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.

The Broken Covenant
and the Resulting Judgment
11:1 to 12:17

During the reign of Josiah

This message from God’s prophet focuses on Judah’s broken covenant (11:1-17). Though the message itself is not dated, several indicators help date the passage to 621 BC, six years after Jeremiah began his ministry. That year the Temple was being repaired as part of King Josiah’s reforms, and a copy of the scroll of Deuteronomy was discovered in the renovation (to see link click Ai – Josiah Ruled For 31 Years from 640 to 609 BC). Several of Yirmeyahu’s references seem to allude to this discovery of the Second Law and the realization of just how badly they had missed the mark. God’s prophet called on the people to heed the words of the covenant that Josiah read to them.

The consequences of violating the covenant were devastating (11:18-12:17). The people responded to Jeremiah’s rebuke by trying to kill him, but God revealed their plot to him. This was the first episode in their continuing opposition to his ministry. The prophet’s response was to ask Ha’Shem to execute His vengeance on the conspirators. God responded by assuring Yirmeyahu of His swift judgment. The plot against Jeremiah was formulated by the men of Anathoth, Yirmeyahu’s own hometown, who ordered him not to prophesy or he would die at their hands. YHVH promised to punish the rebels with the sword and with famine. Anathoth would suffer disaster because of her opposition to the LORD’s messenger.

I Am Bringing Disaster on This People,
Because They Have Rejected My Torah
6: 16-30

I am bringing disaster on this people because they have rejected My Torah DIG: What are the ancient paths to Jeremiah’s audience? What did Judah refuse to do? What are the good ways? Who are the watchmen? Why does God call the earth and the Gentile nations to witness the disaster? What has Judah offered ADONAI instead of obedience? How do they respond to Ha’Shem’s warning? What response would YHVH prefer? What is Jeremiah’s role now? Smelters purify silver ore by throwing it into molten lead: The pure silver floats, but the dross sinks. What does Yirmeyahu observe as Yerushalayim goes into the fire?

REFLECT: If material gifts and burnt offerings were not acceptable, what did God want? If presents are not good substitutes for time and attention spent with our children, what does that say about what we should be giving to our places of worship and charities? Do you know anyone who tries to buy YHVH off with gifts instead of obedience? Are you ever tempted to do this? Have you experienced His refining fire? What “silver” came to the surface? What dross remains to be burnt away?

During the reign of Josiah

You may have heard the saying, “The past is supposed to be a guidepost, not a hitching post.” It’s easy to become tied to the memories of “the good old days,” instead of using our experiences to find direction for the road ahead. We are all susceptible to the paralyzing effects of nostalgia – a longing for what used to be.

Yirmeyahu was a priest from a small town near Yerushalayim when ADONAI called him to be a prophet to the nations (1:5). He was given the very difficult job of pronouncing Ha’Shem’s judgment primarily on the people of Judah, who had turned away from YHVH. He made it extremely clear that the message he was delivering was God’s and not his own (7:1-2). ADONAI said: Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls, which is a picture of salvation. The ancient paths . . . the good way are the truths taught by the Torah. But you said: We will not walk in it (6:16).

YHVH urged His people to look back so they could move forward. The purpose of considering the ancient paths was to find the good way marked by God’s faithfulness, His forgiveness and His forward call. The LORD can teach us from our past that the best road is the one we walk with Him. God’s guidance in the past gives us courage for the future.⁷⁸ The importance of the covenant for Yirmeyahu cannot be overemphasized. For him it was fundamental to Y’hudah’s very life, acknowledging YHVH as her only sovereign LORD, and gladly accepting the covenant obligations. When Judah took this way she followed the ancient paths, the good way and found rest. But being a stiff-necked people, she refused.

ADONAI, however, was not willing that His people should perish. Consequently, He appointed watchmen over them. God provided prophets who would warn them of the dangers that would result in their deliberate rejection of His sovereignty over them. A watchman stood on a high place to warn of danger (Isaiah 21:11-12; Ezeki’el 3:17 and 33:7; Micah 7:4; Habakkuk 2:1). And I said: Listen to the sound of the shofar (6:17a)! The purpose of which was to arouse them to reflect upon their actions. But people who would not obey the summons to return to the ancient ways were hardly likely to heed warnings about the dangers of a breached covenant. And they did not.

ADONAI pointed them back to the five books of Moshe because it is the Torah that gives life: The Torah of ADONAI is perfect, restoring the inner person. The instruction of ADONAI is sure, making wise the thoughtless. The precepts of ADONAI are right, rejoicing the heart. The mitzvah of ADONAI is pure enlightening of the eyes. The fear of ADONAI is clean, enduring forever. The rulings of ADONAI are true, they are righteous altogether (Psalm 19:7-9 CJB). But they said no, “We will not walk in it” (6:17B). God also gave them the prophets, but they would not listen! So God calls the Gentile nations to render judgment.

Therefore hear, you Gentile nations; you who are called together as witnesses to observe the spirit of rebellion among God’s own people and what will happen to them. Hear, you earth: I AM bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their evil schemes, because they have not listened to My words and have rejected My Torah. Not only are the Gentile nations called to come and see Judah’s rebelliousness, but they are to know of God’s coming judgment that they will be responsible to carry out. They have brought this against themselves because they had rejected Moses and the prophets (6:18-19).

In the place of the Torah, Judah had merely substituted cultic Temple ritual. What do I care about increase from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? What good were these things without faith? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Fe – The Burnt Offering); your sacrifices do not please Me (see the commentary on Exodus Fp – The Altar of Incense in the Sanctuary: Christ: Our Advocate with the Father). While sacrifices were demanded and commanded by ADONAI through the Torah, they were worthless without obedience. The prophet Samuel had said, “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams (1 Samuel 15:22). And Samuel was not the only prophet to point this out (Isaiah 1:11-14; Hosea 2:11; Amos 5:21-23). Micah, particularly, had asked: And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). Thus this is what God says: I will put obstacles before this people. Parents and children alike will stumble over them: neighbors and friends will perish (6:20-21). This verse does not deny free will, which all the pleading, exhortations and denunciations of the prophet emphatically affirm.

These verses describe the powerful coming of the invading threat authorized by YHVH. Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth. They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. They are experienced, experts in the art of warfare and will accomplish their goal. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, Daughter of Tziyon (6:22-23). Judah’s response was to be paralyzed with fear. It is not the action of the invading army, but simply reports of it that reduce Judah to trembling. She was just as unprepared for battle as a weak, defenseless woman in birth pains before a powerfully built, fully equipped soldier.

We have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor (6:24). Jeremiah expresses the feelings of his countrymen about the enemy. There was no protection anywhere: Do not go out to the fields or walk on the roads, for the enemy has a sword, and there is magor-missabib, or terror on every side (Jeremiah 20:3-4 and 10, 46:5, 49:29; Psalm 31:13; Lamentations 2:22). It fact, it becomes a proper name, Pash’chur, in 20:3.

