Jeremiah

Jeremiah 14:1-6

Whether this drought was a metaphor for God's judgment or a real drought used as a metaphor is unknown.  Deuteronomy 28:22-24 says that drought is one of the curses for broken covenant.  Jeremiah reports the state of life in this drought.  We see the sorrow it has brought to the land; affecting everyone from farmer to noble to servant.  There is the physical affect for the people, the physical affect on the land and even the animals in nature are affected.  No one is untouched by the drought; no one is untouched by the sin of the land.  The affects are devastating and widespread. 

Jeremiah 14:7-9

Jeremiah knows that it is their sins testifying against them.  He is interceding for his people, knowing their hard hearts, knowing they have no desire to repent.  It is simply a plead and appeal to the reputation of God.  Jeremiah is simply asking God to do something, because if they suffer His reputation will suffer. 

The 'often rebelled' is a form of the word 'turned'.  They often turned away from God, they often broke the covenant relationship.  Jeremiah's plead was for God to be present, to be their salvation and their warrior.  All these are promises of God's relationship with them.  They want God to uphold his side of the covenant even though they turned away from their side. 

A nation defeated was viewed in the culture of having a god that was too weak to save them.  Jeremiah asked God if He was powerless or caught off guard.  We can rest assured that God is never surprised by our sin or anyone else's, nor is He powerless to save.  It is presumptuous of man to think we can be disregard God, His ways, His calls for obedience; stand in our sin, unrepentant and rebellious and call out to Him and expect Him to come improve our circumstances.  God may well use the circumstances of life to break our pride and rebelliousness, to drive us back to Him.  

Jeremiah 14:10

The Lord speaks without speaking directly to Jeremiah or the people.  He makes a statement about the people, who used to be His people.  They have a tendency to wander, they fail to restrain themselves from wandering away from Him.  It seems they wandered off one too many times.  They would not be accepted back, their wickedness would be considered and they would have to be punished.

Jeremiah 14:11-16

Once again, Jeremiah is instructed not to pray for these people (Jeremiah 7:16 and 11:14). They pretended to have a relationship with God, they went through the motions of fasting and making an offering.  But their hearts were far away.  These actions would not make up for the wandering away, the distance they put between Him and them.  Judgment would come in what is referred to as the 'triad of disasters' by scholars.  Ezekiel and Jeremiah depict judgment as being sword, famine and plague. 

Jeremiah brings the complaint that the people have been deceived by the prophets for promised peace and security.  The Lord rejects the prophets, they are not His.  The people were accountable to know what this relationship would look like.  They were responsible for their sin.  They could not put that on the lying prophets.  They would receive the same judgments and the calamity they all deserve.

Jeremiah 14:17-18

The anger and wrath of God is toward sin and those who practice sin damage the relationship the Lord wants.  His desire is love and bless in a relationship with His creation.  He shows His heart is broken in having to bring punishment.  The prophets and priests, those who were to represent Him before the people, had failed to inform the people, the hasten them to repentance and faith.

Jeremiah 14:19-22

Jeremiah offers another confession on behalf of his people.  Even though they had not repented, he held out hope the Lord would bring relief to them.  Jeremiah cannot imagine that the Lord has rejected them, that He would turn away from them and let them suffer.  He even asks 'why' when he knows the answer.  It doesn't feel fair to men to have to suffer eternal consequences for their sin against an eternal God.  They might say, "It's not fair."  If feels unfair because mankind doesn't want God interfering with their rule and reign over their life, their way, until there is trouble. 

They hoped for peace and healing, but were disappointed.  It's as if Jeremiah told God that He let them down.  Jeremiah said 'we' acknowledge wickedness and guilt.  But the 'we' included the previous sins and ancestral sins.  The present generations seemed unrepentant.  It's not enough to acknowledge sin, it we must turn from it, turn to God and put our trust in Him. 

Was Jeremiah really worried about God's reputation being harmed?   Or, was he just using God's name and reputation to get God to change his mind.  The destruction and desecration of the temple would cause the enemies of Israel to claim their god was stronger than Israel's.  God had not forgotten the covenant, He's spoke of the covenant love repeatedly through Jeremiah.  It is the people who have broken covenant with God.  The Lord never desired any of this, He only wanted to enjoy a relationship with His people and bless them, care for them.  But they gladly took all He gave and then ran from him. 

Jeremiah acknowledge what he knew, but many of those in his country did not know; the idols were worthless and could not save them.  The only hope was found in Yahweh. 

©2018 Doug Ford