Conspiracy Against Jeremiah

Overview

• Testament: Old
• Book: Jeremiah
• Chapters: 11:18–23 (also 18:18)
• Summary: The men of Anathoth, Jeremiah’s own townsmen, plot to kill him to silence his prophesying, but the LORD reveals the plot and pronounces judgment upon them.

Details

Jeremiah confesses that he had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter, not knowing that his neighbors had devised devices against him. The LORD opened his eyes to the scheme: the men of Anathoth, of the priestly town where the prophet himself was born, sought his life, saying, “Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand.” That his own kinsmen and townsmen turned against him made the betrayal especially bitter. Jeremiah appealed to the LORD, the righteous judge who tries the reins and the heart, asking to see God’s vengeance on them. The LORD answered with a sentence against the men of Anathoth: their young men would die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine, and no remnant would be left, for he would bring evil upon them in the year of their visitation. A parallel scheme appears in Jeremiah 18:18, where opponents plot to smite him with the tongue and ignore his words.

Key People Involved

• Jeremiah — The prophet targeted for death
• The men of Anathoth — His townsmen who conspired against him

Key Places

• Anathoth — Jeremiah’s hometown and the home of the conspirators

Important Verses

• Jeremiah 11:19 — “I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter.”
• Jeremiah 11:21 — “Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand.”

Cross-References

• Related events: Abiathar Exiled to Anathoth
• Foreshadowed: A type of Christ, the prophet rejected by his own (John 1:11)

Notes

The lamb led to the slaughter who knew it not foreshadows the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, fulfilled in Jesus, betrayed by those near to him.