Jeremiah 21:1-7 – Don’t circle around the periphery, deal with the root.

Second Kings 24-25 and 2 Chronicles 36 provide the backdrop to the circumstances of Jeremiah 21. King Zedekiah, whose original name was Mattaniah, was the youngest son of King Josiah. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon who had put him on the throne in the place of his nephew  Jehoiachin, also changed his name to Zedekiah. However, he was not a good representation of either of those names. He was neither a good representation of “the gift of God” nor “the righteousness of God.”

He rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar by refusing to pay the tribute promised to the latter and even had the gut to seek the help of Egypt to deal with Babylon. In response to what he did, the Babylonians came and laid a siege on Jerusalem. This was why he sent Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah to seek Jeremiah’s help to intercede with the Lord. He was hoping that perhaps God would be willing to deliver them from the hand of the Babylonians.   

So Jeremiah 21 contained the prophet’s response to Zedekiah. He told the king that God not only refused to deliver him and Judah from Babylon but that he Himself would also fight against them to bring about their defeat.  God said He was going to “…war against you (the king)  with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, even in anger and wrath and great indignation… and also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence.” Verse 7 guaranteed them that those people in Jerusalem who survived the initial bombardments of pestilence, famine, and sword would be delivered into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar as well as their foes to be struck down by “the edge of the word.” Neither pity nor compassion would be shown to the people.

Zedekiah had obviously missed the point. The Babylonian's attack was part of God’s judgment on them for their sin and rebelliousness. By seeking Jeremiah to implore God for help was like asking Him to sabotage His own plan. The more important thing he should do was to examine where he had gone wrong, then repent and make the needful amendments. He was merely circling and skirting around the peripheral and not dealing with the root. In life, there is a need to rightly appraise our condition to ascertain the cause of our trouble. If  we do not rightly perceive the reason why we are experiencing our trouble, we will most lightly bark up the wrong tree. So be sure to appraise life rightly! Remember, “For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is only one hacking at the root!