# commentaries

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<h4>I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore My own arm brought salvation to Me; and My wrath, it upheld Me- The arm of Yahweh, the practical articulation of His power, is ultimately the Lord Jesus. The way the Saviour is "alone", as in :3, would allude to the way that no other man rose up to the call to be the prophesied servant of the Messianic prophecies (<a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a>). &nbsp;None of the potential Messiah figures worked out; and it seems about nobody responded to the prophetic call for the exiles to repent. God was ’desolated’ ["wondered"]about this, so great were His hopes for some response. And yet God wished to try to save them anyway by His dramatic intervention, which was to come to full term in the person and work of His own son.</h4><h4>God sent His prophets to appeal to Israel for repentance. They could have lead to repentance. But Israel would not. The marriage feast was totally ready and waiting for the Jewish people; they could have had it. But they didn’t want it, and so the course of human history was extended. Therefore finally God sent His Son. The Lord Jesus Himself was amazed that no other man had achieved the work which He had to; and therefore He clad Himself with zeal and performed it (<a href='B:290 41:28'>Isa 41:28</a>; <a href='B:290 50:2'>Isa 50:2</a>; <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a> cp. <a href='B:730 5:3-4'>Rev 5:3-4</a>). God knew that salvation in the end would have to be through the death of His Son. But there were other possible scenarios for the repentance and salvation of mankind, which no man achieved. And so, as in the parable of the servants sent to get fruit from the vineyard, there was left no other way but the death of God’s only Son. There is a clear parallel between <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a> and <a href='B:290 63:5'>Isa 63:5</a>. The same words are used, but there is one difference. In <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a>, "His righteousness, it upheld Him", but in <a href='B:290 63:5'>Isa 63:5</a> it was God’s fury which upheld / sustained Him. The Messianic arm of Yahweh which brought salvation did so only because as Son of Man, the Lord Jesus is the only human who can rightly judge sin on behalf of God’s anger. His necessary anger / wrath in judging sin is therefore part of the wider nexus of the absolutely legitimate salvation He achieved through the Lord Jesus.</h4>


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<p>I trod down the peoples in My anger, and made them drunk in My wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth- Blood from the sacrifices was poured out on the earth to symbolize that life is God’s alone. This is the scene of <a href='B:290 34:6'>Isa 34:6</a>, where Yahweh has a great sacrifice to make in Bozrah and Idumea, which is the context here too (:1). The implication could be that through their heavy judgment, they would become an acceptable sacrifice to Him; see on <a href='B:290 34:2'>Isa 34:2</a>; <a href='B:290 34:6'>Isa 34:6</a>.</p>


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<p>I will make mention of the loving kindnesses of Yahweh and the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His grace- The same words would be said by the Gentiles; they would proclaim Yahweh’s praise just as the Israelites themselves would (<a href='B:290 60:6'>Isa 60:6</a>). The Gentiles would now identify themselves with the Israelites in forming the new multiethnic people of God which was to be formed on the basis of repentance and acceptance of the new covenant. This praise is to be the result of His judgments upon the wicked, both of Israel and the Gentiles. Hence LXX "The Lord is a good judge to the house of Israel; he deals with us according to his mercy, and according to the abundance of his righteousness". The term "the house of Israel" suggests that both Judah and the ten tribe kingdom would be united by the experience of grace; and that is indeed the basis for unity amongst God’s people to this day.</p>


