In Jeremiah, chapter fifteen, verses one to nine, God responds to Jeremiah’s intercession in chapter fourteen, verses nineteen through twenty-two. Because the people had rejected God and kept on backsliding, the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile to Babylon were inevitable. God said He would ignore even the intercession of Moses and Samuel if they stood before Him on behalf of the people.
This is Jeremiah in verse one of the theme, “Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.” Moses and Samuel were two great intercessors who, in times past, had pleaded with God on behalf of the children of Israel, as in Exodus thirty-two, verse eleven to fourteen, verses thirty to thirty-two, Numbers fourteen, verses thirteen to twenty, Deuteronomy nine, verses thirteen through twenty-nine, First Samuel seven, verses to nine, and First Samuel twelve, verses nineteen through twenty-five, respectively.
Then in verse four of this theme, “And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, King of Judah, for that which he did to Jerusalem.” Manasseh was Judah’s most evil king, the one who had led the people into great apostasy, as in Second Kings twenty-one, verses ten to fifteen, First Kings twenty-three, verse twenty-six, and First Kings twenty-four, verse three, respectively. He was now dead, but the effects of his sins remained; judgment would come because of the people’s willingness to persist in unfaithfulness and rebellion inspired by Manasseh.
Today, the kind of company believers associate with can impact our relationship with the Lord. If the godly stand for God, we must understand that we can’t just associate with everybody.