John Bytheway: 00:01 Welcome to part two of Dr. S. Michael Wilcox. Jeremiah chapters 30 through 36 and the Book of Lamentations.

John Bytheway: 00:10 You mentioned Zedekiah. Could you tell our audience who Zedekiah is and why they’ve probably heard that name before?

Hank Smith: 00:17 Yeah, let’s make that Book of Mormon connection there.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 00:21 Okay. Yeah, Zedekiah. And then I’ll do another connection for you in the Book of Mormon. Zedekiah is a name we know. And number one, it’s fairly easy to pronounce in terms of kings of Judah. Because he’s the king when Lehi is prophesying. So the Book of Mormon begins in Jeremiah. So the world of Jeremiah is Lehi’s world; it’s Laman and Lemuel’s world; it’s Nephi and Sam’s world, and Sariah.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 00:47 Again, we go to the politics. Jeremiah wasn’t treated very well. If we just talk about his life, he’s put in the stocks. We already know that; you talked about that last time. In chapters 11 and 12 of Jeremiah, there’s a plot to assassinate him because, politically, he’s not giving the message the king and the court want to hear. Now, the king at the time is a man named Jehoiakim, with a K. He’s not too fond of Jeremiah, and in 11 and 12 there’s a plot against his life. And he goes to the Lord complaining about, and the Lord says, “Well, for heaven sakes, if you can’t handle this, let me tell you something even worse. Your own family’s plotting against you.” It’s hard for him. He’s accused of treason in chapter 37. He’s walking out of Jerusalem, because nobody’s listening to him, so he walks out of Jerusalem. They accuse him of treason and throw him in a dungeon. I do want to look at that. I don’t know if we want to do it now, when he’s in the dungeon.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 01:55 So Jehoiakim doesn’t listen to Jeremiah, and the Babylonians come the first time, and they kill Jehoiakim and throw his body out of the walls of Jerusalem. And they pick his son to be the new ruler, a puppet king. And the son’s name is Jehoiachin, C-H-I-N.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 02:18 And then the King of Babylon says, “Oh my gosh, I killed his father. Maybe he’ll rebel against me. Maybe that’s not a good idea. I better go back and put somebody else in charge.” And so they go back, and Jehoiachin, instead of fighting, doesn’t want his people… He’s a good man, doesn’t want his people to be destroyed. So he opens the gates of Jerusalem, lets the Babylonians in, and he’s taken into captivity with his mother.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 02:43 And now the Babylonians choose another member of the royal family named Zedekiah to be the ruler. So Zedek- he’s 21. He’s a young man. He is really a puppet of the Babylonians; he’s supposed to rule for them. He’s a weak person. He vacillates between Jeremiah’s words and the false prophets’ words. And I think we ought to do something about the false prophets here for just a second. He vacillates between the two of them.

John Bytheway: 03:17 Chapter 37, verse one. King Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, reigned instead of Jehoiachin.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 03:24 Yeah, you’ll see that. And this is in Josephus; it’s not in Jeremiah. Josephus makes a little plainer. If you read the story of Jeremiah in Josephus, and Zedekiah and Jehoikim, this whole period, Ezekiel is prophesying at the same time Jeremiah is in Babylon. He’s prophesying. He’s been taken captive; he’s a young man when he goes. And he prophesies that Zedekiah will never see Babylon. Jeremiah prophesies that Zedekiah will be taken captive into Babylon. He tells that to him face up. Sometimes Zedekiah secretly asks Jeremiah for counsel because he’s afraid of the other powers that be. Politics always does that. And Zedekiah goes to Jeremiah and says, “Well, tell me the truth.” And he says, “If you don’t submit to the Babylonians, they’re going to take you captive.” And Zedekiah says, “Well, don’t tell anybody else you told me that.” Zedekiah will save Jeremiah’s life.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 04:38 So we have two prophets: Ezekiel saying Zedekiah will never see Babylon, and Jeremiah saying he’ll be taken captive. And this confuses Zedekiah, and he says, “Well, you’re contradicting yourselves, so you can’t be true prophets.” And so he listens to the false advisors. Now how does that fulfill? Well, they put out his eyes.

Hank Smith: 05:01 So he can’t see Babylon.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 05:03 So he never sees Babylon. Ezekiel is correct. He is carried away captive into Babylon. Jeremiah is correct. See how that works? Maybe we could do something on these other counselors, because there’s a great message in Jeremiah about false prophets, and it’ll help us understand false prophets today. But let’s go to chapter 38 for a second.

