King Zedekiah of Judah was depending on Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt to defeat Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent one of his officials, Pashhur, and the priest, Zephaniah, to the prophet, Jeremiah, to ask him to foretell what the outcome of the Zedekiah's rebellion against Babylon would be.
King Zedekiah was hopeful that the Lord would perform wonderful works for Judah as He had done in the days of Hezekiah (see 2 Kings 18-19) and Jehoshaphat (see 2 Chronicles 20).
The phrase, "the way of life and the way of death," may be intended to call to mind Moses's challenge to the Israelites when they renewed the covenant with God before entering the promised land: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him" (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).
But Jeremiah puts a different spin on it! Jeremiah's challenge results in the opposite consequences from Moses's challenge.
In Moses's challenge to the Israelites the choice for life was conquering the promised land in the name of the Lord. In Jeremiah's challenge to the Israelites the choice for life was surrendering the promised land.
In both cases their obedience to God would lead to keeping their lives. But in the second case, their obedience might lead to staying alive, but it would also lead to the loss of all of God's covenant promises to them regarding possession of the promised land because their sinfulness had become so great.
What a choice! They would save their lives but lose everything they had worked so hard to possess!
Since Nebuchadnezzer eventually attacked Jerusalem and they refused to surrender and were led into exile, I suppose it's somewhat an exercise in futility to speculate what would be had the Israelites chosen the way of life. But they were already so disobedient to God, that is was difficult, if not impossible, for them to discern what was the truth.
But the point is that all of us, all human beings, are confronted with choosing the way of life (obedience to God) or the way of death (disobedience to God).
No matter the consequence of your choice, God would always have us choose the way of life, the way of obedience to Him. To God's will!
When you choose the way of life, then you choose God's will. And what matters is not so much the consequences of your choice but your obedience and submission to God's will.
After all, God's will means God will!
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