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<h4>For He said, Surely, they are My people, children who will not deal falsely: so He was their Saviour- The eagerness of the God who was in love with His woman Israel is quite something. "Surely theyare my people, children that will not lie!" (<a href='B:290 63:8'>Isa 63:8</a>), He triumphed. But this was because of His mercy and love to them (:7). That love as it were blinded His eyes to their sin. And this is the basis of our being counted righteous if we are in His beloved Son. But with Israel, "then I saw that she was defiled::. then my mind was alienated" (<a href='B:330 23:13'>Eze 23:13</a>; <a href='B:330 23:18'>Eze 23:18</a>). How does this square with the omniscience of God? He stopped restraining His omniscience. He saw them for who they were, unfaithful, and reacted. He did everything He could for His vineyard, and was then so bitterly disappointed when it brought forth wild grapes (<a href='B:290 5:4'>Isa 5:4</a>).</h4><h4>The Father is ever seeking for some positive response, and is highly sensitive to it. He told Moses: “If they will not believe… neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign [but] if they will not believe also these two signs…” (<a href='B:20 4:8'>Exo 4:8</a>). The God who knows the end from the beginning gives the impression that He is sure they will believe- even though they didn’t. He is so seeking for faith in His creatures (cp. “surely they will reverence my son”, <a href='B:470 21:37'>Mat 21:37</a>, and <a href='B:20 19:21'>Exo 19:21</a> cp. 20:18). In this, Isaiah says, He shows His matchless grace: “For He said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so [therefore] He was their Saviour… but they rebelled, and vexed His holy [gracious] spirit” (<a href='B:290 63:8'>Isa 63:8</a>; <a href='B:290 63:10'>Isa 63:10</a>). Our tendency is to notice the negative in others, and let it outweigh the positive. God works quite the other way. He hopes for positive response, and even speaks as if He will get it when He knows He won’t.</h4>


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<p>In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity he redeemed them; and He bore them, and carried them all the days of old- The same grace shown in saving Israel from Egypt, despite them still carrying the idols of Egypt with them and the tabernacle of Remphan, was to be shown in redeeming the exiles from Babylon. Just as God in love and pity carried them through the wilderness despite their unfaithfulness. And it will again be shown in the final salvation of God’s people. "The angel of His presence" was the same Angel which went with Israel through the wilderness, fulfilling the promise that "My presence shall go with thee" (<a href='B:20 33:14'>Exo 33:14</a>). But that Angel was intensely representative of God; to the point that the LXX offers: "not an ambassador, nor a messenger, but Himself saved them". Thereby in all their affliction, He was afflicted; and He achieves an even more powerful identity with our experiences through the work and nature of His Son, who is far greater and more effective than the ministry of Angels. "Afflicted" is the word used in :18 of the Babylonian "adversaries" who destroyed Jerusalem. Whilst this was an act of Divine judgment, God still felt for His people all through it. Jeremiah’s laments in Lamentations that God had somehow switched off from feeling for His people were therefore simply stating things as they seemed to him at the time. For in reality, in their affliction He was afflicted.</p>


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<h4>But they rebelled and grieved His holy spirit: therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He Himself fought against them- see on <a href='B:500 14:26'>Joh 14:26</a>; <a href='B:500 14:30'>Joh 14:30</a>; <a href='B:10 8:1'>Gen 8:1</a>; <a href='B:60 24:17'>Jos 24:17</a>. "His holy spirit" refers initially to the Angel of His presence (:9), for God makes His angels spirits (<a href='B:230 104:4'>Psa 104:4</a>). They refused to follow the leadership of the Angel; for many of the exiles remained in Babylon / Persia, as the book of Esther makes clear. Likewise Israel had "rebelled" in not following God’s saving plan in the wilderness and wanting to return to Egypt rather than go forward to the promised land (s:w. <a href='B:50 9:23'>Deu 9:23</a>). And it grieved the spirit / Angel, representative of God Himself (:9). This describes the work of the Holy Spirit Angel with regard to punishing Israel in language which hints at the flood: "It repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth (land), and it grieved Him at His heart" (<a href='B:10 6:6'>Gen 6:6</a>) connects with "They rebelled, and vexed His Holy Spirit (cp. grieved at the heart): therefore He was turned to be their enemy (cp."repented"), and He fought against them". <a href='B:680 3:6-7'>2Pe 3:6-7</a>; <a href='B:470 24:37'>Mat 24:37</a> and <a href='B:340 9:26'>Dan 9:26</a> (an impressive trio) say that the flood is a type of God’s judgement of the earth at the second coming- and we know that Jesus will come with His Angels with Him to do this, in the same way as the Angels were prominent in this earlier "coming" of the Lord at the flood.</h4><p>God (in the Angel of the presence) "wasturned to be (Israel’s) enemy" because of their sin (<a href='B:290 63:10'>Isa 63:10</a>)- likewise Job complains that his satan-Angel has "turned to be cruel to me" (<a href='B:220 30:21'>Job 30:21</a> AVmg:).</p><h4>The gift of the Spirit, a new heart and opened eyes, was to be part of the new covenant deal offered to the exiles. They refused it, and so in a different form it is now offered to all who are baptized into Christ. The same gift of the Spirit is now available to us- but we are not forced to follow where we are led, towards salvation in the same reestablished Kingdom of God on earth. Thus <a href='B:560 4:30'>Eph 4:30</a> is a quotation from <a href='B:290 63:10'>Isa 63:10</a> - a lament about how Israel in the wilderness "vexed His holy spirit" with their continued provocations. <a href='B:230 78:40'>Psa 78:40</a> says the same: "How often did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert!". Putting these verses together, we see that to provoke God, to grieve Him, is the same as vexing or grieving His spirit. Paul’s point was that the Ephesian believers had likewise been redeemed from ’Egypt’ and had been sealed by God "with that holy spirit of promise" (<a href='B:560 1:13'>Eph 1:13</a>). I understand this to mean that God’s spirit works upon and merges with the human spirit in the heart and life of the baptized believer in Christ. But by turning away from that leading, we are vexing or grieving God through frustrating the way of His spirit which He has put within us. Clearly it was God whom Israel grieved in the wilderness, and it is God whom we grieve by provoking and frustrating His spirit in us.</h4>


