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By building his palace there, David made Jerusalem the royal city. By moving the ark of the covenant there, David made Jerusalem the holy city. David wanted God to have a temple in Jerusalem. Solomon, his son, built that temple. When Solomon completed and dedicated the temple, David's dreams were reality.
God accepted David's decision to make Jerusalem "the place God caused His name to dwell" and David's desire to give God a temple. Though God never commanded Israel to build Him a temple, God made David's desire His choice. When Solomon completed and dedicated the temple, God declared to Solomon, "I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually" [1 Kings 9:3; also see 2 Chronicles 12-16]. Jerusalem was God's city, and the temple was the Lord's house. Jerusalem was the proper site for Israel's sacrificial worship. David, the man whose heart belonged to God, made that choice. God accepted David's choice.
The Solomon who built and dedicated the temple became the Solomon who turned to the gods. The kingdom of Israel (the ten tribes who rebelled against Rehoboam) followed the gods. The majority of the time the kingdom of Judah followed the gods.
After many kings of Judah followed the gods, God instructed Jeremiah to prophesy against King Zedekiah and Jerusalem [Jeremiah 21]. If the people did not restore justice and righteousness, the great city of Jerusalem would become an incredible ruin [Jeremiah 22]. Foreigners would look at the ruins and ask, "Why did this happen to this great city?" "Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.'" [Jeremiah 22:9].
Before Judah was threatened by Babylon, Jeremiah tried to open the nation's eyes and move them to repentance. The nation regarded Jeremiah's warning about Babylon to be preposterous! When Jeremiah warned them, false prophets contradicted his warning. The city was secure and prosperous. This nation with its long history existed because they were God's people. They had ties with friendly nations who would come to their aid! Fall? Impossible! To Babylon? Ridiculous! Be captured? Never! The city and temple lie in ruins? Ludicrous!
Among their arguments against these possibilities was the presence of God's temple in Jerusalem. Jeremiah warned them not to trust deceitful words [Jeremiah 7:4-8]. What deceitful words? "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." The false prophets declared God would not let the city that contained His house fall. God would not allow any nation who did not belong to Him destroy God's house. "The temple is here! Because the temple is here, we are divinely protected! How preposterous for anyone to suggest that Jerusalem will fall as long as God's house is here! The great, certain protection we have is God's protection. God must protect us because we have His temple!"
Their confidence was in David's gift to God, not in the Lord God who accepted the gift. According to the false prophets, their confidence should be placed in the temple, Israel's gift to God. The temple obligated God to protect and preserve them! They did not need to place their confidence in God, the One who made them a nation. What they did for God was more important than what God did for them!
Jeremiah said, "Correct your ways and your actions. Cease allowing injustice to determine your relationship with your neighbor. Stop oppressing the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. Stop shedding innocent blood and following other gods. Stop trusting deceptive statements and arguments that are without meaning or power."
What deceptive statements and arguments? "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." The temple's existence did not obligate God and would not save them.
When he prophesied against Jerusalem and the temple, many tried to kill Jeremiah [Jeremiah 26]. God said, "Stand at the temple and make this declaration to all Judah when the people come to worship. Do not omit a word! Tell them, 'If you do not listen to Me and live in My law, the temple is doomed and Jerusalem will be cursed!" [To understand the comparison to Shiloh, see 1 Samuel 2:12-chapter 4.] When Jeremiah declared this message at the temple, the priest, prophets, and people arrested him declaring, "You must die!"
Almost 150 years before Zedekiah ruled Judah, God instructed the prophet Micah to begin his prophetic ministry. The Old Testament writing, Micah, is a written prophesy from this prophet. In chapter 3:5-12 he addressed the current prophets and rulers.
His indictments against the prophets: (1) they led the people away from God. (2) They refused to acknowledge serious problems. (3) They made "holy war" against insignificant matters. (4) Their prophesies were bought, a "prophesy for hire" system. The result: they would be ashamed and embarrassed because God would not speak to them. They would experience a revelation "blackout."
His indictments against the rulers: (1) You hate justice. (2) You twist things. (3) You use bloodshed and violence to achieve your purposes. (4) You [and the priests] take bribes.
Perhaps the more frightening indictment: "You tell everyone that you are 'leaning on the Lord' by declaring, 'The Lord is in our midst. Nothing terrible can happen to us!'" Because the temple stood in Jerusalem, the Lord was "in their midst" and would protect them. Their deeds and lives did not matter. The Lord was with them because the temple stood.
Micah declared the time would come that the hill of Zion would be a plowed field, Jerusalem a rubble heap, and the temple mount reclaimed by the wilderness. To the people of Judah, unimaginable!
Why would this happen? They trusted in their gift. The idea for that gift began in a man whose heart belonged to God. For generations, Israelites forgot that the temple was their gift to God. Instead, Israelites believed that God was obligated to protect them because they had the temple. Their faith was not in God, therefore their attitudes and behavior could continue unchanged. Their faith was in the temple. They trusted their gift, not their God. The result: catastrophe!
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