Jeremiah

Introduction

Jeremiah, often called the “weeping prophet” because of his sorrow over the persistent message of God’s judgment, prophesied to the nation of Judah from the reign of King Josiah in 627 b.c. until sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586. He dictated his prophecies to a scribe named Baruch (36:4, 32). Jeremiah’s task as a prophet was to declare the coming judgment of God. However, throughout the book we also see God’s concern for repentance and righteousness in individuals as well as nations. This dual focus is seen in God’s instructions to Jeremiah: he was “to pluck up and to break down” but also “to build and to plant” (1:10). Jeremiah sees a future day when God will write his law on human hearts, and “they shall all know me,” and “I will remember their sin no more” (31:33–34).

1. Personal Circumstances

Besides the author of this prophetic book, seven other men in the Bible wear the name Jeremiah. The name means Yahweh appoints or establishes. Verse 1 of the book gives the basic personal information about this prophet.

Jeremiah was a priest before he was a prophet. His father, Hilkiah, may have been the famous high priest who played such a significant role in the reformation of 621 b.c. (cf. 2 Chr 34:9).

As a boy, no doubt Jeremiah would have accompanied his father to the Temple from time to time. He would have learned by observation the vocation which he anticipated entering when he reached the age of thirty.

Jeremiah grew up in the priestly village of Anathoth, about three miles north of Jerusalem. This village was part of the tribal area of Benjamin. Perhaps a childhood in this rural area accounts for the numerous agricultural metaphors which Jeremiah used during his ministry.^[1]

1. Political Backdrop

Three kings are named in the first verse of the book during whose reigns Jeremiah ministered. Two other kings, who reigned but a year between them, are omitted.

1. Reign of Josiah (640–609 b.c.). Jeremiah was called to the prophetic ministry in the thirteenth year of King Josiah, i.e., 627 b.c. Josiah was a godly man from his youth. Some conjecture that he was tutored by the prophet Zephaniah during his boyhood. He certainly did not learn godliness from his father Amon who did evil in the eyes of the Lord (2 Chr 33:22). When Josiah began to rule, Judah was a vassal state within the great Assyrian Empire. This vassalage required the Jews to venerate Assyrian deities. So idolatry was prevalent in Judah during this period.

In his eighth year of reign, when he was but sixteen years old, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David (2 Chr 34:3). In his twelfth year at the age of twenty the king began to purge Jerusalem of all the paraphernalia of idolatry. His campaign extended to the territory once occupied by the ten northern tribes, territory which had been incorporated into the Assyrian Empire. This was a direct challenge to Assyrian hegemony in the region. Since the Assyrian Empire was at this time weak, Josiah was never compelled to defend his actions on the battlefield.

In the thirteenth year of Josiah, Jeremiah was called by God to be a prophet to the nations. The autobiographical account of that call is recorded in the first chapter of the book. Jeremiah was reluctant to accept the challenge extended to him because he was but a youth. He surely could not have been more than a teenager at the time.

The first milestone in the ministry of the prophet was the major reformation in the eighteenth year of Josiah. A scroll of the Law of God was found by the high priest Hilkiah buried beneath debris in the Temple. After confirming that the threats and curses contained in this scroll were still valid, Josiah intensified his campaign to cleanse his land of idolatry. Jeremiah must have been an active participant in this effort. Much of the sermonic material in chapters 2–7 of the book grew out of the context of this great reformation.

For eighteen years of his ministry, until the end of Josiah’s life, Jeremiah had the support of the crown in his preaching efforts. Josiah died when he engaged Pharaoh Neco in battle at the pass of Megiddo in 609 b.c. Neco was moving north to reinforce the remnants of the Assyrian army on the Euphrates river. He had no quarrel with Josiah. Yet Josiah felt compelled to confront him. The Judean king was mortally wounded in that battle. Jeremiah was deeply affected by the senseless death of this godly king. He wrote several lamentations which Judean singers employed for years to commemorate Josiah’s death (2 Chr 35:25).^[2]

2. 2. Reign of Jehoahaz (609 c.). The people of the land anointed Shallum as king in place of his father. Shallum took the throne name Jehoahaz. This king ruled but three months. He was then summoned to Riblah by Pharaoh Neco. There he was put in chains and deported to Egypt. Apparently many people regarded Jehoahaz as rightful king even after his deportation. They expected him to return to claim his throne. Jeremiah, however, announced that Shallum would die in the place where they had carried him captive (Jer 22:11f.).
3. Reign of Jehoiakim (609–598 b.c.). Pharaoh Neco selected a brother of Shallum, Eliakim, to be the new king. Neco gave the name Jehoiakim to Eliakim. The new king was placed under an enormous annual tribute obligation to Egypt. In 605 b.c. when Neco was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar in the battle of Carchemish, Jehoiakim switched allegiance to Babylon. This crafty king was able to maintain himself on the throne of Judah for eleven years. Those were miserable years for Jeremiah. The prophet’s life was in constant jeopardy. Jehoiakim was the target of some of Jeremiah’s most harsh criticism and prediction.^[3]
4. Reign of Jehoiachin (597 b.c.). Jehoiakim died a natural death, apparently, in December 598 b.c. He was succeeded by his son Coniah who took the throne name Jehoiachin. After a reign of just over three months, this young king was forced to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar in March of 597 b.c. At that time he was deported to Babylon with ten thousand of his subjects. Jeremiah predicted that no descendant of Jehoiachin would successfully sit upon the throne of David in Judah (Jer 22:30).
5. Reign of Zedekiah (597–586 b.c.). Nebuchadnezzar installed Mattaniah, another son of King Josiah, as his vassal king in Jerusalem. Mattaniah took the throne name Zedekiah. This last Old Testament king ruled eleven years. He was under constant pressure from his advisors to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar. On the other hand, Jeremiah consistently urged Zedekiah to surrender to Babylon. The king could not resist the pressure to seek an alliance with Egypt against Nebuchadnezzar. This political maneuvering led to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 b.c.^[4]

1. Public Ministry: Dimensions

Jeremiah’s ministry extended from his call in 627 b.c. to well beyond the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c., a period of over four decades. Jeremiah’s ministry was multi-dimensional.

1. Preaching. He was first and foremost a preacher. Though not as eloquent as Isaiah nor as colorful as Ezekiel, Jeremiah nonetheless was a powerful messenger. His sermons throb with emotion. His metaphors paint vivid pictures of sin and apostasy. (converting to another religion)
2. Drama. Jeremiah was an actor as well as a preacher. He dramatized his message from time to time in order to attract an audience and to underscore the truths he was preaching. Jeremiah’s action parables were not so bizarre as those of Ezekiel, but they were nonetheless strange. Among his “props” were a dirty girdle, a pottery jar, a cup of wine, and an ox yoke. To drive home his point he offered wine to a group of teetotalers, buried a stone beneath the pavement before a government building, and purchased a plot of ground in the midst of the siege of Jerusalem.
3. Writing. Jeremiah was a writer. He wrote, as noted above, a lament over the death of Josiah. He wrote a letter to Babylon (Jer 29). He wrote the book that bears his name and probably the Biblical books of Lamentations and Kings. Through his writings this prophet has inspired believers for twenty-five hundred years.
4. Prayer. Prayer was yet another dimension of Jeremiah’s ministry. He was persistent in intercession in spite of repeated indications of the hopelessness of his efforts (chap. 14; 18:20). This prophet has recorded for posterity his prayers of complaint (4:10), perception (5:3), praise (10:6f.), and clarification (32:16–23). Perhaps more teaching on prayer is found in the Book of Jeremiah than in any other book of the Bible.
5. Statesmanship. Jeremiah was a statesman. He supported the national reformation efforts of King Josiah. After the battle of Carchemish, he urged his nation to recognize Babylon as world ruler. He battled the majority in the royal court who thought that Egypt would provide relief from Babylonian oppression. Jeremiah saw clearly that Babylon would rule the world for seventy years. Although he consistently urged submission to Babylon, Jeremiah was no traitor. After Jerusalem’s fall he was given the option of spending the rest of his days under royal patronage in Babylon. He chose to remain with the tattered remnant of his people in the devastated land of Judah.
6. Counseling. Jeremiah ministered privately to individuals as well as to the masses. He was a counselor. He was equipped for this ministry by his personal victory over depression in a mid-ministry crisis. Five times Jeremiah cried out to God from the black depths of doubt and discouragement. God answered the prophet’s “confessions” in such a way that Jeremiah was was able to “get back on track” in his ministry. Using the insights which grew out of these dialogues with God, Jeremiah advised Baruch, his secretary, during one of his periods of discouragement. King Zedekiah sought Jeremiah out on numerous occasions to ask for his advice in dealing with national crises.^[5]

1. Public Ministry: Agony

Not without reason has Jeremiah been called the weeping prophet. This man suffered as no other Biblical character save the Son of God himself. Three distinct aspects of his personal suffering can be identified in the book.