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<p>Then He remembered the days of old, Moses and His people, saying, Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His holy spirit in their midst?- see on <a href='B:20 34:27'>Exo 34:27</a>. &nbsp;It could be argued that this is the same "Spirit of the Lord [which] caused him (Moses) to rest: so didst Thou lead Thy people" (by an Angel in the wilderness, :14), the Spirit-Angel of :9,10. This shows God as it were looking back to the days when He led them through the wilderness by the Angel, and in wrath remembering mercy. "Where is He that brought them up::." He asked Himself. We have here an insight into the thought processes of God Almighty, recalling, as it were, how He had been with them at the exodus. Although the pole of His love and grace wins out within His personality over the pole of judgment, a struggle is involved; and the summary conclusion that "God is love" is not arrived at without appreciating this tension and struggle within Him. Yahweh had promised that He would lead His people on that wilderness journey from Babylon to Zion just as He had earlier led His people from Egypt to the same promised land. <a href='B:300 31:2'>Jer 31:2</a> had encouraged them that Israel “found grace in the wilderness” before, and they would do again, “When I go to cause [Israel] to go to their place of rest” (RV). God had promised in <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a> that He would bring Israel on their journey from Babylon to Judah along the fertile crescent- He would “cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble”:&nbsp; This is why Isaiah’s prophecies of the restoration from Babylon are shot through with allusion to the exodus and wilderness journey (e:g. <a href='B:290 43:2'>Isa 43:2</a>; <a href='B:290 51:10'>Isa 51:10</a>; <a href='B:290 63:11'>Isa 63:11</a>).</p>


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<p>Who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses? Who divided the waters before them, to make Himself an everlasting name?- Israel were led by God’s hand (<a href='B:650 8:9'>Heb 8:9</a>; <a href='B:290 63:13'>Isa 63:13</a>); but in practice by Moses’ hand (<a href='B:230 77:20'>Psa 77:20</a>; <a href='B:290 63:12'>Isa 63:12</a>). The Name of Yahweh is not simply a word, a lexical item, pronounced something like Yahoovah or Yahweh. His Name is His character and personality, which has been developed and exhibited historically. His salvation of His sinful, idol worshipping people from Egypt exhibited and exemplified His saving grace; and He wished again to show that same "arm" and "Name" in saving the exiles and bringing them to the Kingdom of God. They too frustrated His saving plans; and so that same mighty arm is outstretched in redeeming a new people, who are to leave the things of this world and likewise allow themselves to be led on a spiritual journey towards God’s Kingdom.</p>


