TROUBLER IN ISRAEL
How would you react if the people of your community were to refer to your
preacher as a trouble maker?" Would
you be embarrassed and want to ship him out to some other church? Would you
accuse him of causing division in your community? Are you aware that many of
the great prophets and preachers in Bible times were trouble makers? Please listen to what King Ahab of lsrael
said about the great prophet
Elijah. "And it came to pass
when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Are you he who troubles
Israel" (I Kings 18:17)? The
English Standard version renders the Hebrew: "When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab
said to him, Is it you, you troubler of Israel?" Every student of the Old
Testament knows how wicked Ahab and his infamous wife Jezebel were. Elijah constantly criticized them for their
great evil.
But Elijah was not the only prophet of God who was courageous enough to
stand against the evil in the nation. God led Jeremiah, the seventh century B. C.
Israelite prophet, to tell the leaders in the nation “I have seen folly in the
prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal and caused my people Israel to
err. I have seen also in the prophets of
Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they
strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none returns from his wickedness:
they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants therefore as
Gomorrah (Jer. 23:13-14). Jeremiah did
not play favorites...”The prophets in Samaria" were from the ten tribes in
the north, actually designated as “lsrael." · The prophets in Jerusalem”
were from the two tribes in the south, own as ''Judah."
The people of Judah continued their downward slide into immorality.
Zedekiah, the weak and vacillating king, ‘‘sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah
and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah saying,
Pray now unto the Lord for us." God
instructed Jeremiah to tell Zedekiah, the king of Israel: ''Behold, Pharaoh's
army, which has come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own
land. And the Chaldeans shall come
again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. Thus says the Lord, Do not deceive
yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall
not depart. For though you had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that
fight against you, and there remained but wounded men, yet should they rise up
every man in his tent, and burn this city" (Jer. 37:3, 7-10).
There is not doubt the leaders in the nation thought of Jeremiah as a
traitor. When Jeremiah "was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward
was there, whose name was Irijah; the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah;
and he took Jeremiah the prophet saying, You have fallen away to the
Chaldeans... , In very simple language,
Irijah accused Jeremiah of deserting to the enemy. Jeremiah denied that he was
betraying his nation. Irijah paid no attention to the prophet's denial. "The
princes (of Israel) were very angry with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him
in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the
prison" (Jer. 37:13-15).
After Jeremiah had been imprisoned, King Zedekiah sent for the prophet to
be brought to him. Zedekiah secretly asked Jeremiah: "Is there any word
from the Lord?" Jeremiah told the king: "There is (a word from the
Lord): for, said he, you shall be delivered into the hands of the king of
Babylon." Jeremiah asked Zedekiah: '"What have I done to offend you,
or against your servants, or against the people, that you have put me in
prison. Where are now your prophets who prophesied unto you, saying, The king
of Babylon should not come against you, nor against this land?'' Jeremiah pled
with the king not to send him back to prison lest he die (Jer. 37:18-20). Some
of the leaders in the nation "heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken
unto all the people, saying, Thus says the Lord, He who remains in the city
shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he who goes
forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and
shall live. Thus says the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the hand
of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it." The princes in the
land asked Zedekiah for permission to kill Jeremiah. The king granted them
permission to take the great servant of God. They placed him in a cistern where
there was no water. The bottom of the cistern was muddy. Jeremiah sank in the
mire (Jer. 38:2-6). Eventually Jeremiah
escaped from the cistern and went into Egypt (Jer. 38:13).
Leaders in Israel did not use the expression; "troubler of
Israel," of Jeremiah, but there is no doubt they thought of him as trouble
maker. He did not prophesy what they
wanted to hear. They did not want to
hear there was nothing they could do to avoid being carried into Babylon. If they rebelled against the mighty
Babylonian army, they would die. If they
surrendered to the Babylonians, they would live. That was not the kind of message they wanted
to hear. But the prophet Jeremiah was
not speaking out of his own heart. He
was relaying the message God had given him for the nation.
Ezekiel was one of Jeremiah's younger contemporaries. He prophesied
immediately before and during the Babylonian exile. He was just as forceful in
denouncing the immorality among the Jewish leaders as were Isaiah and Jeremiah.
He told the Israelites why they were being disciplined by being exiled to one
of the most pagan nations on earth. The Israelite people were worshipping
idols. God asked Ezekiel; "Son of man, have you seen what the ancients of
the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his own chambers of his
imagery? For they say, The Lord does not see; the Lord has forsaken the earth.
He said to me, Turn yet again, and you shall see greater abominations that they
do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was
toward the north; and, behold, there sat women worshipping Tammuz. Then he said
unto me, Have you seen this, 0 son of man? Turn yet again, and you shall see
greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the
Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the
porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the
temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the
sun toward the east,, (Ezek. 8:12-16).
