Judah's Refusal was caused by Deception by the False Prophets (Jer. 8:8-12)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/18/2014 6:24 PM

My Worship Time                                             Focus:  Judah’s Refusal was caused by Deception

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Jeremiah 8:8-12

            Message of the verses:  Remember that this will be the next to last section from the eight chapter of Jeremiah and we are trying to answer questions regarding with three aspects of the people of Judah’s refusal to obey God.

            Judah’s Refusal was caused by Deception(Jeremiah 8:8-12):  “8  "How can you say, ’We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 9 “The wise men are put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, And what kind of wisdom do they have? 10 “Therefore I will give their wives to others, Their fields to new owners; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is greedy for gain; From the prophet even to the priest Everyone practices deceit. 11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ’Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace. 12 “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed, And they did not know how to blush; Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time of their punishment they shall be brought down," Says the LORD.”

            Jeremiah mentions the “lying pen of the scribes” in verse eight and this caused me to do a little research on what a scribe was in both the OT and NT.  It seems that the scribes were first used to copy the Scriptures, making sure that they were accurate, but when the Jew came back from their captivity there is a difference in what a scribe did as Ezra was called a scribe.  The following quote is from a website entitled “Lear the Bible.”  “However, these uses for scribe are mostly found in the Old Testament. The New Testament scribes are a special group among the Jewish religious leaders. Their primary duties were to study the law of Moses, teach it to the people, and even to help settle disputes involving the questions of the law. The New Testament scribes traced their origin back to Ezra who is variously called "a ready scribe in the law of Moses" (Ezra 7:6This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.  See All...), "a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel" (Ezra 7:11Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel.  See All...), and "the scribe of the law of the God of heaven" (Ezra 7:21And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily,  See All...). Ezra received these titles because he "had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments" (Ezra 7:10For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
See All...). Ezra was therefore the ideal type for the New Testament scribe.”  We know that Jesus did not have many good things to say about the scribes when He walked upon planet earth.

            We have mentioned in earlier SD’s that there were many, many false prophets in Jerusalem during this time period, and many false prophets before this time period, and they would say things that were popular and did the most for them, not really telling people the truth.  We can go back to the time of Balaam, and we know that he too was a false prophet who was trying to use his “talents” to make money.  Now we can look at many “TV Evangelists” today who claim that they can heal people, but of course you have to send them money to get that healing that you need.  Now if these “Evangelists” were really able to help people they should all go down to the hospitals and heal everyone who is there.  We would not need any health care if these folks were on the level.  When Jesus walked the earth He healed most everyone whom He came in contact with, proving that He was the Messiah.  Ok sometimes I get a little off track and have to stand on my soapbox, but what I am writing is the truth.

            We know that these false prophets who claimed to be speaking in the name of the Lord deceived most everyone in the kingdom of Judah, however they did not fool God or for that matter the true prophets of which Jeremiah was one.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “Jeremiah pictured these men as deceitful physicians (6:14; 8:11), empty wind (5:13), dispensers of chaff (23:28), ruthless, selfish shepherds (23:1-4), and infected people spreading disease (23:15, NIV).  God had not sent these so-called prophets (14:14; 23:18, 21; 29:9, 31), nor did they receive their messages from God (23:25-28).”

            He goes on to write “What happens to the Lord’s people largely depends on the leaders they follow.  Worldly leaders attract and produce worldly people, but you pay a price to follow spiritual leadership.  It’s much easier to drift with the current and go along with the crowd.  Jeremiah had few friends or disciples because his message wasn’t popular.”

            We can look at the Lord Jesus Christ when He walked on planet earth and see that the majority of the people of His day did not really follow Him because of what He said, but what He did, that is the healing of many thousands of people.  However when it came down to it at the end the false prophets of that day had Him crucified.  He tells us that it is difficult to follow Him and when we are living a life that is pleasing to Him others will not like it because they see the sinfulness in their own lives and do not like that.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I desire to be like the Berean’s who searched the Scriptures after they were taught by Paul to make sure that he was telling them the truth.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Proverbs 3:5-6.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-6:

5.  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped;

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ruth” (Ruth 2:2).

Today’s Bible question:  “After forsaking Paul, Demas departed unto what place?”

Answer in our next SD.

2/18/2014 7:19 PM