Call to Commitment

 
                             

                       Capital 16 

               No more funeral rites

1.      The word of the LORD also came to me, saying, 

 2.      "You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place." 

 3.      For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land: 

 4.      "They shall die gruesome deaths; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their corpses shall be meat for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth." 

 5.      For thus says the LORD: "Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people," says the LORD, "lovingkindness and mercies. 

 6.      Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. 

 7.      Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or their mother. 

 A prophet not only speaks the words of a prophet, but lives the life of a prophet. His calling affects every area of his existence and people around him, not only hear the word of the Lord, but his lifestyle is a sign to them. That is Jeremiah’s case.

 Before we proceed with the chapter, it would be good to look into the situation in the world at the time, when the apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. While Paul introduced the gospel to Corinth, he met Aquila and Priscilla, who were among the Jews, whom Emperor Claudius commanded to leave Rome. Rome was not friendly to Jews or Christians. Claudius reigned from 41 A.D. to 54 A.D.