Jeremiah 8: 1 – 22
It is time to mourn
1 “At that time,” says the LORD, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. 2 They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth. 3 Then death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the LORD of hosts. 4 “Moreover you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Will they fall and not rise? Will one turn away and not return? 5 Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return. 6 I listened and heard, but they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, saying, ‘what have I done?’ Everyone turned to his own course, as the horse rushes into the battle. 7 “Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the LORD. 8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us’? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood. 9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; So what wisdom do they have? 10 Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who will inherit them; Because from the least even to the greatest everyone is given to covetousness; From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. 11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace. 12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall; In the time of their punishment they shall be cast down,” says the LORD. 13 “I will surely consume them,” says the LORD. “No grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; And the things I have given them shall pass away from them.’” 14 “Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For the LORD our God has put us to silence and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. 15 “We looked for peace, but no good came; And for a time of health, and there was trouble! 16 The snorting of His horses was heard from Dan. The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His strong ones; For they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell in it.” 17 “For behold, I will send serpents among you, vipers which cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you,” says the LORD. 18 I would comfort myself in sorrow; My heart is faint in me. 19 Listen! The voice, the cry of the daughter of my people from a far country: “Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her King in her?” “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images—With foreign idols?” 20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!” 21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; Astonishment has taken hold of me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?
Folks let me share with you something important and it is this, ‘the world is spinning out of control.’ Stop and think and ask yourself this question, ‘Is there any spot-on earth where there is peace. I cannot think of any. Even where there is government at war with another country I see hatred and a bestiality from humans that are beyond comprehension.
People try to get me to join in their movement against other people and groups. I will not join them. I love what William Tecumseh Sherman said when people wanted him to take a political position. He said, ‘If nominated I will not accept, I appointed I will not serve.’ Awesome!
If you are a seeker of the truth of God I want, you to listen up. If you are a teacher of His Word, please take heed to pass this on to others. Mankind can not continue to be doing this evil. Judgement is right at the door.
There are really two things that need to be consider. With all the variable cultures, religions, and issues that cloud out what is important you need just to think about this condition in your life and these are the two;
1. Do you know Father God El Shaddai personally (God Is One Trinity -Yahweh (Father), Yeshua (Lord and Savior Jesus Christ), and The Precious Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost)
2. All others
Here is how all this will end. The Good Shepherd our Lord Jesus Is the Only One Who has promised Heaven. There are other religions that promise all other kind of futures, but I want to go to Heaven to be with Him and all my love ones.
The Holy Son of God stated that He Is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father but by Him. In other words, He Is the only way to Heaven.
So, if you are not right with The Holy Creator and Sustainer of all life then you end will be eternal damnation.
People are striving for power and riches which will all flee away. They are trying to produce for themselves a heaven on earth and in truth it will never happen.
The Prophet Jeremiah sees what is coming on his fellow countrymen and he mourns. I also see what is going to happen to not only Americans but all other people in the world and I join my Holy Fathers instruction to mourn for others.
I pray that you will have eyes to see and ears to hear what our Great and Mighty God says in this chapter.
1 “At that time,” says the LORD, “they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.
At a future time, the bones of those who had brought all these problems on Judah, the kings, the princes, the priests, the prophets, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem would be brought out of their graves and spread over the valley in order to desecrate them.
While the looting of grave treasures may have been part of the reason for the opening of graves, the widespread nature of what would happen indicates that was not to be the main reason. The main reason was probably so that the nations would see what happened to persistent rebels and would fear.
2 They shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served and after which they have walked, which they have sought and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered nor buried; they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth.
The irony of the situation would be such that these people who had encouraged the worship of the sun, moon and stars, and had shown such devotion towards them, would themselves have their bones spread out before them, and would ‘discover’ that they could do nothing to help them. They had loved them and served them, and walked after them and sought them, and worshipped them. Now they would be shamed before them, while the sun, moon and stars shone blandly down on them, unable to offer any assistance. Nor would anyone gather up their bones. They would be left to lie there until they became compost to renew the soil.
3 Then death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says the LORD of hosts.
The case would not be any better for those who survived. Any who survived the slaughter would be driven into exile in one way or another, and many would then prefer death to life because of the misery of their situation. Life would be worse than death. And all this would be in accordance with the sure word of YHWH of hosts.
YHWH now declares that the behavior of the people reveals them for what they are. They are so dead set on sin that nothing will turn them aside from it or cause them to stop and think. While birds observe their proper times, His people ignore them and do what they will. And yet they claim to be wise. But their wisdom will revealed to be folly, because they have rejected the word of YHWH. They have become so sinful that they can no longer blush. That is why they will be utterly consumed and will lose everything.