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<p>Who led them through the depths, as a horse in the wilderness, so that they didn’t stumble?- <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a> had prophesied of the restoration: “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble”. Likewise <a href='B:290 63:13'>Isa 63:13</a> reminded the returnees that when they had been led through the wilderness to Canaan under Moses, they did not stumble [s:w:]. But both Ezra and Nehemiah wanted to have a Babylonian military escort on the journey back; they weren’t sure that they would be given “a straight way” with Yahweh’s protection. <a href='B:160 4:10'>Neh 4:10</a> records that “Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed [s:w. “stumble”, <a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>], and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall”. They were easily discouraged by the words of the surrounding world, by the apparent hopelessness of their task; and thus they stumbled. <a href='B:150 8:21'>Ezr 8:21</a> LXX describes how Ezra fasted for them to be given a “straight way”, as Jeremiah had foretold they could have. He saw the need for them to make the effort to fulfill the prophecy. Note how Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim featured “straight” progress; the wheels on earth surely connect with how Israel should have been, moving in a straight way back to the land, in harmony with the Angel-cherubim above them likewise moving in a straight way. But they failed to “keep in step with the Spirit”::. They were to walk “each one straight before him” (<a href='B:290 57:2'>Isa 57:2</a> RVmg:), as each of the cherubim went straight ahead (<a href='B:330 1:12'>Eze 1:12</a>). <a href='B:230 107:2'>Psa 107:2</a>; <a href='B:230 107:7'>Psa 107:7</a> RV speak of Israel being gathered out of the nations and being led in a “straight way” to Zion, as they had [potentially] been enabled to do on their departure from Egypt. Yet then they spent 38 years walking a distance coverable in just 11 days- because they did not walk in the “straight way”.</p>


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<h4>As the cattle that go down into the valley, the spirit of Yahweh caused them to rest; so You led Your people- see on <a href='B:50 34:5-6'>Deu 34:5-6</a>. The "rest" was the promised land, and it was that same land to which Yahweh was willing to lead Israel from Babylon; but it was a redemption refused. We too as a new Israel are being led toward the "rest" of the Kingdom (<a href='B:650 4:9'>Heb 4:9</a>). If we follow AV "the spirit of the Lord caused him to rest", we could make the referent of "him" to be Moses, who was led to his rest in death by an Angel, the "spirit of Yahweh" of :9-11. But more essentially the reference is to God leading His people as a shepherd, into the valley of rest.</h4><h4>To make Yourself a glorious name- See on :12.</h4>


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<p>Look down from heaven, and see from the habitation of Your holiness and of Your glory: where are Your zeal and Your mighty acts? The yearning of Your heart and Your compassion is restrained toward me- Isaiah, or the faithful remnant, seek to remind God of His compassion shown at the exodus to an equally apostate people who took the idols of Egypt with them through the Red Sea. He Himself had this memory within Him (:11), and they are appealing for Him to recall that and act with a similar saving grace. Or it could be that here we are being told how the situation in :11 came about. Why did God recall His previous acts of saving grace toward sinful Israel? Because He had been ’reminded’ of it by this prayer of the faithful. They were His rememberancers, the watchmen on Zion’s walls reminding Him, as it were, of His previous saving actions and grace towards His very immature and faithless people. The tension within His heart we commented upon on :11 had been provoked by this prayerful appeal to recall the yearning of His heart toward His people. God had earlier accepted that throughout the captivity He had been "restrained toward" Israel, but now He would be restrained no longer (s:w. <a href='B:290 42:14'>Isa 42:14</a>). But He did so because of the prayer of the faithful not to restrain Himself longer (<a href='B:290 63:15'>Isa 63:15</a>; <a href='B:290 64:12'>Isa 64:12</a>). The tragedy is that His unrestrained desire to save and redeem the exiles was still refused by them; and perhaps there were few who really begged Him to no longer restrain Himself. For they were quite happy with their prosperous lives in Babylon and Persia. And so the events of the last days will elicit this more intense prayer, and Yahweh will finally act unrestrainedly in this earth.</p>


