Jeremiah 9
OGCREVIEW OF CHAPTER EIGHT
I. Facts to Master.
The name of the northern-most town of Pales tine (Jeremiah 8:16).
The _______________ is past, the _____________is ended and we are not saved (Jeremiah 8:20).
IS there no ______ in Gilead (Jeremiah 8:22).
Significant tides for God (Jeremiah 10:7; Jeremiah 10:16).
Distant lands from which precious metals were brought to be made into idols (Jeremiah 10:9).
The peculiar thing about Jeremiah 10:11.
The identity of the shepherds and the flock in Jeremiah 10:21.
II. Questions to Ponder.
What is the point of the contrast between the migratory birds and the people of God? Jeremiah 8:7.
In what way had sin blinded the eyes of the people of Judah? See Jeremiah 8:8.
What is meant by the expression the false pen of the scribes bath wrought falsely? (Jeremiah 8:8).
Who is a wise man? See Jeremiah 8:9, Jeremiah 9:12.
The inhabitants of Judah could not blush (Jeremiah 8:12). Has the present generation lost its sense of shame?
What are the wormwood and the gall mentioned in Jeremiah 8:14 and Jeremiah 9:15?
What is meant by the expression, The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved? (Jeremiah 8:20).
Is there a suggestion for every Gospel preacher in Jeremiah 8:18 to Jeremiah 9:9, the lament of Jeremiah? What is it?
What strong impulse does Jeremiah have as he views the corruption of the society of his day? (Jeremiah 9:2). Did God intend for Christians to live in monasteries?
What was the fulfillment of the prophecy uttered in Jeremiah 9:10-11?
What were some of the mourning customs in ancient Israel? Check a Bible dictionary.
Is it wrong for a Christian to boast? See Jeremiah 9:23-24, also Galatians 6:14.
Two kinds of uncircumcision are distinguished in Jeremiah 9:25-26. What does circumcision in this passage symbolize? Sometimes preachers are heard to say: you people may have been baptized but your hearts were never really yielded to God. Is this good theology? Can a person be baptized and remain unconverted?
Is there anything wrong with the Christian wearing good luck charms? Should he be afraid of Friday the 13th, broken mirrors, or walking beneath ladders? What about astrology? See Jeremiah 10:1-5.
How would you describe Jeremiah’s attitude toward his own personal grief? (Jeremiah 10:19)
Analyze the prayer which closes chapter 10. What confession is made? What personal petition? What imprecation?
Jeremiah 9:1
D. Unbearable Pain on the Part of the Prophet Jeremiah 8:18 to Jeremiah 9:1
TRANSLATION
(18) O my Comfort against sorrow! My heart is faint within me! (19) Behold, the sound of the cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her king in her? Why do they provoke Me with their images with their strange vanities? (20) The harvest is past, the summer has ended and we have not been saved. (21) Because of the hurt of the daughter of my people I have been hurt; I mourn, anguish has seized me. (22) Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? For why does not healing come to the daughter of my people? (Jeremiah 9:1) Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears I would bewail day and night the slain of the daughter of my people.
COMMENTS
As Jeremiah sees the apostasy of his people and their impending destruction his heart is sick. He casts himself upon God his comforter (Jeremiah 8:18). The word comforter means literally, the one to cause me to smile, to be cheerful or be bright. Jeremiah hears as it were a dialogue between those who will be taken into exile and God. In a distant land the former inhabitants of Judah lift up a cry for help: Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her? They cannot comprehend how Zion, the Temple mount, can be so humiliated and degraded if God is really still on His throne. To this astonished cry God makes answer: Why do they provoke Me with their images? (Jeremiah 8:19). Whatever has befallen Zion has come about because of the idolatry of the people there. Ignoring the explanation of God the exiles of the future continue with their complaint by citing a popular proverb: The harvest is past, the summer has ended and we have not been saved (Jeremiah 8:20). Once the summer harvest was over a farmer looked forward to a period of deliverance from arduous toil. But in the case of the Jewish exiles the hot summer of toil was only followed by the cold winter of despondency. Their national deliverance confidently predicted by the false prophets did not materialize. The exiles were beginning to realize that no speedy deliverance was in the offing.