4 “Moreover you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Will they fall and not rise? Will one turn away and not return? 5 Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return.
YHWH expresses His surprise that His people are not following the normal pattern pursued by men. When men fall, do they not get up again? When a man takes the wrong road, does he not usually, as soon as he is aware of it, turn back to the right road? Why then is this not true of His people? Why when they slide back do they allow it to be permanent, so that they are guilty of permanent backsliding? And His conclusion is that it is because their choice of the wrong way was blatantly deliberate. It was because they deliberately held fast to the way of deceit and refused to return.
6 I listened and heard, but they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, saying, ‘what have I done?’ Everyone turned to his own course, as the horse rushes into the battle.
It was not that YHWH did not care, indeed He had been ‘listening in’. He had overheard their conversations and observed their attitudes, hoping to hear something positive only to discover that when they discussed things they had no thought of the fact that they were doing wrong, nor did they show any sign of repentance for their wickedness. They did not allow themselves to be pulled up short, saying, ‘What have I done?’ They were in the sad state of being oblivious to sin. Rather they chose their own course and carried on pursuing their own way with the same determination as a horse charging into battle, with the bit firmly gripped in its mouth, looking neither right nor left, and not pausing to think. This is also the state of the world in which we ourselves live.
7 “Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the LORD.
By their behavior they reveal that they do not take notice of the time that is coming. Storks know their appointed times, turtledoves, swallows and cranes come precisely on time, but God’s people do not recognize when the time of YHWH’s judgment has come, (or that it is the time for observing His just ways).
8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us’? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood.
Yet they think that they are wise. They even claim to have the Instruction of YHWH (His Torah). But what they have is a distorted word, produced and deliberately distorted by those who manipulate what is in the ancient texts. This is not speaking of false copying, but of what they wrote down after supposedly considering what they had read.
9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; So what wisdom do they have?
Even the wise men of the kingdom will be dealt with, so that when judgment comes they will be taken by surprise and, as they are carried off, will be totally dismayed. Their wisdom will not save them, and it will be because they have rejected the word of YHWH. So what kind of wisdom do they have?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who will inherit them; Because from the least even to the greatest everyone is given to covetousness; From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.
The consequence for all His people will be that their wives will be snatched from them and given to others, and their fields handed over to the ones who will take possession of them. And this will be because all are involved in their sin, from the least to the greatest, for they are all prone to coveting what belongs to others, and obtaining it by whatever method that they can, while from the prophet to the priest, all their religious ‘guides’ deal falsely.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace.
These very ‘guides’ have pretended that they could heal the hurt of the people and have sought to do it glibly and smoothly by saying ‘peace, peace’ where there was no peace. This may signify peace in terms of freedom from outside interference, or peace in the sense of well-being generally. In other words, they have promised the people that they have nothing to fear, and that ‘all is well’, when in fact things were far from well. They were like many today who are ready to dismiss the idea that God is so serious about sin that He does not forgive it lightly.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall; In the time of their punishment they shall be cast down,” says the LORD.
The final evidence of their depravity was that when they had committed abominations they were not ashamed. They did not even blush. And that is why they will ‘fall among those who fall’, and in the time when YHWH visits in judgment they will be hurled down.
We live in a day when many have ‘forgotten how to blush’. The anonymity of the internet enables people to do what they would never do in daily life, and seemingly get away with it. They should, however, remember that one day all the secrets of the internet will be revealed, for God knows all our nicknames and passwords. ‘That which is secret will be made known’ (Matthew 10.26). And meanwhile even in daily life we have become more brazen, and purity and genuine honesty are becoming less and less valued.
13 “I will surely consume them,” says the LORD. “No grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; And the things I have given them shall pass away from them.’”
And so, YHWH warns them that they will be utterly consumed and that on ‘the word of YHWH’. The result will be that there will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig-tree, even the leaf will fade, and all that YHWH has given them will pass away from them.
This will happen both literally and spiritually. YHWH’s Vine would produce no grapes YHWH’s fig tree would produce no figs, even their leaves would be withered. Both were elsewhere symbols of Judah (Isaiah 5.1-7). His people would be unfruitful and morally and spiritually dead just as His land would literally be unfruitful and dying. Jesus Christ said that it would be the same with Himself as the true Vine. There would always be professing believers who would produce no fruit and would have to be cut off and burned (John 15.1-6).
