Allen Dvorak
04/01/09
James described the faithless man who prays for wisdom as a "double-minded man" (James 1:5-8). He is caught between his desire for wisdom and his unbelief and tossed back and forth. He prays to God, but doesn’t believe that God will really answer! There is a certain sadness in his situation; he is not ultimately hindered by others, but by his own lack of conviction in the faithfulness and power of God.
Zedekiah was just such a man. The last of the kings of Judah, he reigned during a period of national unfaithfulness. God spoke to the rebellious nation through the prophet Jeremiah who encouraged Judah to return to faithfulness to the covenant. Zedekiah evidently had substantial contact with Jeremiah and was well aware of Jeremiah’s message.
It is granted that Zedekiah was in a difficult position. On the one side were the Babylonians, the military power in that area of the world. On the other side were Judean nationalists who were against submission to the Babylonians. Zedekiah tried to take a position in the middle. He wouldn’t listen to Jeremiah’s message counseling submission to Babylon (Jeremiah 37:1-2), but he asked Jeremiah to pray to the Lord on behalf of the rebellious nation (37:3)!
Zedekiah called for Jeremiah to meet with him on several occasions, sometimes secretly (Jeremiah 21:1-10; 37:3-10, 17-21, 38:14-27). When the Babylonians were besieging the city of Jerusalem, Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah to hear the latest from the Lord. The message wasn’t pleasant. Jeremiah told Zedekiah that he couldn’t win against the Babylonians; Jerusalem would be captured! The only way for the Israelites to preserve their lives was to surrender to the Babylonians.
Zedekiah, however, was a "double-minded" man. At the same time that he seemed to be interested in talking with God’s prophet, he didn’t want to heed the Lord’s message. He had some respect for Jeremiah’s role as prophet, but he was too weak to do the Lord’s will. He was afraid of the princes of the land, allowing them to throw Jeremiah into prison and later into a dungeon (water cistern) where he sunk into the mire at the bottom (37:15-38:6).
It often takes great courage for spouses, parents, young people, etc. to make the hard decision and do the right thing. Zedekiah may have ostensively been in a position of power, but he was actually a weakling. He lacked the strength of character to make the right decision, to face the opposition of wicked people. The current governor of Minnesota publicly announced that religion is just a crutch for the weak, but it frequently takes less strength and courage to do wrong than to do right and face the disapproval, ridicule or even persecution of wicked people who want everyone to live the way that they do.
The end of Zedekiah’s story? When Jerusalem was finally captured, Zedekiah fled. He was caught, however, and saw the execution of his sons before the king of Babylon put out his eyes. What a sad story!
