SAY TO THEM, ‘This is what the LORD says:
“‘When men fall down, do they not get up?
When a man turns away, does he not return?
5Why then have these people turned away?
Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;
they refuse to return.
6I have listened attentively,
but they do not say what is right.
No one repents of his wickedness,
saying, “What have I done?”
Each pursues his own course
like a horse charging into battle.
7Even the stork in the sky
knows her appointed seasons,
and the dove, the swift and the thrush
observe the time of their migration.
But my people do not know
the requirements of the LORD.
8“‘How can you say, “We are wise,
for we have the law of the LORD,”
when actually the lying pen of the scribes
has handled it falsely?
9The wise will be put to shame;
they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the LORD,
what kind of wisdom do they have?
10Therefore I will give their wives to other men
and their fields to new owners.
From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
11They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
when there is no peace.
12Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct?
No, they have no shame at all;
they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
they will be brought down when they are punished,
says the LORD.
13“‘I will take away their harvest,
declares the LORD.
There will be no grapes on the vine.
There will be no figs on the tree,
and their leaves will wither.
What I have given them
will be taken from them.’”
14“Why are we sitting here?
Gather together!
Let us flee to the fortified cities
and perish there!
For the LORD our God has doomed us to perish
and given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against him.
15We hoped for peace
but no good has come,
for a time of healing
but there was only terror.
16The snorting of the enemy’s horses
is heard from Dan;
at the neighing of their stallions
the whole land trembles.
They have come to devour
the land and everything in it,
the city and all who live there.”
17“See, I will send venomous snakes among you,
vipers that cannot be charmed,
and they will bite you,”
declares the LORD.
18O my Comforter in sorrow,
my heart is faint within me.
19Listen to the cry of my people
from a land far away:
Is her King no longer there?”
“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?”
20“The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we are not saved.”
21Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
I mourn, and horror grips me.
22Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
for the wound of my people?
9:1Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for the slain of my people.
2Oh, that I had in the desert
a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people
and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,
a crowd of unfaithful people.
3“They make ready their tongue
like a bow, to shoot lies;
it is not by truth
that they triumph in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
they do not acknowledge me,”
declares the LORD.
4“Beware of your friends;
do not trust your brothers.
For every brother is a deceiver,
and every friend a slanderer.
5Friend deceives friend,
and no one speaks the truth.
They have taught their tongues to lie;
they weary themselves with sinning.
6You live in the midst of deception;
in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,”
declares the LORD.
7Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says:
“See, I will refine and test them,
for what else can I do
because of the sin of my people?
8Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks with deceit.
With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbor,
but in his heart he sets a trap for him.
9Should I not punish them for this?”
declares the LORD.
“Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this?”
10I will weep and wail for the mountains
and take up a lament concerning the desert pastures.
They are desolate and untraveled,
and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds of the air have fled
and the animals are gone.
11“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
a haunt of jackals;
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah
so no one can live there.”
12What man is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?
13The LORD said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. 14Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them.” 15Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. 16I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will pursue them with the sword until I have destroyed them.”
17This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come;
send for the most skillful of them.
18Let them come quickly
and wail over us
till our eyes overflow with tears
and water streams from our eyelids.
19The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
‘How ruined we are!
How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
because our houses are in ruins.’”
20Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD;
open your ears to the words of his mouth.
Teach your daughters how to wail;
teach one another a lament.
21Death has climbed in through our windows
and has entered our fortresses;
it has cut off the children from the streets
and the young men from the public squares.
22Say, “This is what the LORD declares:
“‘The dead bodies of men will lie
like refuse on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
with no one to gather them.’”
23This is what the LORD says:
“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
24but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the LORD.
25“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh—26Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”
10:1Hear what the Lord says to you, O house of Israel. 2This is what the Lord says:
“Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the sky,
though the nations are terrified by them.
3For the customs of the peoples are worthless;
they cut a tree out of the forest,
and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
4They adorn it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so it will not totter.
5Like a scarecrow in a melon patch,
their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them;
they can do no harm
nor can they do any good.”