1. Ministerial aspect. Jeremiah experienced the agony of his message of judgment. He saw clearly in vision the total destruction of the land he loved. He saw the suffering of men, women and children. Emotionally he was drained each time he shared those dire visions with his audience (9:1; 13:17).

If his message was painful to deliver, the reception which that message received was even more painful. The people he loved—the people he knew were standing on the brink of national destruction—refused to listen. The men of his own hometown plotted his demise (11:19, 21). He could not even trust members of his own family (12:6). For his assertion that Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed Jeremiah was branded a heretic and threatened with death (26:7–9). When his predictions failed to materialize immediately, they branded him a false prophet and scoffed at his doomsday threats (17:15). To his contemporaries Jeremiah was a joke—a sad, pathetic, anachronistic (placed in the wrong time) joke (20:7b). The crowds cheered when a representative of the more “enlightened” clergy publicly humiliated Jeremiah in the temple courts (chap. 28).

2. Psychological aspect. Jeremiah’s personal loneliness intensified his agony. If ever a man needed a sympathetic spouse, this prophet surely did. Yet God ordered him not to marry (16:2). The preacher’s lifestyle must match his proclamation. For this preacher to marry and father children would be inconsistent with his announcement that shortly Jerusalem would be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. For the same reason God prohibited Jeremiah from attending social gatherings, whether feasts or funerals (16:5–9). This prophet was to be a “loner” and through his loneliness he would preach a sermon. This was no time for parties, for there was nothing to celebrate. On the other hand, funerals would soon be impossible. So many people would die in the imminent judgment that conducting individual memorial services would be impractical. Thus Jeremiah preached as much by what he refused to do as by what he did or said. He was a sermon in shoes!
3. Physical aspect. Jeremiah’s agony had physical as well as psychological dimensions. The chief officer of the Temple had him seized, flogged and put in the public stocks overnight (20:1ff.). During the last days of Jerusalem, Jeremiah was arrested on the charge of treason. Again he was beaten, then was thrown into a subterranean dungeon. He nearly died in that foul place (37:11ff.). Shortly after that ordeal he again was charged with treason for urging Jerusalem’s defenders to desert to the Babylonian armies. The king permitted ruthless princes to have their way with this man of God. They cast him into an empty cistern and left him there to starve to death (38:6). A humble black servant of the king risked his life to rescue the prophet from certain death (38:11ff.).^[6]

1. Composition of the Book

Jeremiah had been preaching for twenty-three years before he was instructed to record his sermons on a scroll. The prophet dictated his messages to the scribe Baruch. This first edition of the Book of Jeremiah was destroyed in 604 b.c. by the tyrant King Jehoiakim. God, however, commissioned Jeremiah to produce another scroll. This second edition of the book contained all the words of the first scroll and “many similar words” as well (36:32).

A third edition of the book must have been produced by Baruch in Egypt after the death of Jeremiah. This Egyptian edition must have been considerably larger than the second edition. It would have contained the record of the last twenty years of the prophet’s ministry. The third edition of Jeremiah was produced about 560 b.c. A hasty copy of this edition of the book was made before Baruch emigrated to Babylon. There he produced the fourth edition of the book. Certain additional oracles of the prophet were added and all the material was reorganized. This Babylonian edition became the prototype for the standard Hebrew form of the book which has been translated into English.

Who, then, is actually responsible for the writing of this book? Baruch certainly performed the mechanical work of a stenographer. Did he do more? The last verse of chapter 51 clearly indicates that Jeremiah was not responsible for the authorship of chapter 52. Baruch most likely added that chapter in order to document the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s most dramatic and controversial prediction, viz., the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the people of God. At some point Baruch may have functioned more like a modern editor. To what degree was he responsible for arranging the material in the book? The data available does not permit a definitive answer to this question.

The above reconstruction of the composition of the Book of Jeremiah may help to explain why the Greek translation—the so-called Septuagint—is so different from the standard Hebrew edition of the book. This version was translated about 250 b.c. in Alexandria, Egypt. It is about one eighth shorter than the Hebrew form of the book. The major sections of the book are arranged in a different manner, and even within the various sections the material is in a different order.⁵ Some blocks of material found in the Hebrew are absent in the Greek version. Much of the repetition found in the Hebrew version is absent in the Septuagint. These facts lead to the conclusion that the Alexandrian translators had before them a very different Hebrew manuscript. Perhaps they based their translation on the Egyptian edition of the book which was hastily copied by the Jews in Egypt before Baruch emigrated to Babylon. This hypothesis would account for the rather substantial differences in the the two forms of the text.^[7]

1. The Plan of the Book

The arrangement of materials in the Book of Jeremiah has been called the most confused in the Old Testament. Large blocks of the material are in chronological order. Here and there, however, chapters are inserted which jump forward or backward in time. Jeremiah or his editor Baruch must have grouped material at times according to a topical rather than a chronological principle.

1. Predictions in the Book

According to Barton Payne, the Book of Jeremiah contains ninety different specific predictions. This total ranks second only to Isaiah. Some 812 verses, sixty per cent of the total, are predictive. The majority of these predictive verses (222) focus on the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. Among the more outstanding political prophecies of the book are the following: (1) the seventy years of service to Babylon (25:11f.); (2) Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Egypt (43:8–13); (3) the capture of Babylon by Cyrus (25:12–14); and (4) the defeat of Pharaoh Neco at Carchemish (46:5f.).

The Book of Jeremiah does not contain nearly as much Messianic prophecy as does Isaiah. Yet prophecies pointing to Christ and his kingdom are not lacking. Perhaps the most important of those is the famous new covenant prophecy of 31:31. Two prophecies are noteworthy in the personal Messianic category. A future leader, the Righteous Shoot, will rule over the united tribes (23:5). This ruler will enjoy priestly as well as royal privileges (30:21).^[8]

^[1] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 177–178.

^[2] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 179–180.

^[3] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 180.

^[4] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 180–181.

^[5] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 181–182.

^[6] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 182–183.

^[7] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 184–185.

^[8] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 187.

Chapter 1 

Background of the Unit

Jeremiah was called to prophetic ministry in the thirteenth year of King Josiah, 627 b.c. (Jer 1:2). As early as his eighth year, when he was but sixteen years of age, Josiah began “to seek the God of his father David.” In his twelfth year Josiah launched a religious reformation. He removed the Baal altars and chopped down the sacred poles (Asherim) beside them. He began to purge Judah and Jerusalem. He even carried his crusade into the territories formerly occupied by the tribes of the Northern Kingdom (2 Chr 34:1–7). The reform efforts—and especially the campaign outside his borders—were a direct challenge to the authority of the Assyrians who had dominated Judah for over half a century.

Jeremiah was called to ministry to aid this last heroic effort to change the direction of Judah. While the king was attacking the external and public aspects of idolatry, the preacher would attempt to root out idolatry from the hearts of the people. Five years after the call of Jeremiah, in 621 b.c., the reformation efforts were intensified after the discovery in the Temple archives of a copy of the ancient scriptures penned by Moses (2 Chr 34:8–33).

The material in the first unit of the Book of Jeremiah comes from the earliest period of the prophet’s ministry. Josiah must have applauded, if not actively encouraged, the work of the young preacher. The sermon excerpts recorded in chapters 2–10 should be assigned to the years 627–609 b.c. Precise dating for smaller units in this section is not possible.^[1]

The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, ² to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. ³ It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

 The call of Jeremiah was not as elaborate as those of Isaiah and Ezekiel. He simply affirms that “the word of the Lord came unto me” without bothering to explain the mechanics of that process. This autobiographical narrative describes how God (1) summoned him to service, (2) assured him of support, (3) confirmed him in ministry, and (4) exhorted him to action.^[2]

God called these two giants – both Josiah and Jeremiah – to serve Him and His people at the same time. Each supported the other, and though they did not leave behind an enduring transformed Judah, they served God faithfully and removed every excuse Judah might offer for the judgment that eventually came through Babylon.

