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(1) The Word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the matter of droughts. (2) "Judah mourns, and its gates languish. Her people are mourning on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up. (3) And their nobles have sent their little ones for the water; they came to the cisterns, and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. (4) Because the ground was cracked, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed; they covered their heads. (5) Yea, the doe also calved in the field and forsook it because there was no grass. (6) And the wild donkeys stood in the high places; they panted for air like jackals; their eyes failed because there was no grass." (7) O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, act for Your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You. (8) O the Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of trouble, why should You be as a stranger in the land, and as a traveler turning in to lodge for a night? (9) Why should You be as a man confused, as one mighty, but who cannot save? Yet You, O LORD, are in our midst, and we are called by Your name. Do not leave us! (10) Thus says the LORD to this people; "Even so they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins." (11) Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for this people for good. (12) When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and a grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague." (13) Then I said, "Ah, O Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets are saying to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine; but I will give you true peace in this place.' ” (14) And the LORD said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I did not send them, nor have I commanded them, nor did I speak to them. They prophesy to you a false vision and a worthless divination, and a thing of no value, and the deceit of their heart. (15) Therefore the LORD says this concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, and I did not send them, yet they say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land'—'By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. (16) And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, neither them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour their own wickedness upon them.'
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Notice what is happening. The land is suffering from a drought. Did the people connect drought with obedience to the message of a false minister? Probably not.
The spirit that was speaking to them was not divine, but it was supernatural. The people submitted to it because they did not put the prophet to the test to see whether or not his teaching was in harmony with what had already been revealed through God's messenger, Moses.
God blames the plight of the nation (the drought mentioned in verses 1-6) on the false prophets to whom the people listened (verses 13-16). What did the prophets do? They lulled the people into complacency, which led them to believe that all was well when it was not. They preached to them smooth things because the people had itching ears. They liked the things that were taught to them, but it was not the Word of God. God says they preached lies in His name. If one listens to them, then it is the same thing as the blind leading the blind and both falling in the ditch.
The land was in drought. How many carnal people would connect a drought with obedience to a false minister? Not very many because they would be thinking carnally and say, "It's just part of the cycle of things. It happens every so many years." They are not thinking that there might be a spiritual cause for it: that God is concerned about the well being of His people, and that He had brought the drought to make them think about why it is happening. The cause for concern is spiritual in nature.
Would any modern U.S. President or presidential candidate make an appeal to American citizens that the cause of our problems are spiritual in nature? If a national figure today said before a group of people that the reason we are having troubles in the United States is that we need to repent and get back to our God, they would be laughed into shame and contempt. The reason we are seeing the immorality in the United States is the effect of listening to false ministers!
— John W. Ritenbaugh