6No one is like you, O LORD;
you are great,
and your name is mighty in power.
7Who should not revere you,
O King of the nations?
This is your due.
Among all the wise men of the nations
and in all their kingdoms,
there is no one like you.
8They are all senseless and foolish;
they are taught by worthless wooden idols.
9Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish
and gold from Uphaz.
What the craftsman and goldsmith have made
is then dressed in blue and purple—
all made by skilled workers.
10But the LORD is the true God;
he is the living God, the eternal King.
When he is angry, the earth trembles;
the nations cannot endure his wrath.
11“Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’”
12But God made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
13When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;
he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
14Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
His images are a fraud;
they have no breath in them.
15They are worthless, the objects of mockery;
when their judgment comes, they will perish.
16He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the Maker of all things,
including Israel, the tribe of his inheritance—
the LORD Almighty is his name.
17Gather up your belongings to leave the land,
you who live under siege.
18For this is what the LORD says:
“At this time I will hurl out
those who live in this land;
I will bring distress on them
so that they may be captured.”
19Woe to me because of my injury!
My wound is incurable!
Yet I said to myself,
“This is my sickness, and I must endure it.”
20My tent is destroyed;
all its ropes are snapped.
My sons are gone from me and are no more;
no one is left now to pitch my tent
or to set up my shelter.
21The shepherds are senseless
and do not inquire of the LORD;
so they do not prosper
and all their flock is scattered.
22Listen! The report is coming—
a great commotion from the land of the north!
It will make the towns of Judah desolate,
a haunt of jackals.
23I know, O LORD, that a man’s life is not his own;
it is not for man to direct his steps.
24Correct me, LORD, but only with justice—
not in your anger,
lest you reduce me to nothing.
25Pour out your wrath on the nations
that do not acknowledge you,
on the peoples who do not call on your name.
For they have devoured Jacob;
they have devoured him completely
and destroyed his homeland.
Original Meaning
THIS SECTION CONTINUES the book’s proclamation of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem. It is similar to the collection of poetic oracles in chapters 4–6, which was “interrupted” by the prose sermon in 7:1–8:3; it continues with the same theme and even repeats sayings used previously. These verses are not an original unit of address but are brought together by the compilers of the book to demonstrate that Jeremiah had spoken God’s word to a foolish and obdurate people. As is common throughout Jeremiah 1–25, specific dates and precise allusions to political events are seldom given. These oracles function as witnesses to the prophetic preaching that was ignored by the people of Judah and Jerusalem. In a poignant dialogical style, Jeremiah represents his sorrow and frustration as also belonging to God.
8:4–12. The prophet engages his hearers with rhetorical questions and accuses them of moral stupidity and a culpable spiritual dullness. Speaking for God, the prophet states: “I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right” (v. 6). It is also assumed that the people of Jerusalem do not do what is right. God is almost incredulous at the stupidity of the people. Verse 7 continues a theme seen elsewhere in Jeremiah: God’s people are woefully and willfully ignorant of God’s “requirements”1 of behavior, which are designed to regulate life. Even a stork knows that there are appointed seasons, yet God’s own people seem clueless.
To the reply from the people in verse 8 that they are indeed “wise” and “have the law [tora] of the LORD,” Jeremiah charges that scribal interpretation has made God’s truth into a lie (šeqer, cf. “deception” in 7:4 [NIV “deceptive”]). The deceitful interpretation of God’s instruction is explained as blunting its judgmental force against iniquity. God’s Torah is wisdom (see Deut. 4:5–8). Priest and prophet alike are proclaiming “peace” when all is not well. This too is a theme Jeremiah stresses elsewhere (cf. Jer. 6:14). The charge that the people are shameless and don’t even know how to blush is likewise found in 6:15.
