lest ye corrupt yourselves

Deuteronomy 4:15-19

Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:  lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

burden of the Lord

Jeremiah ch. 23 is about false prophets.

Jer 23:1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord.

The phrase “burden of the Lord” is as if the Lord has put a divinely ordered task (or burden) on the person to relay a message from the Lord.  It is the same as saying “The Lord told me…” or “Thus saith the Lord…”

In Jer.23:32-40 the people, the prophets, or priests would go around using this phrase to lend “divine authority” to what they were saying.

Basically they would go around saying “The Lord told me … ” about anything and everything.

This debases, or lowers the value of God’s words and since it is assigning God’s authority to it, is a form of taking the Lord’s name in vain.

We should not attribute something as “the Lord told me” unless we are absolutely sure it is the Lord giving the utterance and it should never be despised or taken lightly (1 Thess 5:20).

If it is a message from the Lord, then it should not be confusing or contradictory to His written words.

Also, if it is a message from the Lord, it should be taken seriously, revered and obeyed — not treated lightly.

Jesus says:

Mt 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil

Jesus also tells us that we will give an account for every idle word…

Mt 12:36-37 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned