My reading from Jeremiah 26 today struck me.
To be more precise, it was the little snippet about Uriah in verses 21-23 that at first glance, seemed out of place. (My first thought was, “Where in the world did this random guy come from??”) But details matter to God, and Uriah is there to teach us something.
Jeremiah and Uriah were both called by God to prophesy to Israel. Both were persecuted for the sake of God’s name (v. 11 & 22). But that’s where the similarities end. The contrast is striking:
There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. And when King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt.
That’s Uriah’s response (v. 20-21). Here’s Jeremiah’s (v. 10-15):
When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, “This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”
Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. 14 But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. 15 Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”
And what happened to Uriah?
22 Then King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, Elnathan the son of Achbor and others with him, 23 and they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people.
Jeremiah, on the other hand…
24 But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.
It’s really very interesting the way that the narrative of Jeremiah’s ordeal is suddenly interrupted by the entrance of Uriah – “And there was also a man… Uriah son of Shemaiah…” (v. 20). At the end of the day, their responses serve as a lesson to us.
`
Uriah feared the word of man more than he feared the word of God. He “heard” King Jehoiakim’s threats of death, and instead of trusting the God who had called him, Uriah trusted in himself. He loved his life more than he loved God (John 12:25). When I read about him at first, I thought, isn’t it telling that we don’t have a ‘Book of Uriah’? Uriah may have started out well, but he did not finish the race well, nor did he keep the faith until the end. He has no legacy to speak of (apart from what we know of his sad end in this chapter). He disbelieved and doubted God. And of all the places to run to, he ran away to Egypt, the former place of Israel’s oppression and bondage. (The Israelites, too, when wandering in the desert, often yearned to return to Egypt when the going got tough.) What may appear to be a place of safety is really a place of bondage (which I talked about in a previous post).
Jeremiah, on the other hand, is the picture of a man of faith. He stood boldly before his oppressors and repeated what God had told him to say. Unlike Uriah, he remembered God’s faithful words of promises to him. From the beginning, God had already promised that He would be with him (Jeremiah 1:8). He encouraged Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:17-19). When Jeremiah fell into despondency, he turned to God (15:15-18). And God always, always reassured Jeremiah with His words of truth (15:20-21).
`
One feared God; the other man. God’s word will stand firm and true even in the face of adversity. Just as He had proclaimed, His words are the fire that burnt the lies and accusations of Jeremiah’s persecutors. His word broke the hard rock of Jeremiah’s difficult circumstances (Jeremiah 23:29).
`
Help me to be like Jeremiah, O Lord.