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<h4>For You are our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us: You, Yahweh, are our Father- This is a prayer of penitence, recognizing that although Yahweh is their Father, they have not acted as the seed of Abraham and Jacob. It is such penitence fromGod’s people which is required for His saving arm to be fully revealed in the last days.</h4><p>Our Redeemer from everlasting is Your name- God’s essential preference for saving grace rather than judgment is an essential part of His character; see on :11. That Name or personality was eternal and didn’t change, and it is this which is being appealed to through the recollection of how He had historically articulated that grace within His Name. And His imputation of righteousness, the things of His Name placed upon His people, may be in view if we follow the LXX: "Thy name has been upon us from the beginning".</p><h4>&nbsp;As Hosea ‘redeemed’ Gomer in His attempt to force through His fantasy for her (<a href='B:350 3:1'>Hos 3:1</a>), so Yahweh is repeatedly described in Isaiah as Israel’s go’el, redeemer (<a href='B:290 41:14'>Isa 41:14</a>; <a href='B:290 43:14'>Isa 43:14</a>; <a href='B:290 44:6'>Isa 44:6</a>; <a href='B:290 44:24'>Isa 44:24</a>; <a href='B:290 47:4'>Isa 47:4</a>; <a href='B:290 48:17'>Isa 48:17</a>; <a href='B:290 49:7'>Isa 49:7</a>; <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>; <a href='B:290 54:5'>Isa 54:5</a>; <a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). The redeemer could redeem a close relative from slavery or repurchase property lost during hard times (<a href='B:30 25:25-26'>Lev 25:25-26</a>; <a href='B:30 25:47-55'>Lev 25:47-55</a>; <a href='B:80 2:20'>Rth 2:20</a>; <a href='B:80 3:9'>Rth 3:9</a>; <a href='B:80 3:12'>Rth 3:12</a>). The redeemer was also the avenger of blood (<a href='B:40 35:9-28'>Num 35:9-28</a>; <a href='B:60 20:3'>Jos 20:3</a>; <a href='B:60 20:9'>Jos 20:9</a>). All these ideas were relevant to Yahweh’s relationship to Judah in captivity. But the promised freedom didn’t come- even under Nehemiah, Judah was still a province within the Persian empire. And those who returned complained: “We are slaves this day in the land you gave…” (<a href='B:160 9:36'>Neh 9:36</a>). The wonderful prophecies of freedom and redemption from slavery weren’t realized in practice, because of the selfishness of the more wealthy Jews. And how often is it that the freedom potentially enabled for those redeemed in Christ is in practice denied them by their autocratic and abusive brethren</h4>


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<p>O Yahweh, why do You make us to err from Your ways, and harden our heart from Your fear? Return for Your servants’ sake, the tribes of Your inheritance- God does in fact lead men in a downward spiral as well as in an upward spiral of relationship with Him – Pharaoh would be the classic example. It is perhaps this situation more than any which we should fear – being hardened in sin, drawing ever closer to the waterfall of destruction, until we come to the point that the forces behind us are now too strong to resist::. Saul lying face down in the dirt of ancient Palestine the night before his death would be the classic visual image of it. And the Lord urges us to pray earnestly that we are not led in that downward spiral of temptation. This recognition that they have been hardened in their ways can be read as part of the confession of sin in :16. The request to restore all the tribes suggests that those praying this prayer have moved on from the sectarian division between Israel and Judah. Again, it is the experience of repentance and receipt of restoring grace which is the ultimate basis for unity between God’s people. And yet it could be argued that :16-19 is the cynical complaint of a sector within Jewish society who accepted that they had not been as Abraham and Jacob (:16), but still lamented all the judgment which had come upon them without specifically joining the dots and realizing it was their lack of repentance which was responsible for the situation.</p>


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<p>Your holy people possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary- Eternal inheritance had been promised, and compared to eternity, Judah had possessed the land only a little while before being driven out. Or as LXX "that we may inherit a small part of thy holy mountain". The mountain or Kingdom of Yahweh was envisaged as filling the entire eretz promised to Abraham, and only a small part of it, Palestine, was being possessed by Judah. The hope and prayer was therefore, in this case, that the entire land would be possessed. "Afflicted" in :9 is the word used here in :18 of the Babylonian "adversaries" who destroyed Jerusalem. Whilst this was an act of Divine judgment, God still felt for His people all through it. Jeremiah’s laments in Lamentations that God had somehow switched off from feeling for His people were therefore simply stating things as they seemed to him at the time. For in reality, in their affliction He was afflicted (:9).</p>


