Jeremiah 9: 1 – 26
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1 Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! 2 Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers; That I might leave my people and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3 “And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me,” says the LORD. 4 “Everyone take heed to his neighbor, and do not trust any brother; For every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanderers. 5 Everyone will deceive his neighbor and will not speak the truth; They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6 Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the LORD. 7 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and try them; For how shall I deal with the daughter of My people? 8 Their tongue is an arrow shot out; It speaks deceit; One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart, he lies in wait. 9 Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the LORD. “Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” 10 I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, and for the dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that no one can pass through; Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; They are gone. 11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.” 12 Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through? 13 And the LORD said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, 14 but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,” 15 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.” 17 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for skillful wailing women, that they may come. 18 Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run with tears, and our eyelids gush with water. 19 For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How we are plundered! We are greatly ashamed, because we have forsaken the land, because we have been cast out of our dwellings.’?” 20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor a lamentation. 21 For death has come through our windows, has entered our palaces, to kill off the children—no longer to be outside! And the young men—no longer on the streets! 22 Speak, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall as refuse on the open field, like cuttings after the harvester, and no one shall gather them.’?” 23 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD. 25 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.”
What I am about to say might shock you. There are some people who might want to get one over on you. In other words, then want to trick or manipulate you to do something for them.
It is a sad fact of life in which this type of interaction we must deal with. So, I want to give you some ideas to deal with this possibility if it ever came your way. Let me give you a few of these tricks;
. Predators target your lack of time and attention.
Someone purposely convinces you to commit to do something as just the right time, when you would have otherwise said ‘no’. Like can you over the office for me next Friday afternoon. You didn’t remember that next Friday starts a long holiday weekend which lasts through Monday. People leave early on Friday or take an extra day vacation to extend their time off. Now, you are stuck staying the whole day on Friday.
. They misrepresent facts based on popular belief.
Someone might say that they just heard that a certain business stock is about to break out in a significant growth and that you can join them on the ground floor. The truth is that this person already owns this type of stock and is getting people to invest so their presently owned stock with rise in value and then they can dump it by selling what they have.
. They use complex words to explain something simple.
I like the commercial on tv where a couple is looking at a house for sale and the rep tell them all the real estate jargon and a guy then tells the couple that a lot of people want to buy the house but you are good for you have already been approved for a mortgage.
. Exploiting a position of authority
An government official parks in a no parking zone and tells you that they are there on official business
. Making an unreasonable request first
A young person tells you he is working his way through college and can paint you house number on the curb in front of your mailbox for $30. You resist to accept that amount and then says that you can give him anything you might want, and he will still do the job. It costs him about 50 cents to paint your curb and you wind up giving him usually 10 to 20 dollars.
. You must agree to do this, or they cannot finish their work
Car shops are great for this. You take your car to be inspected and they tell you that your brake needs to be replaced in order for your car to pass inspection. You drive a total of 10 miles round trip each day and you wonder that all 4 brakes need work? Have you ever noticed that every time you get you car inspected it never passes until they must do some expensive work?
Think about these possibilities and write down for yourself and others different experiences.
In today’s chapter we are going to witness our Holy and Loving God inform Jeremiah how the people thought they were getting one over the Lord by the way they deceitfully lived. We know that their reasoning was off in that they thought they could fool God into thinking that they were obedient to all His ways.
1 Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
The prayer is an indication of the numbers who were dying. It indicates that Jeremiah (or YHWH) was distraught as he looked out in prophetic foresight on the masses of the slain among his people, (or already actually saw them before him) and that he longed that his head and eyes might be a gushing spring so that he could continue on weeping for his people day and night. The fact that he weeps for the slain (not for the living - 7.16) may be an indication of the judgment that had already come upon them, or it may be visionary, having the future in mind. He is forbidden to pray for the living, but he can weep (not pray) over those who are dead.
2 Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers; That I might leave my people and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
It is all too much for him. Here we learn that he also longed to get away from those who were still in Judah living because of what they were. He desired a lodging-place for travelers somewhere in the wilderness so that he could go there away from his people. It would be very basic, but it would at least supply him with solitude, and would remove him from the midst of the evil by which he was surrounded. And the reason for his longing was that they were all adulterers (both spiritually and literally), and were a gathering of treacherous people. he could no longer stand their physical presence and the atmosphere that they produced. Note that if it is Jeremiah speaking he has no blame for YHWH. He recognizes that the people are receiving what they deserve.
3 “And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me,” says the LORD.
