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Context No. 1857 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Context · Reflection

Jeremiah 26:17-24: in context

17Then certain of the elders of the land rose up, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, 18“Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘The LORD of Armies says: “‘Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.’ 19Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Didn’t he fear the LORD, and entreat the favor of the LORD, and the LORD relented of the disaster which he had pronounced against them? We would commit great evil against our own souls that way!” 20There was also a man who prophesied in the LORD’s name, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. 21When Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt. 22Then Jehoiakim the king sent Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain men with him into Egypt. 23They fetched Uriah out of Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. 24But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they didn’t give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

Jeremiah's life is in danger, for his words of judgment have enraged the priests and prophets, who call for his death. But some of the elders rise up and speak in his defense, recalling how the prophet Micah had said similar hard things in Hezekiah's day and was not killed, but heeded. The passage also remembers Uriah, another prophet, who spoke like Jeremiah, fled in fear, was hunted down, and killed. But Jeremiah is spared, for, the text says, the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with him, protecting him from those who would have put him to death.

In a scene where an innocent man's life hangs in the balance, some people stand up for him. The elders speak in Jeremiah's defense, appealing to precedent and reason to turn the crowd from killing him; and Ahikam uses his influence to shield him, so that Jeremiah is not handed over to death. These are people who, at some risk to themselves, used their voice and their standing to defend the innocent and protect the endangered. Their courage saved a life. There is a call here to be such people. It is often easier and safer to stay silent when someone is being unjustly attacked, to let the crowd have its way, to avoid the risk of standing up for the accused or the endangered. But Scripture honors those who speak for the voiceless and defend the vulnerable: open your mouth for those who cannot speak for themselves; defend the rights of the poor and needy; rescue the weak. The elders and Ahikam did exactly this for Jeremiah, and it cost them the ease of silence and the safety of going along with the crowd. And their willingness to stand for the innocent was, in God's providence, the means by which his prophet was preserved. Often God protects the endangered through people willing to stand up for them; and often the question is whether we will be such people. When someone near us is being unjustly attacked, slandered, or endangered, will we stay safely silent, or will we, like the elders and Ahikam, use our voice and our position to defend them, even at some cost to ourselves? To speak up for the innocent, to shield the endangered, to stand against the crowd for the sake of the persecuted, is a courage the Scriptures honor, and often the very means God uses to protect his own. The hand of Ahikam was with Jeremiah; and God still works through those willing to put their hand out for the endangered.

When someone near me is being unjustly attacked, slandered, or endangered, do I stay safely silent and let the crowd have its way, or can I be like the elders and Ahikam, using my voice and my standing to defend the innocent and protect the endangered, even at some risk to myself, as God so often protects his own through those willing to stand for them?

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