Jerusalem Refused to Repent
Jer 5:1 “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 seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.
Jer 5:2 Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.”
Jer 5:3 LORD, 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.
Jer 5:4 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.
Jer 5:5 So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.” But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.
Jer 5:6 Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.
Jer 5:7 “Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.
Jer 5:8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man’s wife.
Jer 5:9 Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
Jer 5:10 “Go through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not destroy them completely. Strip off her branches, for these people do not belong to the LORD.
Jer 5:11 The people of Israel and the people of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the LORD.
Jer 5:12 They have lied about the LORD; they said, “He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine.
Jer 5:13 The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them.”
The Lord Proclaims Judgment
Jer 5:14 Therefore this is what the LORD God Almighty says: “Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.
Jer 5:15 People of Israel,” declares the LORD, “I am bringing a distant nation against you— an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand.
Jer 5:16 Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors.
Jer 5:17 They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and daughters; they will devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.
Jer 5:18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not destroy you completely.
Jer 5:19 And when the people ask, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’
Jer 5:20 “Announce this to the descendants of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:
Jer 5:21 Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:
Jer 5:22 Should you not fear me?” declares the LORD. “Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
Jer 5:23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.
Jer 5:24 They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’
Jer 5:25 Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.
Jer 5:26 “Among my people are the wicked who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch people.
Jer 5:27 Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful
Jer 5:28 and have grown fat and sleek. 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.
Jer 5:29 Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
Jer 5:30 “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land:
Jer 5:31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?
1 The judgments of God upon the Jews, for their perverseness, 7 for their adultery, 10 for their impiety, 19 for their contempt of God, 25 and for their great corruption in the civil state, 30 and ecclesiastical.
Jerusalem Refused to Repent
Jer 5:1 “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 seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.
The command is given to drive home the universality of the moral corruption prevailing in Jerusalem. The challenge reminds us of the old story of the Greek sage, Diogenes, founder of the Cynic school of philosophy, who appeared on the streets of Athens with a lighted lantern searching for an honest man. The fact that men are bidden to “run,” “see,” “know,” and “seek,” forcefully calls attention to the great scarcity of righteous men.
Jer 5:2 Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.”
To swear by the name of the living God (see Deut. 6:13; 10:20, 21; Ps. 63:11; Isa. 45:23) was to acknowledge Him as the supreme Lord.
Jer 5:3 LORD, 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.
God sees through the pretence of man and scrutinizes the motives that govern conduct (see 2 Chron. 16:9; Prov. 5:21; 15:3; Jer. 16:17; 32:19).
Truth. Heb. ’emunah, “firmness,” “faithfulness.” ’Emunah is translated “faith” in Hab. 2:4, where, however, “faithfulness” is probably the more accurate translation. God is seeking for men of “faith,” or “faithfulness,” for He Himself is a God of “truth” (Heb. ’emunah, Deut. 32:4).
Jer 5:4 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.
The prophet is shown making the deduction that such moral depravity was confined to the poverty-stricken masses.
They do not know. Jeremiah suggests that their faulty conduct was due to their lack of religious instruction.
Jer 5:5 So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.” But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.
Doubtless the princes, priests, etc. Their rank and education afforded opportunity for studying the law and learning from it “the way of the Lord.” Because these have sinned against the greater light they are the more guilty.
Jer 5:6 Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.
A lion. The Babylonians are no doubt referred to by the symbols of this verse. The three animals may represent, respectively, strength, ferocity, and swiftness.
Jer 5:7 “Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.
Committed adultery. Both spiritually and literally (see on Num. 25:1; Judges 2:17; 1 Kings 14:15; 2 Kings 9:22; 23:7). The association of immorality with the idolatrous cults makes the figure doubly apt.
Jer 5:8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man’s wife.
Jer 5:9 Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
God, their lawful Husband, is shown as no longer willing to bear their wicked abominations.
Jer 5:10 “Go through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not destroy them completely. Strip off her branches, for these people do not belong to the LORD.
Completely. A remnant was to be preserved from destruction (see v. 18; see on ch. 4:27). Hence limits were set to the raging fury of the Babylonians.
Jer 5:11 The people of Israel and the people of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me,” declares the LORD.
Jer 5:12 They have lied about the LORD; they said, “He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine.
The people had acted deceptively against the Lord. They had denied and disavowed Him as their God.
The judgments that had fallen were ascribed to chance or fortune. On the other hand the messages of the false prophets, promising peace and security for the nations (see Jer. 14:13; 23:25, 32; cf. Isa. 28:15), were eagerly accepted by the sin-loving populace.
Jer 5:13 The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them.”
This verse is a continuation of the speech of the unbelieving Jews. The prophetic warnings, they asserted, would come to nothing and the prophets would prove to be mere wind.
These unbelievers are evidently expressing the wish that the predicted sword and famine might fall upon the heads of the prophets.
The Lord Proclaims Judgment
Jer 5:14 Therefore this is what the LORD God Almighty says: “Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.
Fire. Instead of proving to be wind, God’s word in the mouth of Jeremiah is represented as becoming a fire that would suddenly and irresistibly consume the scoffers as fire consumes dry wood (see Jer. 1:9, 10; 23:29; cf. Ps. 83:14, 15; Isa. 9:18, 19).
Jer 5:15 People of Israel,” declares the LORD, “I am bringing a distant nation against you— an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand.
