Jeremiah 6
OGCREVIEW OF CHAPTER SIX
I. Facts to Master.
The interpretation of evil from the north and destroyer of nations (Jeremiah 4:6-7).
The charge which Jeremiah makes against God (Jeremiah 4:10).
That which was essential if Judah was to be saved in the coming invasion (Jeremiah 4:14).
Jeremiah’s personal feelings as he contemplated the impending disaster (Jeremiah 4:19-22).
That which the nation tried to do to avert disaster (Jeremiah 4:30).
A favorite comparison of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 4:31).
The search which Jeremiah is bidden to under take (Jeremiah 5:1).
The words they used in taking an oath (Jeremiah 5:2).
What the people had been saying about their prophets (Jeremiah 5:13).
The fate of those who had served foreign gods (Jeremiah 5:19).
The appalling thing which had happened in the land (Jeremiah 5:30).
The figure with which Jeremiah describes the obstinacy of the people (Jeremiah 6:10).
That which the false priests and prophets were proclaiming (Jeremiah 6:14).
That for which the people should ask (Jeremiah 6:16).
That which was no longer acceptable to God (Jeremiah 6:20).
Two metaphors used to describe the prophet (Jeremiah 6:27 ASV).
II. Questions to Ponder.
How can the heart of the sinner be compared to fallow ground? How can the preacher of the Gospel precondition the soil of the heart for a favorable reception of the seed of the Word? Jeremiah 4:3
Why does Jeremiah call upon these Jews to circumcise themselves?
What literary technique does the prophet employ in Jeremiah 4:5-18 and Jeremiah 6:1-6?
What was the prophet’s personal reaction to the destruction of his people? Jeremiah 4:19-22.
What is meant by the expression yet I will not make a full end? Jeremiah 4:27; Jeremiah 5:10; Jeremiah 5:18.
Was the sin of Judah a matter of ignorance? Justify your answer. Jeremiah 5:1-6.
What were some of the pagan gods worshiped in Judah in the days of Jeremiah?
What was the root cause of the apostasy in Judah? Jeremiah 5:23.
What was the attitude of Jeremiah toward social injustice? Jeremiah 5:28. Should church leaders today be come involved in social action projects?
What does the prophet mean in Jeremiah 6:8 when he urges the people of Jerusalem to be instructed?
What is the significance of the figure of the grape gatherer in Jeremiah 6:9?
Who is speaking in Jeremiah 6:11 b? Is this a prayer on the part of the prophet or a command on the part of God?
What inadequate remedies for the hurt of God’s people are the spiritual leaders of our nation offering? See Jeremiah 6:14.
Why do you think Jeremiah 6:16 was such a popular preaching text among the preachers of the Restoration Movement?
What kind of rest comes to those who walk the old paths? Is it the rest of inactivity? See Jeremiah 6:16. Also Matthew 11:28.
- Why is ritual without righteousness worthless?
Does Jeremiah here completely repudiate the Mosaic sacrificial system? Jeremiah 6:20.
Jeremiah 6:1-5
D. Approach of Judgment Jeremiah 6:1-30
Chapter 6 contains a dramatic description of the advance of the foe against Jerusalem (Jeremiah 6:1-5) and the subsequent siege of that city (Jeremiah 6:6-8). The enemy will be completely successful in destroying the city (Jeremiah 6:9-15). At this point in. the chapter Jeremiah offers to the people a prescription of deliverance from impending judgment (Jeremiah 6:16-21). Then he reverts to a description of the coming conqueror (Jeremiah 6:22-26). The chapter concludes with an indication of the hopeless task of the prophet of God (Jeremiah 6:27-30).
- The advance of the foe (Jeremiah 6:1-5)
TRANSLATION
(1) Seek refuge, O children of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem and in Tekoa blow a trumpet! At Beth-Hakkerem rise up a signpost! for calamity peers down from the north, great destruction. (2) The beautiful and dainty one, the daughter of Zion, I will cut off. (3) Unto her shall come shepherds with their flocks; they shall pitch against her tents round about; they shall graze each man what is at his hand. (4) Sanctify against her war. Rise up! Let us go up at noontime. Woe to us when the day turns for the shadows of evening are stretching out. (5) Rise up that we may go up by night, that we may destroy her palaces.
