Jeremiah - Lesson 4

• Chapter 1 began by establishing Jeremiah was called by the LORD as a prophet in the days of the last few kings of Judah before their exile from Jerusalem. The kingdom from the North would bring the LORD’s judgment to Judah.

• Chapter 2 The LORD speaks of Israel’s birth and relationship with Him and then her rejection of Him by embracing and actively seeking worship of false gods.

• Chapter 3 Israel and Judah’s rejection of the LORD as their only God is compared to an unfaithful wife. The LORD still desires repentance for this sin. The LORD desires faithfulness in actions, not in words alone.

Jer. 4:1 “If you will return, O Israel,” declares the LORD,
“Then you should return to Me.
And if you will put away your detested things from My presence,
And will not waver,
Jer. 4:2 And you will swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’
In truth, in justice and in righteousness;
Then the nations will bless themselves in Him,
And in Him they will glory.”

• Verse 1 The LORD is speaking to Israel.

  • In keeping an eye towards context remember the change in chapter 3 when it was made clear the LORD was speaking of a future time when Israel and Judah would be joined again.         (Jer. 3:18)

Jer. 3:18 “In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

• Jeremiah is speaking to Judah at a time when Israel has been gone as an independent nation for some time, 722-721 B.C. (2 Kings 17:6) The time has been about 100 years since the Assyrian exile of Israel.

2Kings 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

• It is important to understand that the people were exiled--not eliminated. The LORD still speaks to them through His prophets.

  • Jer. 4:1 Israel needs to desire to come back to the LORD.

    • The LORD tells them this should be their desire.

    • There are conditions that must be met by Israel for this return to take place.

    • They must put away their detested things.

    • Those things cannot be in the LORD’s presence.

    • This is not negotiable. There is never the LORD and something else.

• Verse 2 The promise of putting away the detestable things is sworn in the testimony that the LORD indeed lives. He is not a dead God like the false gods the people now worship.

  • This testimony must be done by Israel in truth.

  • This testimony must be seen as justice.

  • This testimony must be made in righteousness of the people.

  • This must be a true turning from idol worship and embracing the one true God.

    • When this is done by Israel the result will be the nations will have blessing in the LORD.

    • When this is done by Israel the nations will glory in the LORD.

    • This is still a future event for Israel. More on this in Jeremiah Chapters 30-33.

Jer. 4:3  For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,
“Break up your fallow ground,
And do not sow among thorns.
Jer. 4:4  “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD
And remove the foreskins of your heart,
Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Or else My wrath will go forth like fire
And burn with none to quench it,
Because of the evil of your deeds.”
Jer. 4:5  Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
“Blow the trumpet in the land;
Cry aloud and say,
‘Assemble yourselves, and let us go
Into the fortified cities.’
Jer. 4:6  “Lift up a standard toward Zion!
Seek refuge, do not stand still,
For I am bringing evil from the north,
And great destruction.
Jer. 4:7  “A lion has gone up from his thicket,
And a destroyer of nations has set out;
He has gone out from his place
To make your land a waste.
Your cities will be ruins
Without inhabitant.
Jer. 4:8  “For this, put on sackcloth,
Lament and wail;
For the fierce anger of the LORD
Has not turned back from us.”
Jer. 4:9 “It shall come about in that day,” declares the LORD, “that the heart of the king and the heart of the princes will fail; and the priests will be appalled and the prophets will be astounded.”
Jer. 4:10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace’; whereas a sword touches the throat.”

• Verse 3 Jeremiah makes it clear the LORD now directs His words to Judah and to Jerusalem.

  • This was the nation still in place in their land led by a king.

  • The LORD tells Judah to break up the hard ground.

  • The LORD is speaking in words related to farming which the people would understand.

  • The LORD is speaking of the hearts of the people of Judah being hard like compacted earth.

    • They must break open their hard hearts.

    • The thorns must also be removed. The plants, described as those producing thorns, already growing and not of the LORD must be removed from their hearts.

• Verse 4 The next picture presented to the people to represent what must be done is the process known as circumcision.

  • The picture is made applicable when the next words are about removing the foreskin from the heart. In a physical circumcision, the skin removed is considered expendable. The physical difference is permanent and undeniable. There is no going back.

    • This is seen in a person who has a heart that is permanently changed and has removed everything from their heart in order to only worship the LORD.

  • This message is identified as going out to Judah.

  • This heart change of the people is necessary, or the LORD will respond in wrath to them.

  • The wrath will come from the LORD and once it begins there will be nothing the people can do to stop it.

  • The wrath will be justified because of the deeds of the people. The LORD’s wrath is always justified because He is perfect.