Hank Smith: 05:31 And Mike, by the time Zedekiah’s eyes are put out, Lehi’s left.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 05:37 Lehi’s gone by that time. He has. Here’s Laman and Lemuel. Can you see the spirit of their times? “Prophets are wrong.” Nobody believed Jeremiah. So Laman and Lemuel are in the group that are not believers. They’re not believers. Lehi believes Jeremiah. Nephi believes Jeremiah. Now Nephi prefers Isaiah.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 06:03 So in chapter 38, Jeremiah’s prophesying that the city will be destroyed, the temple burned, and they’ll all be taken captive if they don’t submit to the Babylonians. Some have already been taken captive. Now that’s what you could say in a political world. You could accuse Jeremiah of treason, and that’s what they accuse him of. Verse four, chapter 38, the bottom part: “This man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.” Oh, how many times do people accuse prophets of that? “You’re not seeking our welfare, but our hurt.”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 06:47 But prophets are never thinking about themselves. They’re always focused on the people. Then Zedekiah king said, “Behold, he is in your hand, for the king is not he that can do anything against you.” I haven’t got any power. You’re going to do what you want anyway. They took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of these people, which was in the court of the prison. They let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sunk in the mire. Can you picture that? There is a spot in Caiaphas-

Hank Smith: 07:23 Caiaphas’s palace. Yeah.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 07:25 Palace where you can go down in the cistern and look up and see the hole, and you can visualize Jeremiah being lowered down the hole into the cistern. In Josephs’s account, it’s almost neck deep in mud and water. And they know he’s going to die there. And so now we have a little hero named Ebedmelek, an Ethiopian who goes to Zedekiah and pleads for him and says, “They’ve put him in the mire; he’s going to die there.” And the king gives Ebedmelek a little contingent of guards, and they lower, in verse 11, old cast clouts and rotten rags by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. And they say, “Put them under your arms, and we’ll pull you up,” because he’s weak. And then verse 13: “So they drew up Jeremiah with cords and took him up out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the Babylonians.”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 08:34 When the siege and Jerusalem falls and Jeremiah’s let out of the prison. He’s not down in the mud, he’s let out of the prison. And this is when the captain of the guard says, “Now what do you want to do?” Part of me says, “Oh my gosh, I’m tired of these people. Take me to Babylon. Life’s got to be better. Ezekiel’s over there, and Daniel’s over there.” But his call is here, with these people. So he stays, and he mourns with them, and he continues to counsel with them, even though they never believe him. But look at what they do to him. Look at how they treat him. The stocks, plots against his life, in the mud in the dungeon, accused of treason.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 09:18 There’s a point in Jeremiah’s life where he says, “Look, people, can you just do one thing right? God will save you if you’ll just follow one counsel. One thing. I’m going to pick one thing in the law of Moses for you to do.” And what is the one thing that they’re supposed to do? It’s in chapter 34. There was a law in the law of Moses where every seven years you released your servants. I hate to use the word slave, but all contracts, all debts, all servitude, ended. All apprenticeships, maybe we would say. Every seven years was called the year of release. And so in chapter 34, Jeremiah says, “Look, just do one thing right. Do one thing in the law of Moses: release the servants.” That’s chapter 34 of Jeremiah. “Follow that one thing. Can you just do that one thing?” And so they do. Verse nine of 34, “Every man should let his manservant and every man his maidservant, being a Hebrew or Hebrewess, go free, that none should serve himself of them, to whit, of a Jew, his brother.” Release the bondage. End slavery.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 10:36 Now they do. In verse 10, bottom, “Then they obeyed and let them go.” But then they have second thoughts. “But afterwards they turned and caused the servants and the handmaids whom they had let go free to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids again.” I can just see Jeremiah throwing up his hands and saying, “You can’t do even one thing! Give God some reason to still bless and be with you.” Samson kept his hair long, and notice in that story, God honors Samson. If God can find an excuse to honor us and bless us, he will.

Hank Smith: 11:18 He will.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 11:20 So, poor Jeremiah. He’s got all of this. There is another theme here, deals with false prophets. 28 is about a man named Hananiah. And prophets used to do visuals in those days, and so Jeremiah puts a yoke on his shoulders and walks around Jerusalem with a yoke, suggesting the Israelites are going to go into bondage. And some of them have already gone in. So now here comes Hananiah, chapter 28. And Hananiah says, “In a couple of years, all those who are in bondage are going to come out of bondage.” God said, verse four, “I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.” I like Jeremiah’s a little bit sarcastic in verse six. Hananiah prophesies, “Babylonians, don’t listen to Jeremiah; listen to me. These bad things aren’t going to happen.” Jeremiah says in verse six, “Amen.” Can you hear him say that?