COMMENTS
Projecting himself mentally into the future Jeremiah describes the scene as the foe from the north sweeps toward Jerusalem. In Jeremiah 4:6 the people of the countryside are exhorted to flee to Jerusalem. But the capital now no longer appears to be safe and the prophet can see refugees streaming southward from her gates. Being himself a Benjaminite, Jeremiah calls for his fellow tribesmen to get out of the midst of Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem was actually located on the border between Judah and Benjamin and hence many Benjaminites made that city their home. In Tekoa, twelve miles south of Jerusalem, a trumpet is sounded to assemble the people in their flight to the wilderness of southwestern Judah. At BethHakkerem, thought to be a hill east of Bethlehem, a sign post or fiery beacon is set up to give further guidance to fugitives. This flight is wise and necessary because the ugly monster of calamity is peering down (lit., bending forward) from the north (Jeremiah 6:1). By means of the ruthless armies of Nebuchadnezzar God will cut off or destroy the beautiful and dainty daughter of Zion, i.e., the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 6:2). Zion was the hill chosen by the Lord as His earthly abode and was part of the city of Jerusalem. No longer will the delicate lady, the bride of God and daughter of Jerusalem, receive the loving and tender treatment of the past. Instead, foreign commanders with their armies will come up against Jerusalem like shepherds with their flocks. Each shepherd will allow his flock to graze that part of Judah which is at his hand i.e., which has been assigned to his jurisdiction. As sheep graze a pasture land until nothing but bare soil remains so will these shepherds and their flocks utterly depasture and devastate the land of Judah (Jeremiah 6:3). Jeremiah 6:4 opens with an exhortation addressed to the invading force. Sanctify against her war! War in antiquity was a sacred undertaking. Sacrifices were frequently offered before battle (e.g., 1 Samuel 7:9; 1 Samuel 13:9) and inspirational addresses were given (e.g., Judges 7:18). Following the exhortation which he addresses to the enemy, Jeremiah takes his audience into the very camp of the enemy. The enemy is planning a surprise attack at noontime, a time when usually both sides in a conflict rested. As the shadows of evening lengthen the enemy forces lament the fact that they have not been able to complete their work of destruction (Jeremiah 6:4). Rather than retire to the camp for rest and refreshment the enemy commanders urge their men forward in a daring and decisive night attack designed to bring them within the walls of Jerusalem. They will not wait till morning for the final assault (Jeremiah 6:5).
Jeremiah 6:6-8
2. The siege of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 6:6-8)
TRANSLATION
(6) For thus says the LORD of hosts: Cut her trees and pour out against Jerusalem a mound! This is the city to be punished; everywhere there is oppression in her midst. (7) As the well causes its water to bubble forth so she bubbles forth her wickedness; violence and oppression are heard in her; before Me continually are sickness and wounds. (8) Be corrected, O Jerusalem, lest My soul be removed from you; lest I make you an astonishment, a land not inhabited.
COMMENTS
The God of Israel is the Lord of the enemy hosts. He issues the commands; they are merely instruments in His hands. Cut her trees! Pour out against Jerusalem a mound! The Assyrian kings boast of how they cut down the trees of the enemy. The timber was sometimes taken home, sometimes used to construct battering rams, catapults and other weapons used in the siege. Baskets of earth were poured out to form high mounds from which missiles could the more easily be hurled against the walls or into the besieged city. Jerusalem is to be punished by God because oppression exists throughout that city (Jeremiah 6:6). Just as a well always yields a supply of cool, fresh water so Jerusalem seems to constantly cause her wickedness to bubble forth. Deeds of violence and oppression against the less fortunate are commonplace. As a result of this mistreatment people suffer physical agony. Diseases produced by deprivation, want and wounds resulting from violent deeds cause the people to cry out to God about their plight (Jeremiah 6:7). Jeremiah earnestly appeals to Jerusalem to accept divine chastisement, to amend her ways, to repent. If they fail to heed this appeal God will completely, finally, and totally remove (lit., pull out, tear away) Himself from their midst. The land of Judah will become uninhabited, an astonishment to all who might look upon the desolation (Jeremiah 6:8).
