Precedent and Protection

Many readers think Jeremiah 26 gives the setting of the temple sermon in chapter 7. In the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, God told Jeremiah to stand in the temple court and speak all the words, adding, Don't omit a word. The goal was mercy. It may be they will listen, and every man turn from his evil way, that I may relent from the evil. The warning was conditional, like the potter's lesson in chapter 18.

The message that the temple would become like Shiloh struck the religious leaders as blasphemy. The priests and the prophets seized Jeremiah and demanded his death. At the trial before the princes, Jeremiah spoke with quiet courage. He insisted that God had sent him, urged them to amend their ways, and said, But as for me, behold, I am in your hand. Do with me what is good and right in your eyes. He warned only that killing him would bring innocent blood on the city.

The verdict turned on history. Elders of the land recalled Micah the Morashtite, who had foretold that Zion would be plowed as a field. Hezekiah had not killed Micah but had sought God's favor, and disaster was averted. The princes concluded that Jeremiah was not worthy of death. The chapter also notes that another prophet, Uriah, gave the same message and was not spared by Jehoiakim. Jeremiah survived because the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with him, a reminder that God often protects through faithful people.