Hank Smith: 12:26 Sure.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 12:26 Okay. “Amen. Sure. Love it. I hope you’re right. Amen. The Lord do so. The Lord perform my words, which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the Lord’s house and all that are carried away captive. Amen.” And then Hananiah, in his own display, breaks the yoke off Jeremiah visually. And Jeremiah comes back later, says, “Well, you can break a wooden yoke, but not an iron yoke, and the iron yoke is going to come.” That’s in verse 13.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 13:00 In chapter 29 verses eight and nine, he speaks of the prophets prophesying falsely. It’s all through Jeremiah. You’re going to see this conflict between the true prophet and the false prophets. Chapter 23 of Jeremiah, he talks quite a bit about people listening to the wrong voices. Verse 25 of Jeremiah 23, “I have heard what the prophet said. They prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed.’ How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? They are prophets of the deceit of their own heart.” They want God to say what they think. Verse 27, “which think to cause my people to forget my name.” That’s one of the things a false prophet does: tries to get us to forget God’s name. Verse 28, “What is the chaff to the wheat?” Sometimes we have to learn to distinguish, in the voices we listen to, what is truly wheat and what is chaff.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 14:16 Verse 30, “‘I am against the prophets,’ saith the Lord, ‘that steal my words, everyone from his neighbor.'” They’re taking the true words I want them to listen to, and stealing is a nice image. Verse 32, “‘I am against them that prophesy false dreams,’ saith the Lord, ‘and do tell them and cause my people to err by their lies and by their lightness,'” their disregarding of Jeremiah’s words. “‘I sent them not, nor commanded them. Therefore they shall not profit this people at all.'” We have to learn to listen.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 14:59 Now, the nice thing about Jeremiah in the idea of false prophets, and I just showed you a few spots, is that we have a tendency to think of false prophets in the context of religion. Much of Jeremiah’s message, it’s not a religious message. It is, but it’s politics. This is society. It’s a little different. And sometimes we talk about the prophecy is that in the latter days, that even the very elect might be deceived. Now, I don’t think the members of the church are going to be deceived by somebody claiming to speak for God, but they might be deceived by other kinds of… If we broaden prophets up to mean more than just religious people claiming to speak for God. Does that make sense?

John Bytheway: 15:52 Yeah. Who’s a thought leader in your mind? I think one of our guests said that. Hank. A thought leader. Who are you listening to these days?

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 16:00 Yeah. Now, into the Book of Mormon here. 1 Nephi 22, verse 23. He’s speaking of churches, but I want to use churches loosely. I think President Kimball said, “Whatever is more important to you than God is your God.” So let’s see what churches are mentioned that Nephi warns about in 1 Nephi 22:23. He says, “The time speedily shall come that all churches which are built up to get gain.” Church number one, the church of getting gain. And I’m not talking about that in terms of a religion; let’s broaden it. We’re pulling the idea of prophets. We’re putting them more in a Jeremiah world, where everything they’re counseling is not godly. In this case, it’s political. And I don’t mean to say it as a pawn, but there are prophets in the church of getting gain.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 17:01 “And all those who are built up to get power over the flesh.” The second church is the church of power over the flesh. Now that can be anybody from a political leader who’s dictatorially controlling people, or something like drugs or pornography.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 17:20 “Those who are built up to become popular in the eyes of the world.” That’s a very hard church for us to sometimes reject today. The church of popularity, of worldly popularity. And the church of worldly popularity has prophets who might steal, in Jeremiah’s words, “steal my words, everyone from his neighbor.” I just love the wording of false prophets in Jeremiah 23, which might cause his people to forget his name because what is being taught is not popular. The church of popularity.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 18:00 The fourth church, “Those who seek the lusts of the flesh.” The church of lust.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 18:08 And then finally the fifth church, “The things of the world.” If I look at that verse not in terms of religious people doing that, but I’m going to put it in Jeremiah’s world. There are voices, there are people that we probably… They themselves would not say they’re a prophet, that cause the Lord’s people to forget his name, that are giving people chaff instead of wheat, that are stealing God’s words, every man from his neighbor, that cause people to err, and that treat the things of God as lightness, and that will not profit the people. Those phrases in Jeremiah chapter 23.

John Bytheway: 18:54 I think Stephen Robinson talked about, when he did that whole thing on 1 Nephi 13 and 14, about an immense assembly of people. He used the Greek great and abominable church of the devil, disassociated evil of all kinds, not a church like a building with a steeple. So I like that. The church of get gain, the church of… What would you call it? Social, political correctness.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 19:20 Well false prophets, you will find them today in the media, in politics, activists, conspiracy theorists, celebrities, experts. Broaden the idea of that. We just have to watch a little bit that the Hananiahs aren’t coming and those phrases in Jeremiah 23 are not happening to us. There are good political leaders and activists, and there’s positive things, but we have to be just a little bit careful. That’s all.