The context offers few clues for more clarity on this dispute over the interpretation of God’s Torah, but possibly we have here Jeremiah’s accusations about the eventual collapse of Josiah’s covenant reforms. Religious leaders might have blunted the sharp edge of those reforms sparked by a (re)discovery of a book of the Torah of the Lord during temple repairs (2 Kings 22–23). It is a pity that we don’t have any more clues to the sharp retort of the prophet that the lying pen of the scribes has handled the Torah falsely. Presumably the interpretive skills of the priests2 have kept God’s Word from performing its basic tasks of challenging and instructing the people, as if they have explained away the force of divine imperatives. Jeremiah himself was from a priestly family and thus familiar with the tasks of interpreting and applying divine instruction.
8:13–17. The people belatedly realize that God’s judgment is upon them. Jeremiah depicts them as coming to the sudden and terrifying realization that the enemy is approaching and that God is in the process of judging them for their transgressions. The reference to the enemy horses at Dan indicates that the enemy is approaching from the north. Dan was at the northern border of the northern kingdom of Israel.
The unrealistic hope of the people for peace is now seen for what the previous passage indicated it always was: self-delusion and a rejection of God’s law. “Poisoned water” in verse 14 likely refers to the problems with water stored in cisterns rather than to some form of divine action in actually poisoning wells. Sieges typically result in heavy reliance on poor resources stored in cisterns (cf. 9:15). Perhaps we should read verse 17 similarly: The “venomous snakes” that the Lord will send denote the deadly work of the invaders.
8:18–22. Scholars are divided over the compositional breakdown of these verses. Are they a single unit of poetic address, or are they joined secondarily for thematic reasons by the compilers of the book? Interpreters are also divided over the implied speakers throughout this unit, since it is difficult to tell at some points whether the voice is Jeremiah’s or the Lord’s. A suggested outline for 8:18–22 is as follows:
[prophet] O my Comforter in sorrow,
my heart is faint within me.
Listen to the cry of my people
from a land far away:
“Is the LORD not in Zion?
Is her King no longer there?”
[Lord] “Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?”
[prophet, quoting the people] “The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we are not saved.”
[prophet] Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
I mourn, and horror grips me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
for the wound of my people?
Jeremiah’s prophetic poignancy demonstrates that he is not aloof or indifferent to the suffering of the people. Indeed, three times (8:19, 21–22) the people are called “my daughter people,”3 a phrase appropriate also in the mouth of God. This point should not be lost on the reader. The sorrow Jeremiah feels at the fate of his people is that felt by God as well. Prophetic person and prophetic message converge to reveal not only the God of righteous judgment but the God of sorrows at the plaintive cry, “We are not saved.”
9:1–11. As with the previous section, readers encounter a merging of Jeremiah and God’s voices. Pain over the plight of the people results in daylong weeping, yet also in the desire to be absent from their self-destructive treachery to the Lord’s instructions. Verses 3 and 6 conclude with the formula “declares the LORD,” marking the depiction of immorality and deceit as a communication from God. A suggestion of “voices” for 9:1–11 is as follows:
[prophet] 9:1–2: “Oh, that my head were a spring of water.…”
[God] 9:3: “They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies.…”
[God to Jeremiah] 9:4–6: “Beware of your friends.…”
[prophet, speaking for God] 9:7–11: “See, I will refine and test them … I will weep and wail.…”
If this sequence of voices is correct, we have a conversation between God and prophet in 9:1–6, followed by an announcement of judgment on the people in 9:7–11. Note that in verse 10 God weeps and wails (like Jeremiah) for the destruction to come.
9:12–22. Picking up the theme of wisdom and judgment from chapter 8, the rhetorical question of spiritual discernment is again raised in a series of divine oracles. Note the introductory formula for divine communication (e.g., “The LORD said”) in 9:13, 17, 22. Judgment has fallen on Judah for her sins. Following the Baals4 is a blatant example of the people’s folly.
Mourning cries mark the demise of shameful Judah. Exile is upon them. Death too has arrived and is personified as climbing into homes and roaming the doomed cities of Judah. Verses 17 and 20 refer to wailing women; they presuppose that women played a leading role in funeral lamentation. The poetry associated with funeral lamentation is known as qina.5
A precise context for these prophecies is not given. Perhaps they reflect the initial Babylonian constriction of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar in 598/597 or the devastating drought mentioned elsewhere in Jeremiah (14:1–6).
