These gods will Perish From the Earth,
But the LORD is the One True God
10: 1-16

These gods will perish from the earth, but the LORE is the One True God DIG: What two Gentile customs does God discourage Isra’el? What feeling lies beneath these words about idols? If idols are so impotent and worthless (Psalm 115:4-7), why do you think God’s people constantly turn to them? Did idol worship play a part in the social and economic fabric of Palestine (Acts 19:23-27)? How was the Jewish concept of God different than that of the pagans? How easy or difficult would it be to combine the monotheism of Isra’el with worship of local cultic deities? Who ultimately is mocked by this attempt? The words portion and inheritance are equated in 10:16. What does it mean that Israel’s inheritance is YHVH? That ADONAI’s portion is Isra’el?

REFLECT: These scriptures have been used to condemn the tradition of using and decorating Christmas trees. Using this passage, can you support that idea? How do you know Jeremiah is talking about something else? Idolatry has always been big business. Can you think of any modern industries that depend on our worship? To what images must be bow in order to participate in the social and economic system around us? What kinds of things do people idolize today – things that they are counting on to speak to them, carry them or do good for them, as only the LORD can? What aspect of nature speaks most clearly to you of God’s power? In what sense might 10:5 apply to you? Is there anything you fear that you really don’t need to?

609 BC during the three-month reign of Jehoahaz

In Jeremiah’s time as in our own, the critical faith issue is not atheism . . . but idolatry. Specifically, in the prophet’s day the temptation was the attraction of the gods of Babylon. In our day the comparable temptation may be the gods of militarism, of nationalism, of naturalism, of consumption, and of technology. In both atheism and idolatry, however, the temptation is to vest one’s life hope in the things we ourselves generate, instead of receiving life as a gift from the One who stands beyond us and for us. Characteristically the Bible does not deny the existence of other gods. The Bible makes an assumption that the world is polytheistic. The other gods exist. They have seductive power, but what they lack is power for life. They cannot do anything, and in that decisive test they are utterly unlike YHVH, who has the power to give life and therefore also the power to judge life.¹⁰¹

Since Jeremiah was convinced that the future of Isra’el lay with those in exile, he made every effort to keep in touch with them, he sent them a message, saying: Hear what ADONAI says to you, people of Isra’el (10:1).

Idolatry made sense to those who worshiped the various gods and goddesses of the nations. Because people repeated myths about them, it was natural for them to construct idols of their deities. And since Marduk (50:2) was the principal god of Babylon, his temple would house a great image of him in the same way a place housed a king. And just as the king in the palace would be clothed and fed by his attendants, so in the temple, the idol was clothed and fed by the priests. During the New Year’s festival, the idol was carried around the city so that the deity could assert his authority over the realm for the coming year.

The Jews, of course, were well aware of the Ten Commandments: the first forbid them from worshiping other gods (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Dk – You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me) and the second forbid them from making any idols (see the commentary on Exodus Dl – You Shall Not Make For Yourselves an Idol). Moshe had taught them to listen to the WORDS of YHVH, words that are dynamic, rather than to depict ADONAI in a static way. So when the exiles arrived in Babylon, they must have been both horrified and fascinated by the images they saw, huge images glittering with silver and gold, richly clothed in blue and purple. There, dazzling before their eyes, were what had always been forbidden to have anything to do with, right out in the open for everyone to see. Furthermore, the exiles must have heard from their Babylonian captors, over and over again, such comments as, “Marduk won the war for us.” Or, “Who is the God you say you worship? Ha’Shem? Well, Marduk is obviously stronger than Ha’Shem. There he is right over there being paraded around, take a good look at him.”¹⁰²

Idols: So Jeremiah warned the Jews in exile: This is what the LORD says: Do not learn the ways of idolatry from the [Gentile] nations; furthermore, do not be terrified by signs in the heavens, by predictions of astrology or any other occult practice. While these things terrify the [Gentile] nations, they should not terrify Jews. Then Jeremiah (following Isaiah 41:7, 44:9-20, 46:5-7) uses satire in mocking the false gods and the people who worship them, saying: For the religious practices of these people are a delusion (Hebrew: hebel meaning vapor, nothingness, or vanity); they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They use an ax, they cut it down, and they bring it in. Then they decorate it. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it won’t fall over (Isaiah 40:19-20; 45:12-20). The context here is idolatry – not Christmas! Like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried in religious procession because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do you no harm nor can they do you any good (10:2-5).

The One True God: In contrast to the foolishness of idolatry in verses 1-5 we see the greatness and majesty of the One true God. No one is like You, ADONAI; You are great, and Your name is mighty in power. Who should not fear you, King of the nations, among all the wise leaders of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like You (10:6-7). Ha’Shem is the One to be feared, not some piece of decorated wood. He is the Ruler of all the [Gentile] nations.

Idols: Jeremiah contrasts what he just said about God with idols. They are all senseless and foolish, like having a piece of wood as a teacher. They are taught by worthless (Hebrew: hebel) wooden idols. Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple – all made by skilled workers (10:8-9). Idolatry is nothing more than the work of skilled men.

The One True God: But the LORD is the true God. What a contrast! Whereas the idols are false, He is the One true God, literally is truth. Truth is the seal of God (Talmud). Now, Adonai ELOHIM, You alone are God; Your words are truth (Second Samuel 7:28 CJB). Though the idols are dead, He is the living God. Whereas the idols cannot do good or evil, He is the eternal King. When He is angry the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure His wrath (10:10). In contrast to their impotence, YHVH is alive and the King of the universe.

Idols: Then in the climax of his message Jeremiah relates this little song concerning the future of idolatry: These gods [idols], who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens (10:11). The entire book of Jeremiah is written in Hebrew except for this one verse. The prophet wanted everyone to get the point. Accordingly he wrote this verse in Aramaic so that the Jews would understand.

The One True God: But God made the earth by His power; He founded the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. Furthermore, He controls nature. When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from His storehouses (10:12-13). The powerlessness of the idol is contrasted with God’s supremacy over the elements.

Idols: By contrast, idols can do none of these things. Everyone who engages in idol worship is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they are lifeless and have no breath in them. They cannot keep their promises. They are worthless (Hebrew: hebel), the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish (10:14-15). The contrast with the LORD leads to the conclusion that they are unworthy of trust or loyalty, commitment or obedience.

The One True God: In contrast, while all the false idols will cease, the God of Isra’el, who is the portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, including Isra’el, the people of His inheritance – ADONAI of heaven’s angelic armies – will never cease (10:16). If YHVH owns Isra’el as His inheritance, then Isra’el can be regarded in a special sense as His portion.

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart,
and my portion forever (Psalm 73:26).

You are my portion, O LORD,
I have promised to obey your words (Psalm 119:57).

I cry to you, ADONAI;
I say, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living (Psalm 142:5).

Judah has the option to be in relationship with and loyal to the God who can give new life. This God must be served and is never at the disposal of Y’hudah. The alternative is to be allied with gods who have no power for life and cannot be trusted. The structure of the text requires a decision. Jesus said it this way: No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God [and idols] (Matthew 6:24).

In our time, we seem to be deeply, if not hopelessly, entangled in our self-centered systems of security, well-being, and prosperity. But then, our entanglement destroys us, for it talks us out of neighbors love, out of genuine freedom, and destines us to the anxiety of competence and finally despair. That the source of life lies outside us and delivers us from being self-sufficient. The modern form of idolatry is finally autonomy, the sense that we live life on our own terms. That we, indeed, have both hands on the steering-wheel of our lives. But such autonomy is a lie; the truth lies in ADONAI. It was so for Jeremiah and the citizens of Judah and it is so now . . . for us.¹⁰³

Let Not the Wise Boast of Their Wisdom
9: 23-26

Let not the wise boast of their wisdom DIG: What is the only boast that has any legitimacy with God? What do the wise, the strong and the rich stand to lose from the invasion? What does it mean to boast of their wisdom, strength or riches? In whom should they boast? Was circumcision the sole practice of the Israelites? What kind of circumcision matters to ADONAI and why (Genesis 17:10; Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4 and 6:10)?

REFLECT: In what three things should we boast about? What kinds of things do people “boast” about today? Or take pride in? Even in circumcision, Judah had become like the surrounding Gentile countries. In what way is the universal Church today, made up of Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:14), indistinguishable from the rest of society? In what ways should believers be distinct from any other social group?

609 BC during the three-month reign of Jehoahaz

Some people have extraordinary intelligence, some have exceptional looks, and others have a phenomenal memory, incredible wealth, unbelievable strength, or amazing musical talent. Those who have these fantastic abilities might be tempted to think more highly of themselves than they should. But we don’t have to be wildly smart, strong or wealthy to want to take credit for our achievements. Anything we accomplish carries with it this question: Who gets the credit?

