The Temple of the Lord.

Nebuchadrezzar had taken up his headquarters where Pharaoh-Necho had encamped at Riblah, and there received the homage of the little Syrian and Palestinian states that he had wrested from Egypt.

To Jeremiah's great surprise, Jehoiakim sent a secret embassy to
Nebuchadrezzar vowing allegiance to Babylon.

Jehoiakim's submission pleased Jeremiah. He saw in it a splendid opportunity for Judah. All that was needed now was to keep the people in the path of right. Their future, he felt, could be worked out well enough as long as the country was at peace, free from the ravages of war.

But here Jeremiah was met by a new difficulty. Josiah's reformation, followed by his death and the quick changes in the country's political fortunes, had not worked out very satisfactorily. People began to doubt the wisdom of the whole proceeding.

In the first place, some said that God was displeased at Josiah's overriding the traditional forms of worship. The opportunity for God to show that displeasure was at Megiddo, and, therefore, Josiah lost his life there. All the people, it was plain, had not yet arrived at the conception of God held by a Jeremiah or Josiah.

Again, there were others who fell back into the old reasoning that the gods of the other nations were mightier than Judah's God, and, therefore, they fell back into the old idolatrous ways. They were merely awaiting the opportunity to worship the other gods publicly as some of them were already doing privately.

Then, again, there were many who believed that the new Book of the Law and the new order of things prohibiting sacrifices in any place except the Temple in Jerusalem, did not permit of enough sacrificing to God, and, therefore, was He again visiting the land with the rod of Egypt and Babylonia.

And, opposing all these, Jeremiah and his followers were positive in their hearts and souls that sacrifices were by no means the all-important feature of the worship of God, but, as Jeremiah had reminded the people on the day of the Great Passover, God asked them only to obey His voice and to live in accordance with the moral law that He had commanded them.

"So shall ye be my people, and I will be your God; that I may establish the oath which I sware unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey."

King Jehoiakim had no interest whatever in these differing religious opinions among the people.

As long as he could pay his tribute to Nebuchadrezzar and live luxuriously and voluptuously in his newly built palace, he cared not further. Religiously and morally he permitted things to take their own course, as if morals and religion had no part to play in the strength and safety of his people and in their national welfare.

Jeremiah was now convinced that it was his duty once more to take up the brave fight for God and His law. The opportunity came during the Feast of the Ingathering, in the year 604.

Many thousands had come from all parts of the country to Jerusalem to celebrate the festival. All brought with them many heads of cattle and bags of grain and flour for the prescribed sacrifices.

They were a happy company. When the Temple came into view, rising majestically in the distance, they shouted to each other, "The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!" out of sheer joy in beholding the sacred structure that meant so much to them.

"The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!" they cried, and pointed to the magnificent edifice which some of them had never seen before.

Jeremiah listened to these joyous shouts and observed sorrowfully the self-satisfaction of those who had come to offer their sacrifices. He was much alone these days. His parents had been dead some years and a new Priest was in charge of the Temple. Shaphan and all Josiah's old counsellors were either gone to their reward or had been dismissed from service by Jehoiakim. Shaphan's two sons, Ahikam and Gemariah, were indeed high in the counsels of the king, but they bothered little about Jeremiah and his teachings.

So Jeremiah stood alone, on the first day of the festival, at the Temple gates. A multitude of people passed him, taking their turn at bringing their offerings. From within the Temple he heard the sounds of cattle being slaughtered and smelt the odor of burning flesh. The noise deafened him; the odors choked him. Here were king, priest and people leading unrighteous lives and believing that this wholesale slaughtering and burning was what God demanded of them! Here were elaborate form and ritual, but no justice and love!

Jeremiah fairly gasped for breath when the full meaning of this came to him. Turning upon a great crowd that was jammed at the gates, waiting their turn to enter the Temple, he cried:

"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel:

"'Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat ye
flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them
in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices.

"'But this thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken unto my
voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people;
and walk ye in all the way that I command you that it may
be well with you.

"'Yet they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart. This is the nation that hath not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, nor received instruction. Truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth.'"

What an amazing outburst! God did not command them concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices! The man is ridiculous!

Religious discussions and controversies had often taken place in the Temple courts. Here was the Forum of the People, in fact, and several men who had often proclaimed themselves as prophets, speaking the word of God, joined issue with Jeremiah, whom they now recognized.

"Here is the Temple—the Temple of the Lord," they exclaimed. "What was it built for, if not for sacrifices?" they wanted to know. "What other way is there for men to worship God than to bring their offerings to him?"

Jeremiah replied that sacrifices were instituted by men, by the priesthood, not by God, and continued, making plain once for all his understanding of the way God wanted men to show their religion:

"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, 'The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord! The Temple of the Lord!

"'For, if you really amend your ways and your deeds, if ye faithfully execute justice between a man and his neighbor, if ye oppress not the resident alien, the fatherless and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, and do not go after other gods to your hurt; then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever.'"

Here was a very amazing accusation! What does he mean by saying that the people are trusting in "lying words?" Jeremiah insisted:

"But now ye are trusting in lying words that cannot profit."

Then he hastened to explain fully and without reserve:

"Will ye steal, murder and commit adultery; swear falsely and offer sacrifices to Baal, and go after other gods whom ye have not known, and then come and stand before Me in this House which is called after My name and say 'We are free to do all these abominations?'

"Is this, My house, which is called by my name, a den of robbers in your eyes?

"Behold: I, indeed, have seen it, saith the Lord."

The crowds stood there, mouths agape. They had never heard anything so outspoken and fearless before. Several so-called prophets were prepared to go on with the argument, but a number of assistant priests, who were marshalling the people with their sacrificial offerings into the Temple in proper order and to their appointed places, put a halt to the debate.

Word had come from the interior of the Temple that the chief priests were waiting for the sacrifices. The assistants wanted the people to move on. So it was arranged that, on the day following, Jeremiah should meet a chosen few of the Jerusalem prophets to discuss their differences of opinion publicly, in the Temple courts.

Jeremiah's acceptance of this challenge nearly cost him his life.