“This day I call the
heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life
and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children
may live” Deuteronomy 30:19
"Furthermore, tell
the people, 'This is what the LORD says: See, I am setting before you the way
of life and the way of death.” Jeremiah 21:8
Doing research into
Jeremiah 21:8, I wanted to see if what I saw here was generally accepted. I
found a quote out of Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers which so matched
what I was feeling that I have chosen to quote it.
“The words are not unlike
those of Deuteronomy 11:26-27; Deuteronomy 30:15; Deuteronomy 30:19, but there
is something like a solemn irony in their application here. They obviously
present themselves, not with the wide spiritual application with which they
meet us there, but are to be taken in their lowest and most literal sense. The
“way of life” is no longer that way of righteousness which the men of Judah had
forsaken, leading to the life of eternal blessedness, but simply submission to
the Chaldæans, and the life so gained was one of exile and poverty, if not of
bondage also.”
The people of Israel had
so walked away from God that the only thing left was physical life. Yes, as we
read Jeremiah there is a hope for the future, but for now, there is only life.
All the blessings of the covenant were gone. It is a very sad place. Those who
had so much promise are now just living. It seemed a fate worse than death,
however, this life was better than what lay in store for most of those who
didn’t surrender.
Does this relate to us
today?
I think it does. Those who have had Jesus in their lives but haven’t lived the Christian life may find they end up missing out on God’s blessing in this life and the rewards in the next. Yes, they may be saved through the fire, but they will have nothing to show for it (1 Corinthians 3:15). Yes, they aren’t lost, but that’s it. And this is a sad commentary on a life, the man on the cross who could do nothing for Jesus is better off than a person who has the opportunity to obey and doesn’t.
Jer 21:1-14
(1) The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
(2) Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
(3) Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
(4) Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
(5) And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
(6) And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
(7) And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
(8) And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
(9) He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
(10) For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
(11) And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
(12) O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
(13) Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
(14) But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.
Photo by Denys Argyriou on Unsplash
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/21-8.htm. Accessed 8-2-18.
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