In this line of succession of the Kings of Judah, some are left out (Jehoahaz in 2 Chronicles 36:1-2 and Jehoiachin in 2 Chronicles 36:8-9).

The Call of Jeremiah

⁴ Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

 Jeremiah had a personal encounter with the LORD. He was apparently raised in a godly, priestly home – yet he had to have a personal encounter with God and His word.

1. Because many of his prophecies have echoes and hints of previous prophets of Israel, it seems that Jeremiah grew up knowing God’s word. “His future life and thought were moulded to a large extent by an early acquaintance with the utterances of the eight-century BC prophets such as Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah, and probably also by the lives and sayings of Elijah and Elisha. ” (Harrison)

⁵    “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

      and before you were born I consecrated you;

Jeremiah was already a young man, but God wanted him to know that his call went back even further than his youth. Jeremiah existed in the mind and plan of God before he ever existed in his mother’s womb. God told Jeremiah this so that he could walk in God’s pre-ordained plan by his own will.

       I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Ancient Jewish legends say that Jeremiah was so called that he was born circumcised and that he came out of the womb prophesying. In fact, as the legend goes, in his out-of-the-womb prophecy he complained of the faithlessness of his mother. When she protested, he had to explain that he meant “mother” as a symbol for Jerusalem.

⁶ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”

 Jeremiah was probably anywhere from 17 to 20 years old at this time. Apparently, he felt that his youth prevented him from being a good or authoritative messenger of God’s word.

1. Summons to Service (1:4–6)

The first revelation which came to Jeremiah concerned him personally. God had “formed” him in his mother’s womb, i.e., he was a unique person, endowed with attributes to accomplish what no other man could accomplish. God “knew” him, i.e., recognized his strengths and weaknesses, yet chose him anyway. God “consecrated” him, i.e., set him apart from all others to fulfill a specific mission. This series of divine affirmations impressed upon Jeremiah’s mind the fact that he and he alone could do the job which God had in mind for him (1:5a).

Jeremiah had been appointed “a prophet,” i.e., an official ambassador of God who spoke in his name and by his authority. Though other prophets spoke to and about foreign nations, Jeremiah is the only one to receive the title “a prophet to the nations.” The fate of tiny Judah was so inextricably intertwined with the superpowers that anything he would say to or about his country would of necessity involve the nations of the world (1:5b).

Jeremiah understood immediately the basic involvements of this appointment and he was intimidated by them. In an emotional outburst (“Alas Lord God!”) he expressed his keen sense of unworthiness. His age was against him (“I am a youth”). Culture dictated that young people listen but not speak in public affairs. He also did not “know how to speak,” i.e., he lacked natural abilities (1:6).^[3]

⁷ But the Lord said to me,

       “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;

Though Jeremiah’s protest was true, it was irrelevant – and God did not want to hear it, nor did He want Jeremiah to say it. God insists on His right to call young people and to use them if they will listen to His call and answer it.

because God used David when he was a young man. As a young man David served his father faithfully in the shepherd’s field, killed a lion and a bear protecting the flock, killed Goliath, served King Saul and was a commander in the Israeli army.

because God filled John the Baptist with the Holy Spirit in the womb (Luke 1:15). You aren’t too young to be filled mightily with the Spirit of God.

because God used Timothy as a young man, and through the Apostle Paul told him, Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12)

because God used Hudson Taylor as a young man. Maybe one of the greatest missionaries since the Apostle Paul.  When he was 17 years old he dared to seek God, and totally surrendered himself to God’s will. Almost immediately he felt a distinct impression that God wanted him to be a missionary to China, and he began to prepare for the mission field by living the kind of life by faith he wanted to live on the mission field and living it right there in England. By the time he was 22, he first arrived in Shanghai.

because God used J. Edwin Orr as a young man. Born and raised in Belfast Ireland, at 21 years of age he left a good paying job in the middle of the Great Depression to tour around Great Britain on his bicycle and tell any who would listen about revival. He trusted God to provide for both him and his widowed mother, and God came through gloriously – it was 10,000 miles of miracle through Great Britain. He wrote a popular book about his adventures in faith – so popular that some youth groups banned the book – they were afraid that their youth might take off on their own bikes without really being called by God.

Give God the young years of your life and you will never regret it.  I regret that I did not give God my young years but I don’t regret being used in middle age of 30. 

       for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,

                        and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

God spoke with both encouragement and persuasion to Jeremiah. He protested that he couldn’t go because of his youth but God simply said, “you shall go.”

1. Later, Jeremiah remembered his initial reluctance: Nor have I desired the woeful day; You know what came out of my lips; it was right there before You. (Jeremiah 17:16)
2. Though reluctant, Jeremiah couldn’t hold back: Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not. (Jeremiah 20:9)

⁸    Do not be afraid of them,

       for I am with you to deliver you,

declares the Lord.”

 Jeremiah had two reasons to be afraid. First, he was young. Second, his message was hard to hear. But the presence of God with him was greater than those two reasons.

⁹ Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,

In his vision, Jeremiah saw the LORD touch him in this personal way. As God touched the mouth of Isaiah at his call to the office of prophet, He also touched the mouth of Jeremiah (though in a different way).

       “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰    See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,

       to pluck up and to break down,

       to destroy and to overthrow,

       to build and to plant.”

As a young man, Jeremiah was an unlikely candidate for such a ministry; yet God knew that Jeremiah had the personality and character to fulfill this call as the years went on. Actually 40 years.  First part of ministry, freedom from King Josiah.  Then Jeremiah read a scroll to Johoakim and he threw the scroll in the fire and he was arrested and whipped.  And then Zedekiah where Jeremiah said to get ready for the Babylonian captivity.  It will be better to cooperate. 

Jeremiah was definitely called, but he did not fulfill his call in his first year – or his first ten years. His 40-year ministry had several different phases, and taken together, they fulfilled God’s call.

1. The first period of Jeremiah’s ministry took place under the protection of the godly king Josiah, who took advantage of turmoil in the surrounding superpowers (such as Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon) to reform the nation and turn it back to the Lord. During this time, Jeremiah went on a preaching tour through the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 11:6). Yet during this time the hearts of the people did not seem changed. He preached for 23 years but no one seemed to listen (Jeremiah 25:3). He even faced many threats against his life (Jeremiah 11:19and 12:6).
2. After King Josiah died, things got worse. Jeremiah read a scroll of his collected prophecies to the new king Jehoiakim – and the king took the scroll, cut it in pieces, and threw it in the fire (Jeremiah 36:22-23). In this general period Jeremiah was chained and flogged (Jeremiah 20:2), and survived a close brush with death (Jeremiah 26:10-11).

iii. His most difficult season was under another king, Zedekiah, who was set on the throne by the Babylonians, but didn’t continue to obey them. Jeremiah brought a message from God that must have seemed like madness to his generation. The message was that judgment through the Babylonians was inevitable; and they must prepare for it and submit to it. He wrote to those already exiled in Babylon and told them to prepare for a 70-year exile and to have a peaceable attitude towards Babylon (Jeremiah 29:7, 10). He was regarded as a traitor and imprisoned (Jeremiah 37:11-16).

1. The Assurance of Support (1:7–10)

To ease the apprehension of this reluctant servant, God reassured him in four areas. First, the Lord gave to his prophet assurance of direction. Jeremiah was instructed not to focus his attention on his own weaknesses, but on God’s strength. God would direct both the where of his ministry and the what. He would go where God directed him. He would speak what God revealed to him (1:7).

Second, Jeremiah received assurance of deliverance. God looked beneath the surface excuses of Jeremiah and saw the fear in his heart. That fear was not unfounded. At times Jeremiah would need to be rescued from the machinations of those who hated the truth. God, however, promised to be with him, to deliver him, not from any difficult circumstances, but through those circumstances (1:8).

Third, God gave to the young man assurance of power. Whether in the visional or physical realm, the young man felt his lips touched by God’s hand. The touch of Isaiah’s lips was for cleansing; that of Jeremiah’s was for empowerment. From this day forward he could preach boldly because God declares: “I have put my words in your mouth” (1:9).

