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JEREMIAH: STAYING UPRIGHT AMIDST EVIL PRESSURES
Part XII: Events After Jerusalem's Fall: Crises Caused By Straying From God's Word
A. Gedaliah's Crisis For Relying On His Godly Heritage Above God's Word
(Jeremiah 40:1-41:10)
  1. Introduction
    1. Those among us who have come to faith in Christ from godless backgrounds desire to provide a wonderful Christian heritage for our children. Accordingly, we not only walk with God in our lives but often immerse our children in environments at school and Church that uphold God's truth and godliness.
    2. However, in all such rearing efforts, we must teach our children that their sole ultimate authority for ALL matters of faith and practice is God's Word, not even a Christian environment or its heritage, for all men are infected with sin, even Christians; failure to teach this can lead our children naively to entrust themselves to evil people in Christian circles, and bring upon them severe crises as happened to Gedaliah:
  2. Gedaliah's Crisis For Relying On His Godly Heritage Above God's Word, Jeremiah 40:1-41:10.
    1. Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, was set up as Judah's new puppet governor under Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 40:5a.
    2. So, upon being released by the Babylonian overseer and given the choice of going back to Babylon or remaining under Gedaliah's rule, Jeremiah chose to stay with Gedaliah (Jer. 41:1-3, 4-6) for these reasons:
      1. The Babylonians had treated Jeremiah well after the fall of Jerusalem in releasing him, giving him liberty and actually giving him an allowance and reward (Jer. 41:1-4, 5b), so since Gedaliah was their new governor for Judah (Jer. 41:5a) , Jeremiah presumed he would be safe from enemies with Gedaliah.
      2. The Babylonian overseer who released him had suggested Jeremiah stay near Gedaliah were he to remain in the land, Jer. 41:1-2, 5a. This suggestion from a friendly overseer seemed sensible to heed.
      3. Besides, Gedaliah came from a heritage that had supported Jeremiah's ministry and God's Word:
        1. Gedaliah's father was Ahikam, the son of Shaphan (cf. Jer. 40:5a), and this same Ahikam had saved Jeremiah from death in Jeremiah 26:24 when men had tried to kill him for preaching God's Word.
        2. Ahikam would have wanted Jeremiah shielded out of his own fear for God, for his father, Shaphan was the man who had read the law to Josiah that had led to his repentance, 2 Chr. 34:18, 20.
        3. Later, Ahikam had been sent along with his father, Shaphan by Josiah to the prophetess, Huldah to learn from her God's directive for Josiah and Judah in the wake of his repentance, 2 Chr. 34:20-22.
      4. Thus, all things considered, Jeremiah felt it wise to live under Gedaliah's rule in Mizpeh, Jer. 40:6.
    3. God initially blessed Gedaliah for telling other Jews to live peacefully under Babylonian rule in accord with the spirit of Jeremiah's previous message to that effect (Jer. 40:9-10 with 29:4-7); thus, many Jews who had fled to the country or other lands returned to live under Gedaliah's rule , Jer. 40:6-8, 11-12.
    4. However, when warned by the Hebrew military leader, Johanan the son of Kareah, that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah who was of the Davidic line planned to assassinate him, Gedaliah disbelieved Johanan's word without checking God's Word through the prophet, Jeremiah, Jeremiah 40:13-16; 41:1. Gedaliah assumed from his godly heritage that would have held a high regard for the Davidic Covenant that there was no need to test for murderous intent in men like Nethaniah who had come from David's line!
    5. In REALITY, Ishmael proved to be disastrously evil exactly as Johanan the son of Kareah had warned:
      1. Ishmael reportedly had ties with the king of Ammon, an enemy to Judah, so Johanan knew Ishmael could have been negatively impacted by Ammon's king to do harm were he to return to Judah! (40:14)
      2. Also, Johanan knew Ishmael had motive to kill Gedaliah, for Ishmael would have felt slighted as a man of royal birth for being overlooked by Babylon to rule in Judah, 41:1. (Bib. Kno. Com., O. T. , p. 1187)
      3. Johanan's concerns tragically proved to be right: Ishmael wormed his way into Gedaliah's presence and killed him and captured many people, including Jeremiah, to take them off to Ammon, 41:1-10.
Lesson: Though he rightly trusted God and His Word, Gedaliah WRONGLY used his heritage OVER God's Word to evaluate Ishmael's character, and it cost him his life and his subjects unrest.

Application: (1) For our welfare and the welfare of our subordinates, we must rely on GOD'S WORD as our ULTIMATE criteria for truth, NOT our CHRISTIAN HERITAGE, for SIN has infected EVEN GODLY circles, 1 Tim. 5:22-25! (2) For the good of our children, may we teach them this same truth!