The unbelief and despair of the people causes even deeper despair in the heart of the prophet. Because of the hurt (lit., shattering) of the daughter of my people I have been hurt. He loves his people as a father might love a daughter. Though Jeremiah sternly rebuked the people of Judah throughout his ministry yet all the while his heart was broken because of them. He did not want to see his people destroyed. Is there no balm (or medicine) in Gilead? the prophet asks. Gilead, located east of the Jordan river, was famous in old Testament times for its balm. It is not certain just what this balm was but the suggestion has been made that it was the juice of the turpentine tree. The material was exported (Ezekiel 27:17) and was very costly (Genesis 43:11). The balm of Gilead was prized for its medicinal properties. There was no healing ointment which could be applied to the spiritual wound of Judah. There were no physicians who might be able to deal with the difficulty (Jeremiah 8:22). Nothing can cure the ailment of Judah except a whole-hearted return to the divine Physician (Exodus 15:26). Jeremiah wishes that his head could produce an inexhaustible supply of tears that he might lament the inevitable doom of his people (Jeremiah 8:1). In spite of their sin, in spite of the way they had rejected God’s message, the inhabitants of Judah were still my people as far as Jeremiah was concerned.
Jeremiah 9:2-8
II. NATIONAL CORRUPTION Jeremiah 9:2-26
Jeremiah does not allow himself to be overcome by his personal feelings regarding the gloomy future of his people. The destruction of Judah is a punishment well deserved. The prevailing corruption (Jeremiah 9:2-8) has brought into prospect the impending destruction (Jeremiah 9:9-21).
A. Prevailing Corruption Jeremiah 9:2-8
TRANSLATION
(2) Oh that I were in the wilderness in a travelers-’ inn, that I might leave my people and depart from them because all of them are adulterers, and an assembly of treacherous men. (3) They bend their tongue, their bow, for deceit; they are mighty in the land but not for truth; for from evil to evil they proceed and they do not know Me (oracle of the LORD). (4) Be on guard each man from his friend and do not trust any brother; for every brother is very crooked and every friend is a slanderer. (5) Every man deceives his neighbor; they do not speak truth; their tongues have learned to speak lies. With iniquity they weary themselves. (6) Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; in deceit they refuse the knowledge of Me (oracle of the LORD). (7) Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold! I am about to refine them by fire and test them; for how else shall I do in view of the fact that she is the daughter of My people. (8) Their tongue is a sharp arrow, it speaks deceit; with his mouth he continues to speak peaceably with his friends; but in his heart he plans treachery.
COMMENTS
It is always nauseating for a righteous man to continue in daily contact with filthy and corrupt company. Jeremiah longs to leave the city with all its vices and take up residence in one of the desolate and dreary wayside shelters which dotted the major highways of antiquity. All of the people of Judah participate in spiritual and literal adultery at the Canaanite shrines. Even when gathered in their religious assemblies these men are treacherous, hypocritical and untrustworthy. The tender and sensitive Jeremiah would rather live the life of a monastic, sit in an isolated shack and meditate and bemoan the fate of his people. But God had called him to preach to that godless generation, and preach he must!
Jeremiah’s description of the corruption of Judah is truly remarkable. The tongue of the men of Judah is a bow which hurls falsehood and deceit. These mighty warriors do not contend for truth but for its opposite, lawlessness and injustice. Their starting point is evil and their ultimate goal is evil. This deplorable situation has developed because they do not know or have regard for the living God (Jeremiah 9:3). A willful ignorance of God and His word was at the root of their national corruption. No one could be trusted, not even the members of one’s own immediate family. Every brother was very crooked. The Hebrew phrase here means literally, to follow at the heel, assail insidiously, trip someone up. Everyone was out to defraud and cheat his brother. Friends went about carrying slanderous tales about friends (Jeremiah 9:4). Self-protection demanded that everyone be viewed with suspicion. These people had learned i.e., they had accustomed themselves, to speaking lies and falsehood. They actually weary themselves in sinning (Jeremiah 9:5). The sinner may have his wild fling but in the end he winds up exhausted, a physical, mental and moral wreck. The more abundant life is that of faithful and loving obedience to the divine will.
In Jeremiah 9:6 God addresses Jeremiah. He tells the prophet what he already knows viz*.,* that he should trust no one since he is surrounded by deceit. Hypocritical men have no desire to really know God and so they deliberately, purposely shut the Lord out of their lives (Jeremiah 9:6). Only the knowledge of God will cure them of their hypocrisy; yet they refuse to know God because of their hypocrisy. The only alternative is a judgment which will serve to purify and refine the nation. God is about to purify His people in the fires of judgment even as silver is purified from dross by smelting. He will then test them to see if all the impurities have indeed been removed. How otherwise could God act? He has no other choice. God could not leave His people in their sin for they were intended to be a holy people. On the other hand because they are His people He cannot utterly destroy them. The only solution is to purge them through tribulation such as they had not hitherto experienced (Jeremiah 9:7). Such people who use their tongue as in arrow to smite their neighbors, who speak peace but plot treachery (lit., set an ambush) are the dross which must be removed through the judgment process (Jeremiah 9:8).
