Competing with cedar

In Jeremiah 22:15, God asks the king of Judah (Jehoiakim, it seems) an interesting question: "Are you king because you can compete with cedar?" To back up a bit, the king is getting railed on by Yahweh for financing the construction of his impressive building projects on the backs of the poor. In the southern Levant, the Lebanon Cedar tree was a prized building material, and it wasn't cheap. And so God asks Jehoiakim if his ability to obtain cedar is what makes him the king. Is that what it is to be the king of God's people? To have the most expensive stuff?

Then he goes on to point out to Jehoiakim that his father, Josiah, certainly enjoyed his life (literally "ate and drank"--i.e., he wasn't lacking) but yet he didn't find it necessary to oppress the poor and needy in the land in order to do so. Instead, he obeyed Yahweh and was the defender of the poor, the overlooked, the powerless. And things, God reminds Jehoiakim, "went well for him." He concludes by saying, "He [Josiah] pleaded the case of the needy and poor, and then it was well! Isn't that what it means to know me?"

I'd like to repeat that last line: "He [Josiah] pleaded the case of the needy and poor, and then it was well! Isn't that what it means to know me?"

God essentially says to Jehoiakim: "Your dad had a very comfortable life. He was definitely blessed. But, unlike you, he didn't find it necessary to exploit the powerless in order to secure his comfort and wealth. Rather, he obeyed me. He did what I told him a king should do: he defended the weak and the powerless. And so I blessed him. And isn't that what it is to have a relationship with me?"

This is just one of the many, many passages in the Bible that make it clear that knowing/loving God means to obey him (cf. John 14-15). And God, through his prophet Jeremiah here, points out that it is not a complicated thing. God is not demanding the impossible from his followers. He just expects obedience and loyalty. But apparently Jehoiakim didn't get it. Apparently he didn't take after his father in this regard. Instead, he worked hard on the backs of the poor to secure his wealth and comfort, to secure his status and social standing. He wasn't content with what God gave him, and he wasn't interested in listening to God's commands.

Of course, things would go badly for Jehoiakim--in contrast to things going well for his father, Josiah. And his story makes me wonder how much we can be like him. We have this preternatural need to want more. More stuff. More power. More authority. More money. More influence. More respect. Instead of simply obeying God, making the right decisions and treating people in the right way, we spend most of our mental energy (and sometimes physical energy) on figuring out how we can acquire more of whatever it is we think we so desperately need.

Well this week my hope is that I learn from the comparison of Josiah to his son Jehoiakim. And that when I find myself (each day) conniving a way to get more of whatever it is I think I lack, that this contrast would remind me that my purpose is actually very simple: I simply need to be obedient to God. And that God will take care of me, and what he provides for me is exactly what is best.