In vivid terms Jeremiah calls on the people to barricade themselves inside their fortified cities. But it was not to be in hope of deliverance. Once there they were to be silent, because YHWH had put them to silence by the thought of what was coming on them. They would be given bitter water to drink, because they had sinned against Him. For this time there would be no peace terms and no healing of the rift. The invaders would not be coming in a merciful mood, but to obtain vengeance. They were like snakes which could not be charmed, which would bite them without warning. And this was ‘the infallible word of YHWH’.
14 “Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For the LORD our God has put us to silence and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
Jeremiah now calls the people to action. It is not a time for sitting still but for assembling themselves and entering their fortified cities because the enemy is almost upon them. But it should not be with the hope of deliverance. Rather, once there, they were to be in silence, knowing that YHWH their God had put them to silence and given them bitter and even poisonous water to drink, and this was because of the grievousness of their sin before Him.
15 “We looked for peace, but no good came; And for a time of health, and there was trouble!
Their false prophets had promised peace and healing and wellbeing, but it had not come. Furthermore, all efforts at appeasing the enemy would fail. They would look in vain for peace, but no good would come. They would seek a time of healing, but instead they would face dismay, for they had offended both God and men. No peace terms would be offered. No mercy would be available. It was the end of the road.
16 The snorting of His horses was heard from Dan. The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of His strong ones; For they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell in it.”
Prophetically Jeremiah hears the snorting of the invader’s horses at Dan, on the borders of God’s inheritance. The enemy are coming and even now, as it were, the sound of the snorting of their horses can be heard! It is as near as that. And at that sound of the neighing of the powerful horses of the enemy the whole land will tremble. In his foresight he sees the invading forces coming and devouring the land, and all that is in it. And they will devour the cities, despite their fortifications, and all who dwell in them. There will be no escape from the avenging forces of Babylon. It is already happening before his prophetic eyes.
17 “For behold, I will send serpents among you, vipers which cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you,” says the LORD.
For those who are coming are like serpents, like adders come among them. Once again, just as He had previously, God is visiting His people with a judgment of ‘serpents’. In mind here is almost certainly the incident when YHWH previously sent serpents among the people of Israel when they were rebellious, although in that case it had caused the people to repent (compare Numbers 21.6-9). No attempts at charming them will succeed. There will be no intervention by YHWH. The serpents will be deaf to all attempts to win them over (compare Psalm 58.4-5). Instead they will bite all the people of the land. And this is the unfailing ‘word of YHWH’.
The picture of the charmer, at first confident, and then desperately seeking to bring the serpents under control, only in the end to succumb to their bites, is a vivid one. It was an indication that all negotiations with their enemies would fail.
Now it is YHWH Who declares his grief and constraint at what is happening to His people (verse 18), and takes note of the bewilderment of those in exile, as they asked themselves from their distant outposts whether, in view of what was happening to in the land to Judah, it demonstrated that YHWH was no longer king in Zion (verse 19). His immediate response was to point out that the situation in which His people Judah found themselves was not a sign that He was not King in Zion but was rather a sign that He was, and that that was why He was carrying out His judgment on His people (verse 19b). In other words, the real problem arose, not from His inadequacy, but from the fact that they had provoked Him to anger by their extremes of sinfulness, which was the reason why they had experienced no salvation (verse 20).
This position is then portrayed as confirmed by Judah themselves complaining that despite the time having passed they had not been delivered. There should have been a summer harvest, and there had not (verse 20). This backs up the truth of what YHWH has been saying. It is noteworthy that YHWH is not portrayed as complacent about this, or as standing aloof. Rather we are to see that His heart was breaking because of the situation of His people (verse 21). On the other hand He recognizes that He has no alternative but to chasten them. This then leads Him on to ask why they have not been saved since there is a well-known balm in Gilead, provided by Him. Is He not the provider of healing? Why then have they not been healed? And the answer is because they have sinned so grievously that there is no healing.
This then leads on to the fact that while YHWH felt deeply for His people and had indeed wept for them, He knew that He had to face up to the truth about them. They were still unchanged, incorrigible adulterers and traitors, so that all that He could desire at this stage was to get away from them to a place of refuge, leaving them to their fate. This was because they were continually false, for while they may claim that they had grown strong it was certainly not strong for truth, something which was evidenced by the fact that they continued from evil to evil and from deceit to deceit and continually refused to know Him.
18 I would comfort myself in sorrow; My heart is faint in me.
Jeremiah (or YHWH) did not find this judgment on His people pleasant or easy to take. It was causing great sorrow in his heart, a sorrow which resulted in faintness and a refusal to be comforted. On this interpretation the thought is that however much he sought comfort his heart was faint within him at what he was having to do.
19 Listen! The voice, the cry of the daughter of my people from a far country: “Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her King in her?” “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images— With foreign idols?”
