C. It was during his reign that the Law was found and the temple worship restored. Jehoahaz followed, but reigned only three months, so Jeremiah does not mention him. Jehoiakim was next (608–597 B.C.); he was a godless man and did his utmost to persecute Jeremiah. It was he who burned the scroll of Jeremiah’s prophecies in Jer. 36. Jehoiachin was the next king, but he too reigned just three months before being taken captive to Babylon. The last king was Zedekiah (597–586 B.C.); he presided over the ruin of the nation and the capture of the city of Jerusalem. So, the Prophet Jeremiah lived to see his beloved nation go down into sin, war, and judgment; yet through it all he was faithful to preach God’s Word throughout all the lands.
When Jeremiah began his ministry, Assyria was the leading power in the world, but Egypt and Babylon were rapidly gaining strength. In 607 B.C. the Babylonians took Nineveh and destroyed the power of Assyria. Babylon then turned to Judah, and Judah’s “politicians” advised the king to ask Egypt for help. Jeremiah was always against an Egyptian alliance. He knew that Judah’s only hope was the Lord, but her sins were so great, the nation had lost the blessing of God. Babylon finally did capture Judah and take Jerusalem (606–586). Jeremiah wrote Lamentations to commemorate the death of the Holy City.
III. The Message
Jeremiah’s task was not an easy one because he had to sound the death knell for his nation. The first part of his book records several of his sermons, given in Jerusalem, in which he denounces the people, priests, and princes for their sins, especially the sin of idolatry. In chapter 25 he announces that the nation will go into captivity for seventy years, and then return to reestablish the nation. In chapter 31 he prophesies a “new covenant” between Jehovah and His people, not a covenant of law and works written on stones, but a covenant of love and faith, written in the heart. In the final chapters, Jeremiah deals with the Gentile nations around Judah and tells of God’s plans for them.
One of the key words in the book is “backslide” (2:19; 3:6, 8, 11–12, 14, 22; 49:4). The nation had turned her back on the Lord and was following false prophets who led them to worship idols. Eleven times the word “repent” is used by the prophet, but the nation did not repent. We read of Jeremiah weeping, so burdened was he for his fallen nation. See 9:1; 13:17; 14:17; 15:17–18; and Lam. 1:2; 2:11, 18. Because he prophesied the captivity and told the kings to surrender to Babylon, Jeremiah was called a traitor and was persecuted by his own people. No OT prophet faced more opposition from false prophets than did Jeremiah (see 2:8, 26; 4:9; 5:31; 6:14; 14:13–16; 18:18; 23:9–40; 26:8–19; 27:9–16; chaps. 28 and 29). If Judah had repented and turned to God, He would have delivered them from Babylon. Because they persisted in their sins, the nation had to be punished, but then God promised restoration “for His name’s sake.” Jeremiah used many dramatic illustrations to get his messages across: fountains and cisterns (2:13); medicine (8:22); a “good-for-nothing” girdle or sash (13:1–11); a clay vessel (chaps. 18–19); yokes (chap. 27); drowning a book (51:59–64).
IV. Jeremiah and Jesus
The similarities between Jeremiah and Jesus Christ are worth noting. Neither married (16:2), and both were rejected by their own towns (11:21 and 12:6 with Luke 4:16–30). Jeremiah ministered under the menacing shadow of Babylon, Jesus under the shadow of Rome. Both were considered traitors by their people. Jeremiah was viciously opposed by the false prophets, Jesus by the scribes and Pharisees, the false leaders of His day. Both wept over the city of Jerusalem, and both predicted its ruin. Jeremiah gathered few disciples about him; Jesus had a small following. Both were arrested falsely and persecuted. Both emphasized a religion of the heart, and not merely one of outward forms and ceremonies. It was Jeremiah 7:11 that Jesus quoted when He cleansed the temple and told the priests they had made it “a den of thieves.” Both emphasized the new covenant in the heart (Jer. 31:31–37; Heb. 8:7ff). In their preaching, both used striking illustrations and comparisons. Both revealed a tender, sympathetic heart that was crushed by the wickedness of a nation that should have obeyed God’s Word. In the end, it seemed that both were failures in their lives and ministries, but God honored them and made their work successful.