Finally, God gave assurance of authority to prophesy. Jeremiah’s appointment involved the authority to verbally “pluck up, break down, destroy and overthrow” the nations of his day. This he would do by preaching God’s word of judgment against them. Once the old order had been removed, Jeremiah’s preaching would become more optimistic. He would “build and plant” the basic principles of a new era, the age of Messiah (1:10).^[4]

¹¹ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” ¹² Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

The significance of the branch of an almond tree was important in two ways. First, the almond was well known as the first tree to bud in the spring. This indicated that God was ready to quickly fulfill His word, just as the almond tree seems ready to bud.

1. Secondly, the Hebrew word for almond treeis close to and derived from the Hebrew word for watchful, and this word is used in God’s response to Jeremiah. “These verses contain a play on words that is lost in English but is vital for the force of the vision. The ‘almond tree’ is saqedand God is ‘watching’ (soqed) over his word to fulfill it.” (Feinberg)

¹³ The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵ For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶ And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.

The idea is of a boiling cauldron that will tip over with its opening facing south. This is a vivid picture of destruction and judgment pouring out upon Judah from the north (out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land).

 The main reason for the coming judgment was Judah’s chronic idolatry.

1. Confirmation in Ministry (1:11–16)

On two occasions subsequent to the initial summons Jeremiah’s call was confirmed by visions. In the first vision his attention was directed to an object which he correctly identified as an almond (shaqed) rod. Since the almond was the first tree to “wake up” in the spring, it was sometimes known as the “wakeful tree.” Employing a play on words, God declared that he was watching (shoqed) over his word to perform it. The prophet could speak the divine word with the assurance that God was alert and awake, that his word would not fail (1:11f.).

In the second vision Jeremiah’s attention was directed to a boiling pot in the process of tipping over. It was “facing away from the north,” i.e., its contents were about to be spilled southward. This symbol meant that “out of the north the evil,” i.e., calamity, “would break forth” on all the inhabitants of Judah. The boiling pot symbolized the political turmoil which would arise north of Judah when the Assyrian empire fell and the Babylonian empire arose on the scene of history. God would employ “the kingdoms of the north” to conquer the cities of Judah. Through those foreign agents God would pronounce his judgments on the Jews because of their unfaithfulness (1:13–16).^[5]

¹⁷ But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. ¹⁸ And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. ¹⁹ They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”

This promise of God proved true, but so did the other aspect to the promise. The enemies of Jeremiah did not prevail against him, and he served God with distinction through great trials for 40 years.

1. “To this thin-skinned young man, his description of terms of battlements and heavy metal might have seemed a wild exaggeration, but in fact it proved an understatement. He would hold out against all comers for over forty years, outdoing any fortress under siege.” (Kidner)

1. Challenge to Action (1:17–19)

The call narrative concludes with a series of exhortations designed to challenge Jeremiah to begin his ministry. “Gird up your loins,” i.e., tuck your long robe into your belt so as to be prepared for strenuous activity. “Arise,” so as to be heard, and “speak to them all which I command you.” He must not only gird up, stand up, and speak up, he must also bear up. “Do not be terrified by them” (NIV). His audience would try to intimidate him, and if they sensed that they were succeeding, God would permit them to crush his ministry through fear (1:17).

God would prepare the prophet for his confrontation with a hostile audience. They would find this man to have a God-given fortitude and determined purpose. Before his adversaries he would appear to be as invincible as a fortified city, as indestructible as an iron pillar, and as impregnable as a bronze wall. Kings, princes, priests and prominent people of the land would fight against him by every means. They would not be able to overcome Jeremiah. The Lord would be with him every step of the way to deliver him out of any danger. Thus the last implied exhortation of the call narrative was to look up to God as the source of strength (1:18f.).^[6]

^[1] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 191–192.

^[2] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 192.

^[3] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 192–193.

^[4] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 193–194.

^[5] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 194.

^[6] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 194–195.

Israel Forsakes the Lord

2 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,

God often refers to Judah and Jerusalem as Israel in Jeremiah, though the northern kingdom of Israel (representing the ten northern tribes) fell to the Assyrians some 100 years before Jeremiah’s work as a prophet. God refers to Judah and Jerusalem as representing all of Israel because it did.

       “I remember the devotion of your youth, Through Jeremiah, God made a heartfelt appeal to Jerusalem, drawing upon the memory of their past relationship. To say, “I remember how wonderful our relationship once was” is a powerful appeal.

your love as a bride,

       how you followed me in the wilderness, They were not perfect in their relationship with God then, but they had a love for God and a trust in the Lord that was sorely lacking in Jeremiah’s days.

in a land not sown.

³    Israel was holy to the Lord,

the firstfruits of his harvest.

       All who ate of it incurred guilt;

disaster came upon them, In this season of special relationship with God, the LORD took special care of Israel. If anyone attempted to devour Israel, then disaster would come upon them. This was a great contrast to the judgment at the hand of Israel’s enemies that would eventually come upon an unfaithful Jerusalem.

declares the Lord.”

⁴ Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. ⁵ Thus says the Lord:

       “What wrong did your fathers find in me God called the house of Israel to account for their rejection of Him and their pursuit of idols. He asked to know what fault there was in Him that caused their idolatry.

that they went far from me,

       and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

⁶    They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord

who brought us up from the land of Egypt,

       who led us in the wilderness,

in a land of deserts and pits,

       in a land of drought and deep darkness,

in a land that none passes through,

where no man dwells?’

⁷    And I brought you into a plentiful land

to enjoy its fruits and its good things. God reminded Israel of how good and kind He had been to them, giving them the bountiful country of Canaan.

1. The events of the Exodus had happened some 800 years before Jeremiah’s time. It’s understandable (though not good) that Israel would come to take the blessing of the land for granted after some 800 years. There is less explanation for why we take the good works of God for granted sometimes only weeks later. Why do I forget God’s blessing so quickly

       But when you came in, you defiled my land

and made my heritage an abomination.

⁸    The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’

Those who handle the law did not know me; wow!

       the shepherds transgressed against me;

the prophets prophesied by Baal

and went after things that do not profit. Civic and religious leaders did more harm than good for the people of God and towards the LORD Himself.

⁹    “Therefore I still contend with you,

declares the Lord,

and with your children’s children I will contend. God would not allow this great sin on behalf of the leaders and people of Israel to go unaddressed. In formal fashion, God brought a legal complaint against Israel for their sin.

¹⁰    For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see,

or send to Kedar and examine with care;

see if there has been such a thing.

¹¹    Has a nation changed its gods,

even though they are no gods? Since Israel liked to look to surrounding nations in imitation of their idolatry, God asked His rebellious people to look to even distant places (beyond the coasts of Cyprus or Kedar) (west to east) and to ask: Do they forsake their gods? Strangely, the heathen around Israel were more faithful to their pagan gods than Israel was to the Living God.

       But my people have changed their glory

for that which does not profit. The heathen nations were faithful to their gods, even though their gods did nothing for them. Yet Israel had the God of all Glory who had blessed them in innumerable ways and they turned from Him.  People continue in their addictions. Lusts, sins.

¹²    Be appalled, O heavens, at this;

be shocked, be utterly desolate,

declares the Lord, First this is an astonishment, that men can be so foolish, disloyal, and ungrateful. Then it is something to fear, because a righteous God must answer such outrageous rebellion. Finally, it is a desolation, because the result of judgment upon such rebellious people will leave little behind.

¹³    for my people have committed two evils:

       they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living waters, This was the first of the evils of God’s people – to forsake God. This is evil, not only for disloyalty and ingratitude, but also because it is foolish; God is the fountain of living waters, the never-ending supply of the good, pure, essential supplies of life.

       and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that can hold no water. Having forsaken God’s fountain of living waters, His people then worked hard (hewn themselves) for a greatly inferior supply (cisterns). Despite their hard work, all they ended up with were broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Tuesday  (before, what did I do?)

Romans 1: God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶ For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³² Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. ^[1]

¹⁴    “Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant? Earlier in the chapter (Jeremiah 2:3), God promised that He would defend an obedient Israel. Now through Jeremiah, God asked His people to consider the case of Israel in the sense of the conquered northern kingdom, to remember why they were now slaves. 

Why then has he become a prey?

¹⁵    The lions have roared against him; (Assyria)

they have roared loudly.

       They have made his land a waste;

his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.