Jeremiah 6:9-15
- The success of the foe (Jeremiah 6:9-15)
TRANSLATION
(9) Thus says the LORD of hosts: They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel; turn again your hand like a grape gatherer over the basket. (10) To whom may I speak and give warning that they may hear. Behold, their ear is uncircumcised; they are not able to pay attention. Behold, the word of the LORD has become a reproach to them, they do not delight in it. (11) Therefore with the wrath of the LORD am I filled; I weary myself containing it! Pour it out upon the child in the street and upon the gathering of young men. For a husband along with his wife shall be taken captive, the old man with the one full of days. (12) And their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and their wives together. For I shall stretch out My hand over the inhabitants of the land (oracle of the LORD). (13) For from their least to their greatest everyone is greedy for gain, from the prophet even unto the priest everyone practices deception. (14) They have healed the wound of My people with platitudes, saying, Peace! peace! when there is no peace. (15) They shall be put to shame because they have committed abomination; they neither are ashamed nor do they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who are falling. At the time that I punish them they shall be thrown to the ground said the LORD.
COMMENTS
Once again comparing Israel to a vineyard Jeremiah paints the picture of a complete and thorough judgment. Only a remnant of once powerful Israel remained after the ten northern tribes were ravished and deported by the Assyrians. Yet now even this remnant, i.e., Judah, is to undergo a severe sifting process. The enemy will thoroughly spoil sinful Judah as a grape gatherer who leaves nothing but leaves behind. The hand of the grape gatherer moves incessantly back and forth from the vine to the basket until the final grapes are picked (Jeremiah 6:9). Here is a picture of the repeated calamities, deportations, and attacks which Judah experienced in the twenty years following the Battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C. So was the remnant of Israel, Judah, itself made a remnant.
Jeremiah’s prophetic discouragement comes out in Jeremiah 6:10. No one will listen to him as he sounds the warning of impending judgment. The word of the Lord is treated with derision. The ear of the people seems to be uncircumcised, covered as it were with a foreskin which prevents the prophetic word from penetrating their mind (cf. Acts 7:51). Discouraged though he is, Jeremiah cannot refrain from preaching the word of judgment. He is filled with the message of divine wrath; it burns within him. He tries very hard to hold it back but only succeeds in making himself weary. In the last part of Jer 6:11 the problem arises as to who is speaking and to whom. Some think God is talking to Jeremiah urging him to pour out his message of doom upon the population. Others think Jeremiah is talking to God urging Him to hasten the day of judgment. The best view seems to be that Jeremiah is talking to himself. These are words of self-exhortation. He calls upon himself to announce the terrible day of God’s wrath. Whether or not the people listen he must sound the alarm. He must pour out his message to all segments of the population, from the very youngest to the very oldest, for all will ultimately be involved in the outpouring of divine judgment (Jeremiah 6:11). Their houses, and fields, and wives will be turned over to the invading soldiers; for the hand of the Lord, once stretched out against the enemies of Israel (Exodus 3:20; Deuteronomy 7:19) is now stretched out against them (Jeremiah 6:12).
The judgment described in Jeremiah 6:12 is appropriate to the root sin of the men of Judah, covetousness. Everyone in the nation, from the least to the greatest, was greedy for illicit gain. Even the prophets and priests practice deception and fraud to curry favor with the populace and thereby secure their good will and their gifts (Jeremiah 6:13). For the love of filthy lucre they would offer flattering pictures of the future prospects of the nation (cf. Micah 3:5). All is well, they would say. Peace! Peace! These soft-soaping, self-seeking clergymen completely failed to come to grips with the serious ailment of the nation. The pious platitudes of these leaders would no more cure the wound of Judah than mercurochrome could heal a skin cancer. These leaders feel no shame at present, they have no conscience, they do not know how to blush. But the leaders will eventually share the fate of those they had misguided. They shall fall among those who are slain in battle; they shall disrespectfully be thrown to the ground by the ruthless conqueror (Jeremiah 6:15).
Jeremiah 6:16-21
- Prescription for deliverance (Jeremiah 6:16-21)
TRANSLATION
(16) Thus said the LORD: Stand along side the ways and observe. Ask for the old ways where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your soul. But they said, We will not walk in it! (17) I have set over you watchmen. Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they have said, We will not hearken! (18) Therefore hear, O nations! Know, O congregation, what is in them. (19) Hear, O earth. Behold, I am about to bring calamity unto this people, the fruit of their thoughts; for they have not paid attention to My words and as for My law, they have rejected it. (20) Why should you bring incense from Sheba, and sweet cane from a distant land. Your burnt offerings are not pleasing and your sacrifices do not satisfy Me. (21) Therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I am about to give unto this people stumbling and they shall stumble over them, fathers and sons together. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.
