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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“But your eyes and your heart are
set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and
extortion.” Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah
king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my
sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’ He
will have the burial of a donkey—dragged away and thrown outside the gates of
Jerusalem.”
Jeremiah 22:17-19
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
In
yesterday’s devotion, we saw where a person’s righteous and just actions in
life reflect that they know God because they seek and follow His word and will
and way. The scriptures highlighted Judah’s King Josiah as an example of one
such person.
The same
could not be said of his sons, Shallum and Jehoiakim, however.
Earlier
in Jeremiah 22, God’s word introduced Shallum (also known as Jehoahaz) as a
king who reigned and ruled with an attitude of unrighteousness and injustice.
He paid the price as God had him hauled away to Egypt where he would die in
exile, never returning to Judah again. Such was the deep cost of his
sinfulness.
Today, we
meet another of Josiah’s sons, Jehoiakim, and as we see from today’s passage,
he wasn’t any better than his brother in the way he conducted kingdom business
from Judah’s throne:
“But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on
shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.” Therefore this is
what the Lord says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not
mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for
him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’ He will have the burial of a
donkey—dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.” Jeremiah
22:17-19
Dishonest
gain. Shedding of innocent blood. Oppression. Extortion.
These
were not the actions that reflected someone was living for God and seeking His
righteousness. Rather, they were behaviors that indicated someone was living in
wickedness, turning their backs on God in disrespect while disregarding all He
had commanded.
Obviously,
as we have seen elsewhere in the scriptures, this choice of living was not
going to go unchecked by God. And as we have typically seen, any person who
chooses to dishonor God in the way they live will find themselves disregarded
by Him.
Look at
the consequences awaiting Jehoiakim as a result of his sinfulness:
1. He would not be mourned.
When a
king would die, it would usually be a time of deep sorrow for the people he
led.
But not
so with Jehoiakim. No one was going to miss him as he did nothing but build a
reputation of mistreating the people God had entrusted him to take care of. His
constituents had no regard for him because he had shown no regard for them. It’s
normally like that when someone doesn’t care for God first.
2. He would not have a proper, royal burial.
Not only
would kings typically be mourned by their people but they also would be given a
special burial, respecting the life they had lived and honoring their position
of high authority.
But
again, Jehoiakim had only disrespected his people through the wicked way he
carried out his duties as king. Thus, he would not get a proper, royal burial
but rather be treated no better than a donkey, a common beast of burden in
biblical times, his dead body dragged away from Jerusalem and unceremoniously
dumped outside the city gates.
All this
happened to a king who chose to dishonor God with the way he lived but we need
to realize this could happen to anyone who does likewise. The God of all
creation, the Maker and Master of us all, is the King of all kings and Lord of
all lords. He and He alone is to get all our honor and glory and praise as well
as our deepest respect and full regard.
When we
do this, then we are living as people of righteousness, the people that God
favors, the people who live in a way that is pleasing in His sight, and the
people He blesses and regards.
When we
don’t, willingly choosing to dishonor God by living in wickedness, then we can
expect to be disregarded by Him and when that happens, we will have no one to
blame but ourselves.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
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