Hank Smith: 20:02 I have a statement here from President Nelson. It’s from 2019, but it sounds like it could come straight out of Jeremiah. This is September of 2019. He says, “Sometimes we as leaders of the church are criticized for holding firm to the laws of God, defending the Savior’s doctrine, and resisting the social pressures of our day. But our commission as ordained apostles is to go into all the world to preach his gospel unto every creature. That means we are commanded to teach truth. In doing so, sometimes we are accused of being uncaring as we teach the father’s requirements for exaltation in the celestial kingdom. But wouldn’t it be far more uncaring for us to not tell the truth, not teach what God has revealed? It is precisely because we do care deeply about all of God’s children that we proclaim his truth. We may not always tell people what they want to hear. Prophets are rarely popular.” You can almost hear that coming straight out of Jeremiah.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 21:02 Yeah, well that’s a great statement that gives that impression. I like chapter 12, just as a thought, and then maybe should go to 31. And I think one of the one assigned in Jeremiah is when they cut up his words and burn it. One time he goes before Jehoiakim, and he doesn’t like what he’s hearing, and he says, “Burn his words.” Jeremiah just writes them again. I like just this little thought in chapter 12 of Jeremiah. Prophets don’t always have all the answers. Prophets themselves have questions. They wrestle just like we do. They’re doing the best they can. They question God. And so here he is. This is when he’s being told that his own family’s plotting to assassinate him. In chapter 12 verse one, “Righteous art thou, oh Lord, when I plead with thee. I know I’m pleading with a righteous judge, yet let me talk with thee of thy judgements. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? Thou hast planted them; yea, they have taken root, they grow, they bring forth fruit.” He just can’t understand why.

Hank Smith: 22:31 Why do the wicked prosper so much?

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 22:33 David asks that question. Habakkuk’s going to ask that question. Joseph Smith asked that question. Shakespeare asked that question. It’s just nice to know that even prophets don’t always feel they have all the answers. And the nice thing about the whole Old Testament is that they give us a God that you can talk to fairly flat out, casual, bluntly. “I know you’re righteous, God, but it looks pretty bad to us down here. Let me talk about your judgments a little bit.” It’s Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. The face of God that the Jews, that the Old Testament gives us is a God you can talk to, you can engage with. “Isn’t it bad enough, Lord, you gave me five daughters? Do you have to make my horse lame?” That’s Tevye in Fiddler on… He’s a very human God, and you sense that in the prophets, this ability to engage God in conversation when you don’t understand everything.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 23:34 Well, let’s talk about the hope of Jeremiah and the message that you really get in 31 and 32 and 33 of the return. They’re going to be taken captive, but this is a merciful God. We did talk about that earlier. All through Jeremiah, you’re going to see the gathering, the return. “I’m going to bring them back. I’m going to bring them back. I’m going to bring them back.” You see it dozens of places. You’ll certainly see it in the ones that, Come Follow Me, the chapters suggested that you really look at.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 24:13 And as all Old Testament prophets have multiple fulfillments, so does this one. So chapter 31, verse three. This is a very tender chapter. “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying, ‘Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.” It’s very powerful to really realize God loves us. Isaiah says that, “You are precious to me, and I have loved you.”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 24:48 There’s a beautiful story of Maya Angelo, who had a very hard, difficult life. And she was once asked by a friend of hers in a meeting to read a little paragraph that ended with, “God loves me.” And so she read it the first time, “God loves me.” And this man that she really admired said, “No, Maya, read it again. You didn’t read it.” And so she reads. And she reads it a number of times and tries to get the emphasis right. So she says, “GOD loves me.” And he says, “No, Maya, you’re not reading it.” And she says, “God LOVES me.” And he said, “Maya, read it.” And she’s almost in tears. And finally it hits her, and she says, “God loves ME. ME.” And he said, “That’s right, Maya. That’s right.” Changes her whole life.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 25:53 And so in a difficult world, a Jeremiah, an Old Testament world, it’s always important to know that, verse three, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love. With loving kindness have I drawn thee.” And then he talks about all the hope. “I’m going to gather you again.” You’ll notice in 31 that he’s talking about both Israel and Judah. Israel’s already gone. The Assyrians took them. In chapter 31, verses really 1 through 22, you’ll notice it’s Israel. That’s the northern kingdom. They’re already carried captive. And the emphasis is on Ephraim. So for instance, verse 20, again, notice the tenderness and the hope. 31:20, “‘Is Ephraim, my dear son, is he a pleasant child? For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him. I will surely have mercy upon him,’ saith the Lord.”