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<h4>We have become as they over whom You never bear rule, as those who were not called by Your name- LXX "We are become as at the beginning, when thou didst not rule over us, and thy name was not called upon us". This is a request, therefore, to start over with Israel, giving them a new covenant and a new land inheritance, but for ever. I suggested on :16,17 that we have here a confession of sin; and this involves here recognizing that they are no better than Gentiles.</h4><h4>Or we can read with AVmg. : "We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; thy name was not called upon them". God’s Name was called upon us at baptism into the Name. This bearing of His Name means that the principles of that Name bear rule over us in our lives. The Name is called upon us; and therefore and thereby we are Yahweh’s servants, dominated by His principles and character. Because the Name was called upon the temple, therefore it was simply impossible that those who realized this could worship idols in it (<a href='B:120 21:4'>2Ki 21:4</a>; <a href='B:120 21:7'>2Ki 21:7</a>); whatever has God’s Name called upon it, whatever bears His image, must be devoted to Him alone. The Lord pointed out that this applies to our very bodies, which being in God’s image should be given over to Him.</h4>


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<p>Oh that You would tear the heavens, that You would come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence- This chapter appears to be the continued request of some amongst God’s people for Yahweh to no longer restrain Himself in (<a href='B:290 63:15'>Isa 63:15</a>). But that restraint had been because of their sins. There does indeed follow a confession of sin, but the plea seems to more be for immediate Divine salvation than for forgiveness. The mountains quaked at the exodus, and the prayer is that God would act again as He had acted then (as in <a href='B:290 63:15'>Isa 63:15</a>). But <a href='B:290 63:9-14'>Isa 63:9-14</a> have stated that God indeed would act like that; the entire prophecy of God’s intended restoration of His people is shot through with allusion to the wilderness journey and exodus from Egypt. He was willing and eager to do this. It was Israel’s impenitence which precluded it.</p>


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<h4>As when fire kindles the brushwood- Perhaps a reference to the burning bush. The plea was for God to act as He had done at the exodus from Egypt.</h4><p>And the fire causes the waters to boil- The idea may be as GNB "they would tremble like water boiling over a hot fire".</p><h4>To make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!- This trembling of the nations was to happen at the fall of Babylon and her confederacy (s:w. <a href='B:290 14:9'>Isa 14:9</a>), when Jerusalem would be restored (<a href='B:300 33:9'>Jer 33:9</a>). But the attitude of the exiles precluded these things from happening. It is one thing to pray for things, but another to live in the spirit of them and act as if we do indeed really want them; see on <a href='B:370 5:18'>Amo 5:18</a>. Likewise it was one thing to pray that Yahweh’s Name be known to His enemies; but it was quite another for them to make known His Name to them, as they were intended to (<a href='B:290 12:4'>Isa 12:4</a> s:w:).</h4>


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<p>When You did awesome things which we didn’t look for, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence- Again the plea is for God to act as He had done at the exodus; the great salvation then had been performed by grace, it was not what they had looked for. And so they ask for God to do the same; but as explained on :1, Isaiah’s entire prophecy of God’s intended restoration of His people is shot through with allusion to the wilderness journey and exodus from Egypt. He was willing and eager to do this. It was Israel’s impenitence which precluded it</p>


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<p>For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides You, what God has prepared for him who waits for Him- The idea is that the restoration and entry into the reestablished Kingdom was going to be the most wonderful of all God’s saving acts seen throughout history; and no god besides Yahweh could achieve this. But this is quoted in <a href='B:530 2:9'>1Co 2:9</a> as if it means that God alone appreciates the wonder of what He is going to do: “Men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, besides you, what He has prepared for him that waits for him”. Paul continues in <a href='B:530 2:9-10'>1Co 2:9-10</a>: “It is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit”. The passage in Isaiah 64 says that no one except God can understand the things He has prepared for the believers. However <a href='B:530 2:10'>1Co 2:10</a> says that those things have been revealed to us. We can accept His Spirit, His mind, and perceive things from His perspective.</p>


