“Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble,” Jeremiah 11:14. (BC 608)
“Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good,” Jeremiah 14:11. (BC 601)
“Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee,” Jeremiah 7:16. (BC 600)
A few days ago I read the last of these verses as part of my daily reading. As I read them I remembered that this was not the first time that Jeremiah had received this command from the Lord. According to Ussher’s chronology, what is written in chapter 7 is dated about 600 BC, chapter 11, 608 BC and chapter 14 is likely dated about 601 BC.
I have listed them above in chronological order. As is the case in many places in Holy Scripture, the chapters do not always appear in chronological order.
First command
In chapter 11:14, the events of which came first in these series of verses, Jeremiah is given his first command to stop praying for the people. “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.”
I believe, as is ever the case with the Lord, His tone is somewhat gentler in this the earliest issuing of the warning against Judah, of that which He would bring upon them for their sin.
The next command is given some seven years after, again according to Ussher’s chronology. This time there is a specific forbidding to pray for the “good” of the people.
“Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good,” 14:10-11.
The word “good” refers to their general well-being and that which is related to it. He was not to pray for their comfort, their peace: for those ‘good things’ such as rain, that the famine might cease; and for deliverance from their enemies, that they might not go into captivity. God’s judgments were beginning but Jeremiah was forbidden to pray for any easing of them while Judah remained stubbornly defiant of God and His commands.
Chapter 7:16, is chronologically, the last time this command is given to the prophet. It clearly indicates a deepening of God’s anger because of their persistently sinful rebellion against Him.
I quote a large section of the chapter to show context.
Context
“The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God 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, are these. For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?
Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.
And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched,” Jeremiah 7:1-20.
As I say, it was some days ago that I read chapter 14, on the 18th July to be exact, and it reminded me that this command was repeated. As I thought upon this I recognised:
I. THAT JEREMIAH WAS SLOW TO CEASE PRAYING FOR THIS VERY SINFULLY OBSTINATE PEOPLE!
Surely this indicates a tenderness of heart on the part of the prophet, despite the circumstances he found himself in!
The Word of God that he faithfully preached was rejected wholesale! How hurtful that was a for a man who found the Word of God as sweetest food to his taste.
Complaint
“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts,” Jeremiah 15:16.
Despite the rejection of the precious Word, he could not stop preaching it. Listen to his complaint to his mother!
“Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.” Jeremiah 15:10.
He earlier had said: “For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word 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 20:8-9.
He continued to pray for this people even though he was verbally and physically abused by them. The Lord had told him, on the day he had been called to preach, something of what he would face. “And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee,” Jeremiah 1:19.
Came to pass
That most certainly came to pass! These verses illustrates this.
“But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered,” Jeremiah 11:19.
“O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke,”Jeremiah 15:15.
“Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words,” Jeremiah 18:18.
“Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD,” Jeremiah 20:1-2.
Example
Yet, despite the cruel and undeserved treatment he experienced, he had to be commanded to stop praying for this people. What an example of compassion he is to preachers. He bore the marks of His Saviour without a doubt! He was moved with compassion for even the unclean. “And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean,” Mark 1:41.
II. HE PRAYED FOR THEM EVEN THOUGH HE CONDEMNED THIER REBELLION MOST SEVERELY!
When first called, Jeremiah, like Moses of old, felt his inability to carry out God’s service.
“Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child,” Jeremiah 1:4-6.
Burden
Anyone with any degree of understanding of the burden involved in faithfully serving the Lord, especially in a day of apostasy, will react as did Jeremiah!
But despite his sense of inadequacy, Jeremiah was one of the greatest of the prophets.
1. He had very correctly and faithfully set forth God’s Word. He could only do that with the Lord’s help of course.
“But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant,” Jeremiah 1:7-10.
Preached
I can recall those words preached by Dr Paisley back in April 1968 on the day I was ordained. I cannot say however, that I understood fully their implication!