JEREMIAH 18–19
Jeremiah never saw it coming. He was caught totally off guard. He was like the quarterback who gets blindsided while he is looking downfield. Or the corporate executive who suffers a hostile takeover while he is on vacation in the Bahamas. Or the mother who hears her toddler smash a vase on the floor while her back is turned. Jeremiah did not realize that men were plotting against him. He was “like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter” (11:19).
THE CONSPIRACY
This portion of the book of Jeremiah reads like a spy novel. At the end of chapter 11 Jeremiah is caught up in a web of intrigue. The enemies plotting to assassinate him say, “Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more” (v. 19b).
These conspirators were out to get Jeremiah. They were “seeking [his] life” (v. 21). They did not want to leave any trace of him behind. They wanted to destroy the tree and its fruit. In other words, they wanted to kill Jeremiah before he had any offspring, so his name would vanish from the earth.
Who were Jeremiah’s enemies? The men plotting against him were “the men of Anathoth” (v. 21). Jeremiah was the “son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin” (1:1). Little wonder, then, that he was taken by surprise. The men plotting against him were citizens of his hometown! They were friends of the family! Some were even members of his own household:
Your brothers, your own family—
even they have betrayed you;
they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
though they speak well of you. (12:6)
Jeremiah was a despised and rejected prophet. He was without honor in his hometown.
Why the conspiracy? The men of Anathoth did not like Jeremiah’s preaching. They were not happy with his homiletics. “Therefore this is what the LORD says about the men of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD or you will die by our hands’ ” (11:21). It sounds like a tough congregation. Their motto was “shut up or die.”
The conspiracy of the men of Anathoth is a lesson in how not to respond to the Word of God. A minister stands or falls by the faithfulness of his preaching. And if a minister is faithful, then his congregation stands or falls by its response to his preaching, because his message comes from God.
The men of Anathoth did not care to hear God’s voice, and it is not hard to guess why. Anathoth was a town of priests, and Jeremiah had some strong opinions about the priesthood. He was always making unpopular statements like these:
“The prophets prophesy lies,
the priests rule by their own authority,
and my people love it this way.” (5:31)
“From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.” (6:13)
It was not the kind of preaching to endear a young man to his elders. Jeremiah seemed like a traitor in his hometown. Not only did he criticize the priests, but he condemned the idol worship that made up such a large part of the local economy. Jeremiah’s reformation preaching threatened the whole religious, social, and economic structure of his hometown. He was practically putting the priests of Anathoth out of work. When they gathered at their local pub to have a few beers and talk about temple politics, they did not exactly rise up and call Jeremiah blessed. They had heard just about enough out of him.
Biblical preaching can be a dangerous business. Once I was reading Bible stories with a three-year-old friend. Over the course of several weeks we read together about Joseph, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, Stephen, and Jesus. We read how each one of those men was thrown into a pit, put in prison, stoned, or crucified. My young friend often asked me, “Why did they throw him in the pit?” “Why did they put him in prison?” “Why did they kill him?” I always gave the same answer: “It was because he was preaching God’s Word.” On one occasion there was a long pause. “Dad,” he said, “are they going to kill you?”
It was a good question. It showed an effective use of inductive logic. It reasoned from a series of historical examples to a contemporary application. The Bible is full of stories about men who were persecuted for preaching the good news of God’s free grace. Bold Biblical preaching is dangerous business.
This danger is acknowledged in the Form of Government of the Presbyterian Church in America (27–5). When a gospel minister is ordained, he answers this question: “Do you promise to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the Gospel and the purity and peace of the Church, whatever persecution or opposition may arise unto you on that account?” Jeremiah made and kept essentially the same vow. He was zealous and faithful in maintaining Biblical truth, however the enemies of the gospel conspired against him.
THE COMMITMENT
Jeremiah was able to honor the vows of his calling because he was committed to God. His commitment remained strong even in the middle of the conspiracy. He had no idea what his enemies were planning to do to him. But as soon as he found out, he placed himself under God’s protection.