6:22, 23 and 24 are almost identical as 50:41, 42 and 43.
In the near historical future 6:23 . . . to attack you, Daughter of Tziyon
In the far eschatological future 50:42 . . . to attack you, Daughter of Babylon
The point is that what Babylon will do now to Jerusalem will someday be done to Babylon. Whereas one nation will come against Jerusalem, many nations will come against Babylon.

There was only one thing left for Judah to do: Put on sackcloth, My people, and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son (the severest bereavement a Jew could suffer), for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us (6:26). All your preparations will avail you nothing. When the invader attacks he will brush aside your defenses as though you were caught unprepared. This is a lament for the nation. Lamenting for an only son is the most bitter kind of lament. If you have only one son and he dies, that means there will be no posterity. No seed. No continuance of the family. No descendants (Amos 8:10; Zechariah 12:10).

Jeremiah now receives another job. God said: I have made you strong to resist all attacks from the people you denounce; therefore, you can fearlessly pronounce judgment upon their evil. In 1:10 the prophet was appointed as an overseer and now he is appointed as a tester of his own people (Malachi 3:2-3). God declared: I have made you a tester of metals and My people the ore, that you may observe and test their conduct, or literally, their ways (6:27).

Jeremiah had no doubt that they deserved the coming judgment. They are so hardened they are likened to bronze and iron – they all act corruptly. The bellows blow fiercely to burn away the lead with fire, but the refining goes on in vain; the wicked are not purged out. They are all hardened rebels, going about to slander (6:28-29). God asked Yirmeyahu to go through the streets of Tziyon to see whether he could find anyone who acted justly or who sought the truth (5:1-9). Not only did he not find anyone worthy, but the closer he tested the people of the “Holy” City, the more he realized the awful truth that the people had hardened their hearts to sin. They were beyond refining or purifying. The ore was impure and no silver could be found. Breakdowns of the covenant were to be found everywhere. Rebellion and corruption had replaced justice and truth!⁷⁹

Sometimes suffering brings out the best in people, but that wouldn’t happen in the siege of Jerusalem. When YHVH turned on the furnace, it would reveal the people had rejected becoming the silver and chose instead to become the dross. But God wasn’t purifying them; He was punishing them. They weren’t being refined; they were being rejected.⁸⁰ They are called rejected silver, because ADONAI has rejected them (6:30). Once they had been silver (Deuteronomy 5:27-29), but their silver had become dross (Isaiah 1:22); not merely second or third grade silver, but absolutely worthless dross. And as they had rejected Him – so their God had rejected them.

Flee for Safety People of Benjamin
6: 1-15

Flee for safety people of Benjamin DIG: What do you think was God’s purpose in this warning? What does this tell you about His character? Why should the people flee the walled city of Jerusalem (compare 6:1-5 and 4:6 where they are told to go to the City of David)? Why is it safer outside? What happens in a siege? Why does YHVH want Jeremiah to warn Jerusalem? How eager is the City to hear God’s word? What kind of response did Jeremiah get to his prophecy? How had the prophets and priests sinned against ADONAI?

REFLECT: Smokers know cigarettes cause cancer; people know that running through stop signs can get you killed. Why do people frequently ignore warnings? As believers, we are supposed to be able to read the signs of the times (Matthew 16:3)? What warnings does YHVH have for your society today? Are they paying attention or ignoring them? How eager are you to hear God’s Word?

During the reign of Josiah

Here the Spirit of God presents a near historical prophecy of the invasion by Nebuchadnezzar and an invitation to escape the coming destruction. The identity of the invader is still unknown in the pages of the scroll. But the readers of Jeremiah sitting in Babylon knew full well who this terrible enemy had been. Looking back into the past in 586 BC, they had experienced it. But during Josiah’s reign from 640 to 609 BC (or forty years before exile) all seemed well and Jeremiah seemed crazy. Through His prophet, ADONAI warned the righteous of the TaNaKh, or the believing remnant, to flee. What we find, however, is that most are unfaithful . . . most will either die or go into exile.

The call to flee from Jerusalem: The warning comes to Jeremiah’s own tribe: Flee for safety (if it were possible), people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem (6:1a)! Basically, this means get yourselves, your families, and anything you can carry to safety. As far as a tribal territory is concerned, the city of Tziyon was given to the tribe of Benjamin. However, it was taken from the tribe of Judah by the Jebusites. That put Jerusalem inside Benjamite territory, but in First Chronicles 9:3 we see that although it was supposed to belong to the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe of Y’hudah took it. As a result, it was inhabited by both tribes. Anathoth (the birthplace of Jeremiah) was inside the territory of Benjamin, so the Benjamites were Jeremiah’s closest countrymen (although as a priest he was from the tribe of Levi). So he grew up with the Benjamites and was responsible for teaching them. He now tells them to flee Zion to safety. The problem was that there was no safety anywhere!

Sound the shofar in Tekoa (the home of Amos)! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! This is a cone-shaped hill called the Frank Mountain, between Bethlehem and Tekoa, named for its military purposes during the Crusades, a very suitable spot to raise a signal. For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction (6:1b). This is a play on words. Tekoa and Beth Hakkerem both come from the same root and are villages just south of Yerushalayim. So the Benjamites were to flee to the south, and as they do, they would pass these two villages. The invasion comes from the north so they are to flee to the south. The oppressor is still unnamed.

O lovely and delicate daughter Zion (the population in general), you are ruined (6:2 NAB). The destruction will be so complete that shepherds will be able to tend their sheep in her ruins. Shepherds with their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents around her, each tending his own portion (6:3). Sheep have a tendency to eat the grass very close to the ground so only the soil is left. The emphasis is on the extent of the destruction that will come.

Jeremiah describes the zealousness of the invading army in a striking sequence of noon, evening and night. It will be vicious. As if spoken to the invaders themselves: Prepare for battle against her. The word prepare literally means to sanctify. This was a holy war against Jerusalem, since God Himself commanded it. Arise, let us attack at noon! Normally an enemy on the march would rest during the hottest part of the day. But not them! This denotes a surprise attack. Furthermore, they are so zealous they continue to attack at night. But, alas, the daylight is fading and the shadows of evening grow long. So arise, let us attack at night and destroy her fortresses (6:4-5)! Once Zion’s fortress was gone she was defenseless.

This is what happened to Jerusalem at the hands of Gentiles by the LORD of heaven’s angelic armies’ decree: Cut down trees and build siege ramps against Jerusalem (6:6a). The siege ramps were inclined planes that the soldiers of a walled town built up to the walls so they could bring their battering rams closer and work them to greater advantage. The siege ramp was made of all kinds of materials, earth, trees, and rocks. The sides were made of walled up brick or stone, and the inclined top made of layers of brick or stone, forming a paved road up to the city wall (Deuteronomy 20:20; Second Samuel 20:15).⁷⁷

This City must be punished; it is filled with oppression. There is a continuous stream of wickedness, just like a stream that does not stop. As a well pours out its water, so she pours out her wickedness. But wickedness is something the City ought to get rid of rather than keep fresh. There was a constant cry of violence and destruction resounding in her; ADONAI had a constant vision of sickness and wounds before Him (6:6b-7).

