Stories of the Prophets Part 25

Necho encamped at Riblah, after the victory over Josiah. Riblah, situated in the broad valley between the Lebanon and Hermon ranges, was destined to be the scene of several tragedies in Judean history.

It was here that Necho awaited the outcome of the struggle at Nineveh.

He did not have long to wait. Nineveh gasped her last in the year 606.

Nebuchadrezzar left his father-in-law to complete the destruction of the glory of a.s.syria, and, flushed with victory, marched at once against the Egyptian invader.

Necho was prepared for this. He broke camp at Riblah and proceeded to meet Nebuchadrezzar. The Babylonian and Egyptian armies faced each other at Carchemish by the Euphrates, in 605; and the result once more cast Judah into the political balance.

In the meantime, Jeremiah was forced back to his labors by the conditions at Jerusalem. Necho knew what he wanted when he subst.i.tuted Jehoiakim for Jehoahaz on the throne of Judah. Jehoiakim was weak, pliable, incapable of big things. Jeremiah knew that, too. Therefore, he had to go to work again.

Jeremiah raised no false hopes, based on anything Jehoiakim would do for himself or for Judah. Even while Josiah lived, the crown prince showed the type of man he was. Instead of applying himself to the work of succeeding to the throne, he spent his time in riotous pleasure, and his father's money in lavish extravagance.

As crown prince, he built himself a sumptuous new palace. Unlike Josiah, when the Temple was repaired, Jehoiakim did not pay fair wages, and oppressed his artisans and mechanics. When he sat in judgment, he did not judge righteously.

Therefore, at Josiah's unexpected death, Jeremiah approved the action of the people in raising the unfortunate Jehoahaz to the throne.

Necho's subst.i.tution of Jehoiakim filled the prophet with alarm. The happy years of Josiah's reign vanished like a mist; and, with a heart that was heavy-laden, Jeremiah left Anathoth, where he had been living quietly with his relatives and friends, and went down to the turmoil in Jerusalem.

Satisfying himself that he had not exaggerated the situation in the capital, and, seeing now that the calamity of Josiah's death was more far-reaching than he had at first supposed, Jeremiah addressed himself to Jehoiakim with the following warning:

"Woe to him who buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; Who causeth his neighbor to labor without wages, and giveth him not his pay; Who saith, 'I will build me a vast palace with s.p.a.cious chambers; Provided with deep-cut windows, ceiled with cedar and painted with vermillion.'

Dost thou call thyself king because thou excellest in cedar?

Thy father--did he not eat and drink and execute law and justice?

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well.

'Was not this to know me?' saith the Lord.

But thine eyes and heart are bent only on thy dishonest gain, And on the shedding of innocent blood and on oppression and violence!"

Nor did Jeremiah hesitate to point out that such a state of affairs could not exist long and that such a king could not reign long over Israel.

He even foretold the fate of Jehoiakim. He knew that the political situation, as it would develop when Nineveh was conquered, would once more embroil Judah. Jehoiakim, he was sure, could not stand the test.

Therefore, he could see nothing but the fall and untimely death of Jehoiakim, and he added, "They shall not lament over him, saying one to another, 'Oh, my brother!' or 'Oh, my sister!' They shall not wail for him, saying, 'Oh, Lord!' or 'Oh, his glory!' but shall be glad when he is 'buried as an a.s.s is buried, drawn out and cast forth.'"

On that very day came the news of the Battle of Carchemish. It was one of the epoch-making struggles of ancient history. Victory perched proudly on the banner of Nebuchadrezzar and Necho was utterly routed, fleeing toward Egypt, the Babylonians in hot pursuit.

Within that very year all signs of Egyptian rule in Syria and Palestine were wiped out. "The king of Babylon had taken from the brook of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt." Judah became a Babylonian province and Jehoiakim but the shadow of a king.

CHAPTER IX.

_The Temple of the Lord._

Nebuchadrezzar had taken up his headquarters where Pharaoh-Necho had encamped at Riblah, and there received the homage of the little Syrian and Palestinian states that he had wrested from Egypt.

To Jeremiah's great surprise, Jehoiakim sent a secret emba.s.sy to Nebuchadrezzar vowing allegiance to Babylon.

Jehoiakim's submission pleased Jeremiah. He saw in it a splendid opportunity for Judah. All that was needed now was to keep the people in the path of right. Their future, he felt, could be worked out well enough as long as the country was at peace, free from the ravages of war.

But here Jeremiah was met by a new difficulty. Josiah's reformation, followed by his death and the quick changes in the country's political fortunes, had not worked out very satisfactorily. People began to doubt the wisdom of the whole proceeding.