In this prose section there are two very different sayings that are placed back to back. They show two very different ways of life and are presented in contrasting triads. In the first triad the ways of self-sufficiency are condemned. This is what the LORD says: Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches (9:23). A person needs something to aim for in life, something to glory in. And it would be hard to update the biblical triad of the graven images mankind has erected. These things are not necessarily bad. In fact, they are good when they occupy the proper place in our lives. But when we glory in anything less than YHVH, that thing becomes a graven image, an evil. In the midst of concentrating on their own achievements and activities, Judean society had forgotten God.⁹⁸ In the last analysis, the trinity in which mankind glories; wisdom, strength, and riches, are shown to be unable to bring lasting joy and well-being.

The second triad, however, reflects a wholly different way of looking at things. They show a God who not only delights in these qualities but insists upon them. These are the only grounds for boasting. But let the one who boasts boast about this, that they have the understanding to know (Hebrew: yada) Me. The Hebrew word to know means being intimate friends, but has no exact equivalent in English. In an attempt to give definition to this beautiful but elusive concept, translators have used such terms as loyalty, covenant loyalty, loving-kindness, steadfast-love, unfailing devotion, merciful-love, mercy, etc. The distinction lies between knowing about YHVH and being in an extremely close relationship with Him, between intellectual knowledge and a dedication of the heart. When teaching on the greatest commandment, Yeshua said it this way: The most important is, “Sh’ma Yisra’el, ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, O Isra’el, the LORD our God, the LORD is one], and you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength” (Mark 12:29-30).

That I AM ADONAI: Who exercises chesed (see the commentary on Ruth, to see link click Af – The Concept of Chesed): In this context it means a loyal love to the covenants between God and Isra’el (see Af – Covenants of the TaNaKh). The word order is always important. Chesed or loving-kindness comes first before the other noble virtues. Rabbi Sha’ul develops somewhat the same thought: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing (First Corinthians 13:2-3). Chesed was a quality that YHVH might have expected to find to some degree in His people, but, unfortunately, was often lacking. The prophet Hosea in the previous century made the same point (Hosea 4:1 and 6, 5:4, 6:6 and 8:2-4).

And justice (Hebrew: mishpat): This establishes the rights of mankind, but at the same time establishes judgment and punishment for the wicked or the lawbreaker. It was important in society to establish a state of affairs where doing the right thing was encouraged and made possible. At times, this involved the protection of citizens from those who would harm them and in some cases deliverance from oppressions. YHVH as Judge sought out both the wrongdoer to restrain or punish, and the righteous to deliver and vindicate. God would perfectly establish the rights of everyone, that is, He would establish mishpat. This is exactly opposite of the worldly Egyptian concept of ma’at, where Pharaoh was supposed to be the chief judge and lawmaker (see the commentary on Exodus Bc – Pharaoh as god and upholder of Ma’at). Therefore, justice in this world can be fleeting, but justice during the thousand year reign of Christ (see the commentary on Revelation Fi – The Government of the Messianic Kingdom), will be permanent because Messiah Himself will be reigning and ruling from the Temple in Yerushalayim.

And righteousness (Hebrew: tsedaqah) on earth: This means righteous living in accordance with the social, legal, ethical and religious standards of the Torah. The people of Y’hudah were involved in many relationships – family, clan, nation, economic, social, political, and religious. Over and above all these lay the relationship offered by the LORD . . . that being a member of the covenant family. It was this that gave the deepest significance to life and thought. Where righteousness was obtained, justice was enjoyed and the claims of everyone in the covenant family were safeguarded. ADONAI looked for a similar quality from His people. A particular way of life was right and fitting for them. The norm was not merely social custom, but rather a reflection of the character and will of the God of the covenant. Nothing less was acceptable. YHVH’s ultimate purpose is that His righteousness should prevail over the world as well (see the commentary on Revelation Fh – The Dispensation of the Messianic Kingdom).⁹⁹

Therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord” (First Corinthians 1:31). Without the knowledge of God, human wisdom is futile. YHVH is contrasted with other gods who seek worldly wisdom, strength and riches. If ADONAI is committed to kindness, justice and righteousness, so should we be. There is a cause-and-effect relationship between the delights of God and His children. For in these I delight, declares the LORD (9:24).

The warning of an uncircumcised heart: God will eventually punish the circumcised Gentiles, but the emphasis here is the uncircumcised hearts of the Israelites. These nations that Jeremiah lists here did at different times in their various histories practice, to greater or lesser degree, physical circumcision (at least a class in their society would have practiced it). Judah, of course, generally practiced it. The days are coming, declares ADONAI. When Jeremiah (under the direction of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh) uses the phrase in the days to come; the days are coming; in those days; in that day, at that time; or for the time will surely come, the context points either to the near historical future or the far eschatological future and which one should be used. This is the fourth of twenty-five times that Yirmeyahu uses one of these phrases.

The days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh – Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places (apparently these nations practiced circumcision). Though physically circumcised, they are spiritually uncircumcised, their hearts being closed to the understanding and love of God and His teachings. For all the Gentile nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Isra’el is uncircumcised in heart (9:25-26). While all those Gentile nations at some point practiced physical circumcision, nevertheless, they had remained uncircumcised at heart. Unfortunately, so did Judah. This emphasized again that Judah had deteriorated to the same level as the Gentiles and were no more circumcised spiritually than they were. Because of this, judgment would come. So this was a near historical future prophecy about the destruction of Judah in 586 BC.

Who gets the credit in your life? You were created to give ADONAI the glory. If we allow praise to inflate our self-image, we forget that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father (James 1:17a). It is better to give God the glory – not only because it protects our hearts from pride but also because He rightfully deserves it. He is YHVH, the One who does great things . . . marvelous things without number (Job 5:9).¹⁰⁰

The Contrast Between ADONAI and False gods
9:23 to 10:25

Jehoahaz reigned only 3 months in 609 BC when Necho, Pharaoh of Egypt,
removed him (Second Kings 23:31-33; Second Chronicles 36:1-3).

In conjunction with the wickedness of the people (to see link click Bo – The Ruin of People Who Turn Away); here, Jeremiah describes the contrast between YHVH, who is committed to chased, justice and righteousness, and false gods who seek control, strength and riches. Why would anyone choose to worship an idol made out of wood and silver when they could worship the One true God? But tragically, that’s exactly what the Jews did. Consequently, the Israelites would be sent into exile (see Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule). Ha’Shem was in control all the way. Yirmeyahu, however, was heartbroken.

Bt – Let Not the Wise Boast of Their Wisdom (9:23-26)

Bu – These gods will Perish From the Earth, But the LORD is the True God (10:1-16)

Bv – At This Time I Will Hurl Out Those Who Live in This Land (10:17-25)

Jerusalem’s Fall and Exile Prophesied
9: 10-22

Jeremiah’s fall and exile prophesied DIG: Why did Jeremiah want to separate himself from his people, in spite of his sadness for them? What does the prophet weep over? What seems to bother Jeremiah the most about ADONAI bringing the Holy City to ruins? How does the LORD answer His prophet? Who are the wailing women? Why will this become a booming profession? In what sense is death the “grim reaper?” What do the wise, the strong and the rich stand to lose from the invasion?

REFLECT: What has been the great sadness in your life? How do others respond to your feelings of loss or sorrow? How has God treated you? Do you think He identifies with your trials and tribulations? Do you talk to Him about them? Does He care? How?

609 BC during the three-month reign of Jehoahaz
This near historical prophecy would be fulfilled in 586 BC

Jeremiah’s words are flung boldly in the face of every self-deceiving ideological claim. The words of the prophet work against every soothing patriot, every self-confident creed, and every ideological ploy. He doesn’t linger over Judah’s violations of the covenant. He is a pastor. His community can begin grieving because the dye of historical dismantling had been cast. None in Jerusalem would be able to avoid the catastrophe by their positive attitude or theological position. Everyone would be affected. All would suffer loss.

God’s judgment would not only come upon His people, but upon the Land that they had defiled. Jeremiah laments over his ravaged country where he grew up and knew so well. I will weep and wail for the mountains [of Jerusalem] and take up a lament concerning the wilderness grasslands. The Babylonians will carry out a scorched-earth policy. The hills and pastures on which the cattle grazed will become desolate and untraveled, and the lowing of cattle will not be heard. The birds will have all fled and the animals will be gone (9:10).

The LORD declared: I will make Tziyon a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals. Ruined cities that will be left as haunts for wild animals is common curse language.⁹⁴ And I will lay waste the towns of Judah so that no one (comparatively) can live there (9:11). There seems to be a strong link between national apostasy and natural disasters.

ADONAI issues a challenge to those who consider themselves wise, especially the false prophets that Jeremiah has to contend with. The inspired prophet responds in three parts. This verse, in a threefold question, may function as a rhetorical ploy, and asks, how can anyone make sense of what is happening: Who is wise enough to understand this? Can they explain the events that have occurred, since they had predicted the exact opposite (Hosea 14:9)? No. They cannot! Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it? And lastly, using hyperbole to overemphasize the point, he asks: Why has the Land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross (9:12)?