¹⁶    Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes

have shaved the crown of your head. God here warned Judah not to trust in Egypt, which would (or perhaps had by that time) have broken the crown of your head by defeating and killing the good king Josiah in battle (2 Kings 23:29). Jeremiah next spoke of Judah’s future. Humiliation would be inflicted on the head of Judah by the men of “Memphis and Tahpanhes,” i.e., the Egyptians. The reference may be to the humiliating defeat of Josiah by Pharaoh Neco at the battle of Megiddo in 609 b.c. and the subsequent deportation of King Jehoahaz to Egypt (2 Kgs 23:29–34). Because of the certainty of prophetic vision, Jeremiah could describe the fate of Judah as a fait accompli (2:16).^[2]

¹⁷    Have you not brought this upon yourself

by forsaking the Lord your God, The reason was plain; Israel was captive, her people slaves, her cities burned because they forsook the LORD.

when he led you in the way?

¹⁸    And now what do you gain by going to Egypt

to drink the waters of the Nile?

       Or what do you gain by going to Assyria

to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

God cautioned Jerusalem from looking to either Egypt (the waters of Sihor, the Nile) or Assyria (the waters of the River, the Euphrates) for help. The water of their rivers was nothing compared to the fountains of living water found in the LORD.

¹⁹    Your evil will chastise you,

and your apostasy will reprove you. If Jerusalem did continue on their destructive course, there would be more than enough correction and rebuke found in the consequences of their actions. They would certainly know therefore and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing that you have forsaken the LORD your God.

       Know and see that it is evil and bitter

for you to forsake the Lord your God;

the fear of me is not in you,

declares the Lord God of hosts.

Jerusalem feared attack from the Babylonians and therefore contemplated alliances with Egypt and Assyria. Yet the real problem was they did not fear the LORD, and the Lord GOD of hosts – that is, of heavenly armies. God was more than able to protect them if they repented and trusted in Him.

²⁰    “For long ago I broke your yoke

and burst your bonds;

but you said, ‘I will not serve.’

       Yes, on every high hill

and under every green tree

you bowed down like a whore. God symbolically spoke of the idolatry of the conquered northern kingdom as prostitution. In going after idols, Israel was like a wife so unfaithful to her husband that she was a harlot, consorting with idols.

This is allegorically speaking, but an allegory connected with reality. Many of the pagan and Canaanite idols honored by the Israelites were essentially sex cults, honored with ritual prostitution. Their idolatry was often connected with sexual immorality with the use of male and female prostitutes.

²¹    Yet I planted you a choice vine,

wholly of pure seed.

       How then have you turned degenerate

and become a wild vine? Symbolic pictures of Judah’s sins, harlots, God planted a beautiful vine but you have made it a weed., can’t be clean?

²²    Though you wash yourself with lye

and use much soap,

the stain of your guilt is still before me,

declares the Lord God.

²³    How can you say, ‘I am not unclean,

I have not gone after the Baals’?

       Look at your way in the valley; Valley of Hinnon, idolatry to Baal, Asheroth, Molech including child sacrifice.

know what you have done—

       a restless young camel running here and there,

²⁴        a wild donkey used to the wilderness,

       in her heat sniffing the wind! A female donkey in heat?  Wild, uncontrollable. Chasing down any male donkey it can smell.

Who can restrain her lust?

       None who seek her need weary themselves;

in her month they will find her.

²⁵    Keep your feet from going unshod

and your throat from thirst.

       But you said, ‘It is hopeless,

for I have loved foreigners,

and after them I will go.’  The idols did not pursue you, you went after them. 

Thursday

²⁶    “As a thief is shamed when caught,

so the house of Israel shall be shamed: The thief is only ashamed when he is found out. He regrets getting caught and penalized, not the crime itself. In the same way, Israel under exile was really only sorry they had been caught and had suffered for their sin.

       they, their kings, their officials,

their priests, and their prophets,

²⁷    who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ this is backwards, how confused you are.

and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ Jeremiah described their foolish idolatry, worshipping things of wood and stone. The tree was a wooden idol representing Asherah, the leading female Canaanite deity. The stone represented Baal, the leading male Canaanite deity.

       For they have turned their back to me,

and not their face.

       But in the time of their trouble they say,

‘Arise and save us!’

²⁸    But where are your gods

that you made for yourself?

       Let them arise, if they can save you,

in your time of trouble;

       for as many as your cities

are your gods, O Judah.

²⁹    “Why do you contend with me?

You have all transgressed against me,

declares the Lord. In the previous lines God spoke of how His people would turn to Him in the time of their trouble, yet not out of true repentance; instead out of a mere desire to escape present consequences. Here, God tests the repentance of Israel to see if they will return to Him through difficulty.

³⁰    In vain have I struck your children;

they took no correction;

       your own sword devoured your prophets

like a ravening lion. God’s people were guilty of rejecting and murdering the prophets.

³¹    And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord.

       Have I been a wilderness to Israel,

or a land of thick darkness?

       Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,

we will come no more to you’? God’s people were guilty of pride, believing they didn’t need to come and humble themselves before the living God.

³²    Can a virgin forget her ornaments,

or a bride her attire?

       Yet my people have forgotten me

days without number. Israel’s rejection of God was unnatural. It is only natural for a young woman to treasure her ornaments, or for a bride to value her clothing. When God’s people forget their God – who has done so much for them – it is an offense against all that is good and right.  Israel’s rejection of God was unnatural.

³³    “How well you direct your course

to seek love! Israel felt that the pursuit of love was self-justifying and any pursuit of love could be considered beautiful. In their thinking, the love of idols was just as good as the love of Yahweh, their covenant God. The love expressed in what Yahweh called sexual immorality was just as good as love expressed in what Yahweh called sexual morality. God did not accept their attempt to beautify their way to seek love.

       So that even to wicked women

you have taught your ways. For Israel in Jeremiah’s day, it wasn’t enough for them to call their sinful pursuit of love beautiful; they also had to teach it to others.

³⁴    Also on your skirts is found

the lifeblood of the guiltless poor; The love is not beautiful, there is much hurt, unwanted babies, poverty, abuse, sacrifices of these babies.  Single parents due to sin. 

       you did not find them breaking in.

Yet in spite of all these things

³⁵    you say, ‘I am innocent;

surely his anger has turned from me.’ Despite the plain nature of their sin, Israel could still claim innocence. They felt entitled to Divine mercy.

       Behold, I will bring you to judgment

for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’ Their claim of innocence did not impress God. He would still bring a case against them; their claim to innocence made them more guilty, not less.

³⁶    How much you go about,

changing your way! The New Living Translation has this, First here, then there – you flit from one ally to another asking for help. There was no reason for them to gad about – they should have gone straight away to trusting the LORD.

       You shall be put to shame by Egypt

as you were put to shame by Assyria.

³⁷    From it too you will come away

with your hands on your head, God promised to bring their trust in Egypt to nothing, and (without national repentance) they would go forth from Judah as captive slaves, with your hands on your head. God would not honor their alliances with Egypt or any other foreign power.

       for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,

and you will not prosper by them.

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 1:18–32.

^[2] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 196.

Content

3 “If a man divorces his wife

and she goes from him

       and becomes another man’s wife,

will he return to her?

       Would not that land be greatly polluted?

       You have played the whore with many lovers;

and would you return to me?

declares the Lord.

Under the Law of Moses a woman who had been divorced and married to a second husband could not be reclaimed by the first husband under any circumstances (Deut 24:1–4). Such an action would pollute the land. Judah, however, acted worse than the situation envisioned in the Law. She had not been divorced (Isa 50:1), but she had played the harlot with many lovers. Yet God was willing to take her back! What amazing grace! (3:1).^[1]

• NASB: But you are a harlot with many lovers; yet you turn to Me
• ESV: And would you return to Me?
• NLT: But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, says the LORD. Yet I am still calling you to come back to me. God’s invitation to come back to Him.

²    Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see!

Where have you not been ravished? Idea of raped, as you were looking for a good time they abused you. 

       By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers

like an Arab in the wilderness.

       You have polluted the land

with your vile whoredom. You solicited them, they didn’t even have to work at it.

Everywhere, even out in the open (“bare heights”), evidence of Judah’s idolatrous harlotry abounded. As desert Arabs rush forward to greet strangers, so Judah threw herself into the arms of other deities. God had disciplined Judah by withholding the showers which supposedly the storm god Baal controlled. Yet Judah was unashamed of her conduct. She had the brazen face of a prostitute who could engage in the most disgusting perversion and yet show no shame^[2]

³    Therefore the showers have been withheld,

and the spring rain has not come;

       yet you have the forehead of a whore;

you refuse to be ashamed.