Meanwhile even the far-off exiles (the daughter of my people) were puzzled at what was happening to Zion. Their cry came from a land very far off (Assyria/Babylon), asking bemusedly ‘Is not YHWH in Zion? Is not her King in her?’” As they surveyed the scene they could not comprehend how, if YHWH was King in Zion He could allow what was happening to happen.
questions as being asked because they could not understand why they themselves had not been delivered and restored as their false prophets had promised, which would tie in with the later complaint ‘we are not saved’ (verse 20).
YHWH offers His defense. He says that the question should rather be, ‘Why had they provoked Him to anger with their graven images and with the foreign no-gods (vanities, breaths of wind)’ to which they had turned. This was why as King He was acting against them in judgment, because they were traitors all. All therefore needed to be punished. They had put themselves beyond the pale.
Another year has passed without their deliverance by YHWH. It may also be the cry of the people living in Judah in despair over the continuing failure of the harvest at a time of drought, or of their failure to be saved from invasion, or of both (Invasion necessarily interrupted the harvests). If we take verses 19-20 together we may see a pattern emerging as follows:
• The exiles complaint - why is YHWH allowing this to happen (verse 19)?
• YHWH’s complaint - it is because of the utterly evil behavior of His people (verse 19).
• Judah’s complaint - we have been waiting to be delivered and it has not happened (verse 20).
If this is the case, we may see Judah as by it bewailing the failure of their false gods. Or it may be that they are rather expressing their displeasure because YHWH had not saved them, claiming, despite what He had said, they had thought that He would. Now suddenly they were being brought face to face with the fact that they were wrong.
20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!”
This may be in the words of Jeremiah speaking on behalf of the people, or the words of the people in the land of Judah as they cried out in their distress. It may even have been a common proverb used when expectations were not fulfilled. But the essential idea is the same.
The question that arises is as to who is seen as having failed to do the saving. Is it their false gods, or is it YHWH?
• Either the thought is that it was those no-gods who were supposed to have provided Judah with a good harvest and to have ensured her safety. Were they not nature gods? Was it not their responsibility to produce a harvest? Surely then they should have saved them. On this scenario the false gods are having failed. The harvest was past, the summer was ended, but there had been no deliverance from either famine or the invader, or both. It may have reference to the great drought of 14.1, or to a time when they were shut up in their cities by invaders so that the harvest went to waste because the invader still possessed the land outside the cities. Either way there was no benefit from the harvest for His people, or deliverance from their peril, thus indicating that their no-gods had utterly failed them.
• Or the thought may be that they were grumbling because YHWH had not saved them. This may have been their response to the question of the exiles, or their direct grumble against the God from Whom they had expected response since they had maintained the Temple ritual
Whichever way it was, it was emphasizing the fact that no deliverance had taken place. This helps to explain the prophet’s (or YHWH’s) own distress. To one who loved his people it was one thing to prophesy what was going to happen to them, it was quite another to see it happening.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; Astonishment has taken hold of me.
Jeremiah (or YHWH) did not see it as easy to stand aside and watch what was happening. He was deeply hurt because of the hurt of the daughter of his people, and he (He) mourned over it, and was filled with dismay at it.
As we have already seen previous references to ‘the daughter of My people’ have been from the mouth of YHWH which would heavily support these verses as coming directly from the mouth of YHWH through the mouth of Jeremiah.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?
The chapter has contained a number of references to recovery from sickness. The false prophets had healed their hurt all too glibly (verse 11). They had looked for a time of healing, but it had not come (verse 15). Instead they would be bitten by deadly snakes (verse 17). Healing had possibly been lacking in verse 18. Now the prophet longs for some means of recovery and looks for it to the recognized center for healing, or rather to the healing God Who was the source of the benefits found at Gilead.
The balm of Gilead was probably the resin or gum of the storax tree. It was used medicinally and was well known for its healing virtues. Gilead was seemingly also known for its physicians who would apply the balm. So, if the question is regarding the failure of the false gods to heal Jeremiah (or YHWH) is seen as expressing sarcastic or yearning surprise at the fact that the people had not recovered. After all the people had rejected YHWH, electing rather for self-help and their no-gods. Why then had these not provided a means for them to heal themselves by utilizing such resources as those at Gilead? Why had they not healed themselves.
But the question may be centering on the question as to why YHWH Who had provided the famed balm of Gilead, had now failed to act as Physician for His people. The balm of Gilead showed what He could do. Why then had He not healed them? Why were they not healed? This might then be leading on to the fact that the failure was only due to the unwillingness to change of His people, so that that was why He had not been willing to cure them.