The answer is given in the next two verses. It is not all that difficult or complicated to understand. There are very good grounds for all of the destruction to come, and those grounds come from the Torah. To understand this astonishing threat, one need only ponder the main claims of the covenant that expose the false thinking of Jerusalem. But of course, Zion was incapable of pondering their covenant promises.

The reason for the indictment is given in three negatives and two positives. The negatives are because they have abandoned My Torah, which I set before them at Sinai; and neither listened to what I said nor lived accordingly (9:13 CJB). Sin gives birth to sin. The present generation was suffering, partly at least, through the evil heritage they had received from their former generations (Exodus 20:5). Simply put, they had abandoned the demands of the Torah. In Deuteronomy 6:4 Isra’el’s main responsibility is to listen. In Deuteronomy 13:4 Isra’el is to walk after . . . listen . . . cleave, which forms a nice contrast to the three verbs above. The problem for Jeremiah was that on all three counts, Y’hudah was unresponsive.⁹⁵

Two positives assert that instead, they have [hardened] their hearts; and they have practiced idol worship and followed the Ba’als’, as their ancestors taught them (9:14). It was for these three reasons that the devastation of verses 10 and 11 was about to come.

Therefore, the judgment is given. This is what ADONAI-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el says: See, I will make this people eat wormwood and drink poisoned water in the Land. Wormwood, which has a bitter taste and poisonous effects, is used as a metaphor for destruction (see the commentary on Revelation,to see link click Cy – The Third Trumpet: The Name of the Star is Wormwood) and sorrow (Lamentations 3:15). Here, this metaphor is applied to the false prophets. The combination of wormwood and poisoned water is a deadly brew. I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have wiped them out (9:15-16). The near historical fulfillment of this prophecy would occur with the destruction of Judah, Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar.

This is what ADONAI-Tzva’ot says: Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them. Professional mourners; they were generally women who followed the casket of the dead and lamented the death very mournfully (Matthew 9:23). Let them come quickly (Ezekiel 12:21-28) and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears and water streams from our eyelids. The sound of wailing song itself is heard from Tziyon, “How ruined we are! How great is our shame! We must leave our Land involuntarily because our houses are in ruins” (9:17-19).

But it is not merely that the professional mourners are called upon to sing their dirge. They are to teach their tragic refrain to their daughters and their friends, for the days will be tragic enough to demand a multitude of mourners.⁹⁶ Now, you women hear the word of ADONAI; open your ears to the words of His mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament (9:20). The feminine plural verbs used here are long, elaborate forms of the verb and take a long time to pronounce. Imagine the stiff old women told to hurry, hurry, hurry, but spoken very slowly.⁹⁷ God wants them to learn a new wailing song of lament.

This is God’s way of mimicking the religious system that brought them down to begin with. One of the legends of the god Ba’al was that he was planning on building a palace with no windows at all. But he was finally talked into having one window built (some god, eh?). Later in the story, another god named Mot (the god of death) entered through this one window of Ba’al’s palace and killed him. Afterwards, Ba’al was (surprise, surprise) resurrected! This was part of the worship and legend of Ba’al. So in a satire of the very legend they believed in, a new wailed song was declared: Death has climbed in through our windows (Isaiah 28:14-22; Hosea 13:14) and has entered our fortresses, but not to kill Ba’al – but the Israelites! Death has removed the children from the streets and the young men from the public squares. [Jeremiah], says: This is what the LORD declares, “Dead bodies will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather them” (9:21-22). Which was the ultimate disgrace. This passage, which started at 8:13 and concluded here, is the Haftarah on the ninth of Av (see Gb – The Destruction of Solomon’s Temple on Tisha B’Av in 586 BC).

Since My People are Crushed, I am Crushed,
I Mourn and Horror Grips Me
8:18 to 9:9

Ssince my people are crushed, I am crushed, I mourn and horror grips me DIG: How does Jeremiah feel about the coming invasion? What are their tongues capable of (9:3, 8)? In what situations does deception prove effective? What seems to bother him the most? Where does he hope to find healing (46:11 and 51:8)? Does his fountain of tears seem genuine to you, or is it for show? Having wept continually, what does Yirmeyahu want to do now? Why?

REFLECT: Jeremiah’s theological dilemma didn’t stop him from following ADONAI, but did give him pause to consider what YHVH was up to. What are some of the questions about God that puzzle or trouble you? How do you deal with not knowing?

609 BC during the three-month reign of Jehoahaz
This near historical prophecy would be fulfilled in 586 BC

Yirmeyahu was never a dispassionate observer of his nation’s suffering, but entered into the anguish of the people and suffered with them. Jeremiah writes the words but the sadness cannot belong to him alone. Here we see the wounded heart of the LORD. But He will not violate the free will of His beloved. The pain, however, is profound.

Jeremiah the weeping prophet: The devastation of the Land is beyond comfort. You who are my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me (8:18). The weeping prophet felt like he was dying. What hurt even more is that he seemed to be able to hear Judah’s desperate cries: Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away (Jeremiah anticipates the captivity, as though it had already taken place).

The sadness of the poem is derived from the cynical indifference of Y’hudah that continues with “business as usual” in the face of the impending invasion. The people here are quoted as presuming and insisting that YHVH must be present. Is ADONAI not in Zion? Is her King no longer there (8:19)? After all, it is God’s business to be present, and it is Zion’s claim that God is present (Exodus 17:7; Micah 3:11). The people are so cynical as not to notice that the Temple claims are dead and have failed (to see link click Cb – Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon). The Sh’khinah glory had already departed from the Temple (Ezeki’el 10:1-11:23) so the prayers offered there were made to an empty promise and nullified claim.⁹¹

All hope had passed. Nothing would work now except radical repentance, but repentance seemed to be in the rear view mirror. It would appear that we have here a popular proverb used in daily life when people encountered a hopeless situation from which no deliverance or escape seemed possible: The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved. Jeremiah suffered vicariously for his people. Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me (8:20-21). Although his prophecies had not yet been fulfilled . . . he knew it was just a matter of time before they would be. Judah’s spiritual adultery immobilized the very power of ADONAI to save her.

In these verses, God, the power that now refuses to save without repentance, is driven from rage to painful nostalgia. Perhaps somewhere other than in Jerusalem, perhaps in Gilead, outside the normal range of royal influence, there is a cure. Is there no balm in Gilead? This balm was used as an ointment (51:8 and 46:11), and Gilead was the main producer of this ointment. In fact, the caravan of Ishmaelites who took the young Joseph down to Egypt was carrying balm from Gilead (37:25b). Jeremiah pictured the people of Judah as having passed by one opportunity after another to repent of their rebellious ways and so be delivered from the coming judgment.⁹² From their perspective all hope was gone. Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people (8:22)? But the question remained unanswered. Their spiritual sickness had reached a fatal level for which there was no cure (Second Chronicles 36). The sickness was too deep. The idolatry was too pervasive. Y’hudah refused the medicine that was available to her.⁹³

Jeremiah’s revulsion at Isra’el’s corruption: No matter how deeply Yirmeyahu may have felt about Y’hudah’s impending doom, he never attempted to hide the people’s great sin. Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. Jeremiah doesn’t know what to do about this. He is beside himself. Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people (the word people here means an assembly, usually used for religious purposes) and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people (9:1-2). Though desolate and dreary, it would be far better than the City with its vices, which the prophet proceeds to list:

Then Jeremiah deals with their corruption. They bend their tongue like a bow to shoot lies, they triumph in the Land, but not for truth. They use flattering speech or menacing words, whichever serves their deceitful purpose best. They sought to obtain power, but not to promote law and justice. Every rung on their ladder of success is evil and treachery. They go from one sin to another. The real cause of their wickedness is their lack of faith, and the fact that they do not acknowledge Me, declares the LORD (9:3).

Beware of your friends; do not trust anyone in your clan. For every one of them is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer. The dominant modes of communication were slander and deception. The fabric of their society had collapsed: Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. When people turn their backs on God, the loss of human dignity follows quickly and surely. You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge Me, declares ADONAI (9:4-6). They had hardened their hearts, and for that reason judgment had to come. Their judgment was greater because their “light” was greater; greater “light,” greater responsibility, greater judgment for sin. To whom much is given . . . much is required.

Reverting to a metaphor Jeremiah had used before in 6:27-30, the prophet takes up the picture of a refining fire. Perhaps it would succeed where all else had failed. Therefore this is what ADONAI-Tzva’ot says: See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of My people (9:7)? I have no other choice, says God. I cannot leave them in their sin for they were intended to be a holy people; nor can I utterly destroy them, for they are My people. So I must refine them thru the tribulation of suffering. Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them (9:8).