    • This is revealed as a spiritual condition in the law. Deut. 10:14-17.

Deut. 10:14 “Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.
Deut. 10:15 “Yet on your fathers did the LORD set His affection to love them, and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples, as it is this day.
Deut. 10:16 “So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.
Deut. 10:17 “For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.

• Judah must come to the LORD in a renewed spiritual condition.

  • Verse 5 The LORD declares to Judah and Jerusalem it is time to warn the people of the land of the impending judgment.

    • He says to “blow the trumpet” to warn them of the coming judgment. Amos brings the same picture in Amos 3:6-7.

Amos 3:6 If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble?
If a calamity occurs in a city has not the LORD done it?
Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing
Unless He reveals His secret counsel
To His servants the prophets.

• Verse 6 The LORD is in control of all things including calamity; He is sovereign.

  • Verse 7 The LORD reveals what His plans are for His people through prophets.

• Jer. 4:5 The blowing of the trumpet is to gather the people into their fortified cities.

• Verse 6 The banner is to be flown to guide the people to Zion.

  • The time has come to seek refuge.

  • The LORD is still providing refuge even as the judgment is falling on His people.

  • The LORD is bringing this evil from the North.

  • The LORD is using what is deemed evil to bring judgment on Judah.

    • The judgment will bring destruction according to His purposes.

• Verse 7 The destroyer is compared to a lion leaving its place of hiding.

  • The LORD makes it clear this is a description of a nation that destroys other nations.

  • This nation intends to destroy the land and the cities.

  • They will not leave any from Judah to inhabit the land.

  • The lion is a known symbol used by the Babylonians and this will be the nation the LORD uses for His judgment of Judah.

• Verse 8 The LORD tells His people they are to put on sackcloth and cry out. They are to publicly mourn. The reason for the mourning is because the time of judgment from the Lord has arrived. It is in motion, and it will not be turned back.

• Verse 9 Jeremiah warns Judah when this judgment comes on them the king and the princes will be surprised. Their hearts will fail. They are not prepared.

  • The priests likewise will be appalled. They will not be prepared. They have not understood what the LORD has prepared for them or for the people.

    • The prophets will be astounded. The prophets will also be surprised by the events.

    • The prophets were to be the people who heard from the LORD to communicate to the people what is to happen according to the word of the LORD.

    • The prophets are either not asking of the LORD or they are not hearing from the LORD.

    • The result is they are astounded, taken by surprise by the events that will unfold.   

    • They are not listening to the words the LORD is speaking through Jeremiah.

• Verse 10 Jeremiah says it will appear as if the LORD has deceived His people because what they were told was, they would have peace.

  • The priests and the prophets were saying peace was for Jerusalem as if that is what was being spoken from the LORD, but the truth was the knife was already placed on the throat of Judah.

  • Judah was living deceived.

Jer. 4:11 In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people — not to winnow and not to cleanse,
Jer. 4:12 a wind too strong for this — will come at My command; now I will also pronounce judgments against them.
Jer. 4:13  “Behold, he goes up like clouds,
And his chariots like the whirlwind;
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for we are ruined!”
Jer. 4:14  Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem,
That you may be saved.
How long will your wicked thoughts
Lodge within you?
Jer. 4:15  For a voice declares from Dan,
And proclaims wickedness from Mount Ephraim.
Jer. 4:16  “Report it to the nations, now!
Proclaim over Jerusalem,
‘Besiegers come from a far country,
And lift their voices against the cities of Judah.
Jer. 4:17  ‘Like watchmen of a field they are against her round about,
Because she has rebelled against Me,’ declares the LORD.
Jer. 4:18  “Your ways and your deeds
Have brought these things to you.
This is your evil. How bitter!
How it has touched your heart!”

• Verse 11 The term ‘daughter of my people’ is an unusual phrase and would be communicating the kinship the LORD has with His people in spite of their rejection of Him.

  • The LORD declares in the time of judgment the people of Judah and Jerusalem will hear of the coming destruction described as a scorching wind.

  • The direction of the destruction will be toward the LORD’s people.

  • The purpose of the destruction will not be to direct or purify them. Those days will be gone.

• Verse 12 This wind, which is the destruction, will be brought by the LORD’s command.

  • The wind is the army the LORD will use for His judgment of His people.

  • Notice there could be a wind to winnow and cleanse but that is not the case here.

  • The power of what is coming is to be understood as judgment only.

• Verse 13 The pronoun ‘he’ refers back to the ‘them’ in the previous verse.

  • The ‘them’ refers to the wind that is too strong to be used to winnow or cleanse.