This was still during the reign of Josiah, early in Jeremiah’s ministry (to see link click Ai – Josiah Ruled For 31 Years from 640 to 609 BC). Therefore, there was always the opportunity to repent and delay judgment (see 18:8). Take warning, Jerusalem, or I will depart (Hebrew: yaqa’) from you and make your Land desolate so no one can live in it (6:8).

The remnant would be judged several times: This is what ADONAI-Tzva’ot says: Even the few who remain in Isra’el after the initial invasion will be picked over again, [the invader will] turn back (shuwb) again and again as when a harvester checks each vine several times to pick the grapes that were missed (6:9 NLT). There would eventually be four deportations (see Gt – In the Thirty-Seventh Year of the Exile Jehoiachin was Released from Prison) for those who survived the initial invasion.

The general indictment here is that Judah’s ears are not circumcised. The southern Kingdom is unresponsive as covenant partners. Jeremiah’s message had been rejected. The people mock and despise God’s Word. He asks rhetorically: To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to Me? Their ears are closed (uncircumcised) so they cannot hear. The word of God is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it (6:10).

Consequently Jeremiah says: I am full of the wrath of ADONAI, and cannot hold it in any longer. The wrath of God was going to be poured out on the children in the street (see Ae – The Problem of Holy War in the TaNaKh) and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years. God answers Jeremiah, saying: Their homes will be turned over to others, together with their fields and their wives, when I stretch out My hand against those who live in the Land (6:11-12). His wrath will indeed fall on all the inhabitants of Judah. The words of Ha’Shem are filled with passion and lack of restraint.

There are many precedents in the TaNaKh where the writers expected their audience to understand that some of their universal statements were not to be taken literally. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, because they all practice deceit (6:13). Surely Jeremiah did not claim that there was not a single prophet or priest who was not greedy for gain and did not practice deceit. After all, he was a prophet himself!

The prophets and priests dress the wound of My people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace (6:14). Like faithless physicians they dismissed their patient without going to the trouble of examining him properly; soothing him with the medicine of pleasant-sounding phrases when what was needed was the deep-cutting knife of repentance. This was the sin of the leaders. They dressed the nation’s wounds, but only skin deep. The people were appeased when they heard this false message from their false leaders (8:11). The reality was no peace, only judgment would come. But were they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them, says ADONAI (6:15).

You would think that they would be ashamed when their predictions failed. But the prophets and the priests had no shame. In fact, they couldn’t even blush because their conscience had been seared (First Timothy 4:2). There was nothing left but judgment.

Jerusalem Under Siege
6: 1-30

During the reign of Josiah

The certainty of Yerushalayim’s fall before the onslaught of the enemy is now declared. Jeremiah gives a near historical prophecy showing an invading army being on their doorstep, and they will not be turned back. The people’s only hope is to run from the City. Disaster could still be avoided. This prophecy is prior to any of Nebuchadnezzar’s invasions from the north. However, this section does convey the impression that the doom about which Yirmeyahu had prophesied was not that far away. Would Y’hudah listen? Or obey?

This chapter opens with a vivid poem describing the coming of the foe from the north. The prophet calls for the people to desert Tziyon (to see link click Be – Flee for Safety People of Benjamin). Then a dialogue between Jeremiah and God takes place in the context of Judah’s national complacency. And a clear statement is made that elaborate rituals are no substitute for obedience (see Bf – I Am Bringing Disaster on This People, Because They Have Rejected My Torah). Then, once again the invader from the north is presented. The chapter closes with more dialogue between God and Jeremiah in which the prophet is made a tester of metals so that he could observe and test the ways of the people. With the conclusion of the chapter we turn to the revelation of the broken covenant and the resulting judgment.

Chapter six is a review of what Jeremiah has said before.

The Prophets Prophesy Lies,
The Priests Rule By Their Own Authority,
and My People Love It This Way
5: 20-31

The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and My people love it DIG: What was wrong with the people’s perspective? What had become the prevailing attitude about ADONAI (5:12, 22-24)? Why did the harvests fail in Judah? Why don’t these men fear God? What were the characteristics of the wicked people condemned by Jeremiah? Which of Judah’s failings do you think angers God the most? Do you think Ha’Shem gets as angry as Jeremiah tells it?

REFLECT: Who do you think are false prophets today? What is their lie? How do they “profit?” People in Yirmeyahu’s day were blind to their faults and easily led to presume their innocence. Who do you have in your life that will be honest enough with you to help you see your “spiritual blind spots?”

During the reign of Josiah

Yirmeyahu warned the Israelites about their persistent rejection of YHVH’s boundaries for them. Throughout this whole passage Ha’Shem addresses the people as a frustrated teacher might address rebellious students: Announce this to the descendants of Jacob (the northern Kingdom) and proclaim it in Judah (the southern Kingdom). Again the whole nation is addressed: Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear (5:20-21). This phrase occurs almost word-for-word in Psalm 115:4-6, where it refers to idols. It was possibly a colloquial proverb, and here applied by Jeremiah to the people, reasoning that idolatry makes its devotees like the idols themselves (2:5). Because hear is the foundational word for covenant responsiveness (Deuteronomy 6:4), 5:21 moves from shema to shema: Hear . . . you who will not hear.

Near historical: Judah was spiritually dead. Should you not fear Me (Proverbs 1:7)? declares the LORD. Should you not tremble in My presence? The omnipotence of God is so obviously confirmed by nature. Will it have no effect on people? Even the sea knows its boundaries. ADONAI is sovereign: I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot cross it (5:22). Even the mighty sea, that old symbol of chaos (Genesis 1:2), has been put in its place by YHVH and does not break through the permanent barrier of sand that is its boundary. But the covenant people are seen as constantly breaking through the boundary of the Torah that the LORD had set for them.⁷⁶

Yet this people has defiled YHVH and ignored the purpose for which He chose them! There was no fear of God, who gave them rain for their crops. But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside (Hebrew: saru) away. They do not say to themselves, “Let us fear ADONAI our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, exactly when they are needed (the productivity of the land) who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest (5:23-24). As the LORD’s infinite power does not arouse fear within them; they also blind themselves to their dependence upon Him for their very food and survival.

As difficult as it is for us to appreciate, the notion in the TaNaKh is that human fear of God is a good thing; and we cannot water fear down to “reverence.” It really is fear, as the parallel tremble above indicates. Undoubtedly, Yirmeyahu had in mind proverbial sayings such as: The fear of ADONAI is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline (Proverbs 1:7 CJB). Everyone has fears. Why not choose a life-giving fear . . . the fear of God?

Your crimes have overturned nature’s rules, your sins have kept back good from you (5:25 CJB). Because Judah has turned away from God . . . these blessings have been withheld (Deuteronomy 28:15-28). Obedience brings blessings, but disobedience will withhold material blessings and bring on persecution.

