Prophets and Kings
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 35: Approaching Doom
The first years of Jehoiakim's reign were filled with
warnings of approaching doom. The word of the Lord spoken by the prophets was
about to be fulfilled. The Assyrian power to the northward, long supreme, was
no longer to rule the nations. Egypt on the south, in whose power the king of
Judah was vainly placing his trust, was soon to receive a decided check. All
unexpectedly a new world power, the Babylonian Empire, was rising to the
eastward and swiftly overshadowing all other nations. {PK 422.1}
Within a few short years the king of Babylon was to be used
as the instrument of God's wrath upon impenitent Judah. Again and again
Jerusalem was to be invested and entered by the besieging armies of
Nebuchadnezzar. Company after company—at first a few only, but later
on thousands and tens of thousands—were to be taken captive to the
land of Shinar, there to dwell in enforced exile. Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin,
Zedekiah—all these Jewish kings were in turn to become vassals of the
Babylonian [423]
ruler, and all in turn were to rebel. Severer and yet more severe chastisements
were to be inflicted upon the rebellious nation, until at last the entire land
was to become a desolation, Jerusalem was to be laid waste and burned with
fire, the temple that Solomon had built was to be destroyed, and the kingdom of
Judah was to fall, never again to occupy its former position among the nations
of earth. {PK 422.2}
Those times of change, so fraught with peril to the
Israelitish nation, were marked with many messages from Heaven through
Jeremiah. Thus the Lord gave the children of Judah ample opportunity of freeing
themselves from entangling alliances with Egypt, and of avoiding controversy
with the rulers of Babylon. As the threatened danger came closer, he taught the
people by means of a series of acted parables, hoping thus to arouse them to a
sense of their obligation to God, and also to encourage them to maintain
friendly relations with the Babylonian government. {PK 423.1}
To illustrate the importance of yielding implicit obedience
to the requirements of God, Jeremiah gathered some Rechabites into one of the
chambers of the temple and set wine before them, inviting them to drink. As was
to have been expected, he met with remonstrance and absolute refusal. "We
will drink no wine," the Rechabites firmly declared, "for Jonadab the
son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither
ye, nor your sons forever." {PK 423.2}
"Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, [424] Will ye not receive instruction
to hearken to My words? saith the Lord. The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab,
that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day
they drink none, but obey their father's commandment." Jeremiah 35:6,
12-14. {PK 423.3}
God sought thus to bring into sharp contrast the obedience
of the Rechabites with the disobedience and rebellion of His people. The
Rechabites had obeyed the command of their father and now refused to be enticed
into transgression. But the men of Judah had hearkened not to the words of the
Lord, and were in consequence about to suffer His severest judgments. {PK 424.1}
"I have spoken unto you, rising early and
speaking," the Lord declared, "but ye hearkened not unto Me. I have
sent also unto you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending
them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings,
and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which
I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor
hearkened unto Me. Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed
the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath
not hearkened unto Me: therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of
Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have
spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but
they have not answered." Verses 14-17. [425] {PK 424.2}
When men's hearts are softened and subdued by the
constraining influence of the Holy Spirit, they will give heed to counsel; but
when they turn from admonition until their hearts become hardened, the Lord
permits them to be led by other influences. Refusing the truth, they accept
falsehood, which becomes a snare to their own destruction. {PK 425.1}
God had pleaded with Judah not to provoke Him to anger, but
they had hearkened not. Finally sentence was pronounced against them. They were
to be led away captive to Babylon. The Chaldeans were to be used as the
instrument by which God would chastise His disobedient people. The sufferings
of the men of Judah were to be in proportion to the light they had had and to
the warnings they had despised and rejected. Long had God delayed His
judgments, but now He would visit His displeasure upon them as a last effort to
check them in their evil course. {PK 425.2}
Upon the house of the Rechabites was pronounced a continued
blessing. The prophet declared, "Because ye have obeyed the commandment of
Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all
that he hath commanded you: therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before Me
forever." Verses 18, 19. Thus God taught His people that faithfulness and
obedience would be reflected back upon Judah in blessing, even as the
Rechabites were blessed for obedience to their father's command. {PK 425.3}
The lesson is for us. If the requirements of a good and wise
father, who took the best and most effectual means [426] to
secure his posterity against the evils of intemperance, were worthy of strict
obedience, surely God's authority should be held in as much greater reverence
as He is holier than man. Our Creator and our Commander, infinite in power,
terrible in judgment, seeks by every means to bring men to see and repent of
their sins. By the mouth of His servants He predicts the dangers of
disobedience; He sounds the note of warning and faithfully reproves sin. His
people are kept in prosperity only by His mercy, through the vigilant watchcare
of chosen instrumentalities. He cannot uphold and guard a people who reject His
counsel and despise His reproofs. For a time He may withhold His retributive
judgments; yet He cannot always stay His hand. {PK 425.4}
The children of Judah were numbered among those of whom God
had declared, "Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy
nation." Exodus 19:6. Never did Jeremiah in his ministry lose sight of the