⁴    Have you not just now called to me,

‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—

God called upon Judah to acknowledge him as Father and Husband right now. They had, as a matter of fact, used these titles for God, but at the same time they had done evil things. They had gotten by with this hypocrisy so far, but God would not restrain his anger for ever^[3]

⁵    will he be angry forever,

will he be indignant to the end?’

       Behold, you have spoken,

but you have done all the evil that you could.” When was the last time you saw someone repent before being found out? 

Faithless Israel Called to Repentance learn from the sins of others

⁶ The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? ⁷ And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. ⁸ She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. ⁹ Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. ¹⁰ Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.” “Faithless Israel” (the Northern Kingdom) had given herself totally over to the fertility cult. She had practiced her harlotry throughout the land. God had waited in vain for her to return to him. Eventually God had divorced faithless Israel, i.e., sent her off into captivity. Judah observed all this, but failed to learn from it. She took the matter of fidelity to Yahweh lightly and committed adultery with gods of wood and stone. Attempts at reform in Judah were at best half-hearted, at worst hypocritical.^[4]

¹¹ And the Lord said to me, “Faithless (backsliding) Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Under the principle that the greater the light, the greater the guilt, “faithless Israel” was considered more righteous in God’s eyes than “treacherous Judah.” To dramatize this fact, Jeremiah was commanded to “proclaim these words toward the north.” He was to invite the scattered tribes of the north to return to the Lord. He promised that he would not look upon them any longer in anger^[5]12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,

       “ ‘Return, faithless(backsliding) Israel,

declares the Lord.

       I will not look on you in anger,

for I am merciful,

declares the Lord;

      I will not be angry forever.

¹³    Only acknowledge your guilt,

that you rebelled against the Lord your God (Judah lacked honesty before God.) example like David when confronted by Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.

       and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree,

and that you have not obeyed my voice,

declares the Lord.

¹⁴    Return, O faithless children,

declares the Lord;

for I am your master; married to you, vs 8 divorce. The Lord is perusing his wayward people.

       I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,

and I will bring you to Zion.

To avail themselves of God’s grace, they needed to acknowledge and to renounce their previous apostasy. They were still his sons, though woefully disobedient. He would gather the few who recognized him as Master and he would bring them to Zion (3:13f.). Some individuals from the scattered northern tribes returned to Jerusalem during the Persian period. The reference, however, appears to be to the messianic Zion (Heb 12:22ff.). ²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,^[6]The purpose of this call to the northern tribes is to underscore this truth: for individuals there is hope on the other side of national judgment. God would still have a people even after the destruction of physical Jerusalem.^[7]

¹⁵ “ ‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

The individuals who responded to God’s call for repentance would experience wonderful blessings. The down payment on these promises was made in the postexilic period of Old Testament history (c. 538–445 b.c.). Only in the age of Messiah, however, would the full scope of these blessings be realized. First, God would provide a new leadership (“shepherds”) for his people. These leaders would be thoroughly committed to God (“men after my own heart”). Under their leadership the people would be able to grow in knowledge and understanding (3:15). The godly leadership of men like Ezra and Nehemiah was the down payment on this promise. Full realization was found in Messiah, the chief shepherd, and the apostles he appointed to be the teachers of the Church.^[8]

¹⁶ And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. Second, once having returned to Canaan, God’s people would experience wonderful growth in population “in the land.” This was true during the postexilic period. Canaan, however, was but a symbol of the realm over which Messiah would rule (3:16a). Third, a far better worship system would be introduced. The ark, the centerpiece of Mosaic worship, would be absent, but it would not be missed. The Second Temple, which was built during the postexilic period, did not contain the ark. That which the ark symbolized, viz., God’s presence among his people, would be realized in the person of Jesus Christ (3:16b).^[9]

 ¹⁷ At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. Fourth, the new age would be characterized by a new revelation (3:17a). The New Jerusalem would be known as “the throne of Yahweh” for there would be his “name,” i.e., his revelation of himself. “All nations,” i.e., Gentiles, would be attracted to that place. Fifth, a new humility would mark those who inhabited the new Jerusalem. They would no longer walk “after the stubbornness of their evil heart” ^[10]

¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage. Sixth, a new unity would be in evidence among Zion’s citizens. Representatives of the house of Israel and the house of Judah would jointly return from the land of the north to their ancestral land (3:18). Again, Canaan here is a symbol of that spiritual realm ruled by Messiah. Citizens in his kingdom are all one in the Lord (Gal 3:28).^[11]

THURSDAY

¹⁹    “ ‘I said,

How I would set you among my sons,

       and give you a pleasant land,

a heritage most beautiful of all nations.

       And I thought you would call me, My Father,

and would not turn from following me. Repentance!

The question now raised and answered by God himself is this: How can an apostate people be restored to sonship and inheritance? A good start would be to recognize Yahweh as “Father.” Then they must continue from that day forward to walk with the Lord daily. The entire house of Israel had “dealt treacherously” with her husband, and only a radical change on her part could restore the relationship (3:19f.).^[12]

²⁰    Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,

so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.’ ”

²¹    A voice on the bare heights is heard,

the weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons

       because they have perverted their way;

they have forgotten the Lord their God.

²²    “Return, O faithless sons;

I will heal your faithlessness.”

       “Behold, we come to you,

for you are the Lord our God.

Some would respond to God’s call for repentance. Jeremiah could hear, as it were, those penitent ones making earnest supplication on the mountain heights. He mentioned that here in order to suggest that “weeping and supplications” are part of genuine repentance. He encouraged those “faithless sons” who were distraught over their spiritual condition to “return.” God promised to heal the disease of apostasy if they would heed his call (3:21–22a).^[13]

²³    Truly the hills are a delusion,

the orgies on the mountains.

       Truly in the Lord our God

is the salvation of Israel.

²⁴ “But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

Jeremiah provided for the penitent a model prayer by which they might present appropriately their petition before the Lord. First, they needed to accept Yahweh as their God. This involved a repudiation of the loud Baal-cult festivals as “a deception,” i.e., a “rip off.” They needed to acknowledge that Yahweh is the only “salvation of Israel.” They must confess frankly the depths to which they had been involved in the Baal cult. From the very beginning of their nation they had lavished gifts upon Baal. They had even offered to him as sacrifices their own sons and daughters. They frankly must state how ashamed they were of their long-standing disobedience (3:22b–25).^[14]

^[1] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 199.

^[2] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 199.

^[3] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 199.

^[4] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 199–200.

^[5] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 200.

^[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 12:22.

^[7] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 200.

^[8] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 200.

^[9] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 201.

^[10] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 201.

^[11] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 201.

^[12] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 201.

^[13] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 201.

^[14] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 202.

4 “If you return, O Israel,

declares the Lord,

to me you should return.

       If you remove your detestable things from my presence,

and do not waver,

Repentance for Judah involved four specific acts: (1) returning to God; (2) removing abominations; (3) being faithful; and (4) making true oaths. If Judah complied with these requirements, then the nation would be blessed. As a result Gentiles would turn to the God of Judah as a source of blessing (4:1f.).^[1]

²    and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’

in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,

       then nations shall bless themselves in him,

and in him shall they glory.”

³ For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

       “Break up your fallow ground,

and sow not among thorns.

⁴    Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;

remove the foreskin of your hearts,

O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;

       lest my wrath go forth like fire,

and burn with none to quench it,

because of the evil of your deeds.”

This long section closes with three dramatic figures for repentance: (1) breaking up the hardened soil of the heart; (2) weeding the heart so that the seed of the word might fall on good ground; and (3) circumcising the heart. The external mark upon their physical body had no significance unless accompanied by internal change (4:3–4a). Jeremiah concluded with a warning: The alternative to repentance was the unquenchable fire of God’s wrath (4:4b).^[2]

Background of the Unit

Excerpts from the preaching of Jeremiah continue in the second unit of the book. No compelling reason has been given for dating any of this material to the period after the death of Josiah. Most likely then these materials represent the substance of Jeremiah’s preaching during the years 627–609 b.c. During this period the power of the crown was on the side of religious reform. No hint of any overt opposition to Jeremiah is found here.^[3]

Outline of the Unit

1. Preaching Regarding Judgment (4:5–6:26).
2. Preaching Regarding Worship (7:1–8:3).
3. Preaching Regarding Knowledge (8:4–17).^[4]

Jeremiah grouped his sermon excerpts in a logical progression. In the previous unit he (1) described the desperate sin problem in Judah; and urged the people to repent in order that God might be able to bless them nationally and individually. In this unit he described in detail the alternative to repentance, viz., judgment.^[5]

1. Announcement of Coming Judgment (4:5–18)

Jeremiah used three dramatic figures to announce that the judgment of God was coming against Judah.^[6]

1. The lion (4:5–10)

Disaster from the North

⁵ Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,

       “Blow the trumpet through the land;

cry aloud and say,

       ‘Assemble, and let us go

into the fortified cities!’

