“Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,”’ says the LORD.”
~ Jeremiah 6:15
Hi James and Ellen,
Jeremiah was a watchman. Jeremiah could see what was about to happen. Jeremiah knew why what he saw was about to happen. Jeremiah could do nothing about what he saw was about to happen – except to vociferously and persistently warn God’s specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals, who were living in the land area of Judah to without delay run for their lives as . . . Jeremiah had already told the guys and gals who were living in the city of Jerusalem that their time was up and . . . now it was Benjamin tribal clan guys and gals who had to listen to Jeremiah spout out dire, grim, ominous warnings of an imminent calamity. Jeremiah was a Benjamin tribal clan member. The Benjamin tribal clan area was located north of the city of Jerusalem. Another watchman – whose name was Amos, was from a town – Tekoa, that was located in the Benjamin tribal clan area. Amos finished doing his thing being one of God’s watchmen about 125 years before Jeremiah’s 40 year tenure began of being one of God’s watchmen. Jeremiah’s harangue or rant regarding why God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah and the city of Jerusalem were about to have an enemy nation’s army from the north descend on them and . . . is found in Jeremiah 6.
What do you think that watchmen are supposed to do? A watchman’s job is to be a lookout. A watchman’s job is to be on the alert for the approaching arrival of a guy or guys and/or a gal or gals. A watchman’s job is to be on the alert for impending danger from an enemy nation’s or people group’s army. A watchman is an assigned position. God assigned Jeremiah to be a watchman for Him on planet Earth – specifically in the land area of Judah which included the city of Jerusalem and the Benjamin tribal clan area. A watchman’s job was not just to remain alert for impending dangers and approaching arrivals; a watchman’s job was to report what he was seeing to the appropriate authorities and the general public. Jeremiah took very seriously the position that God assigned him to be as one of His watchmen. Do you take very seriously in doing expeditiously the tasks that your dad and/or ma tell you to do? Do you take very seriously in doing neatly and correctly the homework that your teachers tell you to do? Do you take very seriously in doing precisely the assignments that your coaches tell you to do? Jeremiah did exactly what God told him to do. Jeremiah’s message that God – as God the Father, was asking him to pass on to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah was very bleak, brutal and confronting. Jeremiah had nothing but bad news to pass on from God – as God the Father, to his extended Benjamin tribal clan family. As he was being directed by God – as God the Spirit, as a watchman for God – as God the Father, Jeremiah could see the Babylonian country’s army marching directly in the direction of the land area of Judah. Jeremiah tells his fellow Benjamin tribal clan members to blow trumpets in Tekoa and to raise a signal – which possibly was a smoke signal, in Beth Hakkerem regarding what the Babylonian country’s army was getting ready to do. Jeremiah could easily envision a horrific disaster and terrible destruction looming ahead on the horizon for his fellow Benjamin tribal clan members because of their deafness to the clear mandate that had been given to them by God – as God the Father, to only worship Him and His mandate to not to worship manmade inert wood, rock, clay and metal idols. Verse 15 says, “Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,”’ says the LORD.” No matter how beautiful God saw His ‘Daughter of Zion’ – which was the city of Jerusalem, God had everything in place for His ‘Daughter of Zion’ to be breached, overrun and looted by the Babylonian country’s army and many of the guys, gals and kids who were living in the city of Jerusalem taken away as captive exiles. God – through His watchman Jeremiah, tells the Babylonian country’s army what they needed to do to ravage His ‘Daughter of Zion’. God – through His watchman Jeremiah, tells the Babylonia country’s army to cut down trees to build siege ramps and to attack at night. God no longer could tolerate or accept the spiritual decay, immoral sickness and deceitful greed that had become indelibly and ineradicably permeated into the lifestyles of the guys and gals who were living in His ‘Daughter of Zion’. God had no other choice but to bring in the cavalry or horsemen to use their bows and spears to purge His ‘Daughter of Zion’ of the evil lifestyles and wicked ways of His specially chosen guys and gals.
Even though Jeremiah at this time was warning God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah of an imminent danger, this warning could be futuristic in its implications. You are very blessed to have been born in and to be living in a country that used Biblical tenets as its basis for its foundational laws and moral determinations. Your country for years zealously held unto the core, fundamental beliefs that your country’s founding fathers formally agreed were non-negotiables to the right of living here in the United States of America. Special interest groups in recent years – such as the ACLU, abortion rights supporters, tree huggers, lifestyle norms violators, etc., have all chipped away at impugning a really special land gift that God gave to guys and gals who were escaping countries and people groups that impinged on their right to freely worship Him. Your grandpaa is very concerned that your country is now slipping down that same slippery slope that the ‘Daughter of Zion’ slid. Are you ready to pull a Jeremiah – as watchmen who warn other kids about the innate dangers from sin incentives?
Jeremiah 6 (673)