Prayer without obedience.
Though Zedekiah will give no heed to the message from God to him through Jeremiah, he is not the less anxious to secure the prophet's intercession with God for deliverance from approaching calamity. The king illustrates the too common case of those people who will fly to the protection of religion in trouble, though they neglect all its obligations of holiness and of service.
I. RELIGION REQUIRES OBEDIENCE GOD'S WILL. It is not all on one side, God speaks to us, and speaks words of command as well as words of consolation. It is, therefore, our duty to hear and obey.
1. Ignorance is no excuse, if we wilfully refuse to hear the truth. Zedekiah and his servants did not obey because they did not" hearken," i.e. would not hearken. We are not responsible for failing through not knowing our duty if we could not know it. But if we could, it was our duty to ascertain it. The soldier who puts aside the despatch of his commander unopened, and then acts contrary to the orders contained in it is, of course, as guilty as if he did so knowingly; for it was his duty to read the orders he received before going into action.
2. The example of those who have done wrong before is no excuse. Zedekiah followed the example of Jehoiakim. But he knew it was wrong. He had seen the miserable end of his predecessor's reign. He should have taken warning from this. But men are more inclined to imitate the crimes of the wicked than to learn the lesson of their fate.
3. High position does not mitigate guilt, but, on the contrary, it aggravates it. Zedekiah led the people with him in his rejection of God's message through Jeremiah. He knew what influence he exerted, and he ought to have been the more careful that it was not wrongly used.
II. PRAYER WITHOUT OBEDIENCE IS VAIN. Zedekiah seeks Jeremiah's prayers, but in vain. It is not necessary, indeed, that our obedience should be faultless before God will hearken to a single prayer. If this were the ease, no prayer of man's could be heard. But it is requisite that we should repent of our past disobedience, and should be unfeignedly desirous of obeying God in the future. For otherwise our purely self-seeking religion is an insult to God. Besides, we cannot hope to change the essential principles of God's action by our prayer. If it is his will to chastise us for our sin, he cannot change his will so long as we remain unchanged in conduct. But when we turn from the sin which deserves the penalty, it may be possible for God to modify his treatment of us in answer to our prayer of submission. Therefore it is so necessary that we should pray through the intercession of Christ. Then, though our obedience is still most imperfect, if we desire to do better, Christ is our Representative and the promise of our future obedience, and therefore his good merits go to plead with God to answer our prayer offered in his Name.