There are those today within the Church who use principles found in the TaNaKh for Isra’el to justify their “health-and-wealth” theology. But the promises God made to Isra’el are sometimes exactly opposite to promises He makes to the Church. For example, if Isra’el obeys, she will have material prosperity. But to the Church, the Bible says that not very many will be rich, and the more the Church conforms to God’s standard, the more persecution will come.

Among My people are the wicked who lie in wait. The verb is singular; each one of them crouches, waiting for their victim. And like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch people (5:26). They hide from view and wait for an unwary passer-by. They do not hesitate to add murder to robbery if, in their opinion, necessity demands it (Psalm 56:6; Proverbs 1:11).

The terrible contrast between the fat, sleek rich and the helpless poor is seen. They grew rich on deceit. Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful (Psalm 37 and 73) and have grown fat (Deuteronomy 32:15) and sleek on the backs of the poor (5:27-28a). They fail to uphold the demands of the Torah, like loving their neighbor, taking care of the widows and the needy. Had they done these things they would have received their prosperity from the LORD. But their prosperity was not from God, but from their own deceit.

Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not seek justice. They do not promote the case of the fatherless; they do not defend the just cause of the poor (5:28b). Ha’Shem’s yearning to forgive has turned to harshness. What kind of a covenant community is this, where the rich take advantage of the poor? He asks some ominous questions: Should I not punish them for this? Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this (5:29, also see 5:9 and 9:9)? This is a repetition of 5:9 as though it was a refrain. Such acts of injustice do not merely wrong other people, but are also an insult to YHVH that must be avenged. Evil against mankind is also evil against God.

The people had grown so accustomed to such thinking that it had become normal with them, but to God a horrible and shocking thing had happened in the Land. The prophets prophesy lies, the priests’ rule by their own authority, and My people love it this way. The priests had the responsibility of knowing when the prophets were prophesying falsely or truthfully. Yet the priests were the very ones who were following what the false prophets were saying. The shocking thing was that the people loved it that way and submitted without a protest. But what will you do in the end when retribution comes (5:30-31)? By the end of Chapter 5 it is obvious that the search for a faithful person that begun in 5:1 is a total failure.

God has given us moral boundaries in His Word for us to live within. He gave them not to frustrate us, but so that by keeping within them we may enjoy His blessings. King David wrote: I know, ADONAI, that Your rulings are righteous, that even when You humble me you are faithful (Psalm 119:75 CJB). YHVH told Isra’el through Moshe: I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19). Don’t test Ha’Shem’s boundaries and invite His correction. Have faith and make His Word the engine of your life and not the caboose.

Judah’s Invasion from a Distant Nation
5: 10-19

Judah’s invasion from a distant nation DIG: What limitation did the LORD place on the destruction of Judah? What answer to God’s rhetorical questions in the previous file is answered here in 5:10? How did the people deceive themselves about God and His prophets in these verses? How was YHVH going to punish Judah? What had become the prevailing attitude about God (5:12, 5:22-24)? What did ADONAI say Jeremiah’s words would be to the people of Judah? How did Ha’Shem specify the manner in which He would punish Y’hudah? In what way did Judah’s punishment fit the offense? How will the words of Elohim differ from the words of the false prophets? Why won’t the destruction be final?

REFLECT: If Judah is not lost because of her sins, what does that say to us today? How does this discredit Replacement Theology? While it is true that bad things can happen to good people, sometimes we can bring bad things on ourselves because of our own sinful, fallen actions. So when we catch ourselves saying, “Why has God done this to me?” we need to check to see if we had a hand in it! Repent of it and move on.

During the reign of Josiah

Judah will be invaded from the north and it will be a sign of judgment. This may be read as YHVH’s struggle to decide how to act toward Tziyon. The facts call for destruction, but the LORD resists the final conclusion. In that struggle, Y’hudah hung in the balance between vengeance and forgiveness. Like us, her only hope of salvation lay in ADONAI, not herself.

The call to destroy Tziyon: Go through her vineyards and (see the commentary on Isaiah, to see link click Ba – The Song of the Vineyard) ravage them . . . but do not destroy them completely. Isra’el (both the northern and southern Kingdom’s) will not be completely destroyed because of her sins. God has a covenant relationship with the Jewish people. Like a good Father, He will discipline her, but He will never allow her to be destroyed completely. Those who say that the Church has replaced Isra’el in the covenant (Replacement Theology) ignore Romans Chapters 11-13. However, she will be disciplined. His invaders will go through Judah’s vineyards and strip off her dead branches, for these people do not belong to ADONAI (5:10). Since the Israelites had thrown off their allegiance to YHVH, He summoned the Gentile nations to come and attack them.

God spells out the reasons: The people of Yisra’el (the northern Kingdom) and the people of Y’hudah (the southern Kingdom) have been utterly unfaithful to Me. Not only that, the people of Judah thought because God would never violate His Temple, they could do no wrong (see Cc – False Religion is Worthless). They became arrogant, and took their relationship with Ha’Shem for granted. They have lied about ADONAI; they said: He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine. The words of the prophets that the people do not believe will be the very words that condemn them. The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them (5:11-13). The word of God will be fulfilled. Because the Israelites had been unfaithful to God, lied about God, and treated the prophets like windbags – God was going to make those very words like fire.

The invasion itself: Therefore, this is what ADONAI Elohei-Tzva’ot says: Because the people have spoken these words (through My prophet Jeremiah) I will make My words in your mouth a fire and the people the wood it consumes (5:14). As a fire burns wood until it is consumed, so will this prophecy destroy this people (but not completely). The true prophetic word in the mouth of Yirmeyahu was like a destroying fire. Then the invasion is described. People of Y’hudah, declares the LORD, I AM bringing a distant nation (so far unnamed at the time of the prophecy) against you – an ancient nation, pointing to the distant past of the Babylonians with their long record of military prowess. And an enduring nation: The adjective enduring describes a stream whose waters do not fail; it is perennial, ever flowing and permanent. Here it describes the enemy as one that will not fail in what it starts.

But reading this scroll in Babylon, the exiles knew exactly who it was. This nation went all the way back to Genesis. The city was founded by Nimrod (see the commentary on Genesis Di – The Line of Ham). It was the first place of full-scale rebellion against God’s authority (see the commentary on Genesis Dm – Let Us Build a City and Make a Name for Ourselves). A people whose language you do not understand (see the commentary on Isaiah Fm – With Foreign Lips and Strange Tongues God Will Speak to This People).

The purpose is described in military terms – it is a nation of warriors. Their quivers are like an open grave (Proverbs 30:16); their arrows are deadly (Psalm 5:10). All of them are mighty warriors (5:15-16). They were expert bowmen and they would find their mark. They were experienced in warfare and they knew how to fight. The enemy’s insatiable hunger for plunder and robbery and murder will spare neither the necessities of life, nor their sons and daughters, nor their flocks and herds, nor the tasty fruits, nor their cities on whose strong fortifications they had placed their trust instead of confiding in their LORD. All that they cherished would be taken from them.⁷⁴

The marauding actions of the army is caught in the fourfold use of the word devour. They will metaphorically devour, devour, devour, and devour: your harvests and food, your flocks and herds, your vines and fig trees, and not only that, they will kill your sons and daughters (Deuteronomy 28:51). The items listed here for consumption by an occupying army are closely paralleled to those listed in First Samuel 8:11-17 concerning what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights (5:17a).

