And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.
When Jeremiah got to the Benjamin Gate, there was this guard captain named Irijah (son of Shelemiah, grandson of Hananiah) who grabbed him and accused him: 'You're deserting to the enemy! You're going over to the Babylonians!'
Sometimes doing what's right gets you accused of being a traitor.
📚 Historical Context
During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in the 6th century BC, under King Zedekiah's rule, the prophet Jeremiah was facing intense opposition for his messages urging surrender to the Babylonians as God's judgment. As Jeremiah tried to leave the city through the Benjamin Gate, he was falsely accused of defecting to the enemy by a guard named Irijah. This incident reflects the broader conflict between Jeremiah's loyalty to God's word and the nationalistic fears of Judah's leaders.
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