In this chapter we are returning to the reign of wicked King Zedekiah. The last two chapters took us back to the earlier reign of another wicked king of Judah who was Zedekiah’s younger brother, King Jehoiakim. The King of Egypt, Pharaoh Necho, had killed good King Josiah after the Lord, through Pharaoh, had told Josiah not to engage Pharaoh Necho in battle. Josiah did not bother to inquire of the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah whether he should fight with Pharaoh, who simply sought passage through Judah to fight with the king of Assyria. King Josiah was familiar with this verse of scripture, but he ignored it in his haste to do battle with the king of Egypt:

Pro 24:6  For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.

The last two chapters of Jeremiah took us back several years to the reign of Zedekiah’s brother, King Jehoiakim, to remind the Jews in the days of King Zedekiah, and us today, of how the Lord has mercifully been patient with them in sending Jeremiah to counsel them to be obedient to the Lord’s commandments. These last two chapters also reminded us of all the trials Jeremiah endured as the Lord certified the accuracy of his prophecies.

Here is the story of how Zedekiah came to power. It is the story of the beast who hates the whore, but it is always “Thy hand”… the Lord’s hand, which is working all things after the counsel of His own will (Job 1:11, Job 2:5, Eph 1:11):

2Ch 35:20  After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
2Ch 35:21  But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.
2Ch 35:22  Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
2Ch 35:23  And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.
2Ch 35:24  His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
2Ch 35:25  And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

Before we continue with this story, let’s consider the fact that none of us would just naturally take the word of a Pagan king to be “from the mouth of God”. Yet we are told that righteous King Josiah died because he “hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God” (2Ch 35:22).

What spiritual lesson are we to glean from this story of the death of righteous King Josiah? The most glaring lesson is that we should always be very careful to humbly “try the spirits to see whether they are of God”:

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

There are times when the Lord uses men of this world as His messenger to rebuke His own elect, and there are times when men of this world are used by the Lord to show us our own hypocrisy and disobedience to the Lord we claim to represent. It is a way of keeping us always humble before Him. The Lord used Pharaoh to correct and to chasten Abraham, when Abraham, fearing for his own life, denied that Sarah was his wife:

Gen 12:17  And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife.
Gen 12:18  And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
Gen 12:19  Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
Gen 12:20  And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.

Later he repeated this same error with Abimelech, the Canaanite king of Gerar:

Gen 20:1  And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.
Gen 20:2  And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
Gen 20:3  But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.
Gen 20:4  But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
Gen 20:5  Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
Gen 20:6  And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
Gen 20:7  Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
Gen 20:8  Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.
Gen 20:9  Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
Gen 20:10  And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

Isaac did not learn from his father’s error and repeated the exact same sin with Abimelech:

Gen 26:10  And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.

Denying our wife is to deny Christ Himself, because He and His wife are one flesh.

King Zedekiah was guilty of this same sin in the sense that he, like Abraham and Isaac, feared men more than He feared and trusted the Lord to deliver him out of the hands of those he feared:

Jer 38:19  And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.

It is very hard for the ‘king’ within us to submit to the ‘judge’ or the ‘prophet’ who comes to us with the Lord’s words. It is very hard to submit to the multitude of counselors when we disagree with them. The story of King Saul makes this point for us. King Saul became impatient and disobeyed the Lord when he offered a sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel as the Lord had commanded by His certified, proven prophet, Samuel:

1Sa 13:8  And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.
1Sa 13:9  And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.
1Sa 13:10  And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him.
1Sa 13:11  And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash;
1Sa 13:12  Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.
1Sa 13:13  And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.
1Sa 13:14  But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.

The Lord was in type trying King Saul’s faith, but He was doing so for our sakes:

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Why did King Saul “not keep the commandment which the Lord commanded [him]?” King Saul excused his disobedience pointing out that Samuel had not come at the agreed upon time, and he pointed out that the Philistines were growing greater in numbers and were spoiling the people of Israel. This story demonstrates there is never a right time to do the wrong thing, and there is no excuse for disobedience to the Lord.  He presumptuously took it upon himself to self-righteously offer the sacrifice contrary to the Lord’s commandment, and contrary to Samuel’s commandment to wait for him to come. In the final analysis of why King Saul self-righteously refused to keep the commandment of the Lord, he did so because the Lord had already determined that King Saul was to be His rejected anointed, and it all happened to him, and it is all written down for our admonition:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

This self-righteous part of our own spiritual composition is revealed again within King Saul in the very next chapter:

1Sa 14:1  Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father.
1Sa 14:2  And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men;
1Sa 14:3  And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’S priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.