With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust (5:17b). With the destruction of the walls, the coming of social chaos would not be far behind. In Amos’s oracle against the Gentile nations, the burning of the fortresses is targeted (Amos 1:7, 10, 12 and 14, 2:2 and 5). In the savage announcement of Hosea 2:9-13 there is an end to the public activities of an ordered community, Judah, like every other community, had trusted in its social order, but that social order was then being jeopardized as YHVH unleashed judgment against the covenant-breaking community. The world that Judah had experienced was under threat and sure to end, gobbled up ruthlessly by the greedy invader said to be the agent of ADONAI-Tzva’ot.⁷⁵

Yet even in those days, declares ADONAI. When Jeremiah (under the direction of the Holy Spirit) 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 third of twenty-five times that the Holy Spirit uses one of these phrases. In those days, I will not destroy you completely (5:18, also see 4:27 and 5:10). The context is the near historical future. The sentence was not death for the nation, but exile.

And when the people ask, “Why has the LORD our God done all this to us? You will give them this answer [Jeremiah], “As you have abandoned Me and served other gods in your own Land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own” (5:19). So the Babylonian captivity was prophesied (see Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule). The exile is derived and linked to spiritual adultery. The word abandoned helps to connect the whole image to the marriage metaphor. Judas’ devotion to a “second lover” (3:1) leads to life in a “second land,” the land of captivity.

Not One Is Upright
5: 1-9

No one is upright DIG: What is Jeremiah searching for? How will he know when he knows one? What will the LORD do if Yirmeyahu is successful? How does that compare to God’s response to Abraham’s plea for Sodom (Genesis 18:26-32)? Jeremiah found a city full of evil. What evil actions did he find (5:2, 7-8, 19, 23, 26-27, 31)? What evil attitudes did he find (5:3, 5, 11-13, 21-24)? What sinful omission (5:28)? Is Jeremiah inclined to excuse the poor and blame the upper classes? Or are they equally at fault?

REFLECT: If Jeremiah walked your neighborhood, what would he find? What are the people’s relationships to God like in your town or city? Would your “truth rating” save your city? Is honesty that hard to practice? Why? When is it easy to be faithful? When is it hardest? In what area of life do you need to raise the level of honesty? People in Jeremiah’s day were blind to their faults and easily led to presume their innocence. What accountability mechanisms do you have in place to help detect “spiritual blind spots” in your life? How would you answer Yirmeyahu’s rhetorical questions in 5:7, 9 and 29?

During the reign of Josiah

Before the theme of the foe from the north is resumed in 5:15, there is a further discussion of the reasons for the coming judgment, a subject that has been dealt with in Chapter 2. Y’hudah’s blatant rejection of the sovereignty of YHVH was the basic cause. Once she rejected the One True God in favor of other gods it was inevitable that the curses of the covenant would become operative. If the people could not see this, the weeping prophet surely could.⁷¹

This poem is structured in a standard way for a lawsuit speech. It consists of two indictments, first against the common people, and then against the leadership in Tziyon. The prophet’s audience would immediately be reminded of Abraham’s bargaining with YHVH over how many just men it would take to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (see the commentary on Genesis Ew – Abraham Intercedes). At the beginning of the conversation the LORD told Abraham that He would spare Sodom if fifty just men could be found. Eventually Abraham bargained Him down to ten men, but Abraham knew when to quit . . . ten was as far as he dared go. Does the first verse here in 5:1 suggest that Yerushalayim was ten times more wicked than Sodom, if just one person who deals honestly and faithfully would save the City?

First, Jeremiah searches for a faithful man among the common people. Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and is faithful (Greek: pistis), I will forgive this City. God still indicates a willingness to pardon Tziyon. However, there is an ironic condition. He wants Jeremiah to see if there are really people in Yerushalayim who deal honestly, (conforms externally) conforms to the Torah and is faithful (conforms internally). This requirement would not bode well for the likelihood of pardon.

Although they say: As surely as the LORD lives, still they are swearing falsely. ADONAI, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent (shuwb) (5:1-3). There is no trace of obedience among the poor. They are calloused and cynical, stubborn in all their ways and will not repent. Consequently, no pardon is possible. Yerushalayim is full of evil! His search is in vain.

But then the prophet has an idea: those who refuse to repent are really only the common people, people without discernment. Yes. He will go to the educated leadership. Surely they will understand what the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob expects of them, for they have had the opportunity to study the Torah. If they set the moral tone for the rest of the population, the common people will follow. Yes. He would have better results with them!

Secondly, he looks among the leadership of Jerusalem. Jeremiah said: I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of ADONAI, the requirements of their God (5:4). But he discovered that they too had rejected the discipline of the Covenant. They, too, were engaged in self-assertion and self-sufficiency. With one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds of the Torah. So this search also ended in failure. Jeremiah learns the lesson God wanted to teach him. No one was faithful (Genesis 18:26-32). Forgiveness in the holy city of David was no more possible because of the leadership than it was because of the poor. And for this reason judgment would come.

After these indictments, the next two verses are not unexpected, though their harshness is surprising. The consequences following a breach of the covenant are symbolized as attacks by wild animals. Therefore, God declared: A lion, a metaphor for the Babylonian army, from the forest will attack them. Joined by the picture of a wolf from the desert who will ravage them, and a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their apostasies (from shuwb) keep increasing (5:5-6). The metaphor is reflective of the wild beasts that were actually a threat in the Land (First Samuel 17:34; Second Kings 17:25-26). Animals here were used symbolically to refer to the Gentile nations, who will strike Judah as a sign of judgment (5:15).

Then the Ruach Ha’Kodesh takes Jeremiah back to the theme He began developing back in Chapter 3 – the adultery of Jerusalem. The language of the lawsuit continues. YHVH addresses the nation: Why should I forgive you? Then He goes on to depict the conduct of the leadership of the City in horrendous fashion: Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. Perhaps this is a hint at the kind of thing that Ezeki’el saw in his vision of the sinister activities being perpetrated in the Temple compound in Tziyon (Ezekiel 8:7-12). I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes (5:7). The prosperity that ADONAI had granted Isra’el, instead of making her grateful, led her to depravity (Deuteronomy 32:15).