9:23–26. These verses are further prophetic responses to the previous announcement of judgment. Verses 23–24 return again to the theme of wisdom in such a time as this. With verse 25 comes the typical introduction to a prophetic depiction of the future (“days are coming …”). Note that markers for divine saying are found in each of verses 23–25.
Verses 23–24 are almost proverbial in form. There is a valid form of boasting, which comes with the realization of correct priorities. True wisdom is not only the recognition that God has sent judgment on Judah; it is above all knowledge of the Lord and his character. God reveals himself as One who practices and takes delight in kindness (ḥesed), justice (mišpaṭ), and righteousness (ṣedaqa). As verses 25–26 make clear, those nations who spurn the moral integrity of God—whether Egypt or Israel, circumcised or not—will see his judgment. The criticism of Israel as uncircumcised of heart picks up a theme from 4:4.
10:1–16. These verses contain an extended critique of idolatry and affirmations of the Lord as Ruler over all. Idolatry is described and defined variously.6 Verse 2 refers to astrological divination (“signs in the sky”). Verses 3–5 criticize the making and veneration of a wooden image. Verse 9 notes that a wooden piece can be decorated with silver and gold and clothed in royal colors—but this does not make it divine. Verse 11 is a proverb written in Aramaic, which has been incorporated into the critique of idolatry. Perhaps it is a traditional saying that the prophet adopts here for emphasis. Divine images are succinctly judged in 10:15 with the claim that they are “worthless, the objects of mockery.”
The lifeless images of other deities are contrasted with the uniqueness of the “living God,” who is the Creator of heaven and earth (10:10–12). His cosmic kingship is twice affirmed (vv. 7, 10). This God, the “Maker of all things,” is also the “Portion of Jacob”7; Israel is the tribe of his inheritance (10:16). Even the wisdom from other nations is folly compared to God’s truth.
Much of this section is intended to instruct Israel and Judah in the time of the Exile. Not that it is irrelevant to the circumstances of Judah before the Babylonian onslaught, but the text is cast in a teaching mode rather than as a list of reasons why Israel is being judged. Note how the text begins. The house of Israel is called to avoid the ways of the nations. Assimilation, if not downright capitulation, to a dominant culture was a real issue for Israelites and Judeans among other nations. Idolatry is folly. When other nations talk about creation, God’s people are reminded that the real Creator of heaven and earth is none other than the God of Israel.
10:17–22. The topic and setting change from the previous section. Apparently Jerusalem herself is addressed as one besieged, who recognizes that her predicament has no cure. The foe from the north will make an end to Judah. One may see the voices in 10:17–22 as follows:
[prophet to Jerusalem] 10:17–18: “Gather up your belongings.…”
[Jerusalem to herself] 10:19–20: “Woe to me because of my injury!…”
[prophet to Jerusalem] 10:21–22: “The shepherds are senseless and do not inquire of the Lord.…”
As with a number of poetic oracles, the change of voices raises the question of how this material was presented in oral form. Perhaps the prophet acted out the poetry, using different voices, or he may have been assisted by someone like Baruch, his secretary and assistant.
10:23–25. The poetic collection of 8:4–10:25 concludes with the prayer of a chastened individual. The speaker is almost certainly Jeremiah; the question is whether he speaks primarily autobiographically (i.e., personally) or as a member of a wounded and judged people. The prayer contains a frank admission that human resources themselves are not enough to keep a person on the pathway marked out by God. God is humbly implored to correct the errant ways of the one who prays—but in a manner that reveals God’s justice and that does not continue in judgment (as is appropriate for those who do not know the Lord).
There is more wisdom than resignation in the way the prayer begins. A person does not ultimately direct his or her own pathways; rather, they are in the hands of God. Recognition of this fact is a first step toward wisdom. Much of the prayer is about justice: God is implored to judge the enemy who has devoured Jacob.