“But, O LORD Almighty, you who judge righteously
and test the heart and mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.” (11:20)
From time to time Christians find themselves under attack. They may be ridiculed for their faith, criticized for their doctrine, or attacked for the way they conduct some ministry. Our first reaction in such cases is usually to defend ourselves. We want to stick up for our rights. We want to get mad, or better yet, to get even.
Jeremiah did not get mad. He did not seek to defend his preaching or vindicate his ministry. He did not blame God for the messages he had to preach on God’s behalf. Rather, he committed his cause to the Lord. He asked the Lord to take up his case and be his advocate.
Jeremiah’s commitment was well placed because God had already proven his loyalty to him. It was the Lord who revealed the conspiracy to him in the first place: “Because the LORD revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing.… I did not realize that they had plotted against me” (vv. 18–19b). It was also the Lord who warned him that his own family sought to betray him (12:6). Jeremiah had the world’s greatest intelligence operative working full-time for him—the God of the universe.
By keeping Jeremiah safe, God fulfilled the promise he had made when he first called Jeremiah to the ministry: “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you” (1:8). When the men of Anathoth plotted against Jeremiah, the Lord himself sounded the alarm. Jeremiah’s commitment was well placed because God was committed to him.
It was also well placed because of God’s character. Jeremiah put his trust in the Lord Almighty, who is all-powerful. No one can overcome the Lord—or anyone under his protection, for that matter. Jeremiah put his trust in the Lord who is the righteous Judge. God’s decisions are always fair because he always has his facts straight. He tests the heart and mind. So if you are innocent—as Jeremiah was—God is your best possible judge. The Dutch theologian Geerhardus Vos (d. 1949) notes the quiet confidence of Jeremiah’s prayer: “Yet you know me, O LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you” (12:3a; cf. 15:15; 18:23). This is a prayer, notes Vos, “for relief and unburdening of soul, such as derives from the simple drawing near to God.” Jeremiah’s “prayer-attitude” was one of “supreme confidence in God.” “The prophet would have no secrets from Jehovah. And the mere pouring into the ears of God the disquietudes of the heart would bring calm and refreshment.”
It is hard to think of Jeremiah’s commitment in the midst of conspiracy without also thinking of Jesus Christ. Like Jeremiah, Jesus was the victim of a conspiracy. The scribes and Pharisees plotted against him to take his life (Matthew 26:3–4). Like Jeremiah, Jesus was betrayed by a close companion, his execution sealed with a kiss (Luke 22:47–48). Like Jeremiah, Jesus was rejected by friends and family for preaching in the name of God (Luke 4:14–30). He was a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. Thus Jeremiah was one of the prophets who foretold how the Christ would suffer (see Acts 3:18).
There was one difference between Jeremiah and Jesus, however, the difference between a sinner and the Savior. Jeremiah asked God for vengeance upon his enemies. The Scriptures do not condemn him for doing so, perhaps because his legal case against the men of Anathoth was a legitimate one. But the Scriptures also point toward the greater mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus committed his cause to God without pleading for vengeance against his enemies. When he was accused before the Sanhedrin, “Jesus remained silent and gave no answer” (Mark 14:61).
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)
Even when he was hanging on the cross of Calvary, Jesus simply said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
This is the mercy of Christ—to suffer and to die, but not to speak … only to forgive. The Bible teaches us to follow the example of Jesus at this point, rather than the example of Jeremiah:
If you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
“He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:20b–23; cf. Isaiah 53:9)
THE CONDEMNATION
One reason to commit every cause to the Lord is that vengeance belongs to him alone (cf. Romans 12:19). Once Jeremiah had made his commitment, he received word of God’s condemnation of the men of Anathoth.
“Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.’ ” (11:22–23)
We noted earlier that congregations stand or fall by their reception of the Word of God. The same is true for towns and cities (cf. Matthew 10:14–15). The children of Anathoth would fall by sword and by famine simply because the men of the town would not listen to the voice of God. Not even a remnant would remain. A town that will not stand under God’s Word will fall under the weight of divine judgment.
