When Your Hometown Wants You Dead
Introduction: The Intolerance of Grace
We live in an age that worships at the altar of tolerance, but it is a false god with a very selective hearing. The high priests of this new religion preach an open-mindedness that is curiously closed to one thing: the exclusive, authoritative, and confrontational Word of the living God. You can be anything you want, believe anything you want, do anything you want, so long as you do not stand up and declare, "Thus says the Lord." The moment you do that, the moment you introduce a transcendent standard that does not bend to our whims, the atmosphere changes. The smiles become fixed, the eyes narrow, and the knives come out.
This is not a new phenomenon. It is the oldest story in the book, second only to the story of creation and fall. It is the story of the world's allergic reaction to divine truth. And nowhere is this allergy more virulent than among the professionally religious who have made their peace with the world. The most vicious opposition to a true prophet rarely comes from the pagans in the street; it comes from the apostates in the sanctuary. It comes from his own kinsmen, his own neighbors, the men of his own hometown.
The passage before us in Jeremiah is a raw, unvarnished look at this reality. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, is not weeping over a stubbed toe. He is weeping over the hard-hearted rebellion of his own people, a rebellion that has now metastasized into a murderous plot against him. This is not just a historical report. This is a spiritual diagnostic. It reveals the anatomy of apostasy and the predictable response of fallen men when the Word of God gets too close for comfort. They do not repent; they plot to kill the messenger. And in this, Jeremiah becomes for us a stark and vivid foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate prophet who came unto His own, and His own received Him not.
The Text
Moreover, Yahweh made it known to me, and I knew it;
Then You showed me their deeds.
But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter;
And I did not know that they had devised thoughts against me, saying,
"Let us make the tree with its fruit a ruin,
And let us cut him off from the land of the living,
That his name be remembered no more."
But, O Yahweh of hosts, who judges righteously,
Who tests the insides and the heart,
Let me see Your vengeance on them,
For to You have I revealed my case.
Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, "Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, so that you will not die at our hand"; therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, "Behold, I am about to punish them! The choice men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine; and a remnant will not be left to them, for I will bring calamity on the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment."
(Jeremiah 11:18-23 LSB)
Divine Intelligence (v. 18)
The section begins with God pulling back the curtain for His prophet.
"Moreover, Yahweh made it known to me, and I knew it; Then You showed me their deeds." (Jeremiah 11:18)
A prophet's primary qualification is not a silver tongue or a charismatic personality. It is that he has a word from God. But here we see that God provides more than just the public message. He also provides the necessary private intelligence. Jeremiah was not a savvy political operator who uncovered this conspiracy on his own. He was, as he will say in a moment, oblivious. God had to show him. God opened his eyes to the treachery that was swirling around him.
This is a profound comfort for the faithful minister. We are often called to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, but our wisdom is derivative. God does not leave His servants to navigate the minefield of human malice alone. He reveals what needs to be revealed, when it needs to be revealed. He shows us their deeds. This is not so we can become paranoid or cynical, but so we can be prepared, and so that we can pray with our eyes wide open.
The Lamb and the Wolves (v. 19)
Jeremiah describes his prior state of innocence and the sheer malice of his enemies.
"But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; And I did not know that they had devised thoughts against me, saying, 'Let us make the tree with its fruit a ruin, And let us cut him off from the land of the living, That his name be remembered no more.'" (Jeremiah 11:19)
The imagery here is potent and prophetic. "Like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter." Jeremiah saw himself as harmless, unsuspecting, going about the Lord's business. He had no idea that his own people, the men of Anathoth, his hometown, were sharpening their knives for him. This image, of course, rockets down the corridors of redemptive history and finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), who before His shearers was silent (Isaiah 53:7).
And look at the goal of the conspirators. Their hatred is comprehensive. First, they say, "Let us make the tree with its fruit a ruin." This is not just about silencing Jeremiah; it is about destroying his entire ministry, his legacy, his impact. They want to poison the fruit and chop down the tree. Second, they want to "cut him off from the land of the living." They want him dead. Third, they want to ensure "that his name be remembered no more." They want to erase him from history. This is the logic of cancel culture in its embryonic form. The goal of God's enemies is not debate; it is annihilation. They don't want to win the argument; they want to make sure the argument can never be made again.
