24 To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, 25 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 “The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be the [k]overseer in the house of the Lord over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and in the iron collar, 27 now then, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who prophesies to you? 28 For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘The exile will be long; build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their [l]produce.’”’”
29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter [m]to Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, 31 “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie,” 32 therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his [n]descendants; he will not have anyone living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,” declares the Lord, “because he has [o]preached rebellion against the Lord.”’”
Here now we have a response from Shemaiah, shockingly bold for one who is in captivity in Babylon. He asks Zephanaiah, and all in Jerusalem, “Why haven’t you put this raving lunatic (Jeremiah) in the stocks?” Shemaiah was apparently not too keen on God’s message that they should settle in, build houses, etc. Zephaniah reads the letter to Jeremiah, and then God speaks judgment on Shemaiah and his house.
The implication in Shemaiah’s letter is that Zephanaiah was in charge, and he should use his authority however he liked. After all, plenty of priests before Zephaniah had done the same. Along with all the false prophets, they had quite a racket going on. Yet I think Zephanaiah recognized an important fact, which was that any authority he possessed was from God. And if Jeremiah was speaking for God, then who was he to stand in God’s way.
Whether Zephanaiah liked it or not, going against God was not going to end well, and I think he had the wisdom to see that. Time will tell I suppose, but in our own lives, there are going to be things we don’t like. Even things that God Himself does will be difficult pills for us to swallow.
We can choose either to change our course and follow His way, or we can “kick against the goads” like Saul did once upon a time. We’re more likely to get a broken toe for our efforts, but if we follow God, we know that He has our best interests at heart. God is working everything for the best, and for those who love Him, that’s beyond anything we could understand. It may not be easy right now, and it often isn’t, but long-term, it’s going to be out of this world, quite literally.