Jeremiah 26:16-19

2. A legal precedent (Jeremiah 26:16-19)

TRANSLATION

(16) Then the princes and all the people said unto the priests and the prophets, There will be no judgment of death for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God. (17) Now certain men from the elders of the land had arisen and said unto all the assembly of the people, saying, (18) Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he said unto all the people of Judah, swing, Thus says the LORD of hosts: Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house as high places of a forest. (19) Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all of Judah make any attempt to put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and make entreaty before the LORD, and the LORD relented concerning the calamity which he had spoken concerning them? But we are on the verge of doing great harm unto our souls!

COMMENTS

It does not seem to have taken the princes long to reach a decision regarding the case. This man is not worthy of death for he has spoken in the name of the Lord (Jeremiah 26:16). The people seem to have concurred with their judicial officers in the decision. They too had been convinced by Jeremiah's defense. It was the testimony of the elders of the people (Jeremiah 26:17) which seemed to sway the court and lead to the verdict announced in Jeremiah 26:16. A casual reading of the standard English translations might lead one to think that the testimony of the elders followed the verdict of acquittal. The Hebrew would certainly allow and logic seems to demand that this testimony preceded the verdict of the princes and people. Usually the term elders refers to those who held an official status in the community. Here however it seems best to take the word in its literal sense. These men because of their age and experience occupied a position of honor and respect among the people. Their testimony would bear considerable weight.

The elders cite the case of Micah who made pronouncements against Jerusalem very similar to those which Jeremiah had made. Micah was from the town of Moresheth-gath (Micah 1:14) and so here is called the Morashtite (Jeremiah 26:18). The elders recalled and quoted the exact words of Micah 3:12. A direct citation of this kind occurs nowhere else in prophetic literature. Over one hundred years elapsed between the time of Micah and the present incident and yet these elders were able to quote verbatim the same text of Micah which has come down to the present time. This is a rather remarkable testimony to the accuracy of the transmission of the Hebrew text in that early time.

The point that the elders are making is not merely that Micah, a recognized man of God from an earlier period, had prophesied negatively against Judah. There is more to their argument. They point out that king Hezekiah did not punish Micah for such negative prophecy (Jeremiah 26:19). On the contrary Hezekiah had heeded the warning of Micah and had led the people in a great revival. As a result God had relented with regard to the pronouncement of doom against Jerusalem. The elders conclude their testimony by declaring therefore we shall be procuring great evil against our souls if we execute Jeremiah now.