Should I not punish them for this? declares YHVH. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this (9:9, also see 5:9 and 5:29)? Judah had deteriorated to a pagan Gentile status. A nation that exploits such loving kindness as ADONAI had shown Y’hudah could not remain unpunished (Amos 2:9-3:2). Yet the ultimate purpose of His penalty was not the utter destruction of His people, but their purification, as silver is purified by fire. What amazing grace.

I Will Take Away Their Harvest,
There Will Be No Grapes on the Vine
8: 4-17

I will take away their harvest, there will be no grapes on the vine DIG: Why is God amazed by the people of Zion? What negative action do they cling to? How are even the birds smarter than they? Who managed to turn the Torah into falsehood? What had they done to deceive the people? What were their motives? How will Ha’Shem punish them? Is 8:13 a physical threat, a reflection of their spiritual condition, or both? How would you describe the people’s feelings about the coming invasion? What was the cry of the people in the face of the LORD’s judgment?

REFLECT: God’s chosen were stubborn people at times. What are some of the ways you’ve been stubborn in your relationships that causes that stubbornness? What are some steps you can take to overcome a tendency to be stubborn toward Him? What “social sins” prevail today, as in Jeremiah’s day? What other parallels do you see between the people and the leadership of Judah and those of your country? How do you respond to them? What biblical principles do people reject today? How do you respond to this rejection? Upon what human institutions do people pin their hopes for “peace now?” What might Jeremiah say to them today?

609 BC during the three-month reign of Jehoahaz
This near historical prophecy would be fulfilled in 586 BC

Judah’s life consisted of turning away (shuwb) from ADONAI, who is the only One who can give life. Jeremiah’s analysis leads to the thin hope that Y’hudah may turn back (shuwb) to life and avoid the destruction already decreed by Ha’Shem (see my commentary on Jonah, to see link click Ax– The Ninevites Believed in God). Turning away is not only disobedient, but unnatural, violating the true character of the Israelites. The LORD asked a series of questions exposing the stubbornness of His people.

Continuing to turn away: [Jeremiah] said to them, “This is what ADONAI says,” When people fall down, do they not get up? When someone turns away (shuwb), do they not return (shuwb)? The point is that Y’hudah’s turning away was unnatural because one naturally gets up after falling. One naturally returns home after going out for the day. But not so with Judah, her turning is continuous. Why then have these people turned away (shuwb)? Why is Jerusalem continually guilty of apostasy (from shuwb)? They cling to their deceit; they refuse to return (shuwb) (8:4-5). She continued to turn away with brazenness and in her stubbornness refused to return to the lighted path of the Torah.

The metaphor of fickleness as an unnatural act is explored by comparing the actions of the people of Judah with other creatures of God (Isaiah 1:2-3). I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness (Hebrew: ra’), saying: What have I done? Everyone turns (shuwb) to his or her own way like a horse charging into battle (8:6). As a horse rushes headlong into battle, not thinking that it will lead to its destruction, so do the Israelites rush thoughtlessly on their course of destruction, sinning and turning away from the LORD. As ADONAI and Jeremiah observe the situation, they see no repentance. The people of Judah hurl themselves headlong over the cliff to destruction.

Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of the migration. Instinctively migratory birds know the times of their coming and going; which are the natural laws of their species; yet the people of God, though being able to reason, do not know the decrees of ADONAI that are the natural law of their existence. But My people do not know (Hebrew: yada) the requirements of the LORD (8:7). The verb to know carries a deeper significance than that of intellectual knowledge. There is something of personal commitment at the emotional and volitional level as well. But even nature observes natural law, but Judah does not. That which should have been natural had become unnatural. Then Jeremiah becomes more specific.

The rejection of the Torah: Judah felt superior in her wisdom to other nations because she had the Torah. Here Jeremiah elaborates on the last part of verse 7, that the people did not know the requirements of the LORD, meaning they had rejected the Torah. Despite this, however, they objected, saying, “How can you say that! We are wise, ADONAI’s Torah is with us.” But the truth was that the lying pen of the scribes has turned the Torah into a lie (8:8 CJB). The school of the scribes in that day went through the Torah and interpreted it to their own liking, permitting that which was forbidden and forbidding that which was permitted. They wrote things that were false as though it came from Torah itself, and were teaching it to the people. The Levites were not faithful in teaching the Scriptures and were some of Jeremiah’s worst enemies.

The contrast is now sharply drawn. Therefore, in reality, those who claim to be wise are put to shame. They are alarmed and feel entrapped because, snared by their foolishness, they have actually rejected the word of ADONAI. So they ask rhetorically: What kind of wisdom is this you have (8:9 CJB)? No “wisdom” can be truly wise when its source rejects the Word of God. And because they had disobeyed and rejected Torah as it was passed down to them and accepted the false interpretation made by the Scribes, their wives will be passed to other men and their fields to new owners. There were four reasons why they would suffer in this manner: From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.

The leaders were treating the nation’s sin lightly . . . they would dress the wound of My people as though it were not serious when in fact it was terminal. Their false prophecies led to false security. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. After being caught practicing idolatry, are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush because their consciences had been seared as with a hot iron (First Timothy 4:2). So this was the reason for their judgment. They will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD (8:10-12).

The horror of the coming doom: I will take away their harvest, declares ADONAI. There will be such utter destruction that there will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them (8:13). In 2:21 Jeremiah described Isra’el as a choice vine that turned into a corrupt, wild vine. In 6:9 the remnant of Y’hudah is described as being picked over again and again as when a harvester checks each vine several times to pick the grapes that were missed. Now here in 8:13 this vine is completely fruitless. In the last analysis, the material blessings that Ha’Shem had given her as reflected in the Torah for obedience will be removed because of her disobedience. This passage, starting with this verse and continuing to 9:23, is the Haftarah on the ninth of Av (see Gb – The Destruction of Solomon’s Temple on Tisha B’Av in 586 BC).

Here Jeremiah quotes what the people will say when the Babylonians are at the gate of Jerusalem. Why are we sitting here? Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there! For the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against Him. By the time they realized this – judgment would already be at their door. The promises of false prophets proved to be false indeed. We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror because the Babylonians would fill the Land (8:14-15).

In his near historical prophecy, Jeremiah sees the invasion begin in earnest. The snorting of the enemy’s horses is heard from Dan; at the neighing of their stallions the whole Land trembles. Dan is the furthest point in the northern kingdom of Isra’el. She is always invaded from the north because of the geography. Still no specific nation is mentioned at this point, although the readers of Jeremiah were all too aware it had been Babylon. The judgment was inescapable. They have come to devour the Land and everything in it, the City and all who live there. See, I will send venomous snakes among you, descriptive of the invading army, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you, declares ADONAI (8:16-17).

The Ruin of People Who Turn Away
8:4 to 9:22

This small section continues the book’s proclamation of judgment on Y’hudah and Tziyon. It is similar to the collection of oracles in Chapters 4 to 6. These oracles function as witnesses to the prophetic preaching that was ignored by the people. In a poignant dialogical style, Yirmeyahu expresses his sorrow and frustration for his people and his City.

to see link click Bp – I Will Take Away Their Harvest, There Will Be No Grapes on the Vine (8:4-17)

Bq – Since My People are Crushed, I am Crushed, and Horror Grips Me (8:18 to 9:9)

Br – Jerusalem’s Fall and Exile Prophesied (9:10-22)

No Balm in Gilead
8:4 to 10:25

Jehoahaz reigned only 3 months in 609 BC when Necho, Pharaoh of Egypt, removed him (Second Kings 23:31-33; 2 Chronicles 36:1-3). Even though Pharaoh Necho deposed Jehoahaz these far historical prophecies given by Jeremiah concern the final invasion by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians twenty-three years later in 586 BC.

This section contains some of the most poignant imagery in Jeremiah. The Jewish people and their City are described as on their way to death because of their refusal to be faithful to YHVH. The two formal elements of the lawsuit, indictment and sentence, are at the heart of the prophet’s message. Judah, not ADONAI, had abandoned the covenant. As a result, judgment will come, either from invasion, destruction and death, or exile. This central theme is woven in a variety of ways. A counter theme to the lawsuit of guilt and judgment is the expression of grief that is felt by Jeremiah himself, and of course, by God.

Jehoahaz Ruled For 3 Months in 609 BC

Josiah was killed in a battle with Egypt by Pharaoh Necho II on the plain of Megiddo in 609 BC (Second Kings 23:29-30; Second Chronicles 35:20-35). The people then chose Jehoahaz, Josiah’s fourth son, who was only 23 years old, as the new king of Judah. His throne name was Jehoahaz (meaning ADONAI seizes), but his personal name was Shallum (First Chronicles 3:15). Opposed to his righteous father, He was an evil king.