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<h4>You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness- God is in search of man, and man is in search of God. "Meet" is the same word translated ’intercede’; that meeting is due to the intercession of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 53:6'>Isa 53:6</a>; <a href='B:290 53:12'>Isa 53:12</a>; <a href='B:290 59:16'>Isa 59:16</a>). Their ’meeting’ is now in this life; and the heavens are electric with joy therefore when the lost sheep is found. All the Angels of heaven rejoice::. when the Father meets the prodigal son. The Father (manifest in the Lord) runs out to meet the son. That story was masterfully tied back in to <a href='B:290 64:5-8'>Isa 64:5-8</a>: "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways:::we have sinned:::we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags:::but now, O Lord, thou art our father". The patient, hopeful father saw in the son a boy rejoicing and working righteousness; but this was hardly how he felt! And so it will be with Israel in the last days. And so it is with each of us now, in our times of repentance. That surpassing grace is ours; we are seen as working righteousness when all we have is a bitter self-loathing and desire to somehow get back to God.</h4><p>Those who remember You in Your ways- The faithful Israelite was to remember the ways in which they were led through the wilderness to the promised land (s:w. <a href='B:50 8:2'>Deu 8:2</a>; <a href='B:50 24:9'>Deu 24:9</a>; <a href='B:50 25:17'>Deu 25:17</a>). They were to perceive the hand of God in their personal history, leading them to meeting with Him. But the exiles chose their own ways and not His (<a href='B:290 66:3'>Isa 66:3</a> s:w:).</p><h4>Behold, You were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time; and shall we be saved?- AV "we shall be saved". In this case we would have a confident expression of faith in salvation despite recognizing that they had always sinned against Him ["for a long time" = olahm, eternally]. It could be that <a href='B:290 65:8-16'>Isa 65:8-16</a>; <a href='B:290 66:5'>Isa 66:5</a> etc. speak of a minority of Jews who trembled at the word of prophecy and were Yahweh’s servants, who had been disfellowshipped by the leaders of the Jewish community in Babylon. The majority of the captives insisted, according to Ezekiel 18, that they hadn’t sinned, and they were suffering unjustly because of the sins of their fathers; whereas this righteous remnant in Babylon admitted that “we have sinned. Equally with them of old time have we transgressed” (<a href='B:290 64:5'>Isa 64:5</a>). They took the message of Ezekiel to heart- unlike the majority. And thus this was the sad end of the great plan developed by the God of all grace for His people in Babylon. They rejected it, and hated His servants who brought that good news to them.</h4>


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<p>For we have all become as one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted garment: and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away- We feel inadequate as employees, students, parents, partners::. fearing we won’t make the grade. And we tend to feel the same way before our God too. But in Christ, clothed with His righteousness, we need not feel like this. Indeed, we should not. We have tended to misquote a number of Bible verses to justify our feeling that we can never please God- e:g. <a href='B:290 64:6'>Isa 64:6</a> "All our righteousness are as filthy rags". Yet the context is clearly of a repentancefrom sin, recognizing that despite all their external good works, Israel were ritually unclean before God. We can and do please God! The wonder of this should never cease to impress us. J:R:R. Tolkien truly observed: ":::the chief purpose of life, for any one of us, is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks. To do as we say in the Gloria in Excelsis: :::We praise you, we call you holy, we worship you, we proclaim your glory, we thank you for the greatness of your splendour":&nbsp; This admission of national sin must be contrasted with :5 AV "we shall be saved"- despite all this.</p>


