Object Lessons That Demand Obedience

October 21 Jeremiah 37:1-38:28

Object Lessons That Demand Obedience

The Family Quagmire

Imagine beautiful lakefront property below all imaginable prices anywhere else in the country? Sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it?

In fact, what if I told you that this was once a resort for celebrities and presidents? The area became a destination for Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, the Beach Boys, and President Dwight Eisenhower, who used to come by the golf course.

When you drive by going from El Centro to Palm Springs California you see glistening water on the right and beautiful mountains on the left. Just recently we were staying at a resort in Palm Springs and I met a nice couple in the pool who were going for a little day outing to see his “former tourist destination”.

My words to them were, “Be careful. Be VERY careful.”

This idyllic California lake is called, “The Salton Sea” and it is now the home to algal blooms, endless dust, toxic air, and boiling mud pots! It smells of rotten sulfur or dead fish, but that’s not even the bad part.

People as far away as Imperial Valley (where I live) have a greatly increased level of asthmatic respiratory problems. The water level has dramatically gone down and the toxic levels have gone sky-high. They blow in our direction.

I have read about and actually know a family who went there to visit and got more than they ever bargained for… The Salton Sea has “Boiling Mud Pots”.

This is a volcanic fault area as well as a lake that has turned toxic. People go to explore these boiling mud pots and see dead fish, and interesting sights. However, the ground is not very hard in places. People will walk around the lake and one foot gives way and they sink in a “quagmire” of hot boiling muck.

There have been lawsuits and I know one little girl that this happened to in the last few years…

Today’s passage is about “A Family Quagmire” and also an “Actual Physical Quagmire” for Jeremiah…It’s going to be a hot mess, so get a cold drink as we take a little field trip together.

This little trip is going to take us a couple days to investigate all of the “Behind the Scenes” HIDDEN DANGERS UP AHEAD…

So, let’s start with the first obvious “HOT MESS” and then we will work our way to the back story of ‘The Family Quagmire…

Perhaps you have heard the phrase, “Stick-In-The-Mud”. This is an idiom that can be traced back to the 1730s. It denotes someone that is “set in their ways and does not appreciate change”. This is Judah’s view of Jeremiah; it is also where they want to “STICK HIM”.

As Jeremiah was walking through “The Benjamin Gate”, a sentry arrested him and said, “You are defecting to the Babylonians!” (37:13) “That’s not true!”, Jeremiah protested. “I had no intention of doing any such thing.”

They had already tried blackmail, gossip, competition with false prophets, and a host of other tactics (Including kindling of the scroll) to stop Jeremiah but he was “STUCK-IN-THEIR-SIDES”.

So, they set him up and then “lit him up” by flogging him and then imprisoning him. He was put into a dungeon cell, where he remained for many days. (37:16)

King Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah not be returned to the dungeon. So, he was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace. There he received fresh bread each day. (Upgrade!)

However, some officials caught wind of the recent words of Jeremiah. Of course, they didn’t care for them at all as he was continuing his same theme of repentance and captivity for the unrepentant (Namely them!).

These officials went to King Zedekiah and said, “Sir, this man must die! That kind of talk will UNDERMINE THE MORALE of the few fighting men we have left, as well as that of all the people. This man is a traitor!

Never mind that they had UNDERMINED the MORALS of God and HE was the one behind their discipline, capture, and captivity. They weren’t going to down without a FIGHT!

King Zedekiah AGREED. “All right,” he said, “Do as you like. I can’t stop you.”

What a weak, weak, Greek Greek! ( I know he was Jewish but was he Greek? Hmmm)

“So, the officials took Jeremiah from his cell and lowered him by ropes into an empty cistern in the prison yard… There was no water in the cistern, but there was a THICK LAYER OF MUD at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank down into it.” (38:6)

How low can one person go?

Poor Jeremiah had once again encountered...

“The Family Quagmire”!