Week 26 Jeremiah
When the Lord told Jeremiah to quit praying for Jerusalem because prayers were now useless Jeremiah reacted. He was a never-say-die pro-Jerusalem guy and so he argued.
He figured the Lord should consider the fact that the people in Jerusalem had been lied to by their leaders. Q: since they’ve been propagandized with false information don’t you think you should cut them some slack?
The Lord admitted: the prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds. The next verse says that the propagandists would be punished.
Okay…and what about the people who’d been propagandized? Will they be absolved? Verse sixteen doesn’t reassure Jeremiah. Those gullible people will: be thrown out into the streets.
The way Jeremiah frames his argument is that there are two categories of people: guilty people who propagandize and innocent people who are propagandized.
But the Lord groups it differently. Deluders and the people they delude are both guilty. It’s people who are propaganda-resistant who are innocent.
Chapter fourteen is a good reminder. If I have a bunch of lies coming at me I need some kind of self-protective lie-detection-alert-system because I can’t blame the liar for fooling me with his lies. Just myself for believing them.
Note: quotes from Jeremiah 14:14, 16 (NIV version)