Context No. 3525 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 32:1-5: in context

1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2Now at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah’s house. 3For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy, and say, ‘The LORD says, “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it; 4and Zedekiah king of Judah won’t escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes will see his eyes; 5and he will bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him,” says the LORD, “though you fight with the Chaldeans, you will not prosper”’?”

Jeremiah is shut up in the court of the guard, imprisoned by his own king for the crime of telling the truth. Zedekiah cannot bear his message, that the city will fall to Babylon and the king himself be captured, so he locks the prophet up, as if silencing the messenger could somehow change the message.

But shutting Jeremiah in prison did not make his words untrue. God's word stood, whether the king liked it or not, and it came to pass exactly as spoken. There is a common human folly on display here: trying to escape an unwelcome truth by silencing or punishing the one who speaks it, rather than dealing honestly with the truth itself. Zedekiah could imprison the prophet, but he could not imprison the word of God. We cannot make a hard truth go away by refusing to hear it, or by punishing the one who tells it; the truth simply remains, and wisdom faces it rather than fighting the messenger who brings it.

When I am confronted with an unwelcome truth, do I face it honestly, or do I try to silence or dismiss the messenger as if that could change what is true?

Sources

Jeremiah 32:3: "Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do you prophesy... Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon?"
Jeremiah 32:2: "The king of Babylon's army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard."
Galatians 4:16: "So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?"