Jonathan and his armor bearer routed a Philistine garrison and precipitated a great victory for Israel that day. King Saul was unaware of the battle the Lord had wrought through his own son Jonathan until he heard the “trembling in the host”:

1Sa 14:17  Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer were not there.
1Sa 14:18  And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel.
1Sa 14:19  And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand.
1Sa 14:20  And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle: and, behold, every man’s sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture.

King Saul started to inquire of the Lord and then told the priest essentially ‘never mind’:

1Sa 14:17  Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer were not there.
1Sa 14:18  And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel.
1Sa 14:19  And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand.
1Sa 14:20  And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle: and, behold, every man’s sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture.

Later the same day King Saul decided to inquire of the Lord whether to pursue the Philistines all night, and the Lord refused to communicate with him. Assuming the fault was with anyone but himself, King Saul, a type of our self-righteous old man, ends up calling for the death of his own son who had been used of the Lord to effect this great victory for Israel. Had King Saul humbled himself and inquired of the Lord King Saul would have known the Lord’s will. Instead, he self-righteously cut short his inquiry through “the Lord’s priest” (vs 3) and bound the people to a vow not to eat anything until the battle was won. Jonathan was not even aware of the vow and ate some honey that had dripped to the forest floor. Rather that confess that cutting the priest short and binding the people to a foolish vow, self-righteous King Saul blamed his own son for the Lord’s refusal to communicate with him. That is who we are in and of ourselves.

As encouragement for us the Lord used the people to keep Jonathan from dying at the hand of his own father, demonstrating the truth of these words:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

The Lord was in the process of divorcing His unfaithful wife, and the insertion of the name of Ahitub’s brother, Ichabod, makes it very clear that the glory of the Lord was in the process of leaving His people long before King Saul died in battle and long before the ark was in the possession of the Philistines:

1Sa 14:3  And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’S priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.

Ichabod is the son that was earlier born to Eli’s son Phinehas. Ichabod was born the same day his father Phinehas died in battle with the Philistines. If Ahitub was Ichabod’s brother, then he had to be an older brother because Phinehas died the day Ichabod was born. Upon hearing of the death of his two sons, Phinehas and Hophni, and the news that the Philistines had taken possession of the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his seat and died that same day. It was a devastating blow to Israel:

1Sa 4:12  And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head.
1Sa 4:13  And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out.
1Sa 4:14  And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli.
1Sa 4:15  Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.
1Sa 4:16  And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son?
1Sa 4:17  And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.
1Sa 4:18  And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.
1Sa 4:19  And his daughter in law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.
1Sa 4:20  And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it.
1Sa 4:21  And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.
1Sa 4:22  And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.

Here is how Strong’s defines the meaning of the name Ichabod:

H350
אִי־כָבוֹד
‘ı̂y-kâbôd
ee-kaw-bode’
From H336 and H3519; (there is) no glory, that is,  inglorious; Ikabod, a son of Phineas: – I-chabod.

It was obviously Ichabod’s older brother, whose name was Ahitub. Being Ichabod’s brother, he, too, was the son of Phinehas, who was the son of Eli, who was the “the Lord’s priest… in Shiloh… wearing an ephod”. “Ahia, the son of Ahitub, was “the Lord’s priest” during the time of King Saul’s death, and during the latter part of Samuel’s rulership as the judge of Israel.

1Sa 14:2  And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men;
1Sa 14:3  And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’S priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.

It is all written to demonstrate for us that we all come to the Lord and develop a love for Him, and then we self-righteously lose that love, and then we are humbled before we begin to mature in the Lord’s service.

Jeremiah, a type of who we are in Christ, is given to tell wicked King Zedekiah that “the glory of the Lord has departed from Israel”, and that having the ark of God is no more a ‘lucky charm’ for Zedekiah than it was for the sons of Eli. Those who possess the ark are in possession of Christ, and He is a curse to our old man, whether that old man is signified by the apostate state of Israel and the unfaithful sons of Eli, or by the pagan Philistines to whom the ark was also a great curse.

It is thought by many that Samuel was an Ephramite because of this verse:

1Sa 1:1  Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite:

It is always good to know “the sum of [the Lord’s] Word” (Psa 119:160) which reveals that Samuel was a Levite of the family of Kohath, the same Levitical ancestor of Moses and Aaron. However, Samuel was not a descendant of Aaron, and therefore he was not an Aaronic priest.

1Ch 6:1  The sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
1Ch 6:2  And the sons of Kohath; Amram, Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel.
1Ch 6:3  And the children of Amram; Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam. The sons also of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

These same four sons of Kohath are reiterated in verse 18 of this same chapter:

1Ch 6:18  And the sons of Kohath were, Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel.

Izhar is therefore the uncle of Moses and Aaron, and Izhar was the father of Korah, who rebelled against Moses and Aaron:

Num 16:1  Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
Num 16:2  And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Num 16:3  And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

Moses and Aaron were the sons of Kohath’s son Amram. Samuel is descended from Izhar, Kohath’s brother who is also called Amminadab, the father of Korah, later in this same chapter. Samuel is revealed to be descended from Amminadab, who is also called Izhar:

1Ch 6:22  The sons of Kohath; Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son,
1Ch 6:23  Elkanah his son, and Ebiasaph his son, and Assir his son,
1Ch 6:24  Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son.
1Ch 6:25  And the sons of Elkanah; Amasai, and Ahimoth.
1Ch 6:26  As for Elkanah: the sons of Elkanah; Zophai his son, and Nahath his son,
1Ch 6:27  Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son.
1Ch 6:28  And the sons of Samuel; the firstborn Vashni, and Abiah.

Samuel’s sons, Vashni and Abiah, turn out to be no better than the sons of Eli:

1Sa 8:1  And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.
1Sa 8:2  Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba.
1Sa 8:3  And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.

King Josiah was one of the best kings of Judah, yet all his sons (Shallum, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah) “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord”:

2Ki 24:8  Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
2Ki 24:9  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.
2Ki 24:12  And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his [the king of Babylon’s] reign.

2Ki 24:17  And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father’s brother [Jehoiachin’s uncle] king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
2Ki 24:18  Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2Ki 24:19  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

Wicked king Zedekiah had been instituted into his position as king at the behest of and by the good graces of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

Jer 37:1  And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah [Jechoniah] the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
Jer 37:2  But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.

We have come back to the reign of King Zedekiah, who is in rebellion against both the Lord and King Nebuchadnezzar. Nevertheless, King Zedekiah knows that the Lord has made it known to all Israel that Jeremiah is His prophet, and though the king is not given a spirit of repentance, he still wants to know what the Lord has told Jeremiah is in store for him and his people.

Jer 37:3  And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us.
Jer 37:4  Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison.
Jer 37:5  Then Pharaoh’s army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
Jer 37:6  Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 37:7  Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
Jer 37:8  And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
Jer 37:9  Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.

When we deceive ourselves, it is really the Lord who is deceiving us.

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Joseph does not deny that his brothers sold him into Egypt. He twice affirms that they did so. What He does deny is that their doing so was of themselves, and He reveals to us that their transgression against him was “not you that sent me hither, but God”.

Ezekiel confirms to those who can receive it that mankind’s deception is a work of the Lord:

Eze 14:9  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10  And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

The fact that the Lord makes us to err from His ways does not require that He therefore has no right to punish us. We are His workmanship (Eph 2:8-10), and He has every right to do with us as He chooses, as the Lord informs us through the apostle Paul:

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Our deception is not of ourselves any more than our sins are:

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Not one ‘Christian’ in a million believes those verses. They do not believe that when they sin “it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” They do not believe that God has placed “the law of sin… in [our] members” which we are helpless of ourselves to overcome.