Another important event happened that same year. The last Assyrian king, Ashur-uballit II, was defeated in Harran by the Babylonians. So while Assyria was still in existence, her authority and influence in the holy land was non existent. This began seventy years of Babylonian domination until 539 BC when the Persian king, Cyrus the Great, captured Babylon without a fight and executed the Babylonian king Belshazzar (Dani’el 5:1-31 and Second Chronicles 36:20-23).

The international scene helps us understand the events in Y’hudah. The last Assyrian King Ashur-uballit II refused to submit to the Babylonians. Consequently, his capital city of Nineveh had been overrun in 612 BC and the Assyrians were forced to move their capital Harran. In 610 BC the Babylonian king Nabopolassar also conquered Harran. Evidently recognizing the danger of the Babylonian advance, Pharaoh Necho II marched his large Egyptian army towards Harran in 609 BC to support the remaining Assyrian forces in a last ditch attempt to retake the lost territory of his ally. Moving north, He quickly assumed control of Syria-Palestine and set up headquarters at Riblah. Necho II then called Jehoahaz to meet him there, but removed him from the throne and sent him in chains back to Egypt (Second Kings 23:31-35; Second Chronicles 36:1-4; to see link click By – Concerning Shallum, Otherwise Known as King Jehoahaz). Once Pharaoh’s army reached Harran, however, it was driven back by general Nebuchadnezzar. Once Egypt retreated, Assyria had no more allies and her dominance in the holy land was over. Babylon was the new power to be reckoned with and seventy years of Babylonian dominance over Judah had begun (see Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule).

609 BC Defeat of the Assyrian Empire by General Nebuchadnezzar, minus the 539 BC Defeat of the Babylonian Empire by Cyrus the Great, equals70 years of Babylonian domination

How Can You Run with the Horses?
12: 5-17

How can you run with the horses? DIG: What is the point of the comparison in verses 5 and 6? What comfort can Jeremiah take in that? What is God’s warning to Judah? How does the prophet feel? How is this an answer for Yirmeyahu? What is ADONAI’s warning to Judah’s wicked neighbors? What Good News do you see here for the exiles, both Jewish and Gentile (compare to Isaiah 2:2-4 and 56:6-7)? What about the Gentile nations that occupied Judah after the exile? What will determine how God treats them?

REFLECT: What was God’s response to Jeremiah’s complaint? What would our life be like if God instantly punished every sin? Are you on foot running with the horses? Or, are you stumbling in safe country? How do you prepare for tougher times? Who can assist you? To whom would you turn?

At the end of Josiah’s reign

In the tradition of Job, ADONAI’s reply to Jeremiah’s complaint (to see link click Bk – Why Does the Way of the Wicked Prosper? Why Do All the Faithless Live at Ease?) began with a question designed to strengthen the prophet for the more difficult burdens he will have to bear in the future. This is presented in different ways by a series of metaphors, the first one being athletic prowess: If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete (Hebrew: charah) or run with the horses? If you stumble in safe country (if you lack security during these peaceful days), how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan (12:5)? This refers to a narrow strip of land on both sides of the Jordan River that have heavy brush. It was also a place where wild animals lived, especially lions (Jeremiah 49:19, 50:44; Zechariah 11:3). If you think it’s bad now, how are you going to react when Nebuchadnezzar and his army arrive? If the LORD’s response to the conspiracy at Anathoth (see Bj – The Plot Against Jeremiah) was reassuring, His response to Jeremiah here is alarming. ADONAI was telling him through this metaphor that because the prophet is God’s mouthpiece he would suffer even more plots against his life. This was only the beginning!

Yirmeyahu’s response should now be not to question God, but to remain faithful. The prophet needed to remember what he himself had said earlier: You are always righteous, ADONAI, when I bring a case before You (12:1). God’s righteousness would work itself out, not by Jeremiah’s timetable (or ours) but in His perfect timing. God is never late.

Though weary then, Yirmeyahu would become wearier still, and YHVH simply told him what he probably already knew: It was not only the men of your village who are after you, no, your relatives, members of your own family – even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Though they speak well of you to your face, they plot against you behind your back. Do not trust them (12:6).

Using the second metaphor of a house or inheritance, YHVH laments over His looming judgment over Y’hudah. I will forsake My house, abandon My inheritance (12:7a). Isra’el is the inheritance of ADONAI (Deuteronomy 4:20 and 9:26). The word that stands out here is inheritance (verses 8, 9 and 14). This is what makes the upcoming destruction of Judah so terrible to ADONAI. It is His inheritance, His heritage, His legacy, and His house [Temple] that will be torn down. It is what He shares with His people. I will give the one I love [beloved] into the hands of her enemies (12:7b). This emphasizes the relationship of Isra’el to God as His wife (Jeremiah 3:14; Hosea 2:16-22).

The metaphor changes: My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest. She roars in defiance at Me; therefore, I hate her (12:8). The Targum reads, “I expel her,” so as not to conflict with the one I love of the preceding verse. But the clause means that God will treat the nation as though she were the object of His hate. Ha’Shem likens the open hostility of the people towards Himself to the angry roar and fierce attack of a lion raging in the forest. ADONAI therefore withdraws, and leaves it as some savage beast to the solitude that it has created for itself.

Another metaphor: Has not My inheritance become to Me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack? A gaudily colored bird of prey appears in a flock of other birds of prey, which attack her and mutilate her. Those nations that the highly favored and beautiful Jewish nation mingled against God’s will, shall now attack her and pluck her to pieces. From near and far her enemies will come, the wild beasts of the field (Babylon and her satellites) will devour what remains (12:9).

False shepherds are used for God’s fifth metaphor. The LORD declares: Many false shepherds will ruin My vineyard (see the commentary on Isaiah Ba – The Song of the Vineyard) and trample down My field; they will turn My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland. The emphasis is on the guilt of the leadership of the Temple for destroying God’s vineyard. This is a common motif in the TaNaKh. Therefore, God’s judgment will come. [Judah] will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before Me; the whole Land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares to obey ADONAI (12:10-11).

Over all the barren heights in the desert destroyers [the Gentiles] will swarm, for the sword of ADONAI will devour from one end of the Land to the other; no one will be safe. The Israelites will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. They will bear the shame of their harvest because of the LORD’s fierce anger (12:12-13). The verbs are in the prophetic future. It was as if this had already taken place. They will be judged as a result of a self-inflicted wound . . . the worshiping of idols. The people of Judah would be shamed when their harvest of idols cannot protect them when judgment strikes.

Although these Gentile nations were God’s instruments for the execution of His purpose, they would be punished for destroying Isra’el. Their punishment will only be temporary if they repent (shuwb), but permanent if they persist in their evil ways. Exactly the same prospect is held out to Isra’el in the Bible since God is an impartial Judge (Acts 10:34). From this it may be seen how false the interpretation of “chosen people,” applied to Isra’el, as “favored people.”

Then the word of the LORD came regarding the [Gentile] nations. This is what ADONAI says: As for all my wicked neighbors (the Egyptians, Assyrians, Edomites, Moabites, Amorites, Arameans and Babylonians) who seize the inheritance I gave My people, I will uproot them from their lands (12:14a). Their sin was that they had touched the Land that God had intended for Judah. As soon as she was taken into exile, the Samaritans, the Edomites, the Moabites and Amorites began settling in the vacated Jewish territory.

And I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. Although enjoyment of the Land was conditional on obedience, ownership of it was not. But after I uproot them, I will return (shuwb) and have compassion and will bring each of them back (shuwb) to their own inheritance and their own country (12:14b-15). This is not only a picture of their return from Babylon, but also their final restoration in the messianic Kingdom.

And if they learn well the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying: As surely as the LORD lives – even as they once taught My people to swear to Ba’al (12:16a). The Gentiles that occupy Judah after the exile will receive blessings for obedience if they learn the ways of the Jewish people, which involved swearing by God’s name (to be in submission to Him because in the past they had sworn to Ba’al’s name showing submission to him). Zechariah 8:23 develops this theme even more than Jeremiah. Also in Zechariah 14:16-19, the prophet describes during the messianic Kingdom, the Gentiles will be obligated to observe the Feast of Sukkot. If they obey, they will be blessed. If they disobey, God will curse their land with a drought. Then they will be built up, or established among My people (12:16b).

But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it, declares ADONAI (12:17). Rejection of God’s sovereignty whether by Judah or by any other nation could only end in disaster. Not even Y’hudah, the beloved of YHVH, could escape that fate.

Eugene Peterson portrayed Vitezslav Gardavsky very elegantly in his book Run With the Horses. The Czech philosopher and martyr who died in 1978, took Jeremiah as his “image of man” in his campaign against a society that carefully planned every detail of material existence but eliminated mystery and miracle, and squeezed all the freedom out of life. The terrible threat against life, he said in his book God Is Not Yet Dead, is not death, nor pain, nor any variation on the disasters that we so obsessively try to protect ourselves against with our social systems and personal strategies. The terrible threat is “that we might die earlier than we really do die, before death has become a natural necessity. The real horror lies in just such a premature death, a death after which we go on living for many years.”