The Righteous Appeal (v. 20)
Faced with this murderous plot, Jeremiah does not hire bodyguards or start a militia. He turns to the court of heaven.
"But, O Yahweh of hosts, who judges righteously, Who tests the insides and the heart, Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You have I revealed my case." (Jeremiah 11:20)
Our modern, sentimental age gets the vapors when it encounters prayers like this. We call them "imprecatory prayers," and we treat them like embarrassing relatives in the biblical family. But they are nothing of the sort. This is a model of righteous prayer in the face of profound evil. Notice the structure. Jeremiah is not flying off the handle in a fit of personal pique. He is making a formal, legal appeal to the supreme court of the universe.
He appeals to God on the basis of His character: "O Yahweh of hosts, who judges righteously." He is asking for justice, not personal revenge. He acknowledges God's unique qualification to judge: "Who tests the insides and the heart." God is the only one who can see the motives, the hidden malice, the "devised thoughts" of the wicked. And most importantly, he formally transfers the case: "For to You have I revealed my case." The Hebrew here means to lay open one's cause in a legal dispute. Jeremiah is handing the entire file over to God. He is saying, "This is Your battle, not mine. You handle it." This is precisely what the Apostle Paul commands in Romans 12: "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.'" Jeremiah is a New Testament saint in this regard.
The Divine Sentence (v. 21-23)
God hears the appeal and immediately renders His verdict and sentence. The Judge has spoken.
"Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, 'Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, so that you will not die at our hand'..." (Jeremiah 11:21)
Here is the charge sheet. The men of Anathoth were not atheists. They were religious insiders. Anathoth was a Levitical city. These were Jeremiah's colleagues. And their central demand was this: "Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh." They had no problem with religion in general. They had a problem with authoritative, specific, inconvenient revelation from God. They wanted a controllable God, a manageable religion, a faith that would comfort them in their sins rather than convict them of their sins. And when Jeremiah refused to play along, they threatened to kill him. This is the iron fist inside the velvet glove of all liberal religion.
Because they passed a death sentence on God's prophet, God passes a death sentence on them.
"...therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, 'Behold, I am about to punish them! The choice men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine; and a remnant will not be left to them, for I will bring calamity on the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.'" (Jeremiah 11:22-23)
The judgment is specific, severe, and symmetrical. They sought Jeremiah's life with the sword, so their best young men will die by the sword. They wanted to cut off his future legacy, so their own children will die of famine, leaving them no future. They wanted his name to be remembered no more, so God promises that "a remnant will not be left to them." Their entire line will be blotted out. God's justice is not messy; it is meticulously tailored to the crime. There is a day of reckoning, a "year of their punishment," and it is coming.
Conclusion: The Vindicated Lamb
The story of Jeremiah in Anathoth is the story of Jesus in Jerusalem in miniature. The Lord Jesus was the gentle lamb, the ultimate prophet, who came to His own kinsmen according to the flesh. And the religious establishment, the men who should have known better, were the ones who devised thoughts against Him. They said, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance" (Matthew 21:38).
They wanted to destroy the tree and its fruit. They wanted to cut Him off from the land of the living. They wanted His name to be remembered no more, posting a guard at His tomb to make sure the story ended there. They did their worst. They led the Lamb to the slaughter. And in doing so, they accomplished the very plan of God for the salvation of the world.
And what was God's response? He heard the appeal of His Son. And on the third day, God rendered His verdict. He brought His vengeance not by wiping out the plotters with fire from heaven, but by raising His Son from the dead. The resurrection was the ultimate vindication. It was God the Father saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him."
They tried to erase His name, and now it is the name that is above every name. They tried to destroy His fruit, and now His disciples have filled the earth. The plot against the Lamb backfired in the most glorious way imaginable. Therefore, when we face opposition for the sake of the gospel, even from our own "hometown," we can take courage. We serve the Lamb who was slain, but who now lives and reigns forever. We have revealed our case to the righteous Judge, and we can rest in the sure knowledge that He will vindicate His people, His gospel, and His own great name.