Week 32 Jeremiah 38
The Babylonian army was outside the city walls and the people of Jerusalem were inside hunkering down. And under those circumstances Jeremiah told the people: everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who surrender to the Babylonians will live. That’s the back-story.
The front-story is about the dispute between Jeremiah & the Jerusalem city officials. Jeremiah’s message was pretty simple: defend Jerusalem and die…or surrender and live. But it created a huge dilemma for the city gate-keepers. “What do we do with Jeremiah’s message?”
One possibility would have been to think about whether the message was plausible. But that was a very small concern. The Big Concern was the effect the message might have: that kind of talk will undermine the morale of the people.
Trying to figure out if something is true is a difficult exercise. It’s simpler to ask ‘what’ll be the effect on the audience?’ Thinking about it that way means I don’t have to worry about true. True is irrelevant! My only task is managing what the audience reaction.
If the accuracy of the message is most important then what the audience thinks about it doesn’t matter much.
But if audience reflex is the key issue then the message can say whatever needs to be said.
Jeremiah’s problem was that he figured the Lord’s message had to be unedited.
The officials figured they had to massage it into manageability.
Note: quoted from Jeremiah 38:2 4 (NLT)