In the first place, some said that G.o.d was displeased at Josiah's overriding the traditional forms of wors.h.i.+p. The opportunity for G.o.d to show that displeasure was at Megiddo, and, therefore, Josiah lost his life there. All the people, it was plain, had not yet arrived at the conception of G.o.d held by a Jeremiah or Josiah.

Again, there were others who fell back into the old reasoning that the G.o.ds of the other nations were mightier than Judah's G.o.d, and, therefore, they fell back into the old idolatrous ways. They were merely awaiting the opportunity to wors.h.i.+p the other G.o.ds publicly as some of them were already doing privately.

Then, again, there were many who believed that the new Book of the Law and the new order of things prohibiting sacrifices in any place except the Temple in Jerusalem, did not permit of enough sacrificing to G.o.d, and, therefore, was He again visiting the land with the rod of Egypt and Babylonia.

And, opposing all these, Jeremiah and his followers were positive in their hearts and souls that sacrifices were by no means the all-important feature of the wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d, but, as Jeremiah had reminded the people on the day of the Great Pa.s.sover, G.o.d asked them only to obey His voice and to live in accordance with the moral law that He had commanded them.

"So shall ye be my people, and I will be your G.o.d; that I may establish the oath which I sware unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey."

King Jehoiakim had no interest whatever in these differing religious opinions among the people.

As long as he could pay his tribute to Nebuchadrezzar and live luxuriously and voluptuously in his newly built palace, he cared not further. Religiously and morally he permitted things to take their own course, as if morals and religion had no part to play in the strength and safety of his people and in their national welfare.

Jeremiah was now convinced that it was his duty once more to take up the brave fight for G.o.d and His law. The opportunity came during the Feast of the Ingathering, in the year 604.

Many thousands had come from all parts of the country to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival. All brought with them many heads of cattle and bags of grain and flour for the prescribed sacrifices.

They were a happy company. When the Temple came into view, rising majestically in the distance, they shouted to each other, "The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!" out of sheer joy in beholding the sacred structure that meant so much to them.

"The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!" they cried, and pointed to the magnificent edifice which some of them had never seen before.

Jeremiah listened to these joyous shouts and observed sorrowfully the self-satisfaction of those who had come to offer their sacrifices. He was much alone these days. His parents had been dead some years and a new Priest was in charge of the Temple. Shaphan and all Josiah's old counsellors were either gone to their reward or had been dismissed from service by Jehoiakim. Shaphan's two sons, Ahikam and Gemariah, were indeed high in the counsels of the king, but they bothered little about Jeremiah and his teachings.

So Jeremiah stood alone, on the first day of the festival, at the Temple gates. A mult.i.tude of people pa.s.sed him, taking their turn at bringing their offerings. From within the Temple he heard the sounds of cattle being slaughtered and smelt the odor of burning flesh. The noise deafened him; the odors choked him. Here were king, priest and people leading unrighteous lives and believing that this wholesale slaughtering and burning was what G.o.d demanded of them! Here were elaborate form and ritual, but no justice and love!

Jeremiah fairly gasped for breath when the full meaning of this came to him. Turning upon a great crowd that was jammed at the gates, waiting their turn to enter the Temple, he cried:

"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the G.o.d of Israel:

"'Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat ye flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices.

"'But this thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your G.o.d, and ye shall be my people; and walk ye in all the way that I command you that it may be well with you.

"'Yet they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart. This is the nation that hath not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their G.o.d, nor received instruction. Truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth.'"

What an amazing outburst! G.o.d did not command them concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices! The man is ridiculous!

Religious discussions and controversies had often taken place in the Temple courts. Here was the Forum of the People, in fact, and several men who had often proclaimed themselves as prophets, speaking the word of G.o.d, joined issue with Jeremiah, whom they now recognized.

"Here is the Temple--the Temple of the Lord," they exclaimed. "What was it built for, if not for sacrifices?" they wanted to know. "What other way is there for men to wors.h.i.+p G.o.d than to bring their offerings to him?"

Jeremiah replied that sacrifices were inst.i.tuted by men, by the priesthood, not by G.o.d, and continued, making plain once for all his understanding of the way G.o.d wanted men to show their religion:

"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the G.o.d of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, 'The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!

"'For, if you really amend your ways and your deeds, if ye faithfully execute justice between a man and his neighbor, if ye oppress not the resident alien, the fatherless and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and do not go after other G.o.ds to your hurt; then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever.'"