For their tongues, which should have spoken truth, were like bows which they bent to project falsehood. Thus, while they claimed that they had grown strong in the land it had certainly not been ‘for truth’, and this was especially so of their leaders who had risen among them. By their lives they denied and rejected all that was true and righteous, and proceeded from evil to evil. And this, said YHWH, was because ‘they do not know Me’. For if they had truly known Him (although they no doubt claimed to know Him) they would have been worshipping Him only and would have been observing the requirements of His covenant. As He had openly declared to them, ‘You will worship YHWH your God, and Him only will you serve’.
The judgment that is coming on them is therefore seen as fully deserved, even though it was a heavy burden for Jeremiah (and for YHWH).
4 “Everyone take heed to his neighbor, and do not trust any brother; For every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanderers.
The idea of their deceit and falsehood is now taken up. They are so false that no one can trust anyone else. Every man must beware of his neighbor, no brother can be trusted. For every brother will seek to get one over on his brother, and every neighbor spread slander and lies. This is the direction in which our modern society is going, and has already gone in relation, for example, to business ethics. The days when a man’s word was his bond have mainly gone.
5 Everyone will deceive his neighbor and will not speak the truth; They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves to commit iniquity.
The situation is such that everyone deceives everyone else. No one’s word can be relied on. They have all trained themselves to speak falsely and unreliably, and they are so full of sin that they wear themselves out in their eagerness to practice it.
6 Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the LORD.
Jeremiah should recognize that his own dwelling is amid deceit, and that he himself is surrounded on all sides by untrustworthiness (which was why he had desired to go to a refuge in the wilderness - verse 2). It is this very ingrained falsehood that results in his people not genuinely knowing YHWH in their hearts and is the explanation as to why they have refused to know Him. It is not that they are unaware of Him. It is rather that they have specifically and deliberately rejected Him.
Here the ‘Your’ is singular indicating Jeremiah. Note how their sin is growing. In verse 3 they did not know YHWH, now they have set their hearts against knowing Him. In other words, they are becoming so impervious to sin and rebellion that they are in danger of blaspheming against the Spirit of Truth manifested through the words of YHWH which were being proclaimed through Jeremiah. And this is ‘the solemn prophetic word of YHWH’. Such is the consequence of allowing deceit and falsehood to take possession of the heart.
7 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and try them; For how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?
Because of their continuing in their deceitful and untrustworthy ways, YHWH of hosts will melt them in the refiner’s fire and put them to the test to reveal the truth about their lack of quality and purity. For how could He as a holy God do otherwise because of what His people had become?
This extreme of chastisement was necessary because all else had failed. There was no future in going on with things as they were. Israel had had six hundred years in which to sought themselves out and had failed to do so (just as God had given the Canaanites/Amorites a further four hundred years in Genesis 15.16). Going on like that was pointless. Now it was a time for melting down so as to obtain the good from among the bad.
8 Their tongue is an arrow shot out; It speaks deceit; One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart, he lies in wait.
Their continuing deceitfulness is then emphasized and expounded on. Their tongue is like a deadly arrow, speeding from the bow of their bent tongues (verse 3), and speaking lies and deceit. They put on a pretense of friendship and neighborliness towards their fellow-citizens, while in their hearts they are waiting to ambush them. The whole nation has become a mass of deceit and untrustworthiness.
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?” says the LORD. “Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
In view of this how could YHWH, the holy One (Isaiah 57.15), not visit them with judgment and chastening because of what they had become? How could He fail to call their sin into account, and bring on them the vengeance warned about in the covenant? The answer, of course, is that He could not fail to do either, because of what He Is. And that that is ‘the sure and certain word of YHWH’.
10 I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, and for the dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that no one can pass through; Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; They are gone.
The coming judgment and visitation is now graphically and prophetically described in terms of God’s lament for the mountains, in which they had lived and worked and worshipped, and the pasturelands on which they had grazed their animals. For He sees prophetically how they have all been burned up, first by the invaders, and then by the burning sun, and as a result have become desolate so that no one passes through. Consequently, there would be no sound of the lowing or bleating of cows, sheep and goats; no birdsong; no growling or roaring of wild animals. All would be silent. For the land would be deserted and empty, and all such would have departed.
11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.”
For His intention was to turn Jerusalem into heaps of ruins, a place where jackals would make their dens and to make the cities of Judah totally bare of inhabitants. In other words, His judgment would come on the whole land without exception.
