This chapter should be studied in connection with chapter 7, because they both deal with Jeremiah’s courageous sermon given in the temple. The sermon is summarized in verses 3–7, and you will note the emphasis on hearing the word of God (see 25:3–8). Jeremiah preached exactly what God commanded him to preach and didn’t alter the message in order to please the people. The false prophets preached what the people wanted to hear, but Jeremiah preached what the people needed to hear. “Whatever I command thee thou shalt speak” (1:7).
The people in the temple, however, encouraged by the priests and false prophets, rejected Jeremiah’s message and treated him like a false prophet who deserved to die. To them, it was blasphemous for Jeremiah to declare that Jehovah would allow the Holy City and His holy temple to fall into the defiling and destructive hands of the heathen the way the ark at Shiloh fell into the hands of the Philistines (1 Sam. 4). Since God’s covenant with David protected the city and the temple, Jeremiah was actually denying the covenant! He was leading the people astray and deserved to die (Deut. 18:20).
Receiving a report about a tumult in the temple, the officials left the palace and came to the temple to see what was occurring. (This reminds us of Paul’s experience recorded in Acts 21:27–40.) After hearing the people, priests, and prophets charge Jeremiah with blasphemy, they gave the prophet opportunity to speak. Jeremiah then presented three arguments in his defense.
First, what he had spoken was commanded by the Lord because the Lord had sent him (Jer. 26:12, 15). If they killed him, they were killing one of God’s prophets, and he would rather be faithful to God and die than unfaithful and live. Second, they were the ones in danger; he was the one seeking to rescue them (v. 13)! If they repented and obeyed God’s Word, the Lord would relent of His plans to judge the nation and would deliver them. Third, if they killed him, they would shed innocent blood, and that would only make their impending judgment worse.
Three factors led to Jeremiah’s release. First, having heard the evidence, the officials decided that the accusations were false and that Jeremiah should not die (v. 16). Second, some of the wise elders of the city argued the case further by citing a precedent: the ministry of the prophet Micah in the days of King Hezekiah (vv. 18–19; Mic. 1:1; 3:12). At that time, the Assyrians were threatening Jerusalem (Isa. 36—37), but Hezekiah obeyed the Lord and led the people in confession and repentance. Third, Ahikam, one of the officials, proved a friend to Jeremiah and effected his release (Jer. 26:24). Ahikam had served King Josiah (2 Kings 22:11–14) and was the father of Gedaliah, the future governor of Judah (Jer. 25:22).
On first reading, the illustration of Uriah (Jer. 26:20–23) seems out of place as a defense of Jeremiah, for the king had executed Uriah the prophet after he had fled to Egypt and been brought back to King Jehoiakim. On the other hand, Jeremiah stayed in the land of Judah and even ministered in the precincts of the temple! Jeremiah gave every evidence of being a loyal citizen, even though he disagreed with the politics of the leaders of the government. Although we can’t fault him for trying to save his own life, Uriah had broken the law while trying to prophesy God’s truth, and this led to his own death.