The Sin of Judah
Jer 17:1 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.
Jer 17:2 Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees and on the high hills.
Jer 17:3 My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country.
Jer 17:4 Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever.”
Jer 17:5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
Jer 17:6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
Jer 17:7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
Jer 17:8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Jer 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
Jer 17:11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools.
Jer 17:12 A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
Jer 17:13 LORD, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.
Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance
Jer 17:14 Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.
Jer 17:15 They keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it now be fulfilled!”
Jer 17:16 I have not run away from being your shepherd; you know I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my lips is open before you.
Jer 17:17 Do not be a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
Jer 17:18 Let my persecutors be put to shame, but keep me from shame; let them be terrified, but keep me from terror. Bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction.
Keep the Sabbath Holy
Jer 17:19 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.
Jer 17:20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates.
Jer 17:21 This is what the LORD says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.
Jer 17:22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.
Jer 17:23 Yet they did not listen or pay attention; they were stiff-necked and would not listen or respond to discipline.
Jer 17:24 But if you are careful to obey me, declares the LORD, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it,
Jer 17:25 then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.
Jer 17:26 People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
Jer 17:27 But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.'”
1 The captivity of Judah for her sin. 5 Trust in man is cursed, 7 in God is blessed. 9 The deceitful heart cannot deceive God. 12 The salvation of God. 15 The prophet complains of the mockers of his prophecy. 19 He is sent to renew the covenant in hallowing the sabbath.
Jer 17:1 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.
Iron tool.
A pen of iron. A stylus, or graving tool (see Job 19:24). A sharp stone set in iron for engraving use. It is employed here to show that “the sin of Judah” was deeply and ineradicably stamped “upon the table of their heart” (see 2 Cor. 3:3).
Jer 17:2 Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees and on the high hills.
They would be brought up in an environment of idolatry, the children would be inclined to adopt the same wicked course.
Jer 17:3 My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country.
Jer 17:4 Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever.”
Loose. Heb. shamaṭ, “to let drop,” or “to let fall,” indicating the surrender of Judah’s “heritage” to the Chaldeans.
Since shamaṭ also has the meaning of leaving the land untilled, or allowing it to “rest” (see Ex. 23:10, 11), the country of Judah, because of its coming captivity, would “rest,” and “enjoy her sabbaths” (see Lev. 26:32–34; 2 Chron. 36:21).
Jer 17:5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
Cursed. Realizing that much of the trouble experienced by his nation was caused by its alliances with Assyria and Egypt, which indicated a transference of their trust for safety and peace from the Lord to the “arm” of man, the prophet, with spirited abruptness, denounces those responsible for this deceptive confidence.
The prophet’s message has significance for our day. How easy it is for men to seek human sources of help and guidance rather than to rely upon what God has promised!
Jer 17:6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
A forceful figure of desolation and barrenness. In such a forlorn, dreary condition, entirely apart from the blessings that might have been his, the man who trusts in humanity “shall not see when good cometh.”
Salt land. This striking figure would immediately call to mind the desolate shores of the Dead Sea, barren because of the salt content of the water and soil.
Jer 17:7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
Here we have the opposite of “cursed be the man” in v. 5.
Jer 17:8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Similar to the words of the psalmist (see on Ps. 1:3).
This flourishing tree is not concerned by the coming of a “drought.” So, it is with the righteous, who receive strength for every trial because of their trust in God.
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand i
Deceitful. Heb. ‘aqob, from the root ‘aqab, “to seize at the heel,” “to beguile.” Here is the disclosure of the tragic reason that leads unregenerate man to choose to be a barren “shrub” (v. 6) in the desert of sin rather than to be a fruitful “tree planted by the waters” (v. 8) of redemptive life. That reason is man’s own unregenerate, sinful nature (see Job 15:14; Ps. 51:5; 58:3; Eccl. 9:3; Rom. 7:14–20; Eph. 2:3).
Deceitful. Literally, “incurable,” that is, without any ability to heal its own evil (see Jer. 13:23; Jer. 30:12, 13; Matt. 9:12, 13).
Jer 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
Not only will the judgment deal with a man’s deeds; it will also take into consideration the “fruit,” the influence, of man’s deeds upon others, both in life and in death.
Jer 17:11 Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay are those who gain riches by unjust means. When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools.
Jeremiah employs this belief to illustrate the experience of the covetous man, whose greed causes him to pile up riches that are not truly his, and that sooner or later “make themselves wings” and disappear (see Prov. 23:5).
Jer 17:12 A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
See on ch. 14:21.
Jer 17:13 LORD, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water.
Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance
Jer 17:14 Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.
The prophet knows the One who alone can heal his sinful heart (see Ps. 6:2; 30:2; 103:1–3).
Jer 17:15 They keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it now be fulfilled!”
Let it now be fulfilled. The ironical, mocking words of the unrepentant Israelites in response to Jeremiah’s forewarnings of judgments. The people felt quite secure and had no concept of their future troubles. This is another indication that this series of messages was early in the prophet’s ministry (see on chs. 14:1; 15:1; 16:2).
Jer 17:16 I have not run away from being your shepherd; you know I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my lips is open before you.
The prophet is protesting that because he had no desire to see “the woeful day” of divine judgment, which he predicted would come upon his people, he was not too eager to be God’s spokesman.
Jer 17:18 Let my persecutors be put to shame, but keep me from shame; let them be terrified, but keep me from terror. Bring on them the day of disaster; destroy them with double destruction.
Keep the Sabbath Holy
Jer 17:19 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.
Here we begin a new line of prophecies having no direct connection with what has gone before. This message was probably delivered sometime after the messages recorded in chs. 14 to 17:18, and probably sometime before the Temple Discourse (see on ch. 7:1; see also PK 411).
On one occasion, by command of the Lord, the prophet took his position at one of the principal entrances to the city and there urged the importance of keeping holy the Sabbath day. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were in danger of losing sight of the sanctity of the Sabbath, and they were solemnly warned against following their secular pursuits on that day. A blessing was promised on condition of obedience. “If ye diligently hearken unto Me,” the Lord declared, and “hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain forever.” Jeremiah 17:24, 25.
This promise of prosperity as the reward of allegiance was accompanied by a prophecy of the terrible judgments that would befall the city should its inhabitants prove disloyal to God and His law. If the admonitions to obey the Lord God of their fathers and to hallow His Sabbath day were not heeded, the city and its palaces would be utterly destroyed by fire.
Jer 17:20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates.
Jer 17:21 This is what the LORD says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.
This and the following verses show that Sabbath desecration was carried on in Jerusalem, particularly in the city’s “gates” (see on Gen. 19:1; Joshua 8:29).
The picture presented is that of a loose Sabbath observance, a practice most distasteful to God (see Isa. 56:2–6; cf. ch. 58:13, 14).
Jer 17:25 then kings who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.
It would be difficult to find any scripture that sets forth more certainly the high importance of Sabbath observance. Had the Jews been loyal to God’s law, and especially to the Sabbath commandment, unlimited blessings would have been theirs.
Jer 17:27 But if you do not obey me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.'”
That the failure of the Israelites to observe the Sabbath did bring this tragic result is witnessed in 2 Kings 25:9.
Quenched. Not that the fire would burn without ceasing, but rather that the “fire” of God’s retributive justice could not be extinguished until it fully accomplished the divine purpose. Jerusalem was destroyed by fire both by the Babylonians, in 586 b.c., and by the Romans, in a.d. 70; and in both cases no human efforts were able to stop the conflagration until its appointed work of destruction was completed.