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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.
For this is what the Lord says about
Shallum, son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but has gone
from this place: “He will never return. He will die in the place where they
have led him captive; he will not see this land again.”
“Woe to him who builds his palace
by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work
for nothing, not paying them for their labor. He says, ‘I will build myself a
great palace with spacious upper rooms.’ So he makes large windows in it, panels
it with cedar and decorates it in red.”
“Does it make you a king to have
more and more cedar?”
Jeremiah 22:11-15a
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
Go back
and look at the history of Israelite leadership before God sent His judgment on
both the northern and southern kingdoms. As the Israelites inhabited Canaan,
they were under the leadership of Joshua who had continued a trend of God’s
people following one single, strong leader. Once Joshua died, the Israelites
found themselves independent and free in their own land but without a leader. Enemies
of the Israelites who were defeated earlier brought the fight back to Israel,
recognizing they had lost Joshua. Recognizing the leadership void, God
appointed people to lead the Israelites, people referred to as judges and there
would be fifteen who would serve God and His people the last being Samuel. You
can read about the period of the judges by going to the Old Testament book that
bears the title of those leaders.
Well, in
Samuel’s time, he had decided to pass his position of leadership over Israel to
his two sons, Joel and Abijah, who went on to be corrupt and dishonorable in
the way they carried out their rule so the Israelites, disenchanted with this
came to Samuel and demanded that the leadership of Israel change. They demanded
to have a king over Israel because other nations had kings and they wanted to
be like them. Distressed by their request and knowing it would be a poor
choice, Samuel turned to the Lord who promptly comforted Samuel by telling his
the people were not rejecting him but God Himself, their true King, the King of
kings and Lord of lords. God instructed Samuel to warn the people as to what
could happen if they went ahead with their request and he did what God told him
to do but the people would not back off their desire for a king.
And so
God allowed them to have what they wanted and it would go on to support a saying
we often hear today:
Be
careful what you wish for.
This is
because from that point forward, there were few good kings that would reign and
rule over Israel. In fact, the poor leadership decision by one particular king,
Solomon’s son Rehoboam caused a division between the twelve tribes with ten
tribes leaving the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to form the northern kingdom of
Israel. They would appoint their own king while the southern kingdom of Judah
would do likewise. Things would continue this way until the fall of Israel and
Judah to the Assyrians and Babylonians respectively.
Indeed,
many of the kings that would rule over the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were
wicked and evil, not hesitating to do wrong in the sight of God.
Unrighteousness was their charter and as you look at the accounts of the kings
found in 1 and 2 Kings as well as 1 and 2 Chronicles, many of those kings found
that there is a deep cost to pay for sinful unrighteousness.
We find
this highlighted in today’s scripture passage as we continue to study from the
Book of Jeremiah. Look again at these words from Chapter 22:
For this is what the Lord says about Shallum, son of Josiah, who
succeeded his father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: “He will
never return. He will die in the place where they have led him captive; he will
not see this land again.”
“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms
by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their
labor. He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’
So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.”
“Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?” Jeremiah
22:11-15a
Before we
dig into these verses, first I need to clarify the main focus of this
scripture, the king Shallum.
Do a
search of the kings and you won’t find him listed as Shallum. Rather, we find
him mentioned by another name he carried, Jehoahaz. More on that in a moment
but look at what the Lord had to say about the way Shallum/Jehoahaz conducted
business while he was in power:
“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms
by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their
labor. He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.’
So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red. Does
it make you a king to have more and more cedar?”
The evil
king invested more time and effort in sprucing up his palace than he did
ensuring God’s people were cared for properly. The size of upper rooms and
windows as well as the materials the window panels were made of were of more
importance than justice and fairness in the way he ruled the Israelites.
And if
you have been following the last several devotions, you know that God placed a
premium on justice and fairness, demanding it from those who led His people.
Shallum/Jehoahaz
had violated that basic expectation and thus incited God’s wrath and judgment
which would befall him. God’s condemnation was made clear in the following
words:
“He will never return. He will die in the place where they have led him
captive; he will not see this land again.”
And
indeed, God’s promise came to be. Look at these words from 2 Kings 23 regarding
Shallum/Jehoahaz’s fate:
Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he
became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was
Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. He did evil in the eyes of
the Lord, just as his predecessors had done. Pharaoh Necho put him in chains at
Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he
imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. Pharaoh
Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed
Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt,
and there he died. Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho the silver and gold he
demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold
from the people of the land according to their assessments. 2 Kings 23:31-35.
And so
God’s pronounced judgment came to pass. Shallum/Jehoahaz was put in chains and
led away to Egypt, the place where he would be held captive until his death. He
never would return to Judah again. Such was the cost of his unrighteousness.
Friends,
how many times will we have to be reminded by God that there is a steep price
attached to disobedience? He has not, He isn’t today, nor will He ever tolerate
our sinful behavior and willful inclination toward our own desires over His. We
need to know and trust that He will punish those who disrespect and disregard
His holy word and the commandments contained within. His hatred of sin is never
going to end.
In the
end translation, we serve a Lord of righteousness and the only way we can
ensure we will live in that righteousness, holy and pleasing in His sight, is
by submitting fully to His will and way and word.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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