But Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped from Johanan and fled to the Ammonites. – Jeremiah 41:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 5, 2017) Jeremiah 41

Truth is relative. As Christians, we often argue against the idea, believing that there is and must be absolute truth. But, at best, that only applies to things that pertain to or are in the orbit of God. The reality is, no matter how much we might rail against it, that truth is relative. Pilate’s question at the trial of Jesus is actually a good one – “What is truth?” It is a question that we need to ask ourselves whenever we venture outside of the realm of God.

At least, these are the thoughts that go through my mind as I read about the story of Ishmael, son of Nethaniah. There is no doubt that Ishmael believed that he was serving his own version of truth. And yet he was also blind to his own hypocrisy. His anger was directed at Gedaliah because the prince had gone over to the Babylonians. In actuality, Gedaliah had only been following the command of Jeremiah as dictated by God. By the time that Gedaliah left Jerusalem, the city was already doomed, and Nebuchadnezzar was the chosen instrument by which God had decided to bring about the city’s demise. At this moment, fighting against the Babylonians was fighting against the dictates of God as spoken by Jeremiah. Gedaliah had accepted Jeremiah’s words and had followed Jeremiah’s version of the truth – and because this he had left the city with a group of his followers.

Apparently, this made Ishmael angry. In the eyes of Ishmael, Gedaliah should have stayed in the fight, even if the fight was lost. And this is where truth becomes relative. Gedaliah is wrong because he gives in to the Babylonians, but Ishmael also refuses to stand alone. Instead, he aligns himself the Ammonites who are all too willing to back Ishmael against Babylon with Judah caught in the middle. The problem with Ishmael’s decision is that the Ammonites had been just as much the enemies of Judah in the past as Babylon was now. Gedaliah is wrong, not because he gave in to the Babylonians, but because he chose Babylon over Ammon. And that is a relativistic decision on the part of Ishmael. Ammon was not as much of a threat to Judah as Babylon was, so in the eyes of Ishmael that made Ammon the right choice. But in killing Gedaliah, Ishmael was destroying the last chance of the remnant of Judah to live safely in the land that they had called their own.

Even Ishmael had to leave his home in Judah for the safety of Ammon. His relative truth left him no better than the exiles that had been carried off into Babylon. And Judah had become a poisoned well where no one could safely exist.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 42

Personal Note: Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter, Alyssa. Your Dad is proud of you.