Hank Smith: 27:01 So Mike, Ephraim is the northern kingdom?

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 27:04 Yeah. Northern kingdom, yeah.

Hank Smith: 27:06 This was a hundred years ago, and the Lord is saying, “I haven’t forgotten.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 27:09 “I haven’t forgotten.” Yeah. Or sometimes we think he’s forgotten because it takes a while. Remember Jeremiah in Lamentations says, “You got to wait patiently.” In verse 23, he starts, “The land of Judah.” Can you see the emphasis on Judah in verse 23? Judah, verse 24. Verse 27, both of them, “the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” So this chapter, verse 31, “the House of Israel and the house of Judah.” So this chapter is hope for all of them. And what’s going to happen? “I’m going to bring them again.”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 27:48 And there are four ways that you can read chapter 31. There’s maybe five or six. But the idea of returning. So verse six, “There shall be a day that the watchman upon Mount Ephraim shall cry, “Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion under the Lord our God.'” Verse eight, “I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame and the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together. A great company shall return thither.” “I will cause them,” verse nine, “to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way. I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my first born.”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 28:38 Verse 13, that beautiful verse, “‘Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance and the young men and the old together. They’ll dance, and I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will satiate the soul,” a beautiful verb, “satiate the soul of the priests with fatness. And my people shall be satisfied with my goodness,’ saith the Lord.”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 29:08 You’re going to get that all through Jeremiah. The return, the hope. “I’m going to bring them all back.” Both Israel and Judah. One of the ways we interpret that is they do come back. Number one, they return from Babylonian captivity when the Persians conquer Babylon. I can read these and say that’s when they were fulfilled. I can read it in an immediate redeem.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 29:32 The second way I can read it is long term. I can read it in actual, since Jeremiah such a political book, the actual establishment of the modern state of Israel. Now if I go to verse six, “There shall be a day that the watchman upon the mount shall cry, ‘Arise ye. Let us go up to Zion.'” And I’ll tell you there, verse 21, “Set thee up waymarks. Make thee high heat. Set thine heart toward the highway. Even the way which though wentest, turn again, oh virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.” Now that’s in a very literal way going to be fulfilled with the return of the Jewish people.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 30:25 And we really don’t have time to do much about the story of Theodor Herzl. But if I were to say, you want an example of a watchman saying, “Arise and go to Zion, and set your heart to the highway,” it’s a Hungarian Jew in the late 1800s named Theodor Herzl. He’s the father of the modern state of Israel. He will eventually move to Vienna, and he will, at a time when anti-Semitism is born in Europe, where they’re not against them because of their religion, they’re against them because their ethnicity. Antisemitism isn’t, “I don’t like your religion;” it’s “I don’t like you because of your race, your ethnic qualities.” And it’s growing all over Europe.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 31:13 And at this time in Europe, late 1800s, it’s a time when most Jews believe in assimilation. Just be good Germans, good French, good Hungarians. This is post-Enlightenment. The answer to what was called the Jewish problem is, “Be good citizens and good religious people.” And especially in Western Europe, they really believe in assimilation. In Eastern Europe, they believe in, “The Messiah will lead us back.” And nobody’s really thinking about establishing a political solution to the Jewish question. And Theodor Herzl sees the rise of antisemitism in the mayor of Vienna, who’s a populist leader. Populist leaders like the rally, and they like to turn people against each other. And he sees that pogroms are starting in Russia. Wagner writes a little tract about the bad influence of Jewish thinking on music. There’s just a lot of things going on in Europe.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 32:22 And Theodor Herzl says, “The only solution to the Jewish question is an establishment of a modern state of Israel.” And he writes a little pamphlet called Der Judenstaat, The Jewish State, which becomes the Bible of what’s called Zionism. And almost singlehandedly… It’s a wonderful story. Again, I don’t have time to go into it. But when I read, “The watchman will cry, ‘Arise, go up to Zion and set your heart on the highway,'” it’s hard for me not to think of Theodor Herzl, who will say to the Jewish people of Europe, “Not only is it desirable to establish a Jewish state, but it is practical, and it’s going to happen. And the Jews who will it, will have their own state.”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 33:16 Now, I know all this is a controversial thing. We got problems in the Middle East. But Theodor Herzl, in a second fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy, will be the single voice that really he’s called the father of the modern state of Israel. He will talk to the kaiser, the sultan of Turkey. He will offer to pay all the Turkish debts if Turkey, which is controlling Palestine in the late 1800s, early 1900s, will give the Jews place in Palestine for a state. And he will raise the idea that the solution to Jewish persecution in Europe and Russia is a political solution. He will bring it to the attention of the world. And in a Congress… I’ll just do this and then I’ll go on to the next one.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 34:09 He’ll have the first Jewish Congress pushing for the European powers, Middle Eastern powers, to establish a land in Palestine for a homeland for the Jews. 1897, the first Jewish Congress is in Basel, Switzerland. When it’s done, he says this: “Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in a word, which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly, it would be this. At Basel, I founded the Jewish state. If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. Perhaps in five years, certainly in 50, everyone will know it. The Jewish people who will it, will have their state.” You and I who go to Israel a lot and love Israel and the Jewish people, the Palestinians also, the Muslims. I feel very sad about that. That was 1897. What year was Palestine by the United Nations partitioned? 1947, exactly 50 years from the Basel Conference, and the state of Israel will be announced by David Ben-Gurion in May of 1948.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 35:35 It’s hard for me not to read Jeremiah and say a second fulfillment of his prophecies. “There will be watchmen who will cry, ‘Rise up. Let us go to Zion. Set your heart on the highways.'” I can read those and think of many people, but certainly Theodor Herzl who writes the little book The Jewish State and makes the possibility of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine a political reality, and calls it to the attention of the world, and his faith in it. He is the prophet of Zionism.

