Some of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people about how Hezekiah king of Judah and all the people of Judah listened to the word of Micah the prophet. Hezekiah feared Jehovah and entreated His favor, and Jehovah repented of the evil which He had spoken against them (vv. 17-19a). Then the elders said, "But we are about to bring a great evil on ourselves" (v. 19b). The speaking of these elders was quite good.
In verses 20 through 23 we are told that another man by the name of Uriah prophesied in the name of Jehovah against Jerusalem and the land words like all those of Jeremiah. The words of Uriah confirmed and strengthened Jeremiah's prophecies. The king Jehoiakim sought to put Uriah to death, but he fled to Egypt. Then the king sent people to Egypt to bring him back to the king. The king slew him and threw his corpse into the graves of the common people. This exposes how evil King Jehoiakim was.
Under God's sovereignty, Jeremiah was preserved by Ahikam the son of Shaphan (2 Chron. 34:20) and was not given into the hands of the people to put him to death (Jer. 26:24).
Chapter twenty-six indicates that Jeremiah was the object of much discussion. Some wanted to put him to death, whereas others spoke against this. Eventually, even though the king wanted him to be put to death, Jeremiah was preserved.
Jeremiah was forced into such a dilemma that he even cursed the day of his birth (20:14). God was determined to judge and punish Israel, yet He still wanted Israel to listen to His word, repent, and return to Him. But Israel would not return. Instead, the king, the priests, the prophets, and the people became worse and worse. They persecuted Jeremiah and derided him, and it seemed to Jeremiah that there was no way for him to go on living.
Although Jeremiah was preserved, because of the different opinions, nothing was attained toward the accomplishment of God's goal. Whether the people were for Jeremiah or against him, the opinions had the same result—God's purpose was frustrated. Both those who were for Jeremiah and those who were against him were kept away from God's dispensing. They were distracted from Him as the fountain of living waters (2:13). Distractions are the devil's devices to keep God's people from receiving the divine dispensing.
God's intention is to be everything to His chosen people that they may trust in Him and rely on Him for everything. If they do this, they will receive God's dispensing. But Satan knows and hates God's intention, so he frustrates God's people by the worship of idols. According to the teaching of the New Testament, behind every idol is a demon (1 Cor. 10:19-22). On the one hand, idols are vanity in the sight of God. On the other hand, behind the idols are demons, things that are devilishly real. Behind every opinion is also a demon. This was the situation with the opinions expressed about whether Jeremiah should live or die. According to the spiritual scene, the unseen view, in the book of Jeremiah, there were demons behind the idols and also behind the ideas.
God's goal in sending Jeremiah was to bring Israel back, not to the right opinion, teaching, or instruction, but back to God directly as the source, the fountain, of living waters that they might receive His dispensing. But all the different opinions kept God's people away from His dispensing.
My desire in these messages is that you would receive something according to the central line of the divine revelation concerning God's dispensing to fulfill His economy. My aim in this life-study is neither opinion nor teaching; my aim is to infuse you with God's economy by His dispensing. I hope that you will see God's economy in the book of Jeremiah.
We have often said that Christ is the centrality and universality in God's economy. However, this should not become a mere slogan to us. Rather, our heart must be touched by God's center, by the centrality and universality of Christ regarding God's economy. We need to be touched by this center so that in every book and every chapter of the Bible we would see Christ.