Jeremiah 26:16
Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, "This man is not worthy of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God!"
Sermons
Jeremiah Reckoned not Worthy of DeathD. Young Jeremiah 26:16
Afflictions, Distresses, TumultsF. B. Meyer, B. A.Jeremiah 26:1-24
The Prophet of God Arraigned by the NationA.F. Muir Jeremiah 26:1-17, 24
A Saint's Resignation, Meekness, and Cheerfulness in PersecutionDean Farrar.Jeremiah 26:8-16
Prophetic VirtuesJohn Trapp.Jeremiah 26:8-16
The Characteristics of a True ProphetJ. Cunningham Geikie, D. D.Jeremiah 26:8-16














The contrast is very decided between ver. 11 and ver. 16. In ver. 11 there is what appears an irresistible and deadly accusation, coming from men who hardly knew a check of any kind. In ver. 16 there is the answer of those to whom they speak, refusing to ratify their demand. What has happened between? Only the appeal of one who was strong in the consciousness that he had been a faithful servant of God. If we consider his words carefully, we shall see that underneath them there are three considerations, of which the first is more important than the second, and the second more important than the third.

I. We may say that, first of all, HE IS THINKING OF THE GOD WHO HAD SENT HIM. That which threatened him at the same time insulted and tried to thwart Jehovah. Not that Jeremiah was careless about his own safety, but the glory of his God was paramount in his thoughts. He had in him the true spirit of apostleship; the claims he had to make were not his own claims; he was a sent man, and sent of God. Just in proportion as a man feels that God has sent him, must be his distress to find that others do not recognize the credentials of the messenger and the importance of the message. On one side the prophet was dealing with God, on the other with men. Every day deepened on him the impression of God's intimate presence with him; and yet this same God who was so much to him was nothing to these people; the name that thrilled and subdued his susceptible heart, was perhaps the least potent of sounds in their ears. Hence the need of appealing to them again and again, if perchance there might be roused in them some sort of apprehension that they were dealing, not with a brother man, but with the almighty and holy God. While they were all absorbed in considerations of their own territorial dignity, God in his justice was comings, ever nearer. Whatever happens to the people or to the prophet himself, that prophet will at all events exalt God before them to the latest hour of his existence. If he has to die, the message of God shall live more gloriously in his closing hours.

II. HE IS THINKING OF THE INTERESTS OF THIS APPARENTLY OBDURATE PEOPLE. Though at the present moment it is he who seems to be in danger, he well knows that his peril is but a surface trifle when compared with that attaching to the scowling enemies who are crowded around him. He can be rescued, if so it please God; but who is to rescue those who are striding onwards, ever more swiftly, to a righteous doom? God can deliver the prophet from his enemies, for the prophet himself interposes no obstacle to his deliverance; but these people of Judah and Jerusalem interpose insurmountable obstacles, in that they will not amend their ways and doings and obey the voice of God. More than that, it seems as if they were about to add a fresh obstacle by shedding the innocent blood of God's latest messenger. The persecutor is always in greater peril than the persecuted. Physical pain and physical death are transitory and unreturning ills, but the evildoer has to face the worm that dieth not. Compare with the words of the prophet here the words of Jesus as he was being led to crucifixion: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children" (Luke 23:28).

III. HE IS THINKING OF HIS OWN PRESENT POSITION. (See ver. 14.) This verse reveals a calm, intermediate position between the reckless fanaticism that even courts death and the spirit that turns back the moment threatening is heard. "I am in your hands," says the prophet. He admits their power to the fullest extent, and he does not in any way dare them to the exercise of it. He is neither anxious for life nor afraid of death. This surely is the spirit to be gained if one would be a true witness for God. Jeremiah seems to speak here as one who had gained, for the moment at least, something of the calm of eternity. And his very calmness must surely have been a considerable element in determining the rapid change of feeling among the multitude. Perfect presence of mind, when it comes from an all-sufficient Divine stay within, must have a wondrous power in checking those whose fury is roused by an attack on their base and selfish interests, - Y.

I will do you no hurt.
I. THE IMPORT OF THE PROMISE.

1. Such a promise can apply to none but the people of God.

2. The Lord's people are apt to fear He should do them hurt, and hence He kindly assures them of the contrary. We want more of that love to God which beareth all things at His hand, which believeth all good things concerning Him, and hopeth for all things from Him.

3. As God will do no hurt to them that fear Him, so neither will He suffer others to hurt them. If God does not change their hearts, He win tie their hands; or if for wise ends He suffers them to injure you in your worldly circumstances, yet your heavenly inheritance is sure, and your treasure is laid up where thieves cannot break through nor steal.

4. More is implied in the promise than is absolutely expressed; for when the Lord says He will do His people no hurt, He means that He will really do them good. All things to God's people are blessings in their own nature, or are turned into blessings for their sake; so that all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies to do them (Genesis 50:20; Jeremiah 24:5, 6; Romans 8:28).

II. THE ASSURANCE WE HAVE THAT THIS PROMISE WILL BE FULFILLED.

1. The Lord thinks no hurt of His people, and therefore He will certainly do them no hurt. His conduct is a copy of His decrees: He worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will, and therefore where no evil is determined, no evil can take place.

2. The Lord threatens them no hurt; no penal sentence lies against them.

3. He never has done them any hurt, but good, all the days of their life. Former experience of the Divine goodness should strengthen the believer's confidence, and fortify him against present discouragements (Judges 13:23; Psalm 42:6; Psalm 77:12; 2 Corinthians 1:10).

(B. Beddome, M.A.)

People
Achbor, Ahikam, Elnathan, Hezekiah, Jehoiakim, Jeremiah, Josiah, Micah, Shaphan, Shemaiah, Uriah, Urijah
Places
Babylon, Egypt, Jerusalem, Kiriath-jearim, Moresheth, New Gate, Shiloh, Zion
Topics
Death, Deserve, Die, Heads, Judgment, Officials, Priests, Princes, Prophets, Rulers, Sentence, Sentenced, Spoken, Worthy
Outline
1. Jeremiah by promises and threats exhorts to repentance.
8. He is therefore apprehended,
10. and arraigned.
12. His apology.
16. He is quit in judgment, by the example of Micah,
20. and of Urijah,
24. and by the care of Ahikam.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 26:7-16

     5923   public opinion

Library
The Life of Mr. Robert Garnock.
Robert Garnock was born in Stirling, anno ----, and baptized by faithful Mr. James Guthrie. In his younger years, his parents took much pains to train him up in the way of duty: but soon after the restoration, the faithful presbyterian ministers being turned out, curates were put in their place, and with them came ignorance, profanity and persecution.--Some time after this, Mr. Law preached at his own house in Monteith, and one Mr. Hutchison sometimes at Kippen. Being one Saturday's evening gone
John Howie—Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies)

A Godly Reformation
'Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 2. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. 3. He in the first year of his reign, in the first mouth, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them. 4. And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Second Stage of Jewish Trial. Jesus Condemned by Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin.
(Palace of Caiaphas. Friday.) ^A Matt. XXVI. 57, 59-68; ^B Mark XIV. 53, 55-65; ^C Luke XXII. 54, 63-65; ^D John XVIII. 24. ^d 24 Annas therefore sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest. [Foiled in his attempted examination of Jesus, Annas sends him to trial.] ^b and there come together with him all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. ^a 57 And they that had taken Jesus led him away to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, ^c and brought him into the high priest's house. ^a where
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Sanctification.
I. I will remind you of some points that have been settled in this course of study. 1. The true intent and meaning of the law of God has been, as I trust, ascertained in the lectures on moral government. Let this point if need be, be examined by reference to those lectures. 2. We have also seen, in those lectures, what is not, and what is implied in entire obedience to the moral law. 3. In those lectures, and also in the lectures on justification and repentance, it has been shown that nothing is
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

The Twelve Minor Prophets.
1. By the Jewish arrangement, which places together the twelve minor prophets in a single volume, the chronological order of the prophets as a whole is broken up. The three greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, stand in the true order of time. Daniel began to prophesy before Ezekiel, but continued, many years after him. The Jewish arrangement of the twelve minor prophets is in a sense chronological; that is, they put the earlier prophets at the beginning, and the later at the end of the
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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