Bridging Contexts
WISDOM AND FOOLISHNESS. Several of the prophetic judgments offered in this section partake of the theme of wisdom and foolishness. In doing so, the prophecies echo themes and vocabulary found elsewhere in the Bible and thus indicate broader contexts in which later readers may see the significance of Jeremiah’s words.
Judah and Jerusalem are accused of a woeful ignorance in their lack of comprehension over their plight before the Lord and his coming judgment. God’s people should have the moral and spiritual comprehension necessary to see the folly of their ways and the consequences to come. Birds know the times of migration, but God’s people do not know his “requirements” (8:7). A wise person should understand what is happening to God’s people (9:12); indeed, the truly wise person knows the Lord and the activities in which he delights (9:23–24). Even the supposed wisdom among the nations is folly compared to the Lord. The superstition (magical assumptions) of pagan religions marks them as senseless, and their idols as worthless (10:1–16).
Other prophets take up the theme of the culpable ignorance of God’s people. Isaiah announces the astounding fact that God’s chosen family knows less than the ox or donkey (Isa. 1:2–3). Idolatry too is a parade example of folly and lack of spiritual discernment (Jer. 44:6–23). Hosea compares Ephraim to a silly dove (Hos. 7:11); true wisdom sees the righteousness of God’s ways and acts accordingly (14:9). The wise should recognize that God’s judgment is both punishment and tragedy; punishment is due to one who is morally responsible, yet it is a tragedy because God’s people were instructed to act otherwise, and they should have known better.
The wisdom traditions of the Bible are replete with examples of the wise and foolish, the righteous and the wicked. Both Proverbs and James provide wisdom vocabulary appropriate for discerning God’s ways in the world and expressing his will for the common life of his people. Jesus used the examples of wise and foolish to illustrate the importance of spiritual discernment. How is it, he asks, that people who discern weather patterns through observation cannot grasp the significance of his presence among them (Luke 12:54–56)? Those who do hear his word and act on it, however, are like the wise person who builds a house on bedrock (Matt. 7:24–27).
As with this section of Jeremiah, the wisdom traditions call for knowledge of God and discernment of the times. These two aspects go together. Knowledge of God is more than familiarity with his Word; it is the gift of discerning his will for the times at hand and committing oneself to it in joyful obedience. The wise person should be a keen observer of culture and history, using God’s past dealings with people and things as examples from which to learn.
The prophet’s anguish. The articulation of Jeremiah’s anguish over the spiritual folly and rampant immorality of the people links these prophecies together and puts them in a larger biblical context. The prophetic office meant that those whom God called as prophets were mediators of his message to the people. This privilege did not separate them from the people but instead bound them to the people. For the brokenness of the people Jeremiah himself felt broken (Jer. 8:21).
Jeremiah’s weeping comes from his experience of the people’s folly and his knowledge of God’s resolve to judge them. It also represents God’s own sorrow at their folly. “What else can I do?” God asks in sorrow (9:7). The anguish of God and prophet finds parallels in Hosea 11:1–9 and above all in the anguish of God’s Son, who wept over the city that killed prophets and that would be the site of his crucifixion (Luke 13:34–35; 19:41–44).
Contemporary Significance
LEARNING FROM JUDAH. To comprehend the failures of Judah and Jerusalem and to learn from them, the church should ask hard questions about its own life and witness in the contexts in which God has placed it. Jeremiah charged his contemporaries with adultery, iniquity, and immorality. Since these sins are part of the fabric of Western society, the question of the church’s complicity in or tolerance of them raises serious questions about the quality of its witness and its future. Regarding the prophetic charges of idolatry and polytheism, the church may not officially promote worship of other deities,8 but the manner of its worship and the quality of its life may indicate ways in which it gives undue allegiance to culturally relative things.