COMMENTS
In the view of Jeremiah the nation was at a crossroads. He calls upon the people to stand, i.e., halt their headlong rush to destruction. Jeremiah urges them to select the old path of fidelity to God and adherence to His holy law and then to walk in that path. The old paths are those which previous generations have trodden to find salvation and divine blessing. There is but one way which has the blessing of the Lord and that is the way of obedient faith. True reformers are not those who are advocating new things but those who give due weight to old truths. The person who walks the old path will find spiritual rest for his soul. He will live a life free from anxiety about the here and now and the hereafter as well. In spite of this tender and gracious appeal on the part of God the people of Judah persist in stubbornly refusing to yield to His will. Their defiant response to the appeal is, We will not walk in it! (Jeremiah 6:16). Again God appeals to them to hearken to the alarm sounded by the prophetic watchmen whom He has placed over the nation (cf. Ezekiel 3:17; Ezekiel 33:1). Like watchmen of a city who stood on a high tower scanning the horizon for the first appearance of danger, so God’s watchmen would constantly be on the lookout for any danger to the continued existence of the nation of Judah. At the first appearance of danger these faithful watchmen would sound the alarm by blowing the trumpet of God’s warning word throughout the land. God’s second appeal is also rejected. The hardened people declare that they will not hearken to the alarm of the watchmen (Jeremiah 6:17).
In view of the double rejection of the appeal of God sentence must be pronounced against Judah. The nations of the world are called upon to hear the pronouncement (cf. Micah 1:2; Isaiah 18:3). The congregation of nations should note the sin and ingratitude which dwells in the heart of God’s chosen people. The ultimate objective of this instruction to the nation is didactic. God is about to teach a lesson to all the nations of the world by punishing His own people for their national sins. If the nations really know what is going on in Judah they will be able to apply the lesson to themselves (Jeremiah 6:18). The whole earth hears the horrible sentence of judgment: I am about to bring calamity unto this people. This punishment is the ripe fruit, the direct result, of their wicked and rebellious thoughts. They have not paid any attention to the word of God spoken through the prophets and furthermore they had rejected his written law (Jeremiah 6:19). Everywhere the Jews were scattered among the nations they became witnesses to their own guilt and the righteousness of the divine retribution against them.
Continued perfunctory observance of Temple ritual will not save the people from destruction. Someone has said, The less religion a man has in his heart the more he puts into his buildings and ceremonies. Whether or not that statement is universally true, the men of Judah certainly had an elaborate external religion completely divorced from personal holiness and morality. They went to much trouble and considerable expense to import the ingredients for the incense and anointing oil. Sheba was 1500 miles south of Jerusalem in southwestern Arabia. This may well have been the nearest location from which the proper ingredients specified in the law (Exodus 30:34) could be obtained. Sweet cane or calamus (Exodus 30:23), an ingredient of the holy anointing oil, was imported from a distant land, perhaps India. There was nothing wrong, of course, with the zeal of these people in obtaining these rare materials. Yet their burnt offerings and sacrifices were completely unacceptable to God. Jeremiah was not opposed to sacrifice. As a matter of fact he specifically approved of it (Jeremiah 17:26; Jeremiah 27:21-22; Jeremiah 33:10-11; Jeremiah 33:18). But Jeremiah, like all the prophets before him, regarded sacrifices without obedience as worthless.[170] The men of Judah were prone to make up in the outer what they did not possess in the inner. God has never been satisfied with mere externalities, with ceremonialism, with formalized and fossilized ritual. The men of Judah thought they were keeping God happy and on their side by going through the outward motions of worship. It was a tragic theological miscalculation, one which ultimately resulted in the destruction and ruin of the nation. They might be able to sidestep or rationalize the various disciplinary disasters which God had brought upon them. But in a very short period of time God would place before them a stumbling-block, Nebuchadnezzar, which they would not be able to sidestep. The whole nation would stumble over that obstacle and fall to their ruin (Jeremiah 6:21).
[170] 1 Samuel 15:22; Isaiah 1:11; Amos 5:21-24; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8.