vital importance of heart holiness in the varied relationships of life, and
especially in the service of the most high God. Plainly he foresaw the downfall
of the kingdom and a scattering of the inhabitants of Judah among the nations;
but with the eye of faith he looked beyond all this to the times of
restoration. Ringing in his ears was the divine promise: "I will gather
the remnant of My flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and
will bring them again to their folds. . . . Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King
shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall [427] dwell
safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS." Jeremiah 23:3-6. {PK 426.1}
Thus prophecies of oncoming judgment were mingled with
promises of final and glorious deliverance. Those who should choose to make
their peace with God and live holy lives amid the prevailing apostasy, would
receive strength for every trial and be enabled to witness for Him with mighty
power. And in the ages to come the deliverance wrought in their behalf would
exceed in fame that wrought for the children of Israel at the time of the
Exodus. The days were coming, the Lord declared through His prophet, when
"they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of
Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, which brought up and
which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from
all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own
land." Verses 7, 8. Such were the wonderful prophecies uttered by Jeremiah
during the closing years of the history of the kingdom of Judah, when the
Babylonians were coming unto universal rule, and were even then bringing their
besieging armies against the walls of Zion. {PK 427.1}
Like sweetest music these promises of deliverance fell upon
the ears of those who were steadfast in their worship of Jehovah. In the homes
of the high and the lowly, where the counsels of a covenant-keeping God were
still held in reverence, the words of the prophet were repeated again and
again. Even the children were mightily stirred, and upon their young and
receptive minds lasting impressions were made. [428] {PK 427.2}
It was their conscientious observance of the commands of
Holy Scripture, that in the days of Jeremiah's ministry brought to Daniel and
his fellows opportunities to exalt the true God before the nations of earth.
The instruction these Hebrew children had received in the homes of their
parents, made them strong in faith and constant in their service of the living
God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. When, early in the reign of
Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar for the first time besieged and captured Jerusalem,
and carried away Daniel and his companions, with others specially chosen for
service in the court of Babylon, the faith of the Hebrew captives was tried to
the utmost. But those who had learned to place their trust in the promises of
God found these all-sufficient in every experience through which they were
called to pass during their sojourn in a strange land. The Scriptures proved to
them a guide and a stay. {PK
428.1}
As an interpreter of the meaning of the judgments beginning
to fall upon Judah, Jeremiah stood nobly in defense of the justice of God and
of His merciful designs even in the severest chastisements. Untiringly the
prophet labored. Desirous of reaching all classes, he extended the sphere of
his influence beyond Jerusalem to the surrounding districts by frequent visits
to various parts of the kingdom. {PK 428.2}
In his testimonies to the church, Jeremiah constantly
referred to the teachings of the book of the law that had been so greatly
honored and exalted during Josiah's reign. He emphasized anew the importance of
maintaining a covenant relationship with the all-merciful and compassionate [429]
Being who upon the heights of Sinai had spoken the precepts of the Decalogue.
Jeremiah's words of warning and entreaty reached every part of the kingdom, and
all had opportunity to know the will of God concerning the nation. {PK 428.3}
The prophet made plain the fact that our heavenly Father
allows His judgments to fall, "that the nations may know themselves to be
but men." Psalm 9:20. "If ye walk contrary unto Me, and will not
hearken unto Me," the Lord had forewarned His people, "I, even I,
. . . will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword
after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste."
Leviticus 26:21, 28, 33. {PK
429.1}
At the very time messages of impending doom were urged upon
princes and people, their ruler, Jehoiakim, who should have been a wise
spiritual leader, foremost in confession of sin and in reformation and good
works, was spending his time in selfish pleasure. "I will build me a wide
house and large chambers," he proposed; and this house, "ceiled with
cedar, and painted with vermilion" (Jeremiah 22:14), was built with money
and labor secured through fraud and oppression. {PK 429.2}
The wrath of the prophet was aroused, and he was inspired to
pronounce judgment upon the faithless ruler. "Woe unto him that buildeth
his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong," he declared;
"that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth him not for
his work. . . . Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in
cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then
it was well with him? He [430] judged the cause of the poor and
needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know Me? saith the Lord. But
thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed
innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. {PK 429.3}
"Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the
son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my
brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah
his glory! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth
beyond the gates of Jerusalem." Verses 13-19. {PK 430.1}
Within a few years this terrible judgment was to be visited
upon Jehoiakim; but first the Lord in mercy informed the impenitent nation of
His set purpose. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign "Jeremiah the
prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem," pointing out that for over a score of years, "from the
thirteenth year of Josiah, . . . even unto this day," he had
borne witness of God's desire to save, but that his messages had been despised.