The passage commences by asking who the true wise man is, the one who will understand why YHWH will do what He is about to do in devastating the land and sending His people into exile where they will be pursued by the sword until they are consumed. And the question is answered as it being the one who understands and knows YHWH for What He is, the One Who practices covenant love, justice and righteousness throughout the earth. Once that is understood all else falls into place. Meanwhile YHWH calls on the mourning women to lament in unison with Zion over their ruin and ends with the warning that His judgment will not only be visited on Judah but on all the nation’s round about (something expanded on in chapters 46-49).
12 Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?
Jeremiah turns in his questioning to the two kinds of people who strictly speaking should be able to understand and declare the truth, the wise man who claims understanding and the prophet who claims that YHWH has spoken through him. But the clear implication is that both are lacking, and that, despite what they may claim about themselves, there are no wise men or prophets in Jerusalem who can cope with his question. We will learn later that this is because they do not have true understanding, that is, they do not truly know YHWH for What He Is (verse 24). And the question now put to them is this, “Why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?”
13 And the LORD said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, 14 but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,”
Because they can give no answer to the question YHWH Himself provides the answer. It is because they have forsaken His Instruction (Torah, Law) which He had set before them, and because they have not obeyed His voice or walked in accordance with it. Rather they have walked in accordance with the stubbornness of their own hearts, and after the Baalim (‘lords’, indicating all false gods and especially those involved in Baal and Asherah worship) concerning which their fathers taught them. Thus they have listened to their own stubborn hearts rather than obeying the voice of YHWH, and they have followed after their false gods, listening to their fathers, rather than following after and listening to YHWH.
15 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”
And the consequence of their failure will be that ‘YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel’ will feed them with wormwood and give them gall to drink. Both wormwood and gall have the same characteristic, that they are very bitter, and even poisonous, and both regularly symbolize awful judgment The awful judgment is then spelled out, He will scatter them among the nations (Deuteronomy 28.64) who were unknown to either them or their fathers (compare Deuteronomy 28.49), and He will send a sword after them in order to further consume them (Leviticus 26.36-37). Their cozy life in Canaan is over. There will be no rest from their troubles, and it will be away from the promised land. In other words, they will be subjected to the curses of the covenant.
There is an interesting contrast here with Jeremiah’s desire to leave the land for a khan in the wilderness. He wanted to get away from their corruption. They will be removed because they have made the land corrupt.
17 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for skillful wailing women, that they may come. 18 Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run with tears, and our eyelids gush with water.
YHWH now calls on the nation to in turn call on the mourning women and the skillful singing women to come in haste and take up a wailing and lamentation for the people so that they may learn how to weep more profusely. Judah’s funeral is at hand and it is a time for deep mourning, with the result that the women who are skilled in the art are called on to lead it with a view to all then partaking in it. This practice of using professional mourners recognized that those most deeply affected often did not always feel like expressing themselves fully or might be somewhat shy of calling attention to themselves. Thus, the presence of professionals enable them to express their grief more fully. (In Judah, as elsewhere, mourning was a skilled art exercised by professionals who were called on at funerals and times of dire need.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How we are plundered! We are greatly ashamed, because we have forsaken the land, because we have been cast out of our dwellings.’?”
The reason for the call is because a wailing is coming out of Zion, which needs supplementing by others because of the dire situation. It is the cry of those who have been cast out of the land and whose dwellings have been destroyed. Thus, they see themselves as ruined, and as greatly confounded. It is a prophetic foretaste of the coming judgment and is the central theme of the passage.
20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor a lamentation.
YHWH’s call is now expanded from the professional women mourners to all the women of Judah. They are to hear what He is saying and to teach their daughters how to wail, and their neighbors how to lament. For the whole land is to be filled with mourning.
21 For death has come through our windows, has entered our palaces, to kill off the children—no longer to be outside!
And the young men—no longer on the streets!
The reason for the mourning is made clear. Death has taken over the whole of their society. It has come through their windows (like paid assassins) and entered their palaces (like ravagers in search of spoil), and it has cut off the children playing in the streets, and the young men gathered there. All are involved. This can only be either pestilence, which can spread and strike anywhere, or invaders who are irresistible once the city has fallen. This is presumably the slaughter over which the prophet (or YHWH) had wept in 9.1.
22 Speak, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Even the carcasses of men shall fall as refuse on the open field, like cuttings after the harvester, and no one shall gather them.’?”
YHWH then abruptly calls on Jeremiah to ‘speak out’ because ‘His word’ is concerning the dead bodies which will fall on the open fields, lying there rotting until they become dung, and deserted there like the gleanings which lie in the fields once the harvesters have passed by. And there will be none to gather the gleanings for those who normally did so (the body gatherers in the case of the dead) would all themselves be dead.