When the Israelites returned to their own land after the Babylonian
exile, the prophet Daniel reminded them of their sins which led to the
exile. He confessed both for himself and
for the nation: "We have sinned, and have done iniquity, and have done
wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy
judgments: neither have we hearkened unto servants the prophets, who spoke in
thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of
the land.... Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in
his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yea all Israel
have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy
voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in
the Law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him"
(Dan. 9:5-6, 10-11).
The sacred record does not tell ·us about the reaction of the Israelites
and their leaders to Daniel's confession. Maybe seventy years in Babylon had
softened their hearts. But I wonder what modern religious people would think if
their preacher made such a confession. Do you honestly believe that many modern
churches would support the preacher if he made such a confession? If Dr. Robert
Schuler were to stand in his pulpit at the famous Crystal Cathedral in
California and confess the sins of Hollywood, would he have a pulpit next week?
What if Dr. Schuler were to say concerning the actors in his Hollywood
audience: “They commit adultery, and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of
evildoers, and not one returns from his' wickedness,” would the members tar and
feather him? Incidentally, some of the
Hollywood celebrities attend the Crystal Cathedral.
Most conservative Bible scholars believe that Jeremiah wrote the book of
Lamentations. The prophet wrote concerning the nation: “Jerusalem has
grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honored her despise her,
because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sighs and turns backward. Her filthiness
is in her skirts; she remembers not the last end; therefore she came down
wonderfully: she has no comforter. 0 Lord, behold my affliction: for the enemy
has magnified himself” The prophet asked the Israelites: “Is it nothing to you,
all you who pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my
sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord has afflicted me in the day
of his fierce anger" (Lam. 1:8-9, 12).
In my opinion the book of Hosea is one of the saddest books in the Bible. Hosea used his own tragic life as an illustration of the unfaithfulness of the nation of Israel. He describes the moral and spiritual condition of Israel during the 8th century B. C. "Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel: for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing and committing adultery they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.... My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest unto me: seeing that you have forgotten the law of God, I also forget your children.... Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart, (Hos. 4:1-2, 6, 11).
In his splendid little book on The Twelve Minor Prophets
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 1953), Dr. George L. Robinson calls Amos, another 8th
century B. C. prophet from Judah, "the prophet of Justice” (p. 47). Amos had an intense confrontation with
Amaziah, a priest of Bethel. Amaziah
reported to Jeroboam (that is, Jeroboam
II): "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel:
the land is not able to bear his words.
For thus Amos says, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall
surely be led away captive out of their own land. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, 0 you seer, go,
flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there. But prophesy not again any more at Bethel:
for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court'' (Amos 7:10-13).
The priest of Bethel might have intimated a prophet with less courage
than Amos. The priest implies that Amos
was prophesying to earn a living. He
urged him to go back home to eat bread and to prophesy. Amos responded: ''I was
no prophet, neither a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman and a gatherer of
sycamore fruit: and the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said
unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
Now hear the word of the Lord: You say, Prophesy not against Israel, and
drop not your word against the house of Israel.
Thus says the Lord, Your wife shall be a harlot in the city, and your
sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and the land shall be divided
by line; and you shall die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into
captivity forth of this land" (Amos 7:14-17). There is no doubt that
Amaziah and many others in the nation of Israel considered Amos to be a trouble
maker. But is there any doubt he was speaking the very words of God almighty?
Did some people think of Paul as a trouble maker? While Paul was preaching at Lystra, some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded the people to stone Paul. They drew him outside the city because they thought he was dead (Acts 14:19). At Thessalonica, Paul and Silas were accused of turning the world upside down and were violating the decrees of Caesar (Acts 17:6-7). The same great men of God were arrested at Corinth for preaching that Jesus was the Christ (Acts 18:5). Were Paul and Silas trouble makers? The enemies of the cross thought of them as being trouble makers. Would to God there were more trouble makers like them in our world!
The great prophets of the Old Testament - Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Daniel and Amos - were unquestionably trouble makers - as were the
faithful preachers in the New – Paul, Peter and James. But surely no one would accuse the lowly,
loving and gentle Savior - Jesus Christ - of being a trouble maker? If some
people did not think of Christ as a trouble maker - how do you explain the
reason the Jews crucified him? Jesus caused trouble almost everywhere he went.
He was teaching ideas which were contrary to the popular views of the religious
leaders in
Israel.
Matthew records Christ’s strong condemnation of the cities wherein he had
done most of his mighty works. I shall
give you just one example. “... and
thou, Capernaum, which is exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell:
for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would
have
remained until this day.
But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable in the land of Sodom in the
Day of Judgment, than you” (Mt. 11:23-24). There is one thing for certain: No
knowledgeable Jew would have considered Christ’s words as being complimentary.
It would have been difficult for Christ to have used more derogatory remarks.
Did the people of Capernaum think of Christ as a trouble maker? Do you?
Winford Claiborne
The International
Gospel Hour
P.O. Box 118
Fayetteville, TN 37334