Babylon in Jeremiah 21

Jeremiah 21

1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the

LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the

son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of

Maaseiah the priest, saying,

2 Inquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for

Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against

us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us

according to all his wondrous works, that he may

go up from us.

3 Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say

to Zedekiah:

4 Thus saith the LORD G-d of Israel; Behold, I

will turn back the weapons of war that are in

your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king

of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which

besiege you without the walls, and I will

assemble them into the midst of this city.

5 And I myself will fight against you with an

outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in

anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.

6 And I will smite the inhabitants of this city,

both man and beast: they shall die of a great

pestilence.

7 And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver

Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the

people, and such as are left in this city from

the pestilence, from the sword, and from the

famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of

Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and

into the hand of those that seek their life: and

he shall smite them with the edge of the sword;

he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor

have mercy.

8 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith

the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of

life, and the way of death.

9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the

sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence:

but he that goeth out, and falleth to the

Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and

his life shall be unto him for a prey.

10 For I have set my face against this city for

evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall

be given into the hand of the king of Babylon,

and he shall burn it with fire.


At his point in time, we ought to be able to

clearly see the contrast between the kingdom of

man (represented by Babylon) and the kingdom of

heaven (represented by Jerusalem). MY intention

is to follow it out to the last verse of

scripture that deals with the metaphor. It's

important to recognize the use of metaphor and

symbolism in the text of scripture, because Jesus

taught using the same methods. In the text of

scripture, there are many levels of

interpretation that can be applied, that transmit

a consistent message about the kingdom of heaven.

My effort is to be able to recognize, first off,

the kingdom of heaven for what it really is, and

also the kingdom of man for what it really is,

rather than what it pretends to be. There seems

to be a continuous effort on the part of the

kingdom of man, to appear to be some sort of a

benevolent organization. There is no question

that the kingdom of man presents itself in a

seductive light, but there will always be

conflict between the two kingdoms, until the one

is brought to final ruin and the other is

revealed in full splendor.


Over the weekend, I had some time to read about

C.S. Lewis. Some of his books have become more

popular recently, and been made into films. One

of the things that I enjoy while reading either

his books or about them, is that he had a

struggle coming to an acceptance of Christ and

christianity. And I get the idea that one of the

reasons that he had such a struggle is much the

same as my own. As we look around and see before

us a world of created order and beauty, we also

encounter evidence that all is not well in the

kingdom of man. Confusion sets in when we try to

accomodate the real world and the mythical

concepts used to explain the real world, as

offered by the kingdom of man. It's the primary

reason that the kingdom of heaven has to send a

clear message. There has to be a clear-cut

distinction between the two, as the only way to

minimize confusion created by the conflict. I

believe, that's why the Apostle Paul said that

it's essential to preach 'the gospel of the

resurrection'. Whenever I read C.S. Lewis, or

about him, I can see that he is one of the people

that really gets it, just as the Apostle Paul got

it.


C.S. Lewis was an expert in the literature of

ancient mythology. In his quest, he says, I set

out to find an Island and I have found a Landlord

instead. See! He started out thinking that he

was looking for a 'place', a myth or a

destination that would provide a lasting sense of

satisfaction, and what he found is a 'person',

that it's only in relationship with his creator

where satisfaction is found. By definition, myth

excludes the possibility of relationship.


Intuition points us in the right general

direction. We sense and experience that our

greatest satisfaction in life is going to be

found in relationship to others - family, spouse,

children, friends. But unless we begin to see

whose image these relationships bear, we never

get around to making the acquaintance of our

Creator. Out intuition is misled by popular

myth.


On the other hand, we have the text of scripture

to inform our intuition of the true nature of

this world, and the realm beyond, that is only

accessible by relationship, not with men, but

with the Christ of christianity. That's where we

begin in this passage from Jeremiah. The king

sends a request to Jeremiah, asking if Jeremiah

has any insight from the kingdom of heaven

regarding the present distress in the kingdom of

man. Of course, at this point, in Israel there

is no longer any sense of the rule of heaven over

the activities of men. So, you kinda' wonder why

they wish to ask anything of Jeremiah in the

first place. Which leads to the conclusion that,

at this point in time, there were no other

options. They've arrived at the point where

there is full recognition of the true nature of

the present distress and a final resort to the

basic level of intuition.


Jeremiah gives them the bad news. He sees

clearly what has become of his country, and the

way that they have chosen to go. He's not fooled

by this last ditch effort to escape the

consequences of their love of idolatry. He sees

that as they have chosen the kingdom of man over

the kingdom of heaven, so they will get it. The

bad news, what the king didn't want to hear, is

that there is a big difference between myth and

relationship.