As Jeremiah examined the
behavior of those who surrounded the people of Jerusalem, he included
words such as “sorrow”, “affliction”, “fire”, “net”,
“yoke” and “delivered” to describe the miseries that
Jerusalem experienced. In chapter one and verse fifteen, Jeremiah
shared the manner in which “the Lord” produced this
suffering among them. He wrote:
The Lord has trodden
under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he has
called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord has
trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a
winepress.
The
verse begins, “The Lord has trodden under foot all my
mighty men in the midst of me:” The
first act of “The Lord” was
that He “has trodden under foot”
which means “to make light of, toss aside, reject, or weighed in a
balance” “all”
those who were “strong and valiant” among them. In other words,
the Lord made light work of their strongest defensive forces. They
were “weighed in a balance” and found to come up short. Those who
were once so tough that no one could penetrate their resistance we
now easily defeated.
The
verse goes on to say, “he has called an assembly against me to
crush my young men:” Jeremiah adds that the Lord has “called
an assembly” which means He has “cried out” and set an
“appointed time, season, meeting, or place” “against me to
shatter” or “break, rend violently, wreck, crush, rupture, or
shatter” “my young men” which are the youthful warriors
that were among them. These were usually younger but mature unmarried
men who made up more of the defense of a city or country. The Lord
shattered this part of their fortification as well by calling the
assembly of Babylon against His beloved country and city.
The
verse finally says, “the Lord has trodden the virgin, the
daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.” Once
again Jeremiah employs the phrase “the Lord has trodden”
and relates it to “the virgin” which are the “pure and
unspotted younger women who have not had relations with men”. Even
“the daughter of Judah” or Jerusalem was not exempt from
the crushing judgment of God that was like unto men who crush grapes
with their feet in a “winepress”. Jerusalem was included
in the rebellion and suffered the judgment of the Lord for their
dissent.
If we
were “weighed in the balance” would we “come up short”? In
the book of Job we read in chapter thirty-one and verse six:
Would we
be “trodden under foot” should the Lord examine our lives?
One of the marvelous parts to knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord
is that no matter how little we weigh, He comes alongside of us and
helps us balance. We, as Jerusalem, will always find ourselves
“trodden under” if we were to be measured with only our own
“weight”, but thanks be to God that by receiving Jesus Christ as
our Savior we will have all the weight and defense we shall ever
need.
Next
time we will see Jeremiah weep over the conditions he saw, so read
ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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