Jer 23:15 | KingComments | STEP | Among the prophets of Samaria, the capital of the ten tribes realm, the LORD has seen “an offensive thing”, a thing that is not fitting for a prophet ( ). There are prophets there who prophesy on behalf of Baal and thus deceive God’s people. The LORD still calls Israel “My people” here. Beginning with Jeroboam, the ten tribes realm strayed further and further from the LORD and gave itself over to idols, to Jeroboam’s self-conceived religion ( ). What Samaria has done is bad, but what Jerusalem is doing is even worse ( ). There the LORD did not ‘merely’ see an offensive thing as in Samaria, but He has seen there “a horrible thing”. Israel openly committed idolatry, but Judah prophesied in the Name of the LORD while committing the most reprehensible sins. The first evil mentioned is again adultery, with in its wake falsehood. Those who commit adultery live in falsehood. It is a gross lie to justify sins in the Name of the LORD. This is what happens in our day when it is said that love is from God and that a homosexual relationship is ‘therefore’ in accordance with God’s will and can even be blessed in the church. Instead of calling for condemnation and repentance of evil, they are so utterly depraved that they encourage others to continue in doing evil. The result is hardening and not repentance from wickedness. The LORD cannot judge them any differently than He did Sodom and Gomorrah, because they act like Sodom and Gomorrah. The anger of the LORD is on those prophets ( ). In His omnipotence as “the LORD of hosts” He says what He will do to these prophets. He is going to feed them wormwood and make them drink poisonous water. They themselves have given the people bitter and poisoned food and drink. Therefore, they will now get to eat and drink it themselves. The taste will be horrible. They will have to take this because “from the prophets of Jerusalem pollution has gone forth into all the land”. Their corrupting influence has permeated the whole land with pollution, so that nothing is holy anymore. Sin has permeated everything. This is the situation also today in professing Christianity. Nothing is holy anymore, everything that belongs to and is for God and His honor is trampled upon and that by using His Word. How great is the sacrilege committed under the cover of God’s Word! We can think [as to the Netherlands] of the annual Christ-degrading and blasphemous spectacle ‘The Passion’ of the tasteless Evangelical Broadcasting Company. In it the story of Christ’s suffering is played out in a contemporary way by ‘Dutch Celebrities’, many of whom have no relationship whatsoever with the Christ of the Scriptures.

‏ Jeremiah 23:15

False Prophecy in Samaria and Jerusalem

Among the prophets of Samaria, the capital of the ten tribes realm, the LORD has seen “an offensive thing”, a thing that is not fitting for a prophet (Jer 23:13). There are prophets there who prophesy on behalf of Baal and thus deceive God’s people. The LORD still calls Israel “My people” here. Beginning with Jeroboam, the ten tribes realm strayed further and further from the LORD and gave itself over to idols, to Jeroboam’s self-conceived religion (1Kgs 12:26-33).

What Samaria has done is bad, but what Jerusalem is doing is even worse (Jer 23:14). There the LORD did not ‘merely’ see an offensive thing as in Samaria, but He has seen there “a horrible thing”. Israel openly committed idolatry, but Judah prophesied in the Name of the LORD while committing the most reprehensible sins.

The first evil mentioned is again adultery, with in its wake falsehood. Those who commit adultery live in falsehood. It is a gross lie to justify sins in the Name of the LORD. This is what happens in our day when it is said that love is from God and that a homosexual relationship is ‘therefore’ in accordance with God’s will and can even be blessed in the church. Instead of calling for condemnation and repentance of evil, they are so utterly depraved that they encourage others to continue in doing evil. The result is hardening and not repentance from wickedness. The LORD cannot judge them any differently than He did Sodom and Gomorrah, because they act like Sodom and Gomorrah.

The anger of the LORD is on those prophets (Jer 23:15). In His omnipotence as “the LORD of hosts” He says what He will do to these prophets. He is going to feed them wormwood and make them drink poisonous water. They themselves have given the people bitter and poisoned food and drink. Therefore, they will now get to eat and drink it themselves. The taste will be horrible. They will have to take this because “from the prophets of Jerusalem pollution has gone forth into all the land”. Their corrupting influence has permeated the whole land with pollution, so that nothing is holy anymore. Sin has permeated everything.

This is the situation also today in professing Christianity. Nothing is holy anymore, everything that belongs to and is for God and His honor is trampled upon and that by using His Word. How great is the sacrilege committed under the cover of God’s Word! We can think [as to the Netherlands] of the annual Christ-degrading and blasphemous spectacle ‘The Passion’ of the tasteless Evangelical Broadcasting Company. In it the story of Christ’s suffering is played out in a contemporary way by ‘Dutch Celebrities’, many of whom have no relationship whatsoever with the Christ of the Scriptures.