Jeremiah (1-31) 26:16 Commentary and Bible Study

Now princes are defending Jeremiah and the people are swayed by example. The princes didn't defend him later on; this is earlier in his ministry. They said to the priests and to the prophets – the false prophets – ‘This man is not worthy to die.’ In what follows, two cases are brought forward to help decide what to do with Jeremiah. Since the first is in his favour and the second is against him, it appears that these two considerations come from different elders. In confirmation of this, the first word of verse 24 is ‘But’ or ‘Nevertheless’ – ‘Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah’ – which seems to say that in spite of the unfavourable nature of the second of the two cases quoted, Jeremiah was effectively defended, and was not put to death as the priests and prophets had demanded.The first case goes back to the prophet Micah the Morasthite (Micah 1:1) who prophesied during the reign of King Hezekiah. It was a similar prophecy to Jeremiah’s in that it warned of severe judgment on Ziion and destruction of Jerusalem (Micah 3:12). But in spite of his condemnatory Micah’s message against Judah, Hezekiah feared the Lord. He sought God’s face in humble submission and led the nation in repentance. As a result ‘the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them’ and he withdrew the judgment on them. His threatening had achieved its result when the nation humbled itself. Hezekiah directed the people to regard Micah as a true prophet who should be respected, and his prophecy understood as a solemn warning from the Lord which they should take to heart. ‘Thus might we procure great evil against our souls’ – that is, if we were to behave differently to Hezekiah and put to death God’s prophet. The second case is quite different, and whoever brings it forward seems to be urging that the priests do exactly what they have said they want to do, and put Jeremiah to death. This incident is not found anywhere else in Scripture, but it is quite recent for it took place when Jehoiakim was on the throne, and verse 1 of the chapter has told us that Jeremiah delivered this word at the start of Jehoiakim’s reign. The speaker presents this case as an example of how another prophet spoke against Jerusalem and was punished for his audacity by Jehoiakim. He fled to Egypt, but obviously Judah had some sort of extradition treaty with Egypt, because they sent ambassadors and brought him back again and they executed him. So, so far it’s a kind of equal score: one case in which a prophet was not guilty of an offence punishable by death; then another much more case recent where someone has been punished by death, and verse 24 at the end is the summary verdict on Jeremiah: ‘Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.’ God sends a man to deliver Jeremiah. They played safe and they prevailed and Jeremiah was spared. The one thing they didn't do was repent.Jeremiah is delivered. He wasn't to be always delivered from everything, but on this occasion, although the priests want him dead, the elders and the princes support him. The hand of one man and his argument prevails and he is delivered. What a tremendous consolation and comfort that would have been to him!