Hank Smith: 36:24 It’s time to go home.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 36:26 Yeah, it’s time to go home. And they go.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 36:27 Now I can read these prophecies a third way. I can read them in the terms of Latter-day Saint that the church today is fulfilling their own gathering of Israel. So I can look, for instance, in verse 31, start there. Now I’m thinking of me. I’m thinking of Joseph Smith. I’m thinking of the restoration. I’m not thinking of Theodor Herzl and the state of Israel. I’m not thinking of Nehemiah and Ezra coming back. I’m thinking of Joseph and Brigham and you and I. “‘Behold the day’s come,’ saith the Lord, ‘that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant they break, although I was a husband unto them. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.'”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 37:28 We have patriarchal blessings to tell us we’re being attached. We need to look at Old Testament prophecies as though they are written of us. “‘I will make the house of… after those days,’ saith the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their inward parts.'” I will put in the heart of Michael Wilcox my law. It’ll be in his heart, “and I’ll write it in their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people, and they shall teach no more every man is neighbor and every man is brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” From the primary child to the president of the church. Everybody will know him.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 38:25 “I will forgive their iniquity. I will remember their sin no more.” We can spend a whole time talking about that beautiful promise of Jeremiah. “I will remember their sin no more.” Joseph Smith’s going to put that in the Doctrine and Covenants. We worship not only a forgiving God, we worship a forgetting God.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 38:47 And so I can read those verses and say, “He’s talking about me and my life and my time.” And if I’m Jewish, I can read it, “He’s talking about Herzl and 1947 and my time.” And if I’m Ezra and Nehemiah, I can say, “He’s talking about 70 years after the Babylonian captivity.” And all through Jeremiah, and we want to read all the Old Testament prophets in those multiple levels of reading them.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 39:18 And now if I can maybe just conclude, be a little bit personal. It’s sad you only get five times in Isaiah. Poor Jeremiah. Nobody listened to him in his day, and unfortunately nobody listens to him today. It’s sad. Isaiah still gets the flags and the attention, and poor Jeremiah. I can hear the Lord say in that assignment time, “You’ll get a book in the Old Testament, but not many people are going to read it.”

Hank Smith: 39:51 “It’s right next to Isaiah.” Yeah.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 39:54 “It’s right next to Isaiah. You’re going to be in a tough neighborhood to compete with.” But I use this as an illustration. Hopefully it may be of comfort to people, but also as a way of saying you never know where God or the Holy Ghost is going to find the verse you need in your life at critical points. And that is one of the reasons we want to be familiar, as much as we can, with all of them. Because the verse you need may be in Habakkuk. It may not be in Alma. It may not be in section 88. The verse you need for your life may be in Lamentations. It might be where it is. And so that’s why I want to make sure I’m familiar with all of them.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 40:55 So let me just share this personal situation. I think most people know my wife passed away 12 years ago of cancer, and that really changed my life. I have learned there is a love we call longing. And that’s a good love to feel. There is a love in marriage we call appreciation, and there’s a love we call affection, and there’s a love between husband and wife we call passion. And there’s empathy, and there’s forgiveness, and all those we can share when they’re alive. But when they’re gone, the only love, other than memory of those that I have, is longing. I long for her. And longing is a good thing. The only thing I want God to give me when I die is Laurie. That’s all I want. Now, I want my family there. For me, celestial glory is a relationship. It’s not a place. It’s not radiating light from my soul. It’s a being. It’s a relationship.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 42:13 Now, Laurie and I loved the story of Jacob and Rachel. I used to call Laurie my Rachel. Jacob worked seven years for her. And there’s a verse that says they seemed but a few days for the love he had to her. That beats Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare in terms of power. They seemed but a few days. I can read that two ways. One, the time went quickly that he was waiting for her to marry her. Or I can read it, wow, you only had to work seven years for Rachel? You got a bargain. Because he’s working for her.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 42:53 And when Laurie died, I told the Lord, I said, “Father in Heaven, I will give you the whole rest of my life. Whatever labor, whatever value, whatever I can I offer you. I will be your Jacob, he’ll be my Laban, and I will do what I can in your kingdom in every way. I just want, when I die, for Laurie to be there, and for her to say yes again.” Most important word I ever heard in my life was at an altar in the Alberta Temple when she simply said yes. I just want to hear her say yes again. That’s that’s all I want. When Laurie died a few months later, and I have this intense longing for her, I just want her. If I can’t have Laurie, it doesn’t matter where God puts me; I’ll be in hell. Doesn’t matter.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 43:59 I wanted what I call fleeces. Maybe you talked about that when you did Gideon. He just wants to wring the water out of the fleece because he just wants to know what he believes is going to happen. I just wanted reassurance she’s still mine, that there is a Laurie and she’s still my Laurie. I just want that. I’m like the man that said to Jesus, “I believe. Help thou mine unbelief.” Because I just want to know.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 44:26 And I was going to Israel. She died in December, and I was going to Israel in March. And the spirit just kept saying, “Go to Rachel’s tomb. Go to Rachel’s tomb.” Now, I’ve been to Israel 50 times. I had never been to Rachel’s tomb. I love the story, but we always go to Bethlehem. There’s just never time to go to Rachel’s tomb. It’s a cenotaph; we don’t know that she’s there anyway. I’d never been to Rachel’s tomb. But I’d get this strong burning in me, “Go to Rachel’s tomb.” So when I got into Bethlehem, I had a guide, a good friend of mine, and some Palestinian friends that are there in Bethlehem. And I said, “I need to go to Rachel’s tomb.” They had a private car; they took me while the group was doing other things. And I went off alone with my guide and the driver.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 45:20 Now, Rachel’s tomb is right by the security wall in Israel now; they built a big security wall. Jews want to visit. It’s so close to the border, it’s a dangerous place to go sometimes, so it’s enshrined in concrete. And when I got there, I went into… It’s a cenotaph. The tomb is there. There was a lot of Orthodox Jews praying. And there’s a big, beautiful black velvet cover over it that had Hebrew letters written on it. I don’t read Hebrew; I don’t know what the words are on the tomb.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 45:59 I went in there. I felt nothing. I reread the Genesis story of Jacob and Rachel. I kept waiting. I’m waiting for Laurie to appear and say, “Mike, I’m still yours, and I love you.” I don’t know why God is pushing me, “Go to Rachel’s tomb. Go to Rachel’s tomb.” And nothing’s happening. Nothing’s happening in Rachel’s tomb. I’m there for an hour. I’m waiting. I’m reading. I’m pondering. Nothing’s happening.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 46:30 So I gave up. I left Rachel’s tomb. I walked out where my guide in the car was waiting, and I looked over on the side. And there, next to the wall with all this concrete, the last place in the world you feel you’re going to have a spiritual moment, because it’s a contentious area, there’s a little tiny garden. Teeny, small little spot where some flowers are planted. So I naturally looked at it. I went over there, and there on the wall above the flowers was a scripture from the book of Jeremiah, the 31st chapter verses 15 through 17. And it just happens to be in English as well as Hebrew. It just happens to be in English. And I stood there and I read these words. Now, remember the state that I’m in and what I’m hoping for.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 47:32 “Thus saith the Lord. A voice was heard in Ramah.” Ramah is nearby. “Lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel weeping for her children, refuse to be comforted, for her children because they were not. Thus saith the Lord, ‘Refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded,’ saith the Lord. ‘And they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end,’ saith the Lord, ‘that thy children shall come again to their own border.'”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 48:27 Now, those are beautiful words. They’re beautiful words for the Jewish people. That’s why they put them there. Rachel weeping as the children of Israel leave Jerusalem, going into Babylonian captivity. And Jeremiah’s quoting the Lord here. Most of chapter 31 is God’s voice saying, “Don’t weep. I know you’re weeping as you go into captivity, but I’m going to bring you back.”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 48:57 But that’s not how I’m reading it. I’m reading it that the Lord is saying, “Mike, I hear your lamentation. I hear your bitter weeping. You refuse to be comforted because your wife is not here. Refrain from weeping and your eyes from tears. I know what you’ve offered me, and your work will be rewarded, and she will come again. And there is hope in your end.” As I stood there crying, crying, the guide came over to me. He saw I was moved what I was reading, and he said, “Mike, those are the words on Rachel’s tomb you saw in Hebrew.” Those are the words on Rachel’s tomb. Now, who knew that? My father in heaven knew it. Maybe Laurie knew it. I didn’t know it. The last place I probably would’ve gone to for comfort, but God knew where the verse I needed was.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 50:24 And I believe that’s true of all things. He knows where the verses are we need, and if we’ll be as familiar as we can, he can direct us in his own way. And then the words of verse 13 will be true for all of us, whatever we face. “I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And my people shall be satisfied with my goodness.”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 51:02 How can I not be satisfied with the Lord’s goodness? With the very next verses that he gives as proof in my life personally of his goodness are the words I need, that I think of all the time when I get nervous that she’s not there and she won’t be mine? I hear the Lord say, “Don’t weep, Mike. Your work will be rewarded. There’s hope in your end.” Every time I hear Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I think of my dream. Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue. Somewhere over the rainbow, Laurie is. And the dream that I dare to dream really will come true, and I’ll be with her again.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 52:03 So I love Jeremiah for that purpose. So a lot of wonderful things in Jeremiah, but those verses are the ones that mean the most to me. And you probably didn’t know, Hank, that Jeremiah 31 meant so much to me. Being able to share Jeremiah with you and with the people has been an honor and a privilege. There’s a lot of wonderful things in Jeremiah.

