““Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “‘Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.’ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.”” (Jeremiah 26:18–19, ESV)
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”- George Santayana, American Philosopher
“If you don’t know history, it’s as if you were born yesterday. If you were born yesterday then any leader can tell you anything.”- Howard Zinn, American Historian
“Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.”- Confucius
I was watching a show on television one evening where an interviewer went to the college campuses of our country. He asked college students regarding some simple historical facts. It was humorous but sad. Collegians could not name the three branches of the government, who we fought in various wars, and the reasons we were in those wars. Yet many of these same students are the ones who will be getting into politics and protesting for and against things of which they have no historical understanding. They fail to see some of the most disastrous policies that nations have adopted. Policies that left once prosperous nations in abject ruin. I fear that today our nation is headed down a disastrous path because young people have failed to understand and examine historical precedence.
In this passage of Jeremiah, we can see the necessity of learning from history. Jeremiah consistently prophesied from the Lord to the nation of Israel that disaster was coming if they did not turn from their apostacy and idolatry. He told the people that a failure to repent would result in the complete destruction of Judah and Jerusalem.
How did the nation respond to the prophesy. In the preceding verses we read that they sought to put Jeremiah to death. Why? It was because he presented a message they did not want to hear. However, there were a few in the nation that opposed putting the prophet to death. In Jeremiah’s defense they brought a historical record from the time when Micah prophesied to King Hezekiah. The king heeded the prophecy and prevented the disaster to come upon the nation.
Jeremiah’s prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem gave the nation the opportunity to turn from their evil ways and to escape the coming judgment of the Lord. If they turned from their evil, Jeremiah indicated that the Lord would relent from the coming destruction.
Sadly, only a few understood the lesson of history. The nation would not repent and the destruction would come. Today in our society many are deceived by the ways of the world system. We see our nation living on borrowed money rapidly expanding the national debt failing to see the failure of other nations that have done the same. Many are seeking and promoting things contrary to the word of God, approving of evil. They cannot see the forest for the trees. Where will this all end? If we do not learn from history, do you think we will not go the way of those who have failed?
Renewing the Heart 