Jeremiah 22:13-17 – Our Kingdoms of Coziness
13
“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness
And his chambers by injustice,
Who uses his neighbor’s service without wages
And gives him nothing for his work,
14
Who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers,
And cut out windows for it,
Paneling it with cedar
And painting it with vermilion.’
15
“Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink,
And do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
16
He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
Then it was well.
Was not this knowing Me?” says the Lord.
17
“Yet your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness,
For shedding innocent blood,
And practicing oppression and violence.”
Neil Miller looks at the paneled houses the Lord derides in Haggai and warns the punch list of finishing touches for personal comfort never ends. “The heart,” he sounds, “will find ways to fill itself.”
Indeed, the same heart consumed with self-centered comforts which Haggai says distracts the populace after the exile was true of their king before it. The Lord calls him out on it in Jeremiah 22:13-17.
King Shallum's punch list of personal conveniences, exposes Jeremiah 22:13, has become such an obsession that he treats the human beings for whom he is responsible, God's image-bearers as means to his goal. While he is focused on curb appeal, the Lord sees beyond the optics of his real estate and regal impressiveness. He has built his house, both physically and politically, on unjust treatment of the poor.
The Lord Who heard the blood of the righteous Abel in Genesis and the cries of the enslaved in far-off Egypt's surely hears the pleas of His covenant people when they are not treated as brothers and fellow heirs but as exploitable to further insulate their king.
The Lord's hearing is so discerning, though, that He need not wait for the travesty of murder or the building rumble of class unrest in order to confront with conviction. No matter how well-insulated the king's tailored reality is, no matter how quiet and punctuated only with the scripts of those who say what he wants to hear, God hears this king's thoughts. He transcribes them in Jeremiah 22:14.
Surely the speechwriting shop has come up with something more splendid. Surely Shallum has woven the king's Scriptural duties as outlined in the Deuteronomy text he is supposed to copy for himself into his rhetoric, but the Lord is not fooled.
He knows Shallum's penchant for overcompensation, reaction against his nation's coming siege with insistence on his own wine and spacious chambers. If what Shallum says to himself and what he sees reinforces opulence and freedom, that he can distract himself from the chafing constraint of accountability.
Lest we fall off into aestheticism, denial for denial's sake, even in this scene of stern correction God makes clear that he does not oppose those who serve Him being comfortable. He reminds Shallum that his righteous father Josiah who put a priority on restoring the Lord's house simultaneously lived well. Looking back further, even while Nathan was confronting David's treacherous pursuit of Bathsheba, he conveyed God's sentiments that if the blessings David had were not enough, He would have provided more.
This text, then, isn't a warning against rising two or above a certain socioeconomic level, having this comfort and not fat. In some ways, that outward measure would be easier to comply with. Instead, the measures of health God calls us, along with Shallum, to use are in Jeremiah 22:16-17.
Do we know Him? Are we seeking after Him as we make decisions on the job and as we make decisions on what to do with the job's proceeds? Or, year by year as generation by generation, our weights seeking to replace dependence on God with satiation on the results He once provided?
God sees, especially in Jeremiah 22:17, the eyes and the heart more objectively than do those beholden to them. He judges the central, visceral, bluntly honest script by which we operate rather than the honeyed words we use to accomplish our goals.
He knows what our eyes look for. Jesus in the Gospels tells us not to trust them, to pluck them out if necessary. He tells us in Revelation as comfort-seeking Laodiceans to trade anything for the balm that would help us see as He sees. How we measure with our eyes is a reflection of the health or sickness of our heart. These will do much to determine the decisions we make and whether we live to bless those for whom we are responsible.
“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness
And his chambers by injustice,
Who uses his neighbor’s service without wages
And gives him nothing for his work,
14
Who says, ‘I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers,
And cut out windows for it,
Paneling it with cedar
And painting it with vermilion.’
15
“Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink,
And do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
16
He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
Then it was well.
Was not this knowing Me?” says the Lord.
17
“Yet your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness,
For shedding innocent blood,
And practicing oppression and violence.”
Neil Miller looks at the paneled houses the Lord derides in Haggai and warns the punch list of finishing touches for personal comfort never ends. “The heart,” he sounds, “will find ways to fill itself.”
Indeed, the same heart consumed with self-centered comforts which Haggai says distracts the populace after the exile was true of their king before it. The Lord calls him out on it in Jeremiah 22:13-17.
King Shallum's punch list of personal conveniences, exposes Jeremiah 22:13, has become such an obsession that he treats the human beings for whom he is responsible, God's image-bearers as means to his goal. While he is focused on curb appeal, the Lord sees beyond the optics of his real estate and regal impressiveness. He has built his house, both physically and politically, on unjust treatment of the poor.
The Lord Who heard the blood of the righteous Abel in Genesis and the cries of the enslaved in far-off Egypt's surely hears the pleas of His covenant people when they are not treated as brothers and fellow heirs but as exploitable to further insulate their king.
The Lord's hearing is so discerning, though, that He need not wait for the travesty of murder or the building rumble of class unrest in order to confront with conviction. No matter how well-insulated the king's tailored reality is, no matter how quiet and punctuated only with the scripts of those who say what he wants to hear, God hears this king's thoughts. He transcribes them in Jeremiah 22:14.
Surely the speechwriting shop has come up with something more splendid. Surely Shallum has woven the king's Scriptural duties as outlined in the Deuteronomy text he is supposed to copy for himself into his rhetoric, but the Lord is not fooled.
He knows Shallum's penchant for overcompensation, reaction against his nation's coming siege with insistence on his own wine and spacious chambers. If what Shallum says to himself and what he sees reinforces opulence and freedom, that he can distract himself from the chafing constraint of accountability.
Lest we fall off into aestheticism, denial for denial's sake, even in this scene of stern correction God makes clear that he does not oppose those who serve Him being comfortable. He reminds Shallum that his righteous father Josiah who put a priority on restoring the Lord's house simultaneously lived well. Looking back further, even while Nathan was confronting David's treacherous pursuit of Bathsheba, he conveyed God's sentiments that if the blessings David had were not enough, He would have provided more.
This text, then, isn't a warning against rising two or above a certain socioeconomic level, having this comfort and not fat. In some ways, that outward measure would be easier to comply with. Instead, the measures of health God calls us, along with Shallum, to use are in Jeremiah 22:16-17.
Do we know Him? Are we seeking after Him as we make decisions on the job and as we make decisions on what to do with the job's proceeds? Or, year by year as generation by generation, our weights seeking to replace dependence on God with satiation on the results He once provided?
God sees, especially in Jeremiah 22:17, the eyes and the heart more objectively than do those beholden to them. He judges the central, visceral, bluntly honest script by which we operate rather than the honeyed words we use to accomplish our goals.
He knows what our eyes look for. Jesus in the Gospels tells us not to trust them, to pluck them out if necessary. He tells us in Revelation as comfort-seeking Laodiceans to trade anything for the balm that would help us see as He sees. How we measure with our eyes is a reflection of the health or sickness of our heart. These will do much to determine the decisions we make and whether we live to bless those for whom we are responsible.
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