Read Jeremiah 26:1-24
God reminded Jeremiah that He wanted His entire message given; every word. Jeremiah may have been tempted to leave out the parts that would turn his audience against him, sound too harsh, or make him sound like a traitor. But by God’s command, he was not to delete parts of God’s message to suit himself, his audience, or the circumstances in which he found himself. Like Jeremiah, we must never ignore or exclude important parts of God’s Word to please someone.
Shiloh was where the Tabernacle had been set up after the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 18). It was destroyed in 1050 B.C. by the Philistines. God said He would destroy the Temple as Shiloh had been destroyed. When Jeremiah said that Jerusalem, the city of God, would become an object of cursing and the Temple would be destroyed, the priests and false prophets were infuriated. The Temple was important to them because the people’s reverence for it brought them power. By saying that the Temple would be destroyed, Jeremiah undermined their authority. Jesus also infuriated the religious leaders of His time by foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (Matthew 24).
Jeremiah was branded a traitor because he prophesied the destruction of the city and the Temple. But the courageous people advocated a foreign alliance to fight Babylon and retain their independence.
The wise old men remembered the words of the prophet Micah (Micah 3), which were similar to the words Jeremiah spoke. When Micah called the people to repent, they turned from their wickedness. Although these people did not kill Jeremiah, they missed the main point: that the main application of the story was for them. They spared Jeremiah, but they did not spare themselves by repenting of their sins. As you recall a great story of the Bible, ask how it can be applied to your life.
Uriah is an otherwise unknown prophet who was executed for faithfully proclaiming God’s words. This shows us that God has had other prophets whose words are not included in the Bible.