Jeremiah 25:2, 3. And now the word of the Lord to them was: {PK 430.2}
"Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Because ye have not
heard My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,
saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will
bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against
all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an
astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take
from them [431] the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness,
the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the
millstones, and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a
desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of
Babylon seventy years." Verses 8-11. {PK 430.3}
Although the sentence of doom had been clearly pronounced,
its awful import could scarcely be understood by the multitudes who heard. That
deeper impressions might be made, the Lord sought to illustrate the meaning of
the words spoken. He bade Jeremiah liken the fate of the nation to the draining
of a cup filled with the wine of divine wrath. Among the first to drink of this
cup of woe was to be "Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings
thereof." Others were to partake of the same cup—"Pharaoh
king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people," and
many other nations of earth—until God's purpose should have been
fulfilled. See Jeremiah 25. {PK
431.1}
To illustrate further the nature of the swift-coming
judgments, the prophet was bidden to "take of the ancients of the people,
and of the ancients of the priests; and go forth unto the valley of the son of
Hinnom," and there, after reviewing the apostasy of Judah, he was to dash
to pieces "a potter's earthen bottle," and declare in behalf of
Jehovah, whose servant he was, "Even so will I break this people and this
city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again."
{PK 431.2}
The prophet did as he was commanded. Then, returning to the
city, he stood in the court of the temple and declared [432] in the
hearing of all the people. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil
that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that
they might not hear My words." See Jeremiah 19. {PK 431.3}
The prophet's words, instead of leading to confession and
repentance, aroused the anger of those high in authority, and as a consequence
Jeremiah was deprived of his liberty. Imprisoned, and placed in the stocks, the
prophet nevertheless continued to speak the messages of Heaven to those who
stood by. His voice could not be silenced by persecution. The word of truth, he
declared, "was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I
was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." Jeremiah 20:9. {PK 432.1}
It was about this time that the Lord commanded Jeremiah to
commit to writing the messages he desired to bear to those for whose salvation
his heart of pity was continually yearning."Take thee a roll of a
book," the Lord bade His servant, "and write therein all the words
that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all
the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto
this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I
purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that
I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." Jeremiah 36:2, 3. {PK 432.2}
In obedience to this command, Jeremiah called to his aid a
faithful friend, Baruch the scribe, and dictated "all the words of the
Lord, which He had spoken unto him." [433] Verse
4. These were carefully written out on a roll of parchment and constituted a
solemn reproof for sin, a warning of the sure result of continual apostasy, and
an earnest appeal for the renunciation of all evil. {PK 432.3}
When the writing was completed, Jeremiah, who was still a
prisoner, sent Baruch to read the roll to the multitudes who were assembling at
the temple on the occasion of a national fast day, "in the fifth year of
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month." "It
may be," the prophet said, "they will present their supplication
before the Lord, and will return everyone from his evil way: for great is the
anger and the fury that the Lord hath pronounced against this people."
Verses 9, 7. {PK 433.1}
Baruch obeyed, and the roll was read before all the people
of Judah. Afterward the scribe was summoned before the princes to read the
words to them. They listened with great interest and promised to inform the
king concerning all they had heard, but counseled the scribe to hide himself,
for they feared the king would reject the testimony and seek to slay those who
had prepared and delivered the message. {PK 433.2}
When King Jehoiakim was told by the princes what Baruch had
read, he immediately ordered the roll brought before him and read in his hearing.
One of the royal attendants, Jehudi by name, fetched the roll and began reading
the words of reproof and warning. It was the time of winter, and the king and
his companions of state, the princes of Judah, were gathered about an open
fire. Only a small portion had been read, when the king, far from trembling [434]
at the danger hanging over himself and his people, seized the roll and in a
frenzy of rage "cut it with the penknife and cast it into the fire that
was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed." Verse 23. {PK 433.3}
Neither the king nor his princes were afraid "nor rent
their garments." Certain of the princes, however, "had made
intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear
them." The writing having been destroyed, the wrath of the wicked king
rose against Jeremiah and Baruch, and he forthwith sent for them to be taken;
"but the Lord hid them." Verses 24-26. [435] {PK 434.1}
In bringing to the attention of the temple worshipers, and
of the princes and king, the written admonitions contained in the inspired
roll, God was graciously seeking to warn the men of Judah for their good.