Jeremiah’s was a lonely life for he had few to stand with him but his courage is to be admired.
2. Despite the difficulties he faced, he never lost his compassion. How easily it would have been to sink down into bitterness! Though he spoke plainly and candidly, and, as we say, ‘called a spade a spade’, his heart remained tender toward the lost and wandering sheep of Israel.
“Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” Jeremiah 9:1.
Is this not the tenderness Christ manifested for the people who were intent on crucifying Him and who would pay a very high price for their sin?
“And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation,” Luke 19:41-44.
Yes, faithful Jeremiah bore a likeness to His Lord and Master!
III. IN MANY WAYS HE WAS A MODEL PREACHER!
There was much going on around him to entice him away from the path the Lord would have him go on!
At our prayer meeting on Wednesday night past, Rev Larry Power, standing in for Rev Samuel Fitton who is on his holidays, directed us to the words of Colossians 3:1-2.
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
He was preaching on the text, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal,” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.
It is by keeping our eyes upon Christ and the eternal things of glory that we are stayed up amidst affliction.
1. Obviously Jeremiah followed this course. Look at what there was around him.
“A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Jeremiah 5:30-31.
How easy it would have been in that day to have compromised and adopted at least something of the spirit of those around!
Today
That temptation faces young men today. All around there is an abandoning of the ‘the old paths’ and a blatant rejection of them. That is how it was in Jeremiah’s day.
“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein,” Jeremiah 6:16.
2. But Jeremiah proved to be a model for us to imitate today. We are faced with a similar departure from the ‘old paths’ the Lord set the Free Presbyterian Church on in 1951.
Sadly, there is not the faithfulness of Jeremiah to be found in all within our denomination. There are many signs of a sad departure.
What was once called ‘righteousness and obedience’ is not seen as such by all any more.
What was seen as sin and compromise and disobedience is today considered acceptable and commendable and beyond reproach indeed, by ministers, some of mature years who should and must know better.
Something of that which Isaiah referred to is taking place today.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20.
But the faithful servant of God will reject such influence and steer a straight path in obedience to God’sWord.
That is what Jeremiah, the commendable, did!
3. He was a man filled with the Holy Spirit. “Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant,” Jeremiah 1:9-10.
That was as it were, Jeremiah’s ‘Pentecost’.
First encounter
Among the first words spoken to me on my first encounter with Dr Paisley, April 12th, 1964, were these: ‘Young man, read your Bible every day and pray every day that God will fill you with the Holy Ghost!’
I do not believe that emphasis is found today. Back then, it was the request in every prayer meeting and the desire of the young gathered in the old Ravenhill Free Presbyterian Church.
I do not think that is the case any more and the evidence of that is the deadness that lies like a foreboding and dark mist on the work of God!
Jeremiah’s words live on today. How many of the ministries of today will die and be forgotten after the funeral of the preacher?
May God give us back a longing for the ‘baptism’ of power enjoyed by Jeremiah.
4. To the end of his days, Jeremiah remained faithful to the Lord and His truth! Following the fall of Jerusalem and the going into Babylonian captivity by many of the people of Judah, something he had for some 30 plus years warned of to a recalcitrant people, Jeremiah proclaimed this in verse 12 of the first chapter of his ‘Lamentations’.
“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.”
No joy
Here was no rejoicing over the fate of those who had long abused him and deserved the judgment that had fallen upon them. No, here was still a love and compassion for the ancient people of God.
He records for us the fall of Jerusalem.
“Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem, and burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire: and all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude,” Jeremiah 52:1-15.
Wickedness had been clung to by the people of Jerusalem to the very end. Jeremiah, on the other hand, remained faithful to his calling and to his Lord.
How will things end for Ulster and for those who profess the name of Christ in these evil times. “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8.
Will there be any Jeremiahs holding fast to “the profession of our faith without wavering,” Hebrews 10:23?
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
Saturday 25th July 2026