“He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 22:16 Mean?
God describes the good king Josiah's father, King Josiah (through Jeremiah's address to Josiah's son Jehoiakim): he judged the cause of the poor and needy, and things went well. Then God asks the penetrating question: "Was not this to know me?"
The equation is radical: judging the cause of the poor and needy IS knowing God. Not an expression of knowing God. Not a result of knowing God. It IS knowing God. The two are identical. To defend the vulnerable is to know the LORD.
This demolishes any version of faith that's purely internal — a private relationship with God that has no public expression in justice. God says: you want to know what knowing me looks like? It looks like someone defending the poor. If you're not doing that, whatever you call your relationship with me, it isn't knowledge.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Does the equation 'defending the poor = knowing God' challenge or confirm how you've understood your faith?
- 2.Where are the poor and needy in your life — and is your faith visible in how you treat them?
- 3.What's the difference between knowing about God and knowing God as this verse defines it?
- 4.If someone judged your 'knowledge of God' by your treatment of the vulnerable, what would they conclude?
Devotional
"Was not this to know me?" God asks. And the "this" isn't prayer. It isn't worship. It isn't theology. It's defending the poor and needy.
This verse is one of the most important definitions of faith in the entire Bible. God equates knowing Him with doing justice for the vulnerable. Not correlates — equates. The king who judged the cause of the poor knew God. Period. That was the evidence. That was the knowledge made visible.
If you've been treating your relationship with God as a private, internal, spiritual experience — something that lives in quiet time and worship services but doesn't show up in how you treat vulnerable people — God says you're missing the definition. Knowing Him isn't a feeling. It's a practice. And the practice looks like justice for the poor.
Jehoiakim, the son being addressed, did the opposite — he built lavish palaces with unpaid labor (verse 13). He knew the vocabulary of faith without the practice of it. He could invoke God's name without invoking God's justice. And God says: that isn't knowledge. That's performance.
The test isn't what you know about God. It's what you do for the poor. Those are the same test.
How do you know God? By defending the people no one else is defending. That's the definition. Not one definition among many. The definition.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy,.... Who could not defend themselves against the rich and the mighty; he took…
Kings, though they are gods to us, are men to God, and shall die like men; so it appears in these verses, where we have…
See introd. summary to section. It probably belongs to the early years of Jehoiakim, but see on Jer 22:18-19.
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture