Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-18
JEREMIAH CALLS TO
OBEDIENCE.
jeremiah, vii.1-26.

4
/ Golden text-Earken unto my
voice, and I will be your God,
and ye shall be my people
jeremiah, vii2S.
Our lesson brings us face to face
with one of the greatest events In his
tory Looking back over the centuries
of intervening time, We find the patri-
| otto prophet, jeremiah, appealing to
judah for obedience to God in almost
the same spirit that moved President
| the members of the Associated Press to
cooperate with him in arousing our
Nation to respect law and obey the
! Constitution. Our President has seen
the peril we are facing as a nation If
we do not mend our ways and doingS.
His experimenting address he's aroused
the Nation to see its duty and it has
responded to his appeal.
We are all more or less familiar with
the conditions that caused President
Hoover to speak and with the various
its cause Probably the same cause that
jeremiah pointed cut to be the source
of Judah's danger Is ours. It is some
what difficult to determine the exact
hour of Jeremiai's challenging appeal
to Judah In all probability 1t was the
same as that of last weeks lesson. II
is evident from internal evidence that
great national crisis had arisen.
The whole nation was moved to
lection of Jehovah and safety within
the temple. It may have been the
period following the death Of josiah.
during the early days of the reign OF
Jehoiakim. Some suggest that 1t was
the hour when Judah faced the f1rst
invasion OF the Chaldeans. 1t aroused
the nation, for people from the country
communities pressed with citizens OF
Jerusalem in an effort to enter the
temple They possessed fanatical
confidence that with the sacred IN
closure of the temple they would be
certain of absolute protection.
False Guarantees.
Jeremiah stood alone in calling upon
Judah to mend its ways. His message
was a declaration of war against the
prophets and priests, who as the ma
tion's leaders we're blind to the country's
rapidly approaching peril. The prophet
was q member of the priesthood.
Usually a bitter and intense antagonism
existed between these two parties. In
the formation Of their religious life they
had disregarded the teachings OF
Israel's overthrow, for they had per-
mitted the people to believe that the
curity of the city and safety OF the
nation. A century previous. under the
ministry of Isaiah, they had been saved
in a most marvellous way. Jeremiah
charged that these two classes OF religious
leaders had permitted and encouraged
the people of Judah to believe that the
formal observance of the temples rit-
ualistic requirements was an accepCanie
substitute for spiritual Fellowship WIN
God and pure living in accordance
with His law.
Every religion faces the danger. and
evidently can't escape from 1t, when the
observance of a formal worship may
usurp the deep religious and spiritual
SIGNIFICANCE of its creed and ritual
The peril of looking upon the outward
appearance is ever present with men,
especially when we forget that GOO
looks upon the heart. Judah mad
reached that perilous hour when Jere-
miah exposed their false guarantees
and proclaimed that the nation was
rapidly approaching period OF danger,
disaster and doom. He sought to con-
vert the nation by pointing out Its
misplaced confidence. trusting In the
protection of the temple and the Sc
curity of the formal observance of their
religious life when their own life was
implire. The Targum suggests the
threefold repetition of the temple was
made by jeremiah because OF three dii-
ferent acts Of worship-service, sacrifice
and prayer.
exposure of their spiritual failures. He
pointed out how they had violated the
Ten Commandments They had trod
them under their feet. Their lives
were stained by murder. theft. adultery,
perjury and the worship OF heatnen
idols, including Baal. Formal religion
had bred in them impure lives, and they
had permitted the temple erected 1or
the worship of Jehovah to become
zen of thieves. A greater prophet, and
the one whom jeremiah most nearly
other temple, erected upon the same
historic spot, exhibited his wrath by
quoting the words of Jeremiah. when
He cieansed the temple that He claimed
had again been made a den OF thieves.
jeremiah cited the historic example
of Shiloh, where the ark rested, When
it was central place for the nations
worship. It was then in ruins because
they had depended upon the presence
of the ark to save the nation when
they fought with the Philistines. It's
capture SIlcIIliCo uilu OAAC aAASLSNo
ruins confirmed Jeremiah's claim that
they had misplaced their confidence.
He questioned the divine origin OF the
sacrificial services He knew their
value. but he considered that they had
lost their value because Of the nations
sinfulness.
Obedience Deman ded.
Against the dark background Of an
preaching punishment for the nations
sin, jeremiah offered a way of saliva
ton and safety for Judah. He called
upon the nation to amend their ways
and doings. He urged them to seek
Gods favor with repentant heart and
determination to live life OF obedi-
ence He assured them that il they
would repent, quit their sinful way OF
living and going, they would have
a future. He told them that Jehovah
had said for him to say unto judah,
"Hearken unto My voice. and I will be
your God, and We shall be MY people"
1t was a call for national obedience TO
law and order.
A prominent attorney In the Ma
tons Capital stopped the writer the
other day and pointed out the lerge
number of laws. which he claimed were
being daily broken and no effort was
made to enforce the same. It was this
attitude toward Gods laws that caused
ial fa osnay Tolooyah rQthar than