GEMS FROM JEREMIAH (32) Jeremiah & Jesus, part IV: the (attempted) destruction of Yahweh’s prophets

 


“Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, “This man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.” (Jer. 26.11)

 

“Then the officials said to the king, “This man ought to be put to death, because he is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, and all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.” King Zedekiah said, “Here he is; he is in your hands; for the king is powerless against you.” (Jer. 38.4-5)

 

“Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.” But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.” (Lk. 23.20-25)


     Both Jeremiah and Jesus suffered persecution for predicting the Temple’s fate.  They both:

1) announced/enacted the Temple’s destruction in the Temple courts,

2) were arrested and tried for this death-worthy offense,

3) were interrogated by men in power who didn’t desire to kill them, but lacked the will to defend them, and

4) were handed over to their enemies’ will.

     1) announced the Temple’s destruction in the Temple courts.  In the year 605, Jeremiah turned his attention to Babylon as the inevitable cause of Jerusalem’s ultimate destruction as he continued to prophesy in the courts of the Temple (cf. Jer. 26.1-3; 7.1-2).

     2) arrested and tried for this death-worthy offense.  Indeed, Jeremiah’s preaching had become a high-risk affair; in the year 609, Jeremiah had come close to being lynched by an angry mob of “priests and prophets and people”.  After he was tried, some friends in key positions prevented the worst from happening (26.1-16, 24).  Another prophet, Uriah son of Shemaiah, wasn’t so fortunate.  After fleeing to Egypt to avoid the wrath of Jehoiakim, he was pursued, brought back to Jerusalem only to be murdered and have his body thrown outside the city (26.20-23).

     In 589, the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem for what would prove to be the last time.  Half-way through the siege, the Babylonian forces withdrew to deal with the threat of an Egyptian offensive against their rear (Jer. 37.4-10).[1]  As he attempted to make a trip home while the way was clear, Jeremiah was arrested at the Benjamin Gate of Jerusalem, and accused of desertion; Jeremiah was beaten and thrown into a dungeon below the house of the secretary of state (37.11-16).

     3) interrogated by Zedekiah who didn’t desire to kill him, but lacked the will to defend him.  When Zedekiah consulted him in order to hear the word of the LORD, Jeremiah managed to have himself transferred to the court of the palace guards (37.17-21).

     4) handed over to his enemies’ will.  After once again proclaiming to the people that the only way to survive was to surrender to the Babylonians, a cabal from the royal court put pressure on the weak-willed Zedekiah, who gave them a carte-blanche to deal with Jeremiah any way they saw fit (Jer. 38.1-5).  They proceeded to throw Jeremiah into a mud-filled cistern and left him to starve.  Ebed-melek the Ethiopian (a court official) came to Jeremiah’s aide, and interceded with Zedekiah, who once again allowed himself to be persuaded, this time to have Jeremiah removed from the well and returned to custody in the court of the guard (38.6-13).  Later, Zedekiah summons the prophet to a secret tête-à-tête in the Temple.  Jeremiah offers the king a chance to save himself, his family and the city – he only has to surrender to Nebuchadrezzar (38.17-18).  However, Zedekiah vacillates, and he instructs Jeremiah what to tell his enemies at court when they question him about this conversation (38.19-28).

 

     1) enacted the Temple’s destruction in the Temple courts.  Jesus’ “cleansing” of the Temple was the proximate cause of his death (Lk. 19.45-48; cf. Jer. 19.1-15).[2]  That is the potency of symbolic action – and the meaning was not lost on the Temple hierarchy.  As we shall see, this was not to be the last of Jesus’ symbolic, proleptic actions foreshadowing the doom of Jerusalem.  During “Passion Week”, Jesus taught daily in the Temple courts, defended from the murderous priests by the crowds who hung on his every word (cf. Lk. 21.37-38).  During these days of public teaching, many attempted to trap Jesus with trick questions in the hope of discrediting him with the crowds of pilgrims (Lk. 20.1-8, 20-47; cf. Jer. 28.1-17).

     2) arrested and tried for this death-worthy offense.  Following a pre-emptive celebration of Passover with his disciples, Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane (Mount of Olives) where he is “handed over”[3] to his enemies by Judas and arrested, detained and then tried and condemned by the Sanhedrin (cf. Lk. 22.1-71).

     3) interrogated by Pilate who didn’t desire to kill him, but lacked the will to defend him and 4) handed over to his enemies’ will.  On the morning of the Day of Preparation[4], the Sanhedrin transferred Jesus to Pilate’s custody, who subsequently passed him over to Herod Antipas, who in turn sent him back to Pilate, who sought to “wash his hands” of responsibility by having the mob choose whether to have Barabbas or Jesus executed.  The crowd chose Barabbas the “true” revolutionary and Pilate “handed Jesus over[5] as they wished”[6] (Lk. 23.25).  Pilate is shown to be weak-willed like Zedekiah, as Jesus’ enemies accuse him of stirring up rebellion/perverting the people, and Pilate, despite insisting three times that Jesus is innocent, finally gives in to the priests’ demand that he be crucified and condemns Jesus to death (Lk. 23.1-25).  Unlike in the case of Jeremiah, no one puts their neck out to save Jesus, and he is led away to Golgotha.  As Jesus stumbles towards Calvary, he tells the “daughters of Jerusalem” not to weep for him, but rather for themselves and their children (23.28-31).  Jesus has become himself a symbol of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.  As the “King of the Jews” (23.3, 35-39), Jesus represents the people of God and “embodies” them.  Jesus’ crucifixion is a graphic foreshadowing of further crucifixions to come during the Roman siege of AD 70.  Further proleptic judgment is enacted as the curtain of the Temple is torn as the last breath is torn from Jesus’ lips (23.45-46).  Jesus dies “for the sins” of Israel, condemned as a would-be King of the Jews, i.e., a revolutionary.  The irony is palpable.


[1] Cf. Merrill C. Tenney, ed. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible 2, Grand Rapids: Regency, 1976, p. 246; cf. Ibid., 3, p. 201.

[2] Acknowledged as such by none other than Israeli (then) prime minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu during a conversation with Jordan B. Peterson on 5 December 2022: https://youtu.be/4OcaMRLTyGI?si=7T8qJ18ZZ00ya_ky (accessed on October 21, 2023).

[3] Gr: paradidomi; cf. Lk. 22.4, 6, 21-22.

[4] I.e., Friday; cf. Lk. 23.54.

[5] Gr: paradidomi.

[6] “that their demand should be granted”; “the man they asked for”: Lk. 23.24-25.

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