⁶    Raise a standard toward Zion,

flee for safety, stay not,

       for I bring disaster from the north,

and great destruction.

⁷    A lion has gone up from his thicket,

a destroyer of nations has set out;

he has gone out from his place

       to make your land a waste;

your cities will be ruins

without inhabitant.

Jeremiah began by describing in second person action verbs the frenzied flight to fortified cities. An unidentified enemy was approaching. As the fortresses of Judah were threatened, people would take final refuge in Jerusalem. This was “the evil from the north” about which Jeremiah was instructed at his call (1:14). The enemy would approach Jerusalem like a lion which leaves its jungle abode to harass men. This “destroyer of nations” would wreak havoc on the cities and countryside as well (4:5–7).^[7]

⁸    For this put on sackcloth,

lament and wail,

       for the fierce anger of the Lord

has not turned back from us.”

Lamentation would be appropriate in that day as the people come to realize that they are experiencing the unrelenting “fierce anger of the Lord.” Kings and princes would be immobilized with fear; prophets and priests dumbfounded, unable to explain the national calamity (4:8f.).^[8]

⁹ “In that day, declares the Lord, courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.” ¹⁰ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ whereas the sword has reached their very life.”

In response to this first distinct revelation of judgment, Jeremiah utters a prayer of complaint. He felt that God had “greatly deceived” the nation. God had given his people reason to believe that the nation would have “peace,” i.e., prosperity, security. Jeremiah must be referring either (1) to his own optimistic forecast in 3:14–18; or (2) to the false prophets which God permitted to preach a message of peace (cf. 4:10; 6:14; 8:11). In either case, the charge was ridiculous, and God did not even bother to answer it (4:10).^[9]

2. The tempest (4:11–13)

¹¹ At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, ¹² a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who speak in judgment upon them.”

¹³    Behold, he comes up like clouds;

his chariots like the whirlwind;

       his horses are swifter than eagles—

woe to us, for we are ruined!

The hosts of enemy soldiers are envisioned approaching Jerusalem like a blasting whirlwind from the desert. This strong wind would be sent by God, and through it he would pronounce judgments against his people. Jeremiah imagined what the desperate cry of the people would be in that terrible day: “Woe to us, for we are ruined!”^[10]

3. The keepers (4:14–18).

¹⁴    O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil,

that you may be saved.

       How long shall your wicked thoughts

lodge within you?

Inserted into the midst of this dark judgment passage is another appeal for repentance: “Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem.” The city personified continued to harbor wicked thoughts in her mind. If she was to be spared, she would need to rid herself of these thoughts (4:14).^[11]

¹⁵    For a voice declares from Dan

and proclaims trouble from Mount Ephraim.

¹⁶    Warn the nations that he is coming;

announce to Jerusalem,

       “Besiegers come from a distant land;

they shout against the cities of Judah.

¹⁷    Like keepers of a field are they against her all around,

because she has rebelled against me,

declares the Lord.

¹⁸    Your ways and your deeds

have brought this upon you.

       This is your doom, and it is bitter;

it has reached your very heart.”

Without repentance Jerusalem faced a terrible fate. Jeremiah painted a word picture of that day when the news would be relayed toward Jerusalem from the north (Dan; Mount Ephraim) that the enemy was rapidly approaching. The attackers would besiege Jerusalem, sitting like prison keepers around the perimeter of the capital. No one would be allowed to leave Jerusalem. When this bitter day arrived, Jerusalem would have no one to blame but herself. Her heart, which could not be moved to repentance, in that day would be touched with sorrow (4:15–18).^[12]

Thursday 2/22

Anguish over Judah’s Desolation. In describing the judgment which Jerusalem must face, Jeremiah emphasized three points.^[13]

1. Terrifying judgment (4:19–22).^[14]

¹⁹    My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!

Oh the walls of my heart!

       My heart is beating wildly;

I cannot keep silent,

       for I hear the sound of the trumpet,

the alarm of war.

Through his prophetic gifts Jeremiah could mentally experience the terrors of that judgment day. His heart pounded within him as he heard the sounds of war. One piece of bad news would follow another. The land would suddenly fall to the enemy, as suddenly and completely as a collapsing tent (4:19f.).^[15]

²⁰    Crash follows hard on crash;

the whole land is laid waste.

       Suddenly my tents are laid waste,

my curtains in a moment.

²¹    How long must I see the standard

and hear the sound of the trumpet?

Jeremiah protested these terrifying visions of judgment. “How long” must I see them, he asked. Though the complaint is not addressed to God, it is the Lord who answered the question. Visions of judgment must continue because God’s people were “foolish.” They were “stupid children” who had no walk with God (“know me not”) nor spiritual “understanding.” They were utterly brilliant when it came to plotting wrong doing; but they did not know the first thing about doing what was right (4:21f.).^[16]

²²    “For my people are foolish;

they know me not;

       they are stupid children;

they have no understanding.

       They are ‘wise’—in doing evil! Are prisons were full of these people.

But how to do good they know not.”

2. Devastating judgment (4:23–26). ^[17]Jeremiah saw in vision the desolate condition of Judah during the exile to Babylon (586–538 b.c.). He described what he saw with two words taken from the creation vocabulary of Genesis 1, “formless and void.” The idea is that the land of Judah would be unorganized and uninhabited as a result of the execution of the fierce anger of Yahweh.^[18]

²³    I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void;

and to the heavens, and they had no light.

²⁴    I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,

and all the hills moved to and fro.

²⁵    I looked, and behold, there was no man,

and all the birds of the air had fled.

²⁶    I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,

and all its cities were laid in ruins

before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

3. Inevitable judgment (4:27–31).^[19]

²⁷ For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

The poetic description of the devastation of the judgment was not to be taken literally. God would not execute “a complete destruction,” but it would be bad enough. Heavens and earth would mourn over the sight. Of this God plainly had spoken, and he would not relent (4:27f.). Judah as a political entity would cease to exist.^[20]

²⁸    “For this the earth shall mourn,

and the heavens above be dark;

       for I have spoken; I have purposed;

I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”

²⁹    At the noise of horseman and archer

every city takes to flight;

       they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;

all the cities are forsaken,

and no man dwells in them.

³⁰    And you, O desolate one,

       what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,

that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,

that you enlarge your eyes with paint?

       In vain you beautify yourself.

Your lovers despise you;

they seek your life.

³¹    For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,

anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,

       the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,

stretching out her hands,

       “Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”

Again Jeremiah alluded to the panic of that day. People would hear the approach of cavalry and flee to safety wherever they might find it. In these dark days Judah, like a harlot attempting to woo lovers, would try to seduce foreign nations to come to her aid. Her “lovers” (allies), however, would turn against her and seek her death. Instead of an attractive harlot, Judah would be more like a woman travailing in delivering her first child. Her desperate cries for relief would go unanswered. She would in the end realize that she was at the mercy of ruthless murderers (4:29–31).^[21]

^[1] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 202.

^[2] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 202.

^[3] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 203.

^[4] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 203.

^[5] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 204.

^[6] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 204.

^[7] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 204.

^[8] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 204.

^[9] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 204.

^[10] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 204–205.

^[11] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 205.

^[12] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 205.

^[13] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 205.

^[14] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 205.

^[15] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 205.

^[16] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 205.

^[17] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 205.

^[18] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 205–206.

^[19] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 206.

^[20] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 206.

^[21] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 206.

Jerusalem Refused to Repent

5:1–13 Jeremiah depicts a scene where he desperately tries to find one righteous person whose presence might persuade Yahweh to postpone punishment. The scene resembles Abraham’s attempt to save Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of 10 righteous people (Gen 18:22–33). As is the case with Abraham, Jeremiah is unable to find the required number of righteous people. Ezekiel later overturns this concept, arguing that the righteousness of a few would not save the many, who must be punished for their own sins (Ezek 14:12–14).^[1]

In chapter five the focus is on six reasons why the terrible judgment was necessary.^[2]

1. Moral corruption (5:1–6). ^[3]

5 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,

look and take note!

