Jeremiah, the prophet, was from a small town named Anathoth. This town was about two miles northeast of Jerusalem. It was a city of priests. Anathoth means “answer.” The word was used many times in regular speech to indicate the answers to prayer.
When Jeremiah prophesied to the kingdom of Judah, no one wanted to listen. Many simply ignored what he had to say, and some wanted to kill him. They did not want him preaching to them at all. The people of Anathoth were among these people.
In Jeremiah 11:21-23, we read about these terrible people. They told Jeremiah, “Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that thou die not by our hand.” They continually threatened him with death if he told them what God wanted them to do.
This is so sad. Not only were the men priests, but they lived in the city that gave the picture of answers from God. The priests were the ones who were supposed to remind the people of the laws of God. They were supposed to lead the people in proper worship so that God would answer their prayers with blessings. The High Priest was the one who had the Urim and Thummim, through which God answered specific questions.
There were signs that God was bringing punishment upon Judah. The people were going to their false gods for answers to their problems instead of going to God. God was going to answer them anyway. However, the answer was going to be destruction because of their wickedness.
There are many people that do the same thing today. They have all kinds of problems in their lives. Yet, instead of going to God, they attempt to get answers from anyone who will say something to them. They go to false teachers for guidance. They go to false books. They go to false philosophies.
Do not be like the people of Anathoth. Get your answers from God. Study your Bible. Learn all you can from it. Obey God. If any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
