“This
day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set
before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you
and your children may live”
Deuteronomy 30:19
"Furthermore, tell the people,
'This is what the LORD says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and
the way of death.” Jeremiah 21:8
Doing research into Jeremiah 21:8, I wanted to see if
what I saw here was generally accepted. I found a quote out of Ellicott’s
Commentary for English Readers which so matched what I was feeling that I
have chosen to quote it.
“The
words are not unlike those of Deuteronomy
11:26-27; Deuteronomy
30:15; Deuteronomy
30:19, but
there is something like a solemn irony in their application here. They
obviously present themselves, not with the wide spiritual application with
which they meet us there, but are to be taken in their lowest and most literal
sense. The “way of life” is no longer that way of righteousness which the men
of Judah had forsaken, leading to the life of eternal blessedness, but simply
submission to the Chaldæans, and the life so gained was one of exile and
poverty, if not of bondage also.”
The people of Israel had so walked away from God that
the only thing left was physical life. Yes, as we read Jeremiah there is a hope
for the future, but for now, there is only life. All the blessings of the
covenant were gone. It is a very sad place. Those who had so much promise are
now just living. It seemed a fate worse than death, however, this life was
better than what lay in store for most of those who didn’t surrender.
Does this relate to us today?
I think it does. Those whom have had Jesus in their
lives but haven’t lived into the Christian life may find they end missing out
on the blessing in this life and the rewards in the next. Yes, they may be
saved through fire, but they will have nothing to show for it (1 Corinthians
3:15). Yes, they aren’t lost, but that’s it. And this is a sad commentary on a
life, the man on the cross who could do nothing for Jesus seems better off than
a person who has the opportunity to obey and doesn’t.
[1] Ellicott’s
Commentary for English Readers https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/21-8.htm.
Accessed 8-2-18.
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