A Brokenhearted Priest
On a warm, spring day in Anathoth, a small Levitical town three miles north of Jerusalem, an elderly priest questions, “Will anyone hear? Can anyone see the truth? Or is everyone blinded by the glitz that follows the new king? He’s certainly not of the same spirit as his father, David. Oh…what a heart after God he had!”
Abiathar reflects on the past as his dimmed eyes peered over the flock. “Who can compare to the Goliath-slayer? Who was it the damsels sang about as ‘slaying his tens of thousands?’ No, this new king is more like his mother, than his father.”
On the other side of the herd the deposed priest can see his own son, Jonathan, tending to ailing sheep. “We knew Moses’ warnings about a king: ‘But he shall not multiply horses for himself…nor multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.’ I heard Samuel’s prophecy, ‘…and you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.’ I knew this day was coming, but I thought the heart of David’s kingdom would last longer than one generation. For seven years Solomon has taken from the people to build his own palace. He already has over fifty wives, many of them foreign, and builds altars for their gods in the hills. He is the richest man Israel has ever seen, yet he never seems to have enough. He may have a measure of wisdom, but uses it for himself. Oh Lord…I know the house that David wanted to build for you is coming, but if it is built with this kind of heart, it cannot be good. How long will these people not hear Your voice?"
Three hundred years later a priest came from Anathoth. He had made the three mile walk to Jerusalem many times, but today was different. He hardly noticed any one along the way, nor the scenery around him, except for one grand, glistening building that sickened Jeremiah. His thoughts churned, “This building was the product of a man whose heart was in no way like his father’s. A man who claimed over 900 wives, who taxed the people of the land unbearably, who thought God would be pleased with the thousands of butchered animals, and who twisted Samuel’s prophecy in order to tear the priesthood from the priests of Anatoth. That heart has led the people to trust in a building that cannot stand.”
Jeremiah entered through the gate of the city. “This Temple is the picture of everything that’s wrong. It’s the heart the Lord wants – our trust, our affections. One day, God will build a new covenant and put His law directly in our hearts. No more idols, no more Temples, and no more earthly kings. This is the first step…”
The prophet entered the Temple courtyard, took a deep breath, and raised his voice, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’’…I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh…This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God nor receive correction.”
It took three hundred years, but the Lord answered the brokenhearted plea of exiled priest…through his own descendant.