In this 12:5-17 we see Jeremiah worn down by the opposition and absorbed in self-pity, he was about to give-in to such a premature death. He was ready to abandon his unique calling by YHVH and settle for merely being a Yerushalayim statistic. And at that critical moment he heard the reprimand: If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you [compete] or run with the horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan (12:5)? Biochemist Erwin Chargaff updates the questions: “What do you want to achieve? Greater riches? Cheaper chicken? A happier life, a longer life? Is it power over your neighbors that you are after? Are you only running away from your death? Or are you seeking greater wisdom, deeper piety?”

Life is hard, Jeremiah. Are you going to quit when things get tough? Are you going to retreat when you find that there is more to life than finding three meals a day and a dry place to sleep at night? Are you going to run home the minute you find that the mass of men and women are more interested in keeping their feet warm than in living at risk to the glory of God? Are you going to live cautiously or courageously? I called you to live at your best, to pursue righteousness, to sustain a drive toward excellence. It is easier, I know, to be neurotic. It is easier to be parasitic. It is easier to relax in the embracing arms of the Avenger. Easier, but not better. Easier, but not more significant. Easier, but not more fulfilling. I called you to a life of purpose far beyond what you think of yourself capable of living and promised you adequate strength to fulfill your destiny. Now when opposition raises its ugly head you are ready to quit. If you are fatigued by this run-of-the-mill crowd of apathetic mediocrity, what will you do when the real race starts, the race of the swift and determined horses of excellence? What is it you really want, Yirmeyahu, do you want to shuffle along with this crowd, or run with the horses?

It is understandable that there are retreats from excellence, veerings away from risk, and withdrawals from faith. It is easier to define oneself minimally and live within that definition than to be defined maximally and live adventurously in that reality. It is unlikely, I think, that Jeremiah was quick to respond to ADONAI’s question. The ecstatic ideals for a new life had been splattered with the world’s cynicism. The euphoric drive of his youthful enthusiasm no longer carried him. He weighed his options. He counted the cost. He tossed and turned in hesitation. The response, when it came, was not verbal but biographical. His life became the answer: I’ll run with the horses!⁹⁰

Why Does the Way of the Wicked Prosper?
Why Do the Faithless Live at Ease?
Jeremiah’s Third Complaint
12: 1-4

Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do the faithless live at ease? DIG: How was Jeremiah’s theological dilemma similar to the problem of wicked people that believers have wrestled with throughout the ages? What is Jeremiah’s main point of contention with God? What does the prophet want ADONAI to do? Why is Yirmeyahu so brutal? Why are the faithless so carefree? Was this a crisis of faith for Jeremiah? Why or why not? How did he ultimately respond to the situation?

REFLECT: Have you ever felt the unfairness of life as keenly as Jeremiah? In your experience, have the wicked prospered? Has this thought ever crossed your mind? How so? Why does Ha’Shem delay in executing justice? Do you believe that evil will ultimately be punished (Revelation 20:11-12)? Have you ever complained to God as honestly as the prophet did?

At the end of Josiah’s reign

Famous people arouse curiosity. What are they like on the inside? What do they do when they aren’t being watched? What goes on in their private lives? Our appetite for gossip, for confessions, for inside information never ends. For every person who reads the front page story on a politician’s speech there are twenty who will read the gossip column that describe in delicious detail his companion at dinner the night before. We want, we say, to know what the person is really like. We are not content with the public image, the outer event, the external happening. We pounce on any detail, however insignificant, that might reveal what goes on behind the closed door of the heart.

What was Jeremiah really like? What did he do when he was alone? When no one was watching, how did he conduct himself? Where there was no audience to address, how did he act? What did the prophet do when he was not staging confrontations with the religious leaders? What did Yirmeyahu do when he was not standing the people on their ears with his thundering prophecies? What did he do when he wasn’t colliding with Temple officials and upsetting the status quo? What did he do when he was not making headlines?

There is a single, clear, straightforward answer to these questions: he prayed. Sometimes during those prayers he complained, but they were prayers full of frustration and emotion. There are seven passages in the book of Jeremiah labeled complaints or confessions: (1) to see link click Ax – Oh, Adonai ELOHIM, Surely You Have Deceived This People; (2) Bj – The Plot Against Jeremiah; (3) Bk – Why Does the Way of the Wicked Prosper? Why Do All the Faithless Live at Ease?; (4) Cm – Woe to Me, Mother, That You Gave Me Birth; (5) Cs – Heal Me ADONAI, and I Will Be Healed, Save Me and I Will Be Saved; (6) Cx – Jeremiah’s Response to a Threat Against His Life; and (7) Db – You Deceived Me, LORD, and I Have Been Deceived. In each of these Yirmeyahu speaks in the first person. He opens his heart. He reveals what is going on inside while the fireworks are going off outside. We hold our breath on the brink of these most private revelations. We have so often been disappointed, even disillusioned, when we have gained access to the diaries, letters, tapes of great and admired people. How many public reputations could survive a thorough investigation of the inner life? Could you?

Jeremiah’s inner life is revealed in these confessions/complaints/prayers . . . but we are not surprised or disillusioned. When the priest from Anathoth was out of the public’s eye he was passionate with God. He confessed/complained/prayed like we all do. This was his secret life. This was a man of prayer.⁸⁵

Jeremiah’s complaint: After the plot against Yirmeyahu was revealed (see Bj – The Plot Against Jeremiah), the prophet reflected on his own ministry and on the meaning of human existence in general. He started by saying: You are always righteous, ADONAI, when I bring a case before You. Yet I would speak with you about Your justice. The prophet’s complaint begins with the age-old question: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease (12:1)? Jeremiah acknowledges God’s righteousness. But he sees certain inconsistencies in the Land in spite of His righteousness. There are still some questions he needs some answers to. How can the justice of ADONAI permit such obvious injustice (see Psalms 37 and 73 for the answer)? Since evil continues to exist, it is obvious either YHVH cannot or will not do away with it. If He cannot, He is not all-powerful. If He will not, He is not supremely good. Like Yirmeyahu, we all struggle with such antinomies. Since the sovereignty of God and the free will of human beings are both true, they must remain in paradoxical tension.

Philosophical dualism is not the answer, since the end is not in dispute: righteousness will ultimately win the victory and overcome the world. In the meantime, our small peephole will keep us from clearly seeing the big picture, and we will continue to look for better – if only partial – answers (for example, that the patience and mercy of God give the evildoer time to repent). Perhaps we can learn to rest in the realization that although we may not understand, it should be enough for us to know that our loving heavenly Father understands.⁸⁶

Yirmeyahu makes an accusation against God that anticipates action. It is YHVH who causes the unjust to prosper: You have planted these wicked people, and they have taken root; they grow and bear wicked fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts (12:2). The prophet wasn’t talking about the Gentiles, but members of his own people, who constantly used God’s name. Hearing them speak, one should think that they were close to God. Yet their knowledge of the LORD goes no further than their mouth. Their knowledge is not living knowledge. It is a matter of intellect, the mind, and the mouth.⁸⁷ Their simulated piety was sheer hypocrisy. But yet they are granted continued blessings and success!

The prophet is contrasting his situation with the one so confidently portrayed in the very first psalm. Blessed is the one who does not walk in the step with the wicked or stand in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in ADONAI’s Torah, and who meditates on His Torah day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For ADONAI watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction (Psalm 1:1-6).

But Jeremiah’s experience is the opposite of this. It is the wicked that seem like they are planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season. Who are these wicked people and what is their motive? His relatives in Anathoth were probably just the tip of the iceberg (12:6). The whole culture of Judah was corrupt. The pro-Egyptian faction of the government continued to think that Egypt could be an ally against Babylon while maintaining their positions of power and authority. Then there were the false prophets who said that Babylon would be defeated because God would intervene just like He did in the days of Hezekiah. Comfortable in their false confidence and encouraged by false prophets, the leaders lived in a fool’s paradise, certain nothing would happen to them or their City. After all, they were up to their eyebrows in sin. What could go wrong?

Yet you know me, LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Continuing his complaint against his enemies with dogged persistence, Jeremiah pleads with God to drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter (12:3)! This was an impassioned plea for the destruction of his persecutors, the men of Anathoth. On the one hand, it raises moral question; but even the prophets, though fully dedicated to YHVH, are portrayed as human beings with their common weaknesses and failings. In his anguish at discovering that his own townspeople, even his own family (12:6), desired his death, Yirmeyahu gave way to his outraged feelings and prayed for their complete destruction.