What repulses our flesh the most is the Biblical doctrine that God has the right to deceive us and then to punish us for what He makes us to do:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned [G2919: krino, judged] who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Lev 26:18  And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

Lev 26:24  Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

That is exactly what the Lord is telling us when he pronounces judgment upon Judah:

Jer 37:10  For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.

We are being brought to realize that our sins really do find us out:

Num 32:23  But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.

Judah had not routed the Chaldeans, but the Lord had sent the king of Egypt to help Judah, and the Chaldeans had temporarily left off the siege of Jerusalem. However, instead of humbling themselves and showing their gratitude to the Lord by letting their Hebrew slave remain free, they, as types of us, were not true to the covenant they had made with the Lord to let their Hebrew slaves go free, and they immediately brought them back into bondage. Jeremiah was now free to return home to Anathoth in Benjamin “to separate himself thence in the midst of the people”.

Jer 37:11  And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army,
Jer 37:12  Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people.
Jer 37:13  And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.

The adversary is called ‘the accuser of the brothers’, and the adversary is the father of Irijah in this story because Irijah is the son of “the accuser of our brothers”:

Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Jer 37:14  Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
Jer 37:15  Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.

These are the same ‘princes’ who had twice rescued Jeremiah the prophet from the priests:

Jer 26:16  Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man [Jeremiah] is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.

Jer 36:19  Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.

Now these same princes are willing to smite Jeremiah and put him in prison.

This ‘Irijah’ is the son of Shelemiah, which ‘Shelemiah’ is the son of the false prophet Hananiah of this very well-known prophecy, which had long ago been proven to be a false prophecy by a false prophet, namely Hananiah:

Jer 28:1  And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
Jer 28:2  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Jer 28:3  Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the LORD’S house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon:

The Lord gives so many false prophets great boldness to speak lies with great specificity in His name, “making this people trust in a lie” (Jer 28:15).  Hananiah prophesies of two years of captivity versus the seventy years the Lord had told Jeremiah would be the duration of the captivity. The Lord told Jeremiah to return and prophesy of the death of Hananiah that same year. Irijah is now accusing Jeremiah, the prophet who prophesied of the death of his grandfather, of falling away to the Chaldeans when the Chaldeans aren’t even around to “fall away to”. Here is the extent of the animosity Hananiah, Irijah’s grandfather, had toward Jeremiah:

Jer 28:10  Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and brake it.
Jer 28:11  And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
Jer 28:12  Then the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the prophet, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 28:13  Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron.
Jer 28:14  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.
Jer 28:15  Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.
Jer 28:16  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD.
Jer 28:17  So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

This same spirit of Hananiah has withstood the body of Christ on numerous occasions over the years, speaking great lies with great specificity only to be proven to be false prophets prophesying lies and causing the Lord’s flock to believe their lies.

Irijah is also lying about Jeremiah because the Chaldeans had left off the siege at this time, but the princes are now ready and willing to believe what Irijah is telling them about Jeremiah, and they “smite him and put him in prison”. The Chaldeans are no longer at the gates of Jerusalem, and they obviously now feel they no longer need to protect this man who is condemning them for putting their Hebrew slaves back under bondage.

Jer 37:16  When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;
Jer 37:17  Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.
Jer 37:18  Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison?

If the king thought imprisoning Jeremiah would cause him to change the words of the Lord, he was wrong. The message from the Lord was the same, “Thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” Not only that, but Jeremiah is protesting his own innocence and pointing out that telling the Truth should not be conflated with being against the king, or his servants, or the people of his kingdom. Jeremiah was instead attempting to save them and spare the king and his people the loss of the city and their lives.

Jeremiah was in the dungeon and “had remained there many days”, during which time the Chaldeans had returned and were again besieging the city, prompting Jeremiah to ask the king:

Jer 37:19  Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
Jer 37:20  Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.

The Lord makes his elect known to the outward leaders with whom they must deal from time to time as demonstrated in this story and in so many other stories in scripture. Just as our old man is aware of his demise as our new man prospers. As we should all be aware, it is a time of great torment for the man of sin within us, knowing that our new man speaks only the Truth and that The Truth is that he, our old man is doomed to destruction.

Jer 37:21  Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus, Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

This typifies how these next words are fulfilled in the lives of the Lord’s elect:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?