Jeremiah 26 - Remaining faithful under threat.

This chapter probably follows chronologically after 7:15. However, it was placed here for a reason. It is in a sense giving a summary of God's dealings with the people and His intentions. The previous section has just told of the wrath of God that is coming upon the nation. 

Jeremiah was instructed by God to speak to the people. He stood in the courtyard of the Lord's house, ie the temple. The people had a superstitious attachment to the temple, so God went to where they were, where they expected to meet God, and they would indeed hear the word of the Lord there, but they would reject it. 

God's hope was that the people would listen to His word, repent, and so be saved. However, if they did not pay heed then the temple would be destroyed. Any "dwelling place" of God, any Christian denomination, church grouping or Christian project, is only good if it is a place where people listen to the Lord, trust the Lord and obey the Lord. 

Instead of repenting the priests, prophets and people seized Jeremiah because he was prophesying the destruction of the temple. There are great similarities here to the way they treated Jesus. The officials then came and decided that Jeremiah should be sentenced to death.

Jeremiah entrusted himself to the Lord and continued to give the same message. Notice that he does not "demand his rights". 

In verse 16 there seems to be a relenting of the people. Perhaps there was a recognition somewhere in their conscience that Jeremiah actually was speaking the word of God. They remembered that Micah had prophesied similar things. Some recognised the mistake they were in danger of making and recalled how Hezekiah had reacted. Notice the consistency of Scripture, and how the whole Bible hangs together. 

Jeremiah was not the only prophet of God, Uriah was another faithful prophet. He too was threatened with death. Uriah fled to Egypt but Judah sent Elnathan to capture him. Uriah was captured, returned to Jerusalem and killed. Jeremiah did not flee and was not killed. God is able to protect us in the midst of opposition.