This is a reminder to everyone—and especially to fathers—that God will judge every sin. Even the secret conspiracies of the men of Anathoth were exposed by the judgment of God. So it will be with our sins, even the secret ones. One of my college philosophy professors—who taught ethics, appropriately enough—had a sign on the wall behind his desk that read, “I SAW WHAT YOU DID.” The sign usually made me feel guilty for some sin or another. We may try to hide our sins, but our conscience reminds us that we cannot hide them from God. God saw what you did. He always does. And he “will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
This is why we must throw ourselves upon the mercy of Christ, who died on the cross for our sins. If we do not ask for God’s mercy on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we will join the men of Anathoth in receiving God’s eternal condemnation.
THE COMPLAINT
God’s condemnation seems to be the last word. Once God pronounces his sentence of doom, what more can be said? The men of Anathoth hatched their plot, God foiled their plans, and Jeremiah committed his cause to the Lord. Now God has rendered his verdict against Jeremiah’s enemies. Case closed.
Jeremiah, however, wanted to have the last word. He was committed to the Lord, but he still wanted to quibble with him. Jeremiah heard the condemnation. He knew that God would defend his cause. He knew that God is a righteous judge, who always punishes his enemies. But Jeremiah still had a complaint he wanted to register: “You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice” (12:1a). In other words, “Could I have a word with you, Lord? Can we set up an appointment or something? I just want to make a few comments about the way you are handling this situation. I hope you don’t mind if I offer some constructive criticism.” Here is the gist of his criticism: “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” (v. 1b). In other words, Jeremiah wanted to know why good things happen to bad people.
There are at least two plausible but wrong answers to the prophet’s question. One way to explain why good things happen to bad people is to say that God is not in control. If God were not in control, it would be easy to explain the success of the wicked. Their success or failure would be entirely due to their own efforts. It would have nothing to do with God at all.
That answer is not an option for Jeremiah, however. He knows that God is in control. His answer is that God is not good. Since God is in control when the wicked do well, God must be to blame: “You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit” (v. 2a). Jeremiah did not question God’s sovereignty, but his goodness. He knew that planting and uprooting are God’s prerogatives. He admitted that the wicked prosper only because God allows them to do so. And that is precisely what made him mad. How can a good God allow the wicked to prosper, even for a little while? He must not be good after all.
Jeremiah’s complaint is the reverse of Psalm 1. In Psalm 1 it is the righteous man who “is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season” (v. 3). In Psalm 1 the wicked are just “chaff that the wind blows away” (v. 4). Here in Jeremiah 12, the opposite is happening. The wicked are well-watered and flourishing. They are bearing fruit in their season. Worst of all, they profess to be believers. God is always “on their lips but far from their hearts” (v. 2b). Why would God allow such hypocrites to prosper?
Jeremiah may sound as if he is raising the objection that Asaph raised:
Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from the burdens common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills.…
This is what the wicked are like—
always carefree, they increase in wealth.
(Psalm 73:1–5, 12)
Asaph’s complaint was about the prosperity of the wicked. He kept on complaining until he went to the temple to worship. There Asaph remembered that the wicked are destined for destruction. “Those who are far from you will perish,” he testifies; “you destroy all who are unfaithful to you” (v. 27). It was enough for Asaph to know that God would judge the wicked in the end.
That was not enough for Jeremiah. He heard God promise to destroy the men of Anathoth, but he wanted judgment to come sooner rather than later. Though Asaph was content, Jeremiah continued to complain. He wanted God to write the final chapter on human evil RIGHT AWAY!
Many Christians feel the same way. We have heard that God will judge every deed, whether open or secret. We know that all the enemies of God will be put to shame at the final judgment. Still, we are discouraged by the triumph of evil in our times. We long for the day when murderers, rapists, racists, child molesters, persecutors of the church, and perpetrators of genocide will face divine judgment. In our darker moments we may even be tempted to ask for the kind of summary execution Jeremiah asked for:
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
How long will the land lie parched
and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
“He will not see what happens to us.” (12:3b–4)
THE CONTEST
What is the answer? Why do good things happen to bad people? Why do the wheels of divine justice turn so slowly?