23 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.
Reflecting back on verse 12 where the wise man and the prophet failed to be able to discern why YHWH did what He did, and on verse 17 where the wise were mourners, YHWH now tells us what ‘the wise --- the mighty -- and the wealthy’ are not to glory in, (their own wisdom, their own might and their own riches), and what they are to glory in, (‘having understanding and knowing YHWH’). While verse 12 had concentrated on supposedly ‘illuminated’ men, and it underlines that what is of vital importance to all is to have true understanding and to truly know YHWH in all that He essentially is. It is being emphasized that that was what men should ‘glory’ in, not the failing attainments of this world. And ‘What He is’ is then summed up in terms of the exercise of three attributes, covenant love, justice and righteousness throughout the whole earth, which are the things in which YHWH delights as confirmed by His sure word. ‘What does YHWH require of you but to fulfil justice, to show covenant love and to walk humbly with your God?’ (Micah 6.8).
Had they understood and known YHWH they would not have been puzzled as to why He was about to do what He was about to do (verses 12-14). They would have recognized that it was perfectly in accordance with what He was revealed to be. He was strong on covenant love, but they had broken the covenant, had tossed it away and had failed to love YHWH. He was strong on justice, but they had made a mockery of justice. He was strong on righteousness, but they were totally unrighteous (not walking in His righteous ways as laid out in His Instruction). The contrasts are also interesting. Covenant love, involving close association with God’s wisdom, contrasts with men being ‘wise’ in their own eyes. True justice contrasts with ‘the mighty’, who all too often sought to override justice for its own ends. Righteousness contrasts with ‘the rich’ and with wealth, which tends to divert men from the way of righteousness (compare Proverbs 30.8-9; Matthew 19.23).
It was because of the essential nature of God in contrast with Judah’s dependence on earthly wisdom, might and wealth, that judgment was coming on Judah. They had followed their own ways, ignoring the covenant, they had looked to their own might, ignoring justice for the helpless and needy, and they had gloried in their own wealth, spurning righteousness and the need to hear the cry of the poor. All these things revealed a lack of understanding, and of ‘knowing YHWH’ essentially, something which was a mark of true believers. No wonder then that YHWH had had to act.
It is a salutary thought that today men and women certainly boast in how clever they are, how strong they are, and how wealthy they are. It is such people who are in acclaim. But those who reveal ‘covenant love’ (a true and humble following of Jesus Christ), true concern for the rights of others, and true righteousness as they walk in the ways of God are often thrust into the background and even vilified.
25 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised— 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.”
And it is because He is Lord of the whole earth that He now calls all nations into account for how they have responded to His covenant love (a covenant love openly offered to all men - Exodus 12.48), to His demand for true justice, and to His righteousness. The nations described are those who practiced circumcision in one way or another, in contrast with ‘the uncircumcised Philistines’ whose description as ‘uncircumcised’ indicates that they were seen as ‘the odd man out’ in the area, although it would appear that the Midianites connected with Moses in the Sinai peninsula also did not practise it, unless they did it at puberty (Exodus 4.24-26), which is when the Egyptians appear to have practiced it. But the Midianites were desert tribesmen, and may, of course, have been among those who ‘had the corners of their hair cut off’. The omission of the Philistines here (they are included in 45-51) confirms that here God is dealing with nations which practiced circumcision or the equivalent, something which, even if unintentionally, was seen as bringing them into responsibility towards the covenant. But like Judah, because of their failure to respond to the covenant all these nations were ‘circumcised in their uncircumcision’, that is, were physically circumcised while being uncircumcised in heart.
In these words, “For all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.” YHWH was now considering the wider aspect of nations. ‘All nations were uncircumcised’ because even those already mentioned which practiced circumcision in one way or another were seen by Him as uncircumcised because of their behavior and attitude, something which was now seen as also true of ‘the whole house of Israel’.
This indicated two important lessons. The first was that Judah’s circumcision meant nothing more than that of other nations unless it was accompanied by covenant obedience, and secondly that YHWH did see the other nations as having a duty towards Him, because He was Lord of the whole earth. True circumcision had always been given only to those who ‘walked before Him and were blameless’ (Genesis 17.1).
Egypt is mentioned first as being the foremost nation in the area, but it does serve to emphasize that because of their sinfulness Judah were being seen as one among many.