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<h4>There is none who calls on Your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of You- This is a recognition that the restored exiles had not allowed themselves to be stirred up as intended. God ’stirred up’ the spirit of Cyrus and also of the Jews who returned (<a href='B:150 1:1'>Ezr 1:1</a>; <a href='B:150 1:5'>Ezr 1:5</a>). Isaiah uses the same Hebrew term to describe how Israel’s saviour would be "raised up" [s:w:]- <a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>; <a href='B:290 41:25'>Isa 41:25</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>. And yet Isaiah pleads with Zion, i:e. the faithful, to indeed be stirred up- <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a> appeals to Zion to "Awake!"- the same word translated "stirred up". But Isaiah tragically concluded that there were so few who would ’stir up themselves’. God had given them the potential to be ’stirred up’ in their hearts and minds to leave Babylon and return- but they wouldn’t respond. And today, the same happens. God is willing to change hearts, to stir up materialistic and complacent spirits- but because we’re not robots, we have to respond. And yet, God’s grace still shines through.</h4><h4>Yahweh would "stir up" Cyrus (s:w. <a href='B:290 41:2'>Isa 41:2</a>; <a href='B:290 41:25'>Isa 41:25</a>; <a href='B:290 45:13'>Isa 45:13</a>), so this could have been fulfilled through that stirred up "mighty man" of <a href='B:290 42:13'>Isa 42:13</a>. But he failed. The "mighty man", the gibbor, therefore became reapplied to the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:290 9:6'>Isa 9:6</a> s:w:). But He will act through the stirring up of a repentant Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 51:9'>Isa 51:9</a>; <a href='B:290 51:17'>Isa 51:17</a>; <a href='B:290 52:1'>Isa 52:1</a>), seeing that no man would be ’stirred up’ (s:w. <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>). All the potential candidates had refused the Divine nudges to be stirred up. There was apparently not a single one in the community who would ’hold fast’ the offered new covenant (s:w. "who holds it fast" in <a href='B:290 56:2'>Isa 56:2</a>; <a href='B:290 56:4'>Isa 56:4</a>; <a href='B:290 56:6'>Isa 56:6</a>); apart from the Messianic "son of man" (see on <a href='B:290 56:2'>Isa 56:2</a>).</h4><h4>For You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities- <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> describes the reestablished Kingdom as a time when Judah’s repentant eyes would "see" the God who had taught them through the sufferings of defeat and exile (see note there). Their eyes would no longer be blinded, they would see and perceive the ’hidden’ God who had triedto teach them through all their afflictions. Meaning will finally be attached to event, and the problem of evil resolved finally. God had as it were ’hidden’ Himself during the exile (<a href='B:290 45:15'>Isa 45:15</a>; <a href='B:400 3:4'>Mic 3:4</a>); but now He would be revealed to them. Just as Cain was exiled to the east of Eden (which I have suggested was the eretz promised to Abraham) and been hidden from God’s eyes in his exile (<a href='B:10 4:14'>Gen 4:14</a>; <a href='B:50 31:17-18'>Deu 31:17-18</a>; <a href='B:50 32:20'>Deu 32:20</a> s:w:), so with Judah. The hidden things belong to God and only some are now revealed to us, but in the day of exile’s end, all those things, the meaning attached to the events, will at last be revealed (<a href='B:50 29:29'>Deu 29:29</a> s:w:). Then there will be no need for Jeremiah’s Lamentations and struggles about the exile, all developed in the story of the suffering Job, who felt God hidden from him (s:w. <a href='B:220 3:23'>Job 3:23</a>; <a href='B:220 13:24'>Job 13:24</a>) just as God was to hide His face from Zion at the time of the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:300 33:5'>Jer 33:5</a>) and exile (<a href='B:330 39:23-24'>Eze 39:23-24</a>). Therefore all human attempts to see the hidden God were doomed to failure, as Job was finally taught (<a href='B:220 34:29'>Job 34:29</a> s:w:). But the glorious truth of <a href='B:290 30:20'>Isa 30:20</a> is that finally, the Divine teacher will not be hidden any more and our eyes shall see Him and His ways, as Job did at the end (<a href='B:220 42:5'>Job 42:5</a>). And yet Isaiah and his family / school of prophets did look or see the hand of the God who was hiding Himself from Judah (s:w. <a href='B:290 8:17'>Isa 8:17</a>). At the restoration, there was to be no need for Judah to feel that their way was "hid from Yahweh" (<a href='B:290 40:27'>Isa 40:27</a> s:w:) any more, as it had been during the exile "for a little moment" when God hid His face (<a href='B:290 54:8'>Isa 54:8</a>). Their eyes would see / perceive. But tragically, the exiles didn’t; God reflected that "I hid me::. and he went on proudly in the way of his heart" (<a href='B:290 57:17'>Isa 57:17</a>). Their sins continued to hide His face from them (<a href='B:290 59:2'>Isa 59:2</a>; <a href='B:290 64:7'>Isa 64:7</a>).</h4>


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<h4>But now, Yahweh, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and we all are the work of Your hand- Several passages in Isaiah such as this in :8-12 record model prayers for Zion’s restoration. