“Then they said, ‘Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor the divine word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike at him with our tongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words'” (Jer 18:18).
The more I read about the leadership’s hatred of Jeremiah, his terrible isolation, and his suffering (see also Jer 11:18–19), the more clearly it becomes that Isaiah’s servant of the LORD in Isaiah 50 and 53 cannot simply be a description of the nation of Israel, but of Israel’s most despised and rejected prophet. It is passages like these about Jeremiah that shed light on Isaiah’s prophecies about the servant: “I gave My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting” (Isa 50:6).
But the hatred, rejection, and isolation Jeremiah endured while ministering to his people also paint for us a truer picture of reality. The red carpets will not be rolled out, nor the trumpets sound, until the kingdom comes.
In addition, the religious leaders’ plotting to kill Jeremiah helps us better understand and even anticipate the reaction Yeshua experienced from the leaders of His day: “Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him” (Matt 26:3–4).
It is in this sense that the authors of the New Testament can say with full conviction that Yeshua’s sufferings were “according to the Scriptures.” “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:25–26).
But the hatred, rejection, and isolation Jeremiah endured while ministering to his people also paint for us a truer picture of reality. The red carpets will not be rolled out, nor the trumpets sound, until the kingdom comes. Until then, we should expect that even from religious leaders we will be treated exactly like the prophets.
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt 5:11-12).