Jeremiah 9:9-16
B. Impending Destruction Jeremiah 9:9-21
Because of the national corruption, destruction is necessary and imminent. The land will become desolate (Jeremiah 9:9-15) and death will reign supreme throughout the land (Jeremiah 9:16-21).
- Desolation of the land (Jeremiah 9:9-16)
TRANSLATION
(9) On account of these things shall I not punish them (oracle of the LORD)? Shall not I take vengeance on a nation which is like this? (10) Upon the mountains I shall lift up weeping and lamentation and in the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation; for they are burned up so that no man passes by and they do not hear the noise of the cattle. The birds of the heavens as well as the cattle have fled, have gone away. (11) And I will make Jerusalem heaps, the habitation of jackals, and the cities of Judah I will make a desolation without inhabitant. (12) Who is the wise man that he may discern this and to whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed, burned like a wilderness so that no one passes by? (13) And the LORD said: Because they forsook My law which I placed before them and they did not hearken to My voice nor walk in it. (14) But they walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baalim which their fathers taught them. (15) Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I am about to cause them viz., this people, to eat wormwood and cause them to drink the poisoned water of gall. (16) And I will scatter them among nations which neither they nor their fathers have known and I will send after them the sword until I have consumed them.
COMMENTS
In view of the terribly corrupt conditions which prevail in Judah God is perfectly justified in taking vengeance upon that land (Jeremiah 9:9). Jeremiah knows what will befall his beloved land. He knows that when the judgment falls he will be weeping and lamenting the desolation which will befall that once proud little country. The pasture lands of the wilderness i.e., the uninhabited region, which once were covered with flocks and herds will become so utterly waste that even the birds depart for lack of food (Jeremiah 9:10). The cities of Judah will not escape the desolation. Their ruins will become the habitation of wild creatures (Jeremiah 9:11). The I of Jer 9:11 is no longer Jeremiah, but God.
In Jeremiah 9:12 Jeremiah challenges the wise men of the land and those who claimed to have received divine revelation to explain why the land has become desolate (Jeremiah 9:12). They are unable to explain it and so God himself gives the explanation. God had placed His law before this people at Sinai. He had amplified His law and kept it before the people through the preaching of the prophets. Yet the people forsook the law of God, refused to hearken to His instruction or walk in His way (Jeremiah 9:13). In their stubborn rebellion they followed after the Canaanite deities, the Baalim. This apostasy and idolatry they had learned from their fathers (Jeremiah 9:14). Where fathers go, sons will follow. What an ungodly legacy the fathers had left to their descendants!. The iniquities of fathers are often magnified in the lives of sons and when iniquity is full the punishment is inevitable (cf. Exodus 20:5). The sons must now eat the wormwood and drink the water of gall (Jeremiah 9:15). Wormwood and gall, two bitter and noxious substances, were symbols in the Old Testament for bitter affliction. Judah will become desolate because she will be depopulated. God will scatter the Jews among the far-distant foreign nations. Even in captivity the sword of divine retribution will pursue them until they are consumed (Jeremiah 9:16). Those who would be consumed in captivity are, of course, the unbelieving and unrepentant (cf. Amos 9:9-10). Those who turned to God in sincerity and truth would be restored to their homeland (Jeremiah 16:14-15; Jeremiah 31:9; Jeremiah 31:18-19).
Jeremiah 9:17-22
- Death throughout the land (Jeremiah 9:17-22)
TRANSLATION
(17) Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider and call for the mourning women that they might come and unto the wise women send that they might come. (18) And let them hurry and lift up over us wailing that our eyes may flow with tears and our eyelids stream with water. (19) For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion. How sad it is! We have been despoiled! We are put to great shame; for we have forsaken the land; for they have cast down our dwellings. (20) For hear the word of the LORD, O women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth, and teach your daughters wailing and every one her neighbor lamentation. (21) For death has come up into our windows, it has entered into our palaces, to cut down children in the street, young men in the broad places. (22) Speak thus! (oracle of the LORD): The carcasses of men shall fall like dung upon the surface of the field and like sheaves behind the reaper; and there is no one to gather them.
COMMENTS
In view of the impending national disaster, Jeremiah calls for professional mourning women to come and bewail the death of the nation. Such women were wise or skillful in the ways of leading public lamentation (Jeremiah 9:17). By helping others to weep and thus give vent to their emotions these women rendered a public service. One can find some measure of relief from anguish and sorrow only as he openly and outwardly expresses it. Jeremiah can seem to hear the wailing coming forth from Zion of Jerusalem. The people have been despoiled and humiliated. They have been forced to forsake the land of their birth. Their homes have been cast down by the enemy. They are confounded and confused (Jeremiah 9:19). Jeremiah calls upon the women who had been so zealous in the worship of false gods to give heed to the word of God. The day is soon approaching when the women of the nation would have to teach their daughters how to lament. So great will be the national tragedy that there will not be sufficient professional mourners. All the women will have to become involved (Jeremiah 9:20).