Jeremiah 6:22-26
- Description of the foe (Jeremiah 6:22-26)
TRANSLATION
(22) Thus said the LORD: Behold, a people is about to come from a north land, a great nation shall be aroused from the uttermost parts of the earth. (23) Bow and spear they bear. They are ruthless and have no compassion. Their voices roar like the sea. Upon horses they ride equipped as men for war against you, O daughter of Zion. (24) We have heard the report of them. Our hands are feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, pain as a woman in childbirth. (25) Do not go out into the field nor walk in the way for the enemy has a sword, terror round about. (26) O daughter of My people, Gird on sackcloth and wallow in the dust; make for your selves the mourning of an only son, most bitter lamentation for suddenly the spoiler shall come upon us.
COMMENTS
In order to impress once again upon the minds of the people what the nation of Judah is up against, Jeremiah describes in terrifying detail the foe from the north. In contrast to tiny Judah the northern foe is a great nation. They come from the uttermost part of the earth (v, 22). In Jeremiah 31:8 this phrase is used of Babylon (cf. Jeremiah 25:32; Isaiah 14:13). The enemy soldiers carry both bow and spear. They are ruthless and have compassion on no one. The cruelty of the Mesopotamian armies in antiquity is well documented in the monuments, They were feared throughout the ancient Near East (cf. Nahum 3:1; Habakkuk 1:6-7). The noise of their countless horsemen and chariotry resembled the roar of the sea. This vast and invincible army will shortly come to make war against the daughter of Zion, the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 6:23).
In Jeremiah 6:24 the prophet again projects himself into the future to describe the reaction of the populace of Jerusalem as this vast host approaches. He identifies himself with his people and expresses the general feeling of anxiety and pain which will prevail in the city at that time. The Jewish soldiers lose their courage; they are too scared to resist. Throughout Jerusalem there is panic and pain which can only be compared to that which a woman experiences in childbirth (Jeremiah 6:24). No one is safe; the enemy is everywhere. No one should venture outside the walls of Jerusalem. Terror surrounds the city (Jeremiah 6:25). In view of the spoiler’s rapid descent on Jerusalem, Jeremiah calls his countrymen to bitter lamentation. The bereavement for the loss of an only son was the most severe a Hebrew could suffer (cf. Amos 8:10; Zechariah 12:10). Jeremiah loves his nation as a father loves his daughter and thus he addresses Judah as the daughter of my people. They refused to shed the tears of repentance; they will now be forced to shed the tears of lamentation (Jeremiah 6:26).
Jeremiah 6:27-30
- The hopeless task of the Prophet (Jeremiah 6:27-30)
TRANSLATION
(27) A tower have I made you among My people, a fortified city that you may know, then test their way. (28) They are all rebellious revolters, those who go after slander, brass and iron all of them, corrupters are they. (29) The bellows are scorched! The lead is consumed by fire. In vain he continues to smelt but the wicked are not removed. (30) Refuse silver they shall call them, for the LORD has rejected them.
COMMENTS
In Jeremiah 6:27 God addresses Jeremiah. God has made His prophet as strong as a tower[171] a fortified city; the people will not be successful in attacking him. Jeremiah can then fearlessly test and try the way of the people by his preaching[172] (Jeremiah 6:27). In this and the following verses metallurgic phraseology is employed with a moral application. The men of Judah are unfaithful to God for they are in open rebellion against Him. They are unfaithful to their fellowmen because they engage in malicious slander. These wicked men are as hard as brass and iron. Their way of life is corruption; all of them are rotten to the core (Jeremiah 6:28). Try as he may the assayer is not able to extract any precious metal from the worthless ore of the nation Judah. The fire is so hot that the bellows are scorched. The lead which served as a flux to carry away the impurities melts. But no silver remains. There were no righteous ones from whom the wicked could be separated (Jeremiah 6:29). Once Israel had been as precious to God as silver (Deuteronomy 5:27-29). Now that silver had become refuse silver i.e., worthless silver, good for nothing dross (Jeremiah 6:30).
[171] Another possible rendering is smelter, prover or trier. For lengthy discussion and defense of the translation tower see Laetsch, op. cit., pp. 89-90.
[172] Elsewhere in Scripture men are tested in fire or furnace of trials and tribulations in order to refine and purify them from the dross of sin. See Proverbs 17:3; Zechariah 13:9; Jeremiah 6:29; Jeremiah 9:7.