In Jeremiah 37:1-5, we read of a king of Judah, who lived a life of pretense. He was none other than Zedekiah. He was the son of Josiah whose name was Mattaniah but Nebuchadnezzar had it changed to Zedekiah when he was put on the throne in place of his nephew, Coniah (whose other names were Jeconiah or Jehoiachin). More detail about him can be found in 2 Kings 24-25 and 2 Chronicles 36.
Why do we consider Zedekiah a man who lived a life of pretense? Our
conclusion, firstly, is that his decision and action were done for show and
not with true intention to seek or please God. Verse 2 made it clear that “neither
he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of
the Lord which He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.” He was clearly
an unbeliever at heart, one who would not
take the word of God seriously. In that sense, he betrayed God. Zedekiah was
put on the throne and only a puppet in the hand of Babylon and was willing to
dance to the tune of his puppeteer. Even then he was unfaithful to Nebuchadnezzar,
and eventually resulted in the latter’s attacking Jerusalem.
Secondly, Zedekiah was a man who would not pray. Instead of praying himself, he sent his men to seek Jeremiah to pray for him. Why did he send to ask Jeremiah
to pray on his behalf and not approach God himself? It was a show. Asking Jeremiah gave the
impression that he was trusting God when his heart was far from relying on God. At this point, verses 4-5 said that Jerusalem had a brief reprieve from the siege
of Nebuchadnezzar because of news of the approaching army of Egypt.
Zedekiah was essentially living a life of hypocrisy. His action
and his belief were not congruent. He only did what he did for show. Here’s a lesson
for us from his life. We must not be like him living a hypocritical life. We must
let our actions reflect our trust in God. Jesus reminds us not to practice our
religion to be seen by men and not truly to please God. WE are to live a yeast-free life.
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