Their spiritual adultery led to physical adultery. They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man’s wife (5:8). Again, remember that the priest from Anathoth is not merely referring to sexual misconduct here, but more profoundly to spiritual adultery and the idea of everyone frantically craving the security they hoped to find in Ba’al instead of the LORD.⁷²

It is no wonder that Ha’Shem should ask in indignation: Should I not punish them for this? “This” is the sin of verses 1-8. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this (5:9, also see 5:29 and 9:9)? The word nation is normally used for Gentiles. But He uses it here to show that Judah had deteriorated into a sinful, idolatrous, Gentile nation. God is always disposed to forgiveness, but forgiveness in such a City would be a mockery. It would make YHVH appear to be a docile beggar and a helpless patron. Jerusalem had lost her chance for forgiveness and stood under judgment.

Whatever function these questions may have had before the fall of Yerushalayim (see Ga – The Fall of Jerusalem), they are now questions to the readers in captivity in Babylon. The exiles are invited to think back and consider the options with which ADONAI was presented with at that time and to realize anew the questioning and agony through which God was going with respect to the shape of their future. It would be important for the exiles to see that their Redeemer had desperately tried to find another way into the future for them besides judgment.⁷³ This view of a God looking to favor His people with blessings would be grounds for hope in the future, but for now there would be a harvest of judgment that needed to be worked out, as we see next.

The Corruption of Jerusalem
5: 1-31

During the reign of Josiah

This chapter consists of a series of indictments (5:1-5, 10-13, 20-28) followed in each case by a therefore, which introduces judgment oracles (5:6-9, 14-17, 29-31). The interlude of 5:18-19 provides the question with which the chapter, indeed the book, is primarily concerned: Why? By means of its question and answer, these verses make clear that the judgment of ADONAI is not impulsive, but has its basis in the people’s infidelity. At the same time, this interlude restates that though the whole Land will be ruined, I will not destroy it completely (4:27).⁶⁸

The divine lament also finds its place in this chapter behind questions addressed to readers (5:7, 9, 22, 29, and 31). These divine questions, which interact with human comments (5:2, 4-5, 12, 19, and 24), are not simply rhetorical questions. The questions in 5:7, 9 and 29 reveal a God who has sincerely sought another outcome, but sadly, reluctantly came to the conclusion that an outcome without judgment was not possible.⁶⁸ The greatest judgment YHVH can send to disobedient people is to let them have their own way and reap the sad, painful consequences of their sins.⁶⁹

These questions are also genuine questions for the exiles in Babylon. From their perspective of the destruction of their homeland and the Temple, do they think that Ha’Shem had been unfair for taking this course of action? Could they think of any other avenue that the LORD might have taken? God’s question in 5:22 reveals divine wonderment at their indifferent attitude in the face of the Eternal One who created the world and provided boundaries for its destructive forces. Behind the question in 5:3 stands the One True God who asks what resources they will have available to them when the destruction falls. The mere asking of the question reveals that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was deeply concerned with their future.⁷⁰

Disaster Follows Disaster,
The Whole Land Lies in Ruins
4: 19-31

Disaster follows disaster, the whole land lies in ruins DIG: What do we discover about the character of YHVH in this passage? Why has God brought the Babylonians to attack His people? Can Jerusalem be saved? How does Jeremiah feel when he learns his nation will be destroyed? What does his pain reveal about him? What excuse, if any, do the people have? Didn’t they know any better, or did they know only too well what they were doing? If they were ignorant, would you say it is right to punish people for that? What vision does Jeremiah now have of life after the Babylonians invasion? To what does Yirmeyahu compare the aftermath? What are the three different responses to the invasion? What do they represent?

REFLECT: How do you feel when you hear that a wicked person has suffered? How does your response compare to Jeremiah’s? If your feelings are different, why do you feel that way? How should you feel? Do you ever see people reacting to God’s judgment in one of the ways described in 4:29-31? How should they have responded instead? Have you experienced God as Judge or Avenger? How did the experience affect you? How do you reconcile the pictures of YHVH as the loving parent with the LORD the avenging judge? Think of a place that has been devastated recently by war or disaster? Do you ever experience something like Jeremiah’s concern and agony when you learn of people’s suffering? Why or why not?

During the reign of Josiah

The images seen here all point to the stunning conclusion that death was coming to Yerushalayim. Jeremiah responded to the news by crying out in anguish. This was not something theoretical; the prophet lived through the sad years of Babylon’s attacks and suffered right along with the people. By vocation Yirmeyahu was called upon to announce destruction and judgment, but by nature he had a deep love for his own people. Therefore, His whole life was a painful paradox. Little wonder that at times he burst into tears.⁶³

He knew that before long the whole nation would share his agony. Oh, my anguish, my anguish (the Hebrew literally reads: my bowels, my bowels because the Jews considered the bowels as the seat of the emotions)! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry. Yirmeyahu is overcome with emotion as he envisions the destruction to come. The prophet saw the invasion as though it were actually happening. Jeremiah laments: Disaster follows disaster; the whole Land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment (4:19-20). He felt alone and was swallowed up in the storm that he had prophesied would come upon the Land because of Ha’Shem’s anger when He saw the people who had no understanding and were skilled at doing evil (4:22-26). Jeremiah was not the cause of the storm as the word “called” implies (to see link click Aj – The Call of Jeremiah); rather it was God’s anger at what He saw in the people that brought about the storm.

Yirmeyahu saw the enemy flag. It was closer than he and his contemporaries ever thought it would be. How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the shofar, urging the people to their battle stations to confront the oncoming enemy (4:21)? He knows it means death. It is death as dramatic and personal as anyone could imagine. Basically, he says, “how much longer must I see these visions?” God does not give him a timetable, but his visions will continue for forty more years.

ADONAI now speaks. He does not answer the question directly but shows why the tragedy must occur. It is the same reason we have encountered before (2:8) and will encounter again (9:3): My people are fools; they do not know Me beyond any superficial acquaintance. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. In an ironic reversal of Proverbs 1:2-3 the people were skilled (Hebrew: hakamim, or wise) in doing evil, but ignorant on how to do good (4:22). The LORD tells His prophet, “As long as these things are true, you will continue to see these visions of judgment.” Ignorance of covenant would lead to invasion and destruction. Others may not know yet, but Yirmeyahu already had this knowledge tearing at his very soul, even as it must have torn at YHVH.⁶⁴

A vision of total chaos: Suddenly the tone of the rhetoric escalates. As soon as Jeremiah asks God, “How much longer must I see these visions,” God gives him another one. The judgment that was to befall Y’hudah was seen as cosmic hyperbole. Similar examples of exaggeration in prophetic judgments include Deuteronomy 28:25-46; Isaiah 3:3:8-26, 24:1-23, 33:9, 34:1-15; Jeremiah 15:8; Amos 8:9; Nahum 1:4-5; Habakkuk 1:6-9, 3:10-12; and Zechariah 2:4-5. Another factor that comes into play here is the fact that prophecies of judgment were seen as a foreshadowing of the final eschatological future judgment that is to come. Each historical judgment was therefore understood to be symbolic of the LORD’s righteous outworking of His justice.⁶⁵

The prophet saw a vision of the earth, and it was formless and empty; and of the heavens, and their light was gone. I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away. I looked, and the fruitful Land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins at the presence of YHVH, and from the face of His fierce anger (4:23-26). Order seemed to return to confusion. The earth wasn’t destroyed, but just as the earth was formed out of chaos, Judah will return to chaos . . . the inevitable result of sin. Ha’Shem’s patience had finally been exhausted.