Why this need for universal lamentation? Death will reign supreme in the land in that day. Death creeps through the windows of homes and palaces. The Grim Reaper stalks the streets and broadplaces or market places of the city. Innocent children are cut down, young men in the flower of their youth (Jeremiah 9:21). The figure of death entering through the windows was a common one in the ancient Near East. In the Ugaritic epic of Baal, death is also described as entering by the window. Baal gave orders that no window was to be made in his palace until he had beaten his rival Moth, the god of death. After the victory over Moth, Baal issued a new order to the craftsman to construct a window. Apparently the entrance of death by the windows eventually became a common figure of speech in the Canaanite and Hebrew languages.
The picture of death throughout the land reaches its climax in Jeremiah 9:22. The first phrase, Speak thus! is abrupt and forceful and serves to arrest the attention of the hearer and draw his attention to this last dramatic announcement. The carcasses of the men of Judah who fall in battle will be left unburied. The dead bodies will be scattered over the surface of the ground like fertilizer spread by a farmer. A reaper in his haste to glean the harvest leaves many handfuls of grain in the field to rot. So would it be with the bodies of the dead. Those who survive the battles will be too few in number and too fearful to venture forth from the walled cities to give the fallen a decent burial (Jeremiah 9:22).
Jeremiah 9:23-24
III. TRUE GLORY Jeremiah 9:23-24
TRANSLATION
(23) Thus says the LORD: Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom and let not the mighty man boast of his might nor the rich man boast of his wealth. (24) But let him that glories glory in this: The understanding and knowledge of Me, for I am the LORD who establishes kindness, justice and righteousness in the land because in these things I take delight (oracle of the LORD).
COMMENTS
The brief but beautiful treatment of true glory seems unrelated to either what precedes or what follows in the chapter. Men throughout history have been tempted to magnify the importance of wisdom, strength and wealth and fall down in adoration before this trinity in unholy worship. Wealth and strength are ephemeral and wisdom, if it is not rooted in reverent fear for God, is vain (cf. Psalms 111:10). Destruction and death await the nation or the individual who places undue confidence in the arm of flesh (Jeremiah 9:23). True glory belongs not to the wealthy, the strong, and the wise but to those who understand and know the Lord. To understand God means to have the correct insight into His divine nature; to know Him means to walk in intimate fellowship with Him day by day. Those who understand and know the Lord practice daily those things which are pleasing to Him. They demonstrate lovingkindness to those who are of the household of faith. They strive for justice for the underprivileged and weak. They walk in the paths of righteousness, i.e., right conduct. These are the qualities which make the relationship between God and man and these are the qualities which must characterize the relationship between the man of God and his fellowman (Jeremiah 9:24).
Jeremiah 9:25-26
IV. THE UNCIRCUMCISED HEART Jeremiah 9:25-26
TRANSLATION
(25) Behold, days are coming (oracle of the LORD) when I will bring punishment upon all circumcised in their uncircumcision. (26) Upon Egypt and Judah and Edom and the children of Ammon and Moab and all those who cut the corners (of the hair) who dwell in the wilderness, for all the nations are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.
COMMENTS
Circumcision was given by divine command to Abraham and his descendants as a sign of the covenant between God and that people. (Genesis 17:10). The men of Jeremiah’s day while outwardly bearing the sign of the covenant had drifted far from God. spiritually they were uncircumcised. Their hearts were closed to the word of God. They were members by birth of the nation Israel; but actually they were no part of the spiritual Israel. Shortly, warns Jeremiah, God will bring His punishment upon all those who though outwardly circumcised were really uncircumcised (Jeremiah 9:25), Other nations of antiquity practiced circumcision as well as did the Jews. Five such peoples are named in Jeremiah 9:26: Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites and those who cut the corners of the hair. This latter phrase refers to the Arabian tribes who shaved the temples at puberty and consecrated them to their deities.[188] The circumcision practiced by these heathen nations was not done in obedience to the command of God and therefore their circumcision was regarded by God as uncircumcision. God’s judgment would fall upon them. But God’s judgment would also fall upon the men of Judah who were in this respect no different from their pagan neighbors. They were physically circumcised but not spiritually so.[189] Just as the men of Israel were not living up to their circumcision, so many today are not living up to their baptism. Many have had their bodies immersed in water but their minds, hearts and will remain unbaptized.
[188] Herodotus III. 8. This practice was forbidden to the Israelites. See Leviticus 19:27; Deuteronomy 14:1
[189] See Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4; Romans 2:25-29.