Jeremiah 34-35 “Losing Credibility, Profaning God’s Name”

READ: Jeremiah 34-35  

Verses chosen for meditation: Jeremiah 34:15-16

¹⁵ You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name, ¹⁶ but then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.

REFLECT

King Zedekiah ordered for the release of slaves and the people obeyed (Jeremiah 34:8-11). Though the right thing to do, it was probably done with mixed motives. With the threat of Babylonian attack becoming real, feeding the slaves would be costly due to increasing food prices. Should they need to fight, the slaves being free, could enlist to fight together.

They likely did not obey the law to release their slaves in the 7^th year (Deuteronomy 15:12-15). If so, their actions were not generous, as this release was overdue. Still, God credited this good step in v15. However, they turned back on their word, enslaving those they released. This happened when the Babylonians turned their attention on the Egyptians and lifted the siege. Without the threat, the people very quickly went back to their old ways, seeing no need to repent.

God was particularly offended not only for the oppression of the powerless, but for how they tarnished His name. Being people who should be known to imitate God, their actions of selfishness, oppression and breaking promises fail to put God in a good light. The slaves experiencing such betrayal would find it hard to believe the God of these people is a good God.  

RELATE

Our God is indeed good and that’s reflected in His laws, meant to protect and bless. Some people doubt this, citing slavery laws in the Bible, as I was asked before how God seemed to condone it. God is not responsible for slavery, which was established by men long before even Moses’ time. If anything, His commands seek to abolish slavery.

But why do the laws seem to imply God’s tolerance of the slavery system? It must then be known that our common understanding of slavery (degrading, forced oppression, torture) is different from what’s practised in the OT. Slavery was more of an agreed arrangement between parties, with rules governing treatment of servants. The master should care for their slaves like their own family. These arrangements are temporary and contractual. It’s more akin to modern households having domestic helpers/butlers, than images of slaves being in chains. In some cases, people voluntarily became slaves to survive their dire circumstances, and slaves willingly followed their loving masters for life, despite having earned their freedom.

That said, not all masters follow the true intention of the laws, so we also have the brutal kind of slavery. God’s anger was towards such people in this text, who do not know God’s heart for the powerless, but instead, saw it as their right to lord over the helpless. This is reminiscent of the world’s marginalised feeling the sting of their government’s broken promises and U-turns.

We may not have slaves, but there are times we break our commitments to people not as privileged and do not have the resources to thrive like we do. We can commit to a project, event, or sustained period of support for the needy, then back out, without realising the repercussions it can have on the needy.

This is why God is so aggrieved, as some have no resources to survive such irresponsibility. In God’s sovereignty, He will still provide for them through others. But we would’ve let the people we minister to down. We would’ve profaned God’s name also, stumping people yet to know our God, instead of helping them know Him.

Though the text has its view specifically on the oppressed, we must not miss that we should honour our word to all people, in all situations. There are times when unforeseen emergencies take us away from our commitments. But barring that, we should see through in full completion what we agreed with others, no matter how mundane, small, or whether we like the assignment. If we find ourselves doing these often:

- defaulting on commitments, sometimes without notification,

- citing absences without good reason, sometimes on short notice,

- replacing agreed upon arrangements with new things for our own convenience instead of trying to shift/reject them to honour those arrangements,

- saying whatever to get people on board (e.g. promising support) without following through,

then we lose our credibility. Others will need to bear our load. Our words will hold no weight, and people will find us unreliable. They may still commune with us, but will avoid working with us. More importantly, it is unbecoming of us as followers of God, the promise keeper, as we misrepresent Him. Let’s reflect on the vast repercussions of our broken promises, that we sometimes take lightly.

REST

Dear Lord, may we honour our words, as you have always honoured them. If we break them, help us see that it is not merely a broken word, but really our lack of love and consideration for those affected. May we love as you have loved us. Amen.

Chris Chong