The explanation of the vision: Lest these impassioned words be dismissed as poetic imagery lacking any real substance, they are reinforced by a final word from YHVH Himself. This is what ADONAI says: The whole Land will be ruined, though I will not destroy it completely. Therefore the heavens and the earth will mourn because I have spoken and will not relent (see Cw – At the Potter’s House), I have decided and will not turn back (shuwb). It is surely no accident that a word like shuwb, which points to Y’hudah’s only hope appears in this place of hopelessness (4:27-28; also see Hosea 4:3).⁶⁶ Judah will be punished, but a remnant will remain, a view held by other prophets also.

The Fulfillment of the vision: The destruction of Judah by the invading army was how God intended to fulfill this prophecy. The LORD of heaven’s angelic armies describes the three different responses to the invading army. These actions are not what the LORD was telling the Israelites to do, He wanted them to surrender to the Babylonians, it’s describing what they did as Nebuchadnezzar approached. He uses three different metaphors.

First, some of the Israelites would try to escape by running away. At the sound of horsemen and archers, every small, indefensible town on the way to Jerusalem takes to flight. This refers to archers in chariots. The Babylonians did have cavalry units (evidently composed of specially trained tribal people), but the difficulties faced by a man on a horse while using a bow and arrow made it easier to shoot from a chariot. Mesopotamian bas-reliefs show a span of two or three horses drawing the war-chariot; one man held the reigns of the horses while the other was a bowman. Some of the Jews would try to go into the thickets; some climb up among the rocks that were often used as shelters during Palestine’s stormy history. The net result, however, was that all of the smaller towns were deserted with no one living in them (4:29).

Secondly, some try to make themselves attractive to the enemy. The picture of Isra’el as a prostitute (see At – Unfaithful Isra’el) is shown as she attempts to save herself by dressing up to save herself at the last minute (Ezekiel 23:40). What are you doing, you whose destruction is certain? Why dress yourself in scarlet and put on jewels of gold? Why highlight, or paint your eyes with makeup? It was a silver-white metallic paint that was mixed with some red and black coloring. Women applied it on the outside of the eyes to make the eyes look bigger and give the eyes an unnatural shinning brilliance. This was a common practice in the near east during biblical times (some things never change). But it was all for nothing: You adorn yourself in vain. Completely unimpressed by the seductive charms of Tziyon’s inhabitants, her attackers did not stop their brutal treatment of the Jews in any way. Your lovers despise you; they want to kill you (4:30). Those whom Isra’el courted (Babylon and Egypt) were going to be her cold-hearted enemies.

Thirdly, the metaphor is again dramatically shifted. Out of the resolve of YHVH, the army still approaches. Suddenly Judah is not an alluring prostitute, but is cast in a new role as a helpless, exposed woman in labor. I hear the cry of pain, like that of a woman in labor, the groans of a woman giving birth to her first child. The prophet listens more carefully. It is the daughter of Jerusalem gasping for breath, stretching out her hands as she sinks exhausted to the ground, crying out, “Help! I’m being murdered” (4:31 NLT). Finally – but alas much too late – are her eyes opened to the realities of her own foolishness: her lovers (Hebrew: hogebim) were in truth her murderers (Hebrew: horegim).

Jerusalem was under judgment, about to be done in. She may not know it yet, but the City is as shameful as a prostitute, as helpless as a woman in labor, exposed and endangered now because the betrayed husband has had enough and will tolerate it no more. Death must come. No one stands with the Sacred City to grieve . . . or to rescue.⁶⁷

Oh, Adonai ELOHIM!
Surely You Have Deceived This People
Jeremiah’s First Complaint
4: 5-18

Oh, Adonai ELOHIM! Surely You have deceived this people DIG: Where did the disaster come from that was about to strike Judah? Who will be affected by the invasion? Who was really “deceiving” the people? What do the people think will happen to them? What five word pictures does Jeremiah use to describe the Babylonians? Can Jerusalem be saved? How so (see 3:23 and 4:1-2)? Why has God brought the Babylonians to attack His people?

REFLECT: The false prophets told the people of Judah that they didn’t need to change because ADONAI would never punish them (3:10). What was in it for the prophets and their listeners? Who tends to “profit” from such “prophets?” Do you know of any situations where trouble is coming unless people change? What, if anything, can you do to help them? When you get yourself in trouble, do you blame God? Or take responsibility for your actions? When your life ends up in the ditch, is it because YHVH moved away from you, or did you move away from Him? What can you do?

During the reign of Josiah

Like a clap of thunder, the sound of the shofar is heard as an unidentified army approaches. The horsemen and bowmen advance, destroying small cities along the way. The leaders of Tziyon fail in the time of crisis. YHVH announces His inflexible purpose. Jeremiah cries his personal anguish. The scene concludes with the death-screams of the City of David personified as a woman. The reason for this impending tragedy is clearly stated in 4:18, but this is not the heart of the section. The prophet is not primarily foretelling military events, nor is he laying blame for the sorrows that were certainly to come. No, he is primarily calling his people to repent (shuwb). The heart of the section is this: Yerushalayim, wash the evil from your heart and be saved (4:14a).⁵⁹

YHVH declared: Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem: Sound the shofar. The Land was being threatened! Cry aloud and say: Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities (4:5)! The purpose here was to warn. God was initiating the process by which the invader was coming. It was not that the LORD allowed the invader to slip in. No. He summoned the invader to come and destroy Judah. She had been acting like the world and Ha’Shem was declaring holy war against her. She was now the enemy of God (Ja 4:4).

Raise the signal to go to Tziyon! The signal was a pole with a banner on it (Isaiah 5:26). It showed an invading army that was well spread out the way they must go for the attack. And now a signal has been raised pointing toward Yerushalayim as the place to be attacked from the north. Flee for safety without delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north even terrible destruction (4:6).

Now that the shofar had sounded, the people fled to Jerusalem and her protective walls. Farmers and tradesmen would drop their work on the spot, gather up their wives, children and servants and make a mad dash for the City, hoping that they could get within the safety of her gates before they were closed. Hoping also that the elders had made adequate provision for food and water for the duration of the siege. Sieges in ancient times could last a long time. Nebuchadnezzar besieged the Phoenician city of Tyre for thirteen years before the city acknowledged Babylonian sovereignty. And Tziyon herself, in her final besieging, would hold out for twenty months from the 10^th of Tevet 588 BC to the 9^th of Av 586 BC.