Hank Smith: 52:30 Well, we loved having you, and I think you captured Jeremiah perfectly. John, don’t you think?

John Bytheway: 52:37 Yeah, I can’t imagine it Michael. Just hearing that story, I think I’m more in love with my wife right now. I can’t imagine it, what you’ve been through. But what a personal message for you right there. That was beautiful.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 52:56 God is good. If I can end with one last Jeremiah, maybe this is a good one to end with. It’s chapter 29. It’s again that hope. Verse 11. Again, I make it very personal. Jeremiah 29:11 through 14-15. “‘I know the thoughts that I think towards you,’ saith the Lord. ‘Thoughts of peace and not of evil. To give you an expected end.'”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 53:31 Again, you imagine how I feel when I read that. “I know the thoughts I think towards you, Michael, or whoever you are out there. I know the thoughts I think towards you. Thoughts of peace. I want you to have peace. Not of evil. To give you the end you want, to give you the expected end. Then shall you call upon me when you really know what kind of a God I am. Then shall you call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you,’ saith the Lord, ‘and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whither I have driven you. And I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.'”

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 54:35 Again, the multiple meanings of that verse that I can read in terms of 70 years hence, establishment of the state of Israel, the restoration on the gathering, or me personally. But for me personally, verses 11 through 13 are very powerful. “I know the thoughts I think towards you, and they’re thoughts of peace. And I’m going to give you your expected end. You call on me and pray, and I’ll listen. And you’ll find me when you search for me with all your heart. No matter wherever you are. House of Israel, wherever you are. In Denver or Frankfurt or Taipei or Rio de Janeiro, wherever you are. If you look for me, you’re going to find me. My thoughts of you are thoughts of peace. And I’ll give you what you want in the end.” Because most of us don’t want improper things. Most of us want what things will truly make us happy. God will give them to us if we’ll wait patiently, as Jeremiah said. Just wait patiently.

Hank Smith: 55:49 And it will seem but a few days.

Dr. S. Michael Wilcox: 55:52 Yeah, time does go faster. I long for her. I do.

Hank Smith: 55:57 Thank you for being with us today. We want to thank Dr. Mike Wilcox for being with us today. We want to thank our executive producers, Steve and Shannon Sorensen, our sponsors, David and Verla Sorensen. And we hope you’ll join us next week on another episode of FollowHIM.

John Bytheway: 56:17 We have an amazing production crew we want you to know about. David Perry, Lisa Spice, Jamie Nielsen, Will Stoughton, Krystal Roberts, and Ariel Cuadra. Thank you to our amazing production team.