There are good answers to those questions, and no doubt Jeremiah expected to get some of them. When he complained about the slow justice of God, no doubt he expected God to defend his timetable. He expected an answer to the problem of evil, a philosophical explanation of the relationship between divine sovereignty and human depravity. Human beings often demand that kind of explanation from God. Like Jeremiah, we want some answers. We want to know why the innocent suffer while the wicked flourish. We want to know why good things happen to bad people.
But God does not always answer our questions. Usually he doesn’t. In fact, in Jeremiah’s case he came back with a few questions of his own:
“If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” (v. 5)
God’s answer ends with a question mark. This is God’s usual strategy when his creatures try to place him on the witness stand. In the words of Derek Kidner, “God’s answer is never philosophical, as though he owed us explanations, but always pastoral, to rebuke us, reorientate us or reassure us.”
Similarly, when Job wanted to question God about his suffering, God’s answer was a question:
“Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.” (Job 38:2–3)
Likewise, when Paul posed a hypothetical question about predestination, the Spirit answered with a couple of queries: “Who are you, O man, to talk back to God? ‘Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” ’ ” (Romans 9:20). If there is going to be an interrogation, God is going to ask the questions. We do not question God. God questions us. We do not place God under our microscope. God places us under his.
When God questioned Jeremiah, part of his point was that Jeremiah had no business demanding answers. But he made another point as well. To say that Jeremiah cannot run with the horses is a fancy way of saying, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” He took Jeremiah down to the racetrack and let him run in a few footraces. The 1500 meters perhaps. Maybe followed by a 4 x 400 relay. Then as Jeremiah stood on the infield, doubled over in exhaustion, so tired he could hardly drink his Gatorade, God said, “And now for the equestrian events. Are you ready for the derby? Jeremiah, you’re over there in lane 6, next to the palomino. Sorry, all the bobtail nags ran in the last heat!”
“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?” (12:5a). It was no contest. Thoroughbreds were way out of Jeremiah’s league. The horses of his day were smaller and perhaps slower than the horses of our own, but they were still at least twice as fast as Jeremiah. How can anyone who gets worn-out chasing Jesse Owens keep up with Secretariat?
God’s second question makes the same point: “If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?” (v. 5b). If Jeremiah stumbled on easy terrain—like the open country near Anathoth—then how could he possibly cope with the thick, lion-infested jungle that surrounded the Jordan River? To put it in an American context, how will someone who falls down on the Iowa plains ever make it across the Rocky Mountains?
Scholars have offered various interpretations of these questions. Perhaps the men who gave Jeremiah a run for his money were the false prophets, since God later says, “I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message” (23:21). Perhaps the mention of the Jordan is a hint that Jeremiah will soon have a wider ministry within Israel. Perhaps the horses are from the Babylonian army, hinting that eventually Jeremiah will exercise an international ministry.
In any case, the point is that Jeremiah hadn’t seen anything yet. The troubles he was having in Anathoth were nothing compared to the troubles he would later have in Jerusalem, Babylon, or Egypt. Things were bad but not the worst. If Jeremiah thought he had trouble today, he needed to wait until tomorrow. Anyone who gets discouraged, downtrodden, and defeated over little things will never fulfill his divine calling. If even little disappointments tempt Jeremiah to leave his calling, how will he cope with real persecution? God had great things in store for Jeremiah. But he would never achieve them unless he was willing to persevere in the little things. He had to be willing to race with men before he could compete with horses.
The same is true for every Christian. If you complain about the simple things God has already asked you to do, then you lack the spiritual strength to do what he wants you to do next. If your troubles keep you from doing the Lord’s work now, you will never have the strength to do it later. If you want to do some great thing for God, then you must begin by doing the little things for God. And the only way to do little things for God is to do them by the strength of the Holy Spirit.
How can you run with horses? The best answer is the one Isaiah gave:
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
(Isaiah 40:28–31)
The Lord gives the strength to keep pace. Even when you run with horses.