A Tale Of Two Prophets

By Jennifer LeClaire

How Would You Respond In The Face Of Prosecution To Your Prophetic Words?

This is a story of two prophets with the same message – but different fates. It’s a story of courage and cowardice, of conviction and compromise. It’s the story of Jeremiah and Uriah, contrasting mouthpieces during the reign of King Jehoiakim. Read on carefully, because one day you may have to make the same choice they did.

It came to pass early in Jehoiakim’s reign the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah saying, “If you refuse to listen to me and live by my teaching that I’ve revealed so plainly to you, and if you continue to refuse to listen to my servants the prophets that I tirelessly keep on sending to you – but you’ve never listened! Why would you start now? – then I’ll make this Temple a pile of ruins like Shiloh, and I’ll make this city nothing but a bad joke worldwide’” (Jeremiah 26:4-6 MSG).

Jeremiah was accustomed to delivering these sorts of stern warnings from Jehovah. The first 25 chapters of the book offer up similar prophetic admonishments through the lips of the weeping prophet. Jeremiah never hesitated to stand in the courtyard of God’s temple and preach this message of repentance to the people. The Bible says the young prophet had quite an audience that day – priests, prophets and people. They heard his woeful sermon alright, but they didn’t respond quite the way Jeremiah had hoped.

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“How dare you!” Was the outcry of the people as they mobbed Jeremiah right there in the temple. His trial began on the spot, with prophets and priests testifying against him. “Death to this man! He deserves nothing less than death! He has preached against this city – you’ve heard the evidence with your own ears” (Jeremiah 26:11 MSG). In response, Jeremiah, emboldened all the more by the perilous situation he found himself in, picked up his sermon right where he left off.

“God sent me to preach against both this Temple and city everything that’s been reported to you. So do something about it! Change the way you’re living, change your behavior. Listen obediently to the Message of your God. Maybe God will reconsider the disaster he has threatened” (Jeremiah 26:12-13 MSG). Then Jeremiah did something spectacular. He did exactly what the Apostle Paul told the believers at Philippi to do in the face of persecution: “Don’t be terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God” (Philippians 1:28).

If part two of his fiery, reforming message wasn’t bold enough, Jeremiah demonstrated the selflessness that any prophet carrying the word of the Lord for a nation must display. Jeremiah knew he was between a rock and a hard place. But he knew that rock was Jehovah, and he knew the only real “hard place” would be failing to stand for the truth and withstand the onslaught against him. Jeremiah was more concerned about the lives of his brethren than his own life, and he set out to prove it with his next utterance…

“As for me, I’m at your mercy – do whatever you think is best. But take warning: If you kill me, you’re killing an innocent man, and you and the city and the people in it will be liable. I didn’t say any of this on my own. God sent me and told me what to say. You’ve been listening to God speak, not Jeremiah” (Jeremiah 26:14-15 MSG). Wow! What a response. Far too few of us have died to self enough to put ourselves in the way of danger for the sake of the masses. Standing in the gap, in this instance, takes on a whole new meaning. Jeremiah was willing. He never even flinched. If he dropped a bead of sweat, it never showed.

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The court officials, backed by the people, handed down the verdict: not guilty. The court acquitted Jeremiah and acknowledged he was speaking in the name of the Lord. But there was another prophet who spoke the same message in the name of the Lord – and suffered a different fate. His name was Uriah. Uriah preached against the city just as Jeremiah did and evoked a similar response. The Bible says when King Jehoiakim and the royal court heard Uriah’s sermon, they were determined to kill him. (That tells me it was a pretty powerful, God-inspired sermon.)

Unlike Jeremiah, though, Uriah did not stand boldly in the face of death threats. Uriah, afraid for his life, ran to Egypt to hide. “King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Achbor with a posse of men after [Uriah]. They brought him back from Egypt and presented him to the king. And the king had him killed. They dumped his body unceremoniously outside the city” (Jeremiah 26:20-23 MSG).

So we see two prophets, same message, different fates. We see one prophet who stood courageously, another who fled with cowardice. Jeremiah lived for what he believed in and was willing to die for it, if necessary. Uriah died for what he believed in, but he could have lived on to preach another day. What is the difference between these two prophets? What caused one to stand up for his convictions at all costs and the other to compromise in the face of death threats instead of trusting God? Of course, the pat answer is “he was scared.” But can we go deeper than that?

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It could be that Jeremiah had simply grown numb to the death threats. That’s a stretch in my book. I submit to you that Jeremiah had a greater revelation of who God is. In those perilous times, Jeremiah not only remembered what God told him at his commissioning ceremony – “Don’t be afraid of a soul. I’ll be right there, looking after you.” – Jeremiah believed it. Maybe the Holy Spirit reminded him of the psalm of another, more godly king.

“The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident” (Psalm 27:1-3).

With free speech eroding in the United States of America and non-existent in many other lands, there may come a day when “what saith the Lord” brings more than rejection from our peers. It could cause evil men to advance against us. We will then have a choice: Will we seek to save our life or put it in God’s hands? Jesus said it best, “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:25).


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