Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"I will go to the great men"
Text: Jeremiah 5:5
BENT ON FINDING ONE RIGHTEOUS PERSON
Jeremiah seemed convinced that he would be able to find that one righteous person. Relentlessly, he searched, analysed and sought to find that one righteous person. He wanted the Lord to spare Jerusalem!
“Therefore I said, ‘Surely these are poor.
They are foolish;
For they do not know the way of the LORD,
The judgment of their God.
I will go to the great men and speak to them,
For they have known the way of the LORD,
The judgment of their God.’
But these have altogether broken the yoke
And burst the bonds.”
Jeremiah 5:4-5
1. “Therefore I said, ‘Surely these are poor. they are foolish; for they do not know the way of the LORD, the judgment of their God.'”
a) Jeremiah’s analysis of the “two groups” he sought out.
b) His analysis for their stubborn and sinful behaviour:
i) They were poor people.
ii) They were foolish people.
iii) Thus, they did not know the way of the LORD.
iv) They were ignorant people who did not understand God’s judgment.
c) Was Jeremiah correct?
i) Was sinful behaviour present among the poor and uneducated?
ii) Jeremiah would discover the answer soon.
2. “I will go to the great men and speak to them, for they have known the way of the LORD,
the judgment of their God.”
a) He determined to search among “the great men”.
b) He would speak to them.
i) He believed that the richer people would know better.
ii) Those who were well-educated would know God’s judgment better.
3. “But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.”
a) His findings brought dismay.
b) The “great men”
i) They had broken the yoke.
ii) They had burst the bonds.
c) These had rejected the laws of God.
i) God’s commandments were seen as a yoke.
ii) The laws of God bound them.
iii) They had cast off all that God had taught.
4. There were no righteous
a) Among the poor.
b) Among the foolish.
c) Among the great men.
d) Sin is not restricted by social classes at all.
Jeremiah had not found that elusive righteous man in all of Jerusalem!