Jeremiah 14
McGeeCHAPTERS 14 AND 15THEME: Backsliding nation judged by drought and famineUp to this point Jeremiah has been prophesying during the reign of Josiah. Now we find him delivering a prophecy during the reign of Jehoiakim. King Josiah during the last part of his reign did a very foolish thing. He fought against Nechoh, a pharaoh of Egypt, and there at Megiddo Josiah was killed. Jeremiah mourned for him; he had been his friend. After the death of Josiah, the nation began to drop back into idolatry; in fact, its plunge downward was swift and terrible, as we shall see in this section.
Jeremiah 14:1
DROUGHTGod’s first warning to the nation was drought. The drought was apparently a very severe one. There had been a drought during the reign of Ahab, and at that time Elijah was the messenger from God. Now there is a drought, and Jeremiah is the messenger to the southern kingdom of Judah.
Jeremiah 14:4
The ground is barren and cracked for want of rainfall.
Jeremiah 14:5
Even the deer would leave their offspring because there was no water to drink and no grazing land. It would mean death to the calf and to the mother also. All of this revealed the fact that God was judging them. This is one of the thirteen famines mentioned in Scripture, and all of them were judgments of God upon the land. Just as the land was barren and unfruitful, so were the lives of the people because they had rejected the water of life. God was showing them that what was happening to the physical earth was also happening in a spiritual sense to their hearts. Jeremiah goes to God to confess the sins of the people.
Jeremiah 14:7
Notice that Jeremiah takes his place with his people as being one of the sinners. There is no boasting here. He does not show any signs of a critical attitude toward the people. He says, “We have backslidden, and we have sinned.” It is so easy for God’s people to be critical of others. They pray almost like the Pharisee whom our Lord Jesus told us about in Luk_18:11-12. “I thank You, Lord, that I am so good. I am a separated Christian and I do this and I don’t do that.
I am a nice, sweet Sunday school Christian. Now Mr. So-and-So over there is a dirty old man, and Mrs. So-and-So never does anything for You, and Miss So-and-So is a real gossip.” That is not identifying oneself with the people of God! You will notice that Jeremiah didn’t pray that kind of a prayer. He identified himself with God’s sinning people and said, “We have backslidden, and we have sinned.” My friend, if you can take your place before God, confessing your own sins as well as the sins of your people, then you can speak to them about the judgment of God.
But until you can do that, you shouldn’t try to speak on God’s behalf. As we move on through this chapter, we see that the darkness has gathered, and the people are stumbling on the dark mountains.
Jeremiah 14:13
The false prophets were predicting peace and prosperityeverything was going to be wonderful.
Jeremiah 14:14
You see, Jeremiah is very much alone now that King Josiah is dead. And he is wonderingAm I giving the correct message, or are the other prophets right? He is not quite sure; so he goes to God about it. God reassures him, “I want you to know that the false prophets are lying. I didn’t send them. You are the one giving My message.” You can see that this will put Jeremiah right back on the firing line.
Jeremiah 14:17
The message was breaking the heart of Jeremiah. He was weeping as he gave the message to his people. God wanted the people to know that His heart was breaking. Jeremiah was not only giving the message from God, but he was expressing the feelings of God as well. We all need to realize that we are witnesses for God. If you are a child of God, you are a witness for God, and you are saying something by your life. We need to be very careful when we speak the Word of God that our lives conform to it. We are not to be giving out the Word in a coldhearted manner. There must be feeling in it. If there is not, then there is something radically wrong with us.