Since they had refused to be set apart for the LORD’s glory, they should be set apart for the LORD’s wrath.⁸⁸ The persecutors who would seek to harm Jeremiah were really seeking to harm God. The hour called for a display of YHVH’s sovereignty over those who persecuted His servant. It was not the case of a petty vendetta waged against Yirmeyahu’s persecutors, but rather a display of HaShem’s positive action to restrain the evildoers and to enable His servant to continue the task to which the LORD had called him. It was, after all, for God’s sake that the prophet suffered the rejection of his persecutors . . . There is a boldness about such words that only those in a very close relationship with the Almighty may show.⁸⁹ The implication of his prayer is that Ha’Shem should be destroying the wicked. But instead, he was suffering!

And because God has permitted these wicked ones to remain, the result is that the Land also suffers judgment. How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished (12:4a). Ha’Shem brought judgment upon the nation because of the wickedness of the people in general, but specifically the wickedness of the rulers. But from Yirmeyahu’s point of view it was ADONAI who had put the rulers in their position of power. As if He intended to do so to have a reason to destroy the Land. Pretty bold accusation.

The LORD had judged the nation because of the sins of the wicked, but the righteous of the TaNaKh also suffered in this judgment. The prophet was not contradicting what he had just said about the prosperity of the wicked in 12:1. The thought is probably that even in times of difficulty the wicked seemed to come through better than the righteous. YHVH had sent a drought to judge the nation (14:1-6) so that the land was parched and the grass was withered. Yet the wicked people refused to acknowledge Ha’Shem’s hand of judgment. They believed that God was indifferent to their sin. Moreover, the people are saying: He will not see what happens to us (12:4b).

It was as if the prophet’s own brothers and family (12:6) were saying, “Jeremiah will not see us die because we intend to kill him first.” Or they ridiculed the idea that Yirmeyahu’s prophecies would actually be fulfilled, saying, “Jeremiah will not see our end because his stupid prophecies will never really be fulfilled.” On the one hand they didn’t think they had anything to worry about, but on the other hand Jeremiah’s complaint ends with the implication that ADONAI was indifferent to their wicked plans.

The Plot Against Jeremiah
Jeremiah’s Second Complaint
11: 18-23

The plot against Jeremiah DIG: Jeremiah helped Josiah close local shrines. Does this sit well in the prophet’s hometown of Anathoth? Why did the men of Anathoth listen to the false prophets? Why does this distress him (12:2)? How did he discover the plot? Why did it take him so long to realize that he was in danger? Why do you think that the plot was revealed?

REFLECT: How would you feel if a family member plotted to kill you? Jesus also had a “bad homecoming” (Matthew 13:54-58; Mark 6:1-6a). Has obeying YHVH ever alienated you from those closest to you? Did you feel betrayed? How did you handle it? Are you comfortable with God seeking vengeance? What would you request if you were Yirmeyahu?

At the end of Josiah’s reign

When viewed historically, the prophet from Anathoth can be demonstrated to have handed down to us the fullest account, by far, of a prophet’s life and character to be found anywhere in Scripture. Therefore, our attention is focused on the seven so-called “complaints or confessions” of Jeremiah (1) to see link click Ax – Oh, Adonai ELOHIM, Surely You Have Deceived This People; (2) Bj – The Plot Against Jeremiah; (3) Bk – Why Does the Way of the Wicked Prosper? Why Do All the Faithless Live at Ease?; (4) Cm – Woe to Me, Mother, That You Gave Me Birth; (5) Cs – Heal Me ADONAI, and I Will Be Healed, Save Me and I Will Be Saved; (6) Cx – Jeremiah’s Response to a Threat Against His Life; and (7) Db – You Deceived Me, LORD, and I Have Been Deceived.

We observe that the “complaints” of Yirmeyahu are not merely laments, as we might expect from such a naturally timid man. Jeremiah, often called the “weeping prophet,” might in fact better be called the “groaning prophet,” or perhaps better still, the “screaming prophet.” His confessions were complaints, even accusations as charges brought in a lawsuit. Although Jeremiah was timid at the time of his call, ADONAI caused him to become a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land of Judah (Jeremiah 1:18). That strength of character shows up in various ways in Jeremiah’s confessions, and in the prophets’ complaints.

A subtly different metaphor may be implied by the name Jeremiah itself, which means something like ADONAI hurls, or launches. Yirmeyahu was the world’s first guided missile, aimed by God at specific targets and with pinpoint accuracy. His ministry was successful (from YHVH’s standpoint at least), a fact that not only provoked retaliation from the prophet’s enemies but also provided additional ammunition for his complaints and confessions. His sense of freedom in “talking back” to God is similar in many respects to that of Moshe (Numbers 11:11-15), in whose prophetic tradition Jeremiah found himself.⁸²

Jeremiah’s complaint: God revealed to Jeremiah a plot against his life. This information comes suddenly, and we must wait until 11:21 before the picture is complete. Nor are we informed how YHVH made it known to him. A sympathetic relative who brought the news very well may have been the LORD’s informant. Only then did he see what they were doing (11:18). This marks the first, but not the last, plot against Jeremiah’s life.

Believers of a later age saw this description, a gentle lamb led to the slaughter, as a picture of the betrayal of Messiah (Acts 8:32). The words also remind us of Isaiah 53:7. It seemed to Yirmeyahu that that his relationship to the men of Anathoth was that of a gentle lamb that was completely trusting and unaware of the intentions of its owner as he was led to the slaughter. The verse suggests that he was probably aware of some schemes afoot in the village, but could not imagine that they were plotting his demise.

I did not realize that they had plotted against me, and quoting the words of his enemies: Let us destroy the tree and its fruit. Let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more (11:19). For any man of Y’hudah, rejection by his village was the ultimate tragedy. But it was the price Jeremiah was called upon to pay for being true to his call from YHVH (see Aj – The Call of Jeremiah). The village that gave him his basic social and psychological security turned against him. And like an Orthodox Jew of today who comes to believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, he was cut off from his family. He was totally alone. Little wonder that he fled to God in dismay and despair.⁸³

Sensing himself to be like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter, Yirmeyahu pleaded with ADONAI to turn the tables on them and drag them off like sheep to the slaughter (12:3). Jeremiah requested God’s judgment. Such personal hatred against the spokesman of the LORD was both puzzling and infuriating to him. He therefore turned to the covenant God, ADONAI-Tzva’ot, the righteous Judge, the Searcher of the heart and mind, who knew the faithfulness of His servant as well as the treachery of his opponents, and in full reliance of Ha’Shem’s justice confidently stated his conviction: Let me see Your vengeance against them, for to You I have committed my cause (11:20).⁸⁴

Believers sometimes ask, “Why should I tell God what’s on my mind? He already knows everything.” Yirmeyahu, like an attorney presenting his case, makes a full disclosure to the Judge. He reads all the facts into the record, anticipating a righteous verdict. YHVH did not learn anything during Jeremiah’s prayers, but Jeremiah learned a great deal (Matthew 6:8).

The LORD’s reply to Jeremiah’s complaint promises to bring disaster on the men of Anathoth who were threatening to kill him for his message of repentance to ADONAI and his challenging of the religious establishment in Jerusalem. In fact, Ha’Shem would punish the men of Anathoth with essentially the same punishment that they sought for him. The reason for Jeremiah’s second complaint is now made clear: the men of Anathoth had threatened Jeremiah with death because they thought he was prophesying falsely in God’s name (11:21). The false prophets had convinced them that Jeremiah’s prophecies of doom (if Judah did not surrender to Babylon) were not true. But what they didn’t realize was that the conspiracy against Jeremiah was also a conspiracy against Ha’Shem.

ADONAI-Tzva’ot responded by assuring Yirmeyahu of His ultimate judgment: I will punish them. The following verses point to the outcome of the Babylonian invasion in 586 BC and destruction of Tziyon and her surrounding villages: Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine (11:22). The decree shows that Jeremiah’s word is indeed from the LORD, and that the prophet enjoyed God’s total support. Threats from the men of Anathoth did not silence Yirmeyahu any more than a night in the stocks (20:1-3), or confinement in the cistern (38:6), or in the courtyard of the guard (38:13).

Not even a remnant of the families of the conspirators will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the conspirators and their families of Anathoth in the year of their punishment (11:23). We know that not everyone from Anathoth would be killed because Ezra 2:23 tells us 128 citizens from Anathoth returned from the exile to rebuild and repopulate the Holy City. The punishment will take a form that vindicates the prophet: the invasion he foretold will come to pass and in it the sword and famine would take their toll.

Judah’s Resulting Judgment
11:18 to 12:17

During the reign of Josiah

As a result of Jeremiah’s preaching about Judah’s responsibility in breaking the covenant with ADONAI (to see link click Bh – The Covenant is Broken) there was a plot against his life by his own family in Anathoth leading to his second complaint (see Bj – The Plot Against Jeremiah). At this point in the story we now get the details of that plot. This came as a shock to Yirmeyahu and led him to his third complaint (see Bk – Why Does the Way of the Wicked Prosper?), accompanied with some deep reflection on his own ministry and on the meaning of human existence in general. God’s reply to the prophet’s complaint is unexpected: If Jeremiah thought things were tough now, he hadn’t seen anything yet. . . the worse was yet to come. This is presented in different ways by a series of five metaphors.

