The God of Creation is a god of action.

The conspiracy.

“Then the Lord said to me, there is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins of their forefathers, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their forefathers. Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.” (Jeremiah 11:9-11)

Strong words! Not an easy message for the young prophet from the country town of Anathoth to bring to the sophisticated city-dwellers of Jerusalem. Jeremiah was still in his late teens: it was the year 621 BC, there was great excitement in the air following the discovery of the Book of the Covenant during the repairs to the Temple initiated by King Josiah.

Two-fold Deception

Once he had read the Deuteronomic penalties for breaking the Covenant, the King had called a great assembly in Jerusalem where he renewed the Covenant on behalf of the nation and then enforced the destruction of the shrines on the high places throughout Judah. But the ‘Great Reform’ had not reached the hearts of the people, who still longed for the exciting ceremonies of the local gods at the village shrines.

They crept back secretly to these places in the countryside, while the people in the town built little shrines on the rooftops of their houses so that they could continue their idolatrous practices. They thought their ways were hidden from the King (and also from God), particularly if they only went onto the rooftop by night, when the darkness would cover them from detection.

But they did not reckon with the observant young Jeremiah, who not only kept his eyes open but had learned to get into the presence of God, where a two-part conspiracy was revealed to him. One part was designed to deceive the King and the other part was directed against Jeremiah himself – and it was coming from his own family.

Josiah’s ‘Great Reform’ had not reached the hearts of the people, who still longed for the exciting ceremonies of the local gods.

Betrayal and Treachery

Jeremiah’s own family and friends in Anathoth, his home-town, were plotting against him. He said he felt “like a lamb led to the slaughter” (Jer 11:19). His own flesh and blood were plotting to assassinate him; “Let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more” they said.

How could Jeremiah’s own family be so cruel and so treacherous? But this is what happens when men feel their livelihoods to be threatened and their whole way of life to be endangered. Jeremiah was publicly supporting Josiah’s Reform, which would effectively have put his own family out of work – certainly out of the prosperity they were presently enjoying!

They were ministering at the high places in the countryside – supposedly in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. But these were pagan shrines where the priests were practising a form of syncretism, mixing the worship of Yahweh on altars set up to offer worship to the local Baals, supposedly ‘gods of the land’ who required various forms of fertility rites. These practices were popular with the people in the countryside where their livelihoods depended upon the productivity of the land.

Renegade Priests

Jeremiah’s family had been regarded as renegade priests for some 300 years. They were descendants of Eli, whose sons had behaved disgracefully. During King David’s lifetime there were two chief priests, Zadok and Abiathar. Zadok backed Solomon to succeed David, but Abiathar favoured David’s eldest son, Adonijah. In order to secure the throne, Solomon assassinated his older brother and promptly dismissed Abiathar, telling him to go back to his fields in Anathoth (1 Kings 2:26) and his family line was reduced to a minor priestly role from that day.

It is very possible that Jeremiah was unhappy with the priestly activities of his family at the country shrines. In order to fulfil the prophetic calling upon his life, he distanced himself from their activities and went to Jerusalem, where he would almost certainly have been in the great assembly called by Josiah.

Josiah’s Reform required the destruction of all local shrines at the high places. It further required the centralisation of all worship at the Temple. This effectively reduced Jeremiah’s family of priests to a minor role of serving in the Temple on a rota that would give them occasional service, while cutting them off from practising at the countryside shrines on the high places. This no doubt drastically reduced their income.

Jeremiah was publicly supporting Josiah’s Reform, which would effectively have put his own family out of work.

Hated for Putting God First

Jeremiah suddenly found himself the most hated person in Judah. He had publicly backed the King and now he was speaking in the streets of Jerusalem and railing against the people burning incense to foreign gods. He said there were as many shrines in Jerusalem as there were streets in the city.

Jeremiah not only prophesied disaster upon the whole land and upon the city of Jerusalem, but he actually told the people that God had instructed him not to offer any plea or petition for the city, because God would no longer listen. God would refuse to listen to the people in the time of distress which was coming upon the land.

“The Lord Almighty”, he said, “who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and provoked me to anger by burning incense to Baal” (Jer 11:17). Jeremiah’s family had been supportive of these practices and to them he must have seemed a traitor who had to be removed. They were saying “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord or you will die by our hands” (Jer 11:21).

Jeremiah was now discovering that being a prophet was a lonely task. It is very sad when families are divided, but for Jeremiah his primary loyalty was to the Lord. Jesus recognised this principle and he even went so far as to say “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt 10:37).

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.