Sermons and lessons that seek to be faithful to these prophetic words of Jeremiah should not necessarily limit themselves to exposing what is wrong. Just to be “against” things may have an initial appeal, but the church has more to do than point out the failures in either its own witness or in the common life of society. Christians must also look to these texts for indications of the righteousness and worship that God expects from his people. Perhaps the biggest shock for a Western audience in hearing these words is a prediction of judgment to come; but if so, there ought to be lamentation as well, in recognition of failure before God (“harvest is past … and we are not saved;” Jer. 8:20), and fervent prayer that God will use judgment as correcting action (10:24).
Portraits of sin. Among these judgmental prophecies are several portraits of sin, whose profiles are instructive to believers of any age. For example, in 8:8–12 Jeremiah castigates the religious leaders whose self-conveyed wisdom blunts the force of God’s Word for the present. Whatever the precise historical circumstances behind this charge (see comments above), it is likely that Jeremiah has more in mind than legitimate differences over interpreting God’s Word. Jeremiah perceives a crisis in moral authority and action, an inability on the part of the people to perceive their plight before God, and a brazen refusal to consider change.
The charge to Judah that people no longer blush over shameful circumstances (8:12) should strike a resonant chord with modern Christians in the West who are confronted daily with their culture’s hedonistic values. How can religious leaders proclaim that all is well when it is not? They seem to represent what a modern person might call “Band-Aid theology,” a misguided understanding of God as cosmic grandparent who clucks over the foibles of grandchildren and assures them that it is only a skinned knee that will get better soon. This is a wholesale rejection of the biblical portrait of God, who indicates in his Word that people are dead in their sins apart from his intervention through acts of judgment and redemption. If one rejects the biblical message that indicates the gravity and culpability of human sinfulness, then what means are left for humankind to see its plight before the Creator, who is the Judge of heaven and earth?
Jeremiah’s words indicate a lack of integrity on the part of Judah and Jerusalem. His examples include the charge that people say one thing and plan another (Jer. 9:3–5, 8). Lying is a type of social treachery. James recognizes the power for good or evil that resides in the tongue and the way in which human speech can mask human pretensions for control and abuse (James 3:1–18). We do well to examine the ways in which words are used as subterfuge or code language in society to mask exploitation, the ways in which “good” words serve as poor substitutes for deeds, and ways in which words become labels to demonize and divide. If Christians are people who look to God’s Word for guidance and instruction, then the integrity of their witness is measured in part by the ways in which they describe reality and treat one another.
Role of the prophet. Jeremiah’s anguish over the folly of God’s people indicates both the passion of the prophetic office to proclaim God’s Word and the passion of God to correct and redeem that which is lost. There are two instructive parts to this side of prophet and deity. (1) The role of Christians and the church in engaging the world requires a passionate identification with the folly of the world. Those who would offer a grave spiritual diagnosis must love the patients and not stand aloof from them. This is a model of the church, which is not only the recipient of a judgmental word from Jeremiah, but also which, by God’s grace, seeks a prophetic ministry among society’s ills. Jeremiah may be a prophetic reminder of the deep sorrow that should meet all Christians when they reflect on the circumstances of those who do not know God. The lost are, after all, estranged siblings of the Lord, who wept and died for them.
(2) God’s anguish and anger are, in reality, the only basis for hope in this world. His passions grow from love; the opposite of love is not anger but indifference. Were God indifferent to the predicament of a fallen creation, there would have been no prophetic ministry in Israel and no Son to engage evil and to die to expend its curse.
Among these prophecies of judgment readers will also find indications of what God intends for his people in their corporate life. These are the marks of the wisdom Jeremiah finds lacking among his generation, but which James calls “wisdom that comes from heaven” (James 3:17). Among such marks are the recognition of repentance as a conscious rejection of evil, an embracing of God’s standards for moral integrity, a willingness to hear God’s Word as judgment on human pretensions and sinfulness, a passion for those whose folly has trapped them in evil consequences, a humble boasting in the sufficiency of God whose own ways are just and right, and an aversion to idolatry whereby someone or something becomes the supreme value for people’s affections rather than the one God of heaven and earth.