A lion has come out of his lair. The lion was the symbol of Babylon, although Babylon was still unnamed at this point (49:19; 50:17 and 44) – a destroyer of nations has set out. The words emphasize both the might and ruthlessness of the attacker. He has left his place to destroy your Land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant (4:7). In theory, it might have been possible for Judah to handle a human enemy; but to be opposed by YHVH, who brings on and who sponsors an enemy, was an impossible situation. No wonder Yirmeyahu urged Judah to lament, wail and put on sackcloth, a sign of mourning, for the fierce anger of Ha’Shem has not turned away (shuwb) from us (4:8).⁶⁰ God was still angry with His people because they had not repented . . . or their repentance had not been sincere. Judah is left only to grieve the death that is now for sure.

It will affect all four classes of leaders. “In that day,” declares the LORD. When Jeremiah (under the direction of the Holy Spirit) 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 second of twenty-five times that Yirmeyahu uses one of these phrases. In this context, the near historical future destruction of Tziyon is in view. In that day, the king and the officials, who should have been the first to encourage and strengthen the people in time of crisis, will lose heart, lose courage, the priests will be horrified, and the prophets will be appalled (4:9). Everyone will be demoralized, paralyzed and unable to function.

It is not an easy task to characterize most of the so-called “writing prophets” of the TaNaKh. To learn something about a man’s characteristics, his likes and dislikes, his emotional struggles, his spiritual qualities, his relationships with his family, and so forth, requires a minimum amount of biographical details, recorded either by the man himself or by one of his friends or disciples. Such details are plentiful for men like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Samuel, or David, so that we have no great difficulty in evaluating their personalities with some degree of confidence.

But when we begin thinking about the lives of men like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Habakkuk, or Zechariah, the number of biological details suddenly shrinks considerably by comparison. And yet we would have to confess that Isaiah and Joel and Zechariah were just as great in their own spheres as Abraham and Joseph and David were in theirs. In fact, if we only knew something of the personal experiences and inner struggles of the writing prophets, I am sure that we would discover incidents and events just as glamorous and exciting as those in the lives of their more famous predecessors.

So generally, we are a little disappointed with the lack of material concerning the lives of the writing prophets. But there is a notable exception to this general rule: a number of autobiographical notes on the life of Yirmeyahu have been preserved for us. In fact, more is known about Jeremiah’s life than that of any other writing prophet in the TaNaKh.

When viewed historically, the prophet from Anathoth can be demonstrated to have handed down to us the fullest account of a prophet’s life and character, the fullest account by far, to be found anywhere in Scripture. As a result, 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.

Then Jeremiah said: Oh, Adonai ELOHIM! Surely You have sadly deceived this people and Yerushalayim by saying, “You will have peace,” when the sword is at our very throats (4:10 CJB)! Since the people in obstinate disobedience refused to listen to God’s Word, the LORD not only permitted, but sent false prophets to deceive their hardened hearts by repeatedly saying: You will have peace (6:13-14, 23:17; also see First Kings 22:20-23). Jeremiah’s greatest enemies were fellow prophets, who were false prophets, and kept prophesying the exact opposite of what he said. And to make things worse . . . Yirmeyahu’s prophecies would not be fulfilled for forty years.

As far as Jeremiah’s response goes, there was a side of the prophet’s character that becomes clear in many of his dealings with YHVH, namely, that he not only declared his visions but also felt them deeply. The present vision of the foe from the north really tore him up emotionally. At first glance Yirmeyahu’s words appear to be blasphemous. How dare he speak to Ha’Shem like that? Along with Rabbi Sha’ul we might ask: Who are you, sir, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” Surely the potter can do what he likes with the clay (Romans 9:20-21; also see Isaiah 45:9 and 64:8). And yet Jeremiah was far from a blasphemer. He had a deep conviction ADONAI was sovereign and would work out His purposes. Rather, when the prophet says things like this we shouldn’t see it being a reasoned, thought-out judgment, but the spontaneous reaction of a man in turmoil over the tragedies of life, whether his own or those of others. The same tendency recurs in his later outpourings of soul before God.⁶¹

Jeremiah then uses five word-pictures to describe the oncoming Babylonian horde. At that time, in the near historical future, this people and Tziyon will be told, “Like a scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward My people, but not to winnow (that separates the grain from the chaff) or cleanse (that blows dust from the grain); a wind too strong for that comes from Me. The enemy will swoop down on Judah, not like a gentle wind separating the grain from the chaff, but a scorching wind that will show no mercy. Now I pronounce my judgment against them” (4:11-12). The wind comes at the command of ADONAI and represents the swiftness of the invading army.

Look! The military juggernaut’s advances are swift and unstoppable. He comes as swiftly as a sudden thunderstorm, as an eagle swooping down on his unsuspecting prey, as destructive as a whirlwind, and his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! We are ruined (4:13). They will experience the whirlwind because they had sown the wind (Hosea 8:7). Then a final warning: Yerushalayim, wash the evil from your heart and be saved (4:14a). The defense against aggression from the north is spiritual cleansing from within. God’s warnings are conditional; He warns so that He may not destroy (18:8).

This invader is so overwhelming that Judah is reduced to funeral songs to sing of her death. For one brief moment it is suggested that the washing of repentance might still permit rescue (Isaiah 1:16; Psalm 51:7). The prophet clings to that thin possibility. This was their one last chance to avoid judgment. YHVH asks: How long will you harbor wicked thoughts (4:14b)? Just as Josiah delayed God’s judgment in the days of Manasseh, by washing the evil from their hearts, they could even delay judgment in their day. There was still time to avert doom, for Y’hudah, all prophecies of doom are conditional on her repentance. But nothing came of it. Judah did not respond . . . so the invasion comes.

Jeremiah returns to the dramatic portrayal: A voice is announcing from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim. Dan is located at the very northern boundary of Isra’el. Ephraim is on the northern border of Judah. The enemy had entered the Land. Time was short; repentance was urgently needed. First Samaria, now Judah! Tell this to the neighboring peoples: Pay attention. Proclaim concerning Jerusalem: A besieging army is coming from a distant land, raising a war cry against the cities of Judah (4:15-16).

Why did God bring the Babylonians to attack His people? As the fields were not always provided with fences it became necessary to have persons to watch them, especially while the fruit was ripening, in order to keep off all those who would eat it, whether people, beast or bird. They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against Me, declares the LORD. Then God reminded Yerushalayim of the dire consequences of her rebellion. “Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment” (4:17-18a).

But now the readers of Jeremiah’s scroll, the exiles in Babylon, need to understand – if they could – why disaster had come. Compare 5:19 CJB: And when your people ask, “Why has ADONAI done all these things to us?” you are to give them this answer, “Just as you abandoned Me and served strange gods in your own Land, so likewise you will serve strangers in a land that is not your own.”

And 9:12-14: Who is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the Land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?

Then the LORD answered, saying: It is because [you] have forsaken My Torah, which I set before [you]; [you] have not obeyed Me or followed My Torah. Instead, [you] have followed the stubbornness of [your] own heart; [you] have followed the Ba’als, as [your] ancestors taught [you]. The deep hurt had reached the heart of those who survived Tziyon’s downfall and who knew a bitterness worse than death.⁶² How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart (4:18b)! Their judgment had penetrated as deep as their wickedness.