"It may be," He said, "the house of Judah will hear all the evil
which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil
way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." Verse 3. God pities
men struggling in the blindness of perversity; He seeks to enlighten the
darkened understanding by sending reproofs and threatenings designed to cause
the most exalted to feel their ignorance and to deplore their errors. He
endeavors to help the self-complacent to become dissatisfied with their vain
attainments and to seek for spiritual blessing through a close connection with
heaven. {PK 435.1}
God's plan is not to send messengers who will please and
flatter sinners; He delivers no messages of peace to lull the unsanctified into
carnal security. Instead, He lays heavy burdens upon the conscience of the
wrongdoer and pierces his soul with sharp arrows of conviction. Ministering
angels present to him the fearful judgments of God, to deepen the sense of need
and to prompt the agonizing cry, "What must I do to be saved?" Acts
16:30. But the Hand that humbles to the dust, rebukes sin, and puts pride and
ambition to shame, is the Hand that lifts up the penitent, stricken one. With
deepest sympathy He who permits the chastisement to fall, inquires, "What
wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?" {PK 435.2}
When man has sinned against a holy and merciful God, he can
pursue no course so noble as to repent sincerely and [436]
confess his errors in tears and bitterness of soul. This God requires of him;
He accepts nothing less than a broken heart and a contrite spirit. But King
Jehoiakim and his lords, in their arrogance and pride, refused the invitation
of God. They would not heed the warning, and repent. The gracious opportunity
proffered them at the time of the burning of the sacred roll, was their last.
God had declared that if at that time they refused to hear His voice, He would
inflict upon them fearful retribution. They did refuse to hear, and He
pronounced His final judgments upon Judah, and He would visit with special
wrath the man who had proudly lifted himself up against the Almighty. {PK 435.3}
"Thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He
shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be
cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. And I will
punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring
upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah,
all the evil that I have pronounced against them." Jeremiah 36:30, 31. {PK 436.1}
The burning of the roll was not the end of the matter. The
written words were more easily disposed of than the reproof and warning they
contained and the swift-coming punishment God had pronounced against rebellious
Israel. But even the written roll was reproduced. "Take thee again another
roll," the Lord commanded His servant, "and write in it all the former
words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath
burned." The record of the prophecies concerning Judah and Jerusalem had
been [437]
reduced to ashes; but the words were still living in the heart of Jeremiah,
"as a burning fire," and the prophet was permitted to reproduce that
which the wrath of man would fain have destroyed. {PK 436.2}
Taking another roll, Jeremiah gave it to Baruch, "who
wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which
Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides
unto them many like words." Verses 28, 32. The wrath of man had sought to
prevent the labors of the prophet of God; but the very means by which Jehoiakim
had endeavored to limit the influence of the servant of Jehovah, gave further
opportunity for making plain the divine requirements. {PK 437.1}
The spirit of opposition to reproof, that led to the
persecution and imprisonment of Jeremiah, exists today. Many refuse to heed
repeated warnings, preferring rather to listen to false teachers who flatter
their vanity and overlook their evil-doing. In the day of trouble such will
have no sure refuge, no help from heaven. God's chosen servants should meet
with courage and patience the trials and sufferings that befall them through
reproach, neglect, and misrepresentation. They should continue to discharge
faithfully the work God has given them to do, ever remembering that the
prophets of old and the Saviour of mankind and His apostles also endured abuse
and persecution for the Word's sake. {PK 437.2}
It was God's purpose that Jehoiakim should heed the counsels
of Jeremiah and thus win favor in the eyes of Nebuchadnezzar and save himself
much sorrow. The youthful [438] king had sworn allegiance to the
Babylonian ruler, and had he remained true to his promise he would have
commanded the respect of the heathen, and this would have led to precious
opportunities for the conversion of souls. {PK 437.3}
Scorning the unusual privileges granted him, Judah's king
willfully followed a way of his own choosing. He violated his word of honor to
the Babylonian ruler, and rebelled. This brought him and his kingdom into a
very strait place. Against him were sent "bands of the Chaldees, and bands
of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of
Ammon," and he was powerless to prevent the land from being overrun by
these marauders. 2 Kings 24:2. Within a few years he closed his disastrous
reign in ignominy, rejected of Heaven, unloved by his people, and despised by
the rulers of Babylon whose confidence he had betrayed—and all as the
result of his fatal mistake in turning from the purpose of God as revealed
through His appointed messenger. {PK 438.1}
Jehoiachin [also known as Jeconiah, and Coniah], the son of
Jehoiakim, occupied the throne only three months and ten days, when he
surrendered to the Chaldean armies which, because of the rebellion of Judah's
ruler, were once more besieging the fated city. On this occasion Nebuchadnezzar
"carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's
wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land," several thousand in
number, together with "craftsmen and smiths a thousand." With these
the king of Babylon took "all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and
the treasures of the king's house." 2 Kings 24:15, 16, 13. [439]
{PK 438.2}
The kingdom of Judah, broken in power and robbed of its
strength both in men and in treasure, was nevertheless still permitted to exist
as a separate government. At its head Nebuchadnezzar placed Mattaniah, a
younger son of Josiah, changing his name to Zedekiah. {PK 439.1}
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"The Last King of Judah"
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