Jeremiah 9:10-12 – Disobedience is costly

For far too long the people of Judah had flirted with trouble. Instead of heeding the warning of God through Jeremiah, they chose to believe messages given falsely to them by questionable prophets. Since they would not obey God, exile in Babylon was the inevitable outcome. Finally, in about 586 BC, God allowed Jerusalem and Judah to be overtaken by the Babylonians. Jeremiah 9:10-12 described the devastating result of their homeland.  

Firstly, verse 10 said that God would bring deep lamenting in the mountains as well as their pastureland. They would literally become a dirge, a funeral song. Why? Because the mountains, as well as the pastureland, would become a wasteland. No one would pass through the ruined and desolate land. There would be no lowing of cattle. Neither would birds fly over the sky. Both beasts of the field and fowls of the air would avoid the wasteland. Secondly, verse 11 said that Jerusalem would become a heap of ruin, utterly devoid of people. It would only become a haunt for wild jackals. Thirdly in verse 12, a few rhetorical questions were asked just to say that the whole land would be in unutterable desolation. The ruin would be so baffling that not even the wisdom of men could explain ho how devastation was brought about.

In 2 Kings 25:1-7, we get a glimpse of what happened to Jerusalem before it collapsed. In these verses, the final siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar was described. The siege started in the 9^th year until the 11^th year of his reign. Verse 3 said that there was a famine that came upon them and there was no food in the land. Verse 4 said that the city was finally broken into, and all the men of war fled by night though the city was surrounded by the Chaldeans (the Babylonians). The people escaped by the way of Arabah. Verse 6 implied that the king fled with his army, but he was overtaken by the pursuing Chaldeans in the plain of Jericho. With his capture, his army scattered from him. He was brought to the king of Babylon at Riblah to be dealt with. Cruelly, the Chaldean slaughtered all of King Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. They also had his eyes gouged out Then they bonded him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.   

From all these, we learn that obedience is key to a believer’s well-being. To be truthful, the cost of obedience is very much lesser than the cost of disobedience. In obeying God, life’s painful experiences can be avoided. One thing we can be sure about being obedient is that it is less painful than regrets. The truth is that our greatest worship of God is best reflected in our total obedience to Him.