In comparison with such countries as Moab, Philistia, and Edom, Babylonia was a far country and is so designated in Isa. 39:3 (see Jer. 1:15; 4:16).
House of Israel. Here a designation for the two remaining tribes, the sole free representatives of the whole nation of Israel (see Jer. 6:9; 9:26; Eze. 13:16; 18:31).
There would be no escape from this unconquerable people whose numbers seemed never to dwindle or fail, and whose resources appeared inexhaustible.
An ancient nation. Babylon’s great antiquity seems only to have added to its pride, arrogance, cruelty, and skill in the art of destruction.
Speech you do not understand. The language referred to here is Aramaic, which was fast becoming an international medium of diplomacy and commerce). Aramaic is closely related to the Hebrew, but was not at this time understood by the Jewish populace (see on 2 Kings 18:26). Some think the Babylonian language is referred to.
Jer 5:16 Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors.
Jer 5:17 They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and daughters; they will devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.
Jer 5:18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not destroy you completely.
Jer 5:19 And when the people ask, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’
Why? The thought returns to the main theme of the chapter: the causes of the judgments about to come upon the nation. In case the Jews should be insolent enough to ask the reasons for the calamities in view of God’s promises to them and His choice of them as His special people, the prophet was to reply with a countercharge: Judah had forsaken the Lord and had turned to idolatry. God’s promises had been given on condition of obedience and loyalty.
Serve foreign gods. The punishment was adapted to meet the nature of the offense. God had given them His land, but since they preferred to serve foreign deities, they would be carried away to serve foreigners in a foreign land (see Deut. 28:47, 48).
Jer 5:20 “Announce this to the descendants of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:
The message was for all.
Jer 5:21 Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:
21. Understanding. Sin, particularly willful sin, perverts the moral perceptions (see Jer. 4:22; Hosea 7:11).
Eyes, and see not. Judah was willfully blind and obstinately deaf. There is no one so blind as he who will not see. Deliberate sin cuts the optic nerve of the soul (see ch. 6:10).
Jer 5:22 Should you not fear me?” declares the LORD. “Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
The prophet appeals to God’s infinite power and consummate wisdom as exhibited in nature. The mysteries of the deep, its vast expanse and its rushing waves leaping mountain high, make the sea a fitting symbol of the wild and seemingly irresistible natural forces. Yet, God, in His universal sovereignty, controls the violence of the deep.
He binds the ocean within certain limits, declaring, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed” Job 38:11; cf. Ps. 33:7; 104:9; Prov. 8:29). Though the individual particles of sand are easily shifted about, the vast beaches of sand constitute a most effective barrier against the incessant beating of the waves.
Jer 5:23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.
The sea and the waves were obedient to the great Sovereign of the universe, but men refused their allegiance. The people of Judah set up their will against the will of God. They revolted against God’s law and service, and practically defied Him.
Neither the fearful grandeur of God’s power as displayed in the sea, nor the gracious kindness of His works as exhibited in the blessing of rain, moved Judah to godly fear and holy awe.
Nature has no inherent power to act apart from the Creator (see 8T 259). Her laws are not self-working; God is unceasingly at work in nature through them. Rain is a gift from the great Benefactor of mankind (see on Lev. 26:4).
The former. This rain fell in the late autumn. It softened the parched and thirsty soil for ploughing and sprouted the winter grain.
The latter. This rain, so essential for the maturing of the grain, fell in the spring, in March and early April, before the harvest season (see on Deut. 11:14; see Joel 2:23). The fruitfulness of the year was closely bound up with the regularity of the rainy seasons.
Jer 5:24 They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’
Jer 5:25 Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.
The three main feasts of the Jews coincided with the three harvest seasons: the Passover at the time of the barley harvest, Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, at the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Tabernacles at the close of the fruit harvest.
Jer 5:26 “Among my people are the wicked who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch people.
The metaphor is taken from the fowler’s trade. Birds were captured with nets spread on the ground, in traps and snares (see Ps. 91:3; 124:7; Prov. 6:5).
Catch people. By their contemplated mischievous designs and their deceitful practices these wicked men made a prey of the innocent and unsuspecting (see Micah 7:2).
Jer 5:27 Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful
A reference to the wicker coop or basket in which captured birds were placed (see Rev. 18:2).
Deceit. The meaning is apparently that as a fowler’s cage is full of the birds he has captured, so men’s houses are filled with the goods gained by deceit and dishonesty. They had become wealthy by deceiving and overreaching one another in business (see Ps. 73:12).
Jer 5:28 and have grown fat and sleek. 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.
The fatherless. The people were callously indifferent to their social obligations to the needy (see Ex. 22:22; Isa. 1:23; etc.).
Jer 5:29 Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
Jer 5:30 “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land:
Verses 30, 31 summarize the reasons for the inevitable doom about to come upon Jerusalem. The prophets, priests, and people were united in evil.
Jer 5:31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end
Love it. Undoubtedly this explains the success of the false prophets and the priests. They catered to that which appealed to the heart of the populace. The people were willingly misled. What will they do in the end. The united wickedness of the leaders and the people made an “end” inevitable. The nation was challenged to consider that sober fact. While the false prophets thought only of the present and their immediate prosperity, Jeremiah was concerned with the fate of the nation in the future.