       Search her squares to see

if you can find a man,

       one who does justice

and seeks truth,

       that I may pardon her.

²    Though they say, “As the Lord lives,”

yet they swear falsely.

³    O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?

       You have struck them down,

but they felt no anguish;

       you have consumed them,

but they refused to take correction.

       They have made their faces harder than rock;

they have refused to repent.

God wanted Jeremiah to see the necessity for the judgment. He instructed him to make a personal investigation. If he could find one righteous man God would spare the city. The prophet’s search turned up men who used the name of God in oaths, but only to swear to that which was not true. He knew that God was looking for justice in men’s dealings with their fellows, and truth or faithfulness in their dealings with God. For the lack of these two essential qualities Judah required and received divine discipline. They, however, had refused correction. No matter how severe the disaster, they had hardened their face like a rock (5:1–3).^[4]

⁴    Then I said, “These are only the poor;

they have no sense;

       for they do not know the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.

⁵    I will go to the great

and will speak to them,

       for they know the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.”

       But they all alike had broken the yoke;

they had burst the bonds.

⁶    Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down;

a wolf from the desert shall devastate them.

       A leopard is watching their cities;

everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,

       because their transgressions are many,

their apostasies are great.

Jeremiah was still not ready to concede that no righteous man could be found in the nation. He thought that among the wealthy he would find those who had the leisure time to study and know the way of God. He found, however, that they too had “broken the yoke,” i.e., they were lawless. Only one fate awaited an ox that broke loose from its yoke and headed for the forest. The wild beasts would rip it to pieces. Because of their many “transgressions” and “apostasies,” such would be the fate of Judah at the hands of the ferocious Babylonians (5:4–6).^[5]

1. Moral corruption
2. Sexual impurity (5:7–9).^[6]

⁷    “How can I pardon you?

Your children have forsaken me

and have sworn by those who are no gods.

       When I fed them to the full,

they committed adultery

and trooped to the houses of whores.

⁸    They were well-fed, lusty stallions,

each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.

⁹    Shall I not punish them for these things?

declares the Lord;

and shall I not avenge myself

on a nation such as this?

Even though Yahweh provided all the material needs for his people, yet they flocked to the house of the temple harlot to participate in the fertility rites of Baal. Their “worship” practices had spilled over into everyday life. Sexual desire had become an uncontrollable animal appetite. Like mindless horses they neighed after the wives of their neighbors. Such a breakdown of sexual mores is an affront to God. He must punish any nation which permits this corruption to take place.^[7]

1. Moral corruption
2. Sexual impurity
3. Treacherous unbelief (5:10–18). ^[8]

¹⁰    “Go up through her vine rows and destroy,

but make not a full end;

       strip away her branches,

for they are not the Lord’s.

God himself would direct the enemy into his vineyard (Judah) to begin a ruthless pruning process. Those who had been unfaithful to the Lord would be removed by death or exile. A restriction, however, was imposed upon the pruners. They were not to make “a complete destruction” (cf. 4:27) of Judah (5:10).^[9]

¹¹    For the house of Israel and the house of Judah

have been utterly treacherous to me,

declares the Lord.

¹²    They have spoken falsely of the Lord

and have said, ‘He will do nothing;

       no disaster will come upon us,

nor shall we see sword or famine.

¹³    The prophets will become wind;

the word is not in them.

       Thus shall it be done to them!’ ”

The entire covenant people (Israel and Judah) had “dealt very treacherously” with the Lord. The most sacred relationship—Israel’s marriage to Yahweh—had been violated, and that due to no fault of the Lord. These people did not believe that God could or would bring any calamity upon them. They regarded his spokesmen who prophesied such things as nothing but windbags. They threatened the messengers with the same judgment which had been pronounced on them (5:11–13).^[10]

The Lord Proclaims Judgment

¹⁴    Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:

       “Because you have spoken this word,

       behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire,

and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.

¹⁵    Behold, I am bringing against you

a nation from afar, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.

       It is an enduring nation;

it is an ancient nation,

       a nation whose language you do not know,

nor can you understand what they say.

¹⁶    Their quiver is like an open tomb;

they are all mighty warriors.

¹⁷    They shall eat up your harvest and your food;

they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;

       they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;

they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;

       your fortified cities in which you trust

they shall beat down with the sword.”

¹⁸ “But even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not make a full end of you.

The threats of Jeremiah’s preaching were not idle. God assured him that his words would be a judgment fire to consume his skeptical audience. God would bring a mighty nation from afar against the house of Israel. They would overrun the land devouring everything in their path including the fortified cities in which the Jews had put their trust. Yet a remnant would survive; God would not make of them “a complete destruction” (5:14–18).^[11]

¹⁹ And when your people say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’ ”  punishment is just

Once the divine calamity began to fall, people would seek out the prophet to inquire as to the reason for it. His answer was to be along the following lines. The punishment would be appropriate to the crime. They had served foreign gods in Canaan; God would make them serve strangers in a foreign land (5:19).^[12]

1. Moral corruption
2. Sexual impurity
3. Treacherous unbelief
4. Religious apostasy (5:19–24).^[13]

²⁰    Declare this in the house of Jacob;

proclaim it in Judah:

²¹    “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,

who have eyes, but see not,

who have ears, but hear not.

²²    Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.

Do you not tremble before me?

       I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,

a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;

       though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;

though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

²³    But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;

they have turned aside and gone away.

²⁴    They do not say in their hearts,

‘Let us fear the Lord our God,

       who gives the rain in its season,

the autumn rain and the spring rain,

       and keeps for us

the weeks appointed for the harvest.’

Jeremiah was preaching to a “foolish and senseless people.” They were totally insensitive to the creative handiwork of God. They had no reverence for the God who controls the movements of the sea and “gives the rain in its season.” While the mighty ocean obeys the will of God, Israel did not. This people had “a stubborn and rebellious heart;” they had departed from the boundaries established by the Law of Moses. They were totally dependent on God for the harvests, but they had no intention of reverencing him (5:20–24).^[14]

1. Moral corruption
2. Sexual impurity
3. Treacherous unbelief
4. Religious apostasy
5. Social injustice (5:25–29).^[15]

²⁵    Your iniquities have turned these away,

and your sins have kept good from you.

²⁶    For wicked men are found among my people;

they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.

       They set a trap;

they catch men.

²⁷    Like a cage full of birds,

their houses are full of deceit;

       therefore they have become great and rich;

²⁸        they have grown fat and sleek.

       They know no bounds in deeds of evil;

they judge not with justice

       the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,

and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

²⁹    Shall I not punish them for these things?

declares the Lord,

and shall I not avenge myself

on a nation such as this?”

Judah’s sins had caused the rains to be withheld. By devious means the wealthy were taking advantage of the innocent. Their houses were full of their ill-gotten gain. They were totally inconsiderate of the rights of the helpless minorities. Acts of injustice are offenses against God and he must avenge them.^[16]

1. Moral corruption
2. Sexual impurity
3. Treacherous unbelief
4. Religious apostasy
5. Social injustice
6. Corrupt leaders (5:30, 31).^[17]

³⁰    An appalling and horrible thing

has happened in the land:

³¹    the prophets prophesy falsely,

and the priests rule at their direction;

       my people love to have it so,

but what will you do when the end comes? ^[18]

Jeremiah concludes his list of reasons for judgment with “an appalling and horrible thing.” Prophets prophesied falsely and the priests were at their beck and call. The people, however, were as guilty as their leaders for they encouraged the deliberate perversion of divine truth. In the end they all must face God.^[19]

^[1] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Je 5:1–13.

^[2] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 206.

^[3] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 206.

^[4] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 206.

^[5] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 206–207.

^[6] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 207.

^[7] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 207.

^[8] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 207.

^[9] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 207.

^[10] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 207.

^[11] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 207.

^[12] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 207–208.

^[13] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 207.

^[14] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 208.

^[15] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 208.

^[16] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 208.

^[17] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 208.

^[18] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Je.

^[19] James E. Smith, The Major Prophets, Old Testament Survey Series (Joplin, MO: College Press, 1992), 208.

Chapter 10-19