The Covenant is Broken
11: 1-17

The covenant is broken DIG: When did God and Isra’el make the terms of this covenant, especially those dealing with cursed is the man (Deut 27:15-26)? What happened in the reign of Josiah to renew such interest in the covenant (2 Kings 22:8-13, 23:1-3)? What did YHVH promise to do for Isra’el? What was their land of milk and honey (Exodus 3:8)? What was their part of the agreement? How are the people of Judah responding to Josiah’s and Jeremiah’s call (11:9-13)? Again, Yirmeyahu is forbidden to pray for Judah (7:16). Why (see First John 5:16-17)? What is the point of the covenant when Isra’el never keeps it? What curses are coming if she doesn’t obey (Deut 28:15-68)? What is Judah doing to try to win the LORD’s favor (11:15, 7:10-11, 21-24)? Can anything change ADONAI’s mind at this point (11:11 and 14)? Is that fair?

REFLECT: Think of one promise that you have kept for a long time and another promise that you broke. How do you feel about the broken promise? Why is it important to you to keep your promises? When did YHVH and Isra’el make the terms of this covenant? Is it ever too late with ADONAI for a believer? Is God the God of second chances? Does that mean the LORD will never discipline us for our sin? Does Ha’Shem’s patience ever run out for your country?

During the reign of Josiah

Exhortation to obey the covenant: These verses are an initial summons to the prophet to articulate the covenant and its demands. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from ADONAI. Listen to the words of this covenant which YHVH made with Isra’el when they left Egypt, and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem (11:1-2). Initially, the covenant was the scroll of Deuteronomy that was discovered when good king Josiah had the Temple renovated (to see link click Ai – Josiah Ruled For 31 Years from 640 to 609 BC). Once the scroll of Deuteronomy had been made public, Jeremiah began his ministry by calling the people to obey it. Deuteronomy is the culmination of the Torah and it repeats many of the commandments already found in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. So the covenant here ultimately points to Mt. Sinai. This was done, not merely for repetition, but the 365 prohibitions and 248 commandments were put into a covenantal agreement (following the standard covenant system of the ancient world between a king and his subjects). These king-vassal covenants contained specific requirements for obedience.

The seriousness of this covenant and its required obedience is clear in the warning of the next verse. The one who violates it is cursed. Tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Isra’el, says: Cursed is the one who does not obey the words of this covenant (11:3). A very forceful opening to the address made necessary by the rebellion of the people. This verse is mentioned four times in the scroll of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 11:28; 27:15-26, 28:15-19 and 29:20-22).

The words of this covenant that I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace (11:4a). The phrase: out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace is used only three times in the TaNaKh, each time at a critical juncture. It is found in Deuteronomy 4:20, First Kings 8:51 and here. Judah and Jerusalem are required to listen (Exodus 19:5-9; Deut 6:4 and 15:5). ADONAI continued: Obey Me and do everything I command you, and you will be My people and I will be your God. But listening is not simply an auditory response, but requires obedient action. Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey . . . and the land you possess today (11:4b-5).

Past disobedience to the covenant: The LORD said to me: Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. So Yirmeyahu proclaimed: Listen to the words of this covenant and follow them. There had been past disobedience by the predecessors of the present generation. From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them persistently, saying, “obey Me.” This was the message of all the prophets preceding Jeremiah. But the problem was that their ancestors did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts (Numbers 14). So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep (11:6-8). There was drought and lack of prosperity. They did not get the production and joy out of the land.

Present disobedience to the covenant: Although King Josiah forced outward conformity to the covenant; his reform did not penetrate the hearts of the people in any lasting way. After Josiah died the people returned to their idolatrous ways. Then ADONAI said to me: There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem to abandon the covenant (11:9). The idolatry had become so widespread that it was though all the people had deliberately conspired to renounce their allegiance to God.

Then the details of their conspiracy are revealed. Instead of heeding the words of Jeremiah they have returned (shuwb) to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to listen to God’s words. Six times the word listen is used in this brief message, always in the sense of obey. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both the northern kingdom of Isra’el and the southern kingdom of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their ancestors (11:10). They refused to listen, they served other gods, and broke the covenant. Now as a result, YHVH will not listen. Y’hudah’s deliberate decision to follow after idols assured her doom.

Therefore this is what the LORD says: I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them. Although “the gates of tears are never shut” (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berakhot 32b), that is only true when the tears express true repentance. The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will to and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but by then it will be too late to avoid judgment and their idols of wood and stone will not help them at all when disaster strikes (11:11-12).

Then He returned to the indictment, this time in direct address. You, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Ba’al are as many as the streets of Jerusalem (11:13). This shift from the third person to the second person makes best sense in view of the readers in exile. Those sitting captive in Babylon might be tempted to distance themselves from the indictment of the preceding verses, but this verse brings it home to them personally. This infidelity was not someone else’s problem . . . it’s yours! They would not be able to escape into the proverb, the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge (31:30) and charge YHVH with unfairness.

Jeremiah was ordered by ADONAI not to pray for his people because they were under judgment (7:16, 11:14 and 14:11). The LORD recognized that much, if not all, of Jeremiah’s report to the people would fall on deaf ears and hearts. God said: Do not pray for this people or offer any plea or petition for them, because of the perversion of the covenant I will not listen when they call to Me in the time of their distress (11:14). I certainly will not accept any of your prayers, Jeremiah, on their behalf.

Why would it be necessary or important for Ha’Shem to prohibit intercession? Couldn’t God just ignore whatever prayers Yirmeyahu happened to offer? One possible reason is that the command seeks to bring the prophet into harmony with God’s will for the situation. After all, YHVH had determined that judgment was inevitable; therefore, Jeremiah should speak and act accordingly. Prohibiting intercession was one way of doing that. It would not be good to have the Potter at odds with the clay, especially because the Eternal One takes our prayers very seriously when charting the future.

At the same time, one recalls a comparable instruction that ADONAI gave to Moshe in the wake of the golden calf debacle (see the commentary on Exodus Gs – Now Leave Me Alone So That My Anger May Burn Against Your People): Leave Me alone! But Moses didn’t leave God alone, and it made a great deal of difference. Might the repeated instruction to Yirmeyahu be comparably understood? What if Jeremiah had prayed? Who knows? The repetition of the prohibition over the course several chapters (7:16, 11:14, 14:11, 15:1), however, suggests that the situation was quite different from that of the time of Moshe. The tsunami of sin in Y’hudah’s life had risen to the point where prayers were useless. Her heart was too hard; her judgment was inevitable.

The absence of intercessory prayer by Yirmeyahu also gave the readers in exile another factor to consider regarding the “why?” of the fall of Yerushalayim. The fault could not be laid at the feet of the prophet, as if to say, “If only Jeremiah had interceded on our behalf, this would not have happened!” The LORD here makes clear that He commanded His messenger not to pray for them and, to reinforce the point, God even refused to listen to their prayers.⁸¹

The perversion of the covenant: What is My beloved (a term of endearment applied to the wife of YHVH) doing in My Temple as she, with many others, works out her vile schemes (Ezeki’el 8:1-18)? But because of all her adulteries, she really has no business in the Temple of ADONAI. Can consecrated meat avert your punishment? The external demands of the Torah were perverted because they had no inward reality. It is when you are doing evil that you are happy. God called you an olive tree, beautiful, full of leaves and good fruit. But now because of the coming judgment, with the roar of a mighty storm the LORD set it on fire, and its branches are broken (11:15-16).

This rebellious people had forfeited their right to approach God, and no ritual activity would compensate. Access to the throne of life was denied. The olive tree was then only a dead tree ready for burning. ADONAI-Tzva’ot, who planted you, has decreed evil (Hebrew: rah) for you. This is a prophetic perfect, meaning a verb tense that describes a future event as being so certain to happen that it is referred to in past tense as if it already happened. Why? Because the people of both Yisra’el and Y’hudah have done evil (Hebrew: rah) and aroused My anger by burning incense to Ba’al (11:16-17). Twice in these verses Jeremiah uses the Hebrew word rah for evil in two different senses: in the case of Yisra’el, evil in the sense of sin . . . in the case of God, evil in the sense of calamity. In effect, Y’hudah committed sin, so God pronounced calamity.

Like us, Judah’s relationship with God sustained her. That decisive relationship was about to be nullified. When it went, everything went. Y’hudah would abandon her Partner and so would be dangerously exposed to the Gentile nations. The covenant relation guaranteed a stream of blessing. Without it, like us, she would be in acute jeopardy.