  • The ‘them’ are the ones the LORD is going to use to bring judgment on Judah.

  • Then ‘he’ is the one leading ‘them’: the king of the army coming against Judah.

    • His army will cover the land like the clouds in the sky.

    • His chariots will move with the speed and destruction of a whirlwind. Compare this to what we know as a tornado.

    • The horses will move smoothly and with precision like an eagle.

    • It will be clear the army has come for the ruin of Judah.

• Verse 14 The determination of judgment has been declared and yet the LORD calls out for those in Jerusalem to wash evil from their hearts.

  • The offer of being saved is of grace from the LORD.

  • The saving is for their hearts, their spiritual condition, not their physical condition as judgment has been declared for that.

  • The wickedness needs to be removed from their hearts.

• Verse 15 Dan and Ephraim were the territories to the north of Judah and would be the first territories to see the coming army from the north.

  • Where the warning comes from is prophesied here.

    • Dan and Bethel were also the locations where Jeroboam set up altars of false worship for Israel.

    • Bethel is located in the mountains of Ephraim.

1Kings 12:26 Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.
1Kings 12:27 “If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
1Kings 12:28 So the king consulted, and made two golden calves, and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
1Kings 12:29 He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
1Kings 12:30 Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan.

• Jer. 4:16 What the warning is to the nations is declared, the besiegers are coming.

  • The meaning of “besiege” is to come against or surround.

  • Those who will surround Jerusalem come from far away.

  • Those who besiege the cities will cry out against the cities.

• Verse 17 How this will happen is described as they completely surround the city, like where watchmen are stationed around a city. No place will be left unsecured.

  • The why this is to happen is because Jerusalem has rebelled against the LORD.

• Verse 18 There is clarification: it is the ways and deeds of the people who should have worshiped God but rebelled that resulted in this judgment. The evil was done by the people.

  • The evil resides in the heart of the people.

Jer. 4:19 My soul, my soul! I am in anguish! Oh, my heart!
My heart is pounding in me;
I cannot be silent,
Because you have heard, O my soul,
The sound of the trumpet,
The alarm of war.
Jer. 4:20 Disaster on disaster is proclaimed,
For the whole land is devastated;
Suddenly my tents are devastated,
My curtains in an instant.
Jer. 4:21 How long must I see the standard
And hear the sound of the trumpet?
Jer. 4:22 “For My people are foolish,
They know Me not;
They are stupid children
And have no understanding.
They are shrewd to do evil,
But to do good they do not know.”

• Verse 19 The LORD reveals His heart because of all that must happen to His people.

  • The clarification that this is the LORD revealing His heart is in verse 22 where the LORD says, ‘They know Me not’.

• Verse 20 The devastation will be for the land and tents, maybe the places the people live.

  • The devastation of My curtains: This could be like a covering the LORD had for His people or maybe the curtains in the Holy Place.

• Verse 21 The LORD laments about the time He will need to see the approaching standard of the armies and hear the trumpets of warning going out to the people.

• Verse 22 The LORD declares His people are foolish, they do not know Him, they are acting like stupid children with no knowledge of Him.

  • They are not stupid as they prove they are shrewd when doing evil, but they have no knowledge to do good.

    • Some see these verses as reflective of the prophet’s heart.

    • The prophet revealing the LORD’s heart can experience a similar sorrow as his LORD.

Jer. 4:23  I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless and void;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.
Jer. 4:24  I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
And all the hills moved to and fro.
Jer. 4:25 I looked, and behold, there was no man,
And all the birds of the heavens had fled.
Jer. 4:26  I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were pulled down
Before the LORD, before His fierce anger.

• Verse 23 The words describing the earth as ‘formless and void’ focus the audience on God in Gen. 1:1-2.

Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Gen. 1:2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

• The continuation of speaking of the heavens before they had any light also brings this time before creation to mind. This would also be a reason to understand these verses as revealing what the Creator is communicating through Jeremiah.

  • This was the time before judgment.

• Verse 24 There is a continuation of thought from the LORD from the creation moment to judgment.

  • The first judgment on the LORD’s creation is found in Gen. 6 and 7, the time of the first judgment.

    • These are still words from the LORD’s perspective.

• Verse 25 After the flood there was no man on the earth. All the birds were gone as well.

Gen. 7:23 Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.

• Verse 26 The whole earth was barren as a wilderness, where before it had been a lush fruitful land.

  • All the cities that existed before the flood are gone.

  • This was brought about because of the LORD’s fierce anger.

    • This is a picture of what the LORD is capable of doing, in dealing with sin.

    • What the LORD is bringing on His people now is not the same.

Jer. 4:27  For thus says the LORD,
“The whole land shall be a desolation,
Yet I will not execute a complete destruction.
Jer. 4:28  “For this the earth shall mourn
And the heavens above be dark,
Because I have spoken, I have purposed,
And I will not change My mind, nor will I turn from it.”
Jer. 4:29  At the sound of the horseman and bowman every city flees;
They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks;
Every city is forsaken,
And no man dwells in them.
Jer. 4:30  And you, O desolate one, what will you do?
Although you dress in scarlet,
Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold,
Although you enlarge your eyes with paint,
In vain you make yourself beautiful.
Your lovers despise you;
They seek your life.
Jer. 4:31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,
The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
The cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
Stretching out her hands, saying,
“Ah, woe is me, for I faint before murderers.”

• Verse 27 The land of His people will be a desolation, but the LORD will not bring complete destruction as He had done before.

  • This was what the LORD had described in verses 23-26.

  • This was also prophesied in the law.

Lev. 26:43 ‘For the land will be abandoned by them, and will make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes.
Lev. 26:44 ‘Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God.
Lev. 26:45 ‘But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.’”

• Verse 28 The destruction that is coming will be mourned by those of the earth.

  • This ‘strong wind’ that is coming on Judah does not just come to Judah but with great power and domineering strength comes on the kingdoms of the earth.

  • The LORD reminds Jeremiah that what He has spoken will come to pass as He has spoken of this coming event, and He will not change His mind.

  • The LORD does not change His mind. Mal. 3:6, Num. 23:18-20, 1Sam. 15:28-29

Mal. 3:6 “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

Num. 23:18 Then he took up his discourse and said,
“Arise, O Balak, and hear;
Give ear to me, O son of Zippor!
Num. 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Num. 23:20 “Behold, I have received a command to bless;
When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it.

1Sam. 15:28 So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you.
1Sam. 15:29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

• What the LORD determines to be will be. He is gracious to communicate with His creation through the prophets what His plans are.

  • What has been declared will happen. The timing or the manner may vary, but it will happen and cannot be thwarted.

• Verse 29  The invaders will come with bow and arrow for destruction.

  • When the invaders come upon the land the people will flee the cities and hide in the surrounding cliffs, rocks and thickets. This was the way to avoid the invader’s use of bow and arrow.

• Verse 30 The LORD speaks to Judah as to a desperate woman.

  • The LORD has referred to His people as a wife to Him, a harlot, and an adulterous wife to Him.

  • The LORD describes what a woman uses to come back into good graces with a man.

    • She will dress in an alluring way, decorated in scarlet.

    • She will cover herself with gold jewelry to appear more enticing.

    • She will decorate her face to appear more captivating.

  • These surface activities will not bring about the desired effect of returning her lovers to her.

  • Instead, they will despise her and desire to destroy her.

    • The same picture is given by Ezekiel in Ezek. 23:40-43.

Ezek. 23:40 “Furthermore, they have even sent for men who come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and lo, they came — for whom you bathed, painted your eyes and decorated yourselves with ornaments;
Ezek. 23:41 and you sat on a splendid couch with a table arranged before it on which you had set My incense and My oil.
Ezek. 23:42 “The sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and drunkards were brought from the wilderness with men of the common sort. And they put bracelets on the hands of the women and beautiful crowns on their heads.
Ezek. 23:43 “Then I said concerning her who was worn out by adulteries, ‘Will they now commit adultery with her when she is thus?’

• Jer. 4:31 The LORD compares the cry that will come from Judah when the judgment happens as a woman in labor for the first time, not prepared for the pain she will endure. A woman believing she may not live.

  • The LORD speaking through Jeremiah continues to reach out to His people with the same simple message: they must repent of their sin of worshipping other gods and not turning to the true God.

  • The LORD has demonstrated His lovingkindness by waiting so long to deal with His people, sending prophet after prophet to them.

  • The LORD demonstrates His lovingkindness by warning His people what is to come and why the judgment is necessary.

  • The LORD demonstrates His lovingkindness when promising His people the coming judgment will not result in their ultimate destruction.

    • This is the same God that demonstrates His lovingkindness to us now, having brought His Son to die for our sins and through grace brings us into an eternal relationship with Him.

Eph. 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
Eph. 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

Psa. 86:15  But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

• We are to be filled with awe at the grace offered to us through Jesus.

  • We should desire to share that with a lost and dying world. The only answer is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

  • We should be willing to share why there is a coming judgment, and why God has provided a way out for us through Jesus.

  • Our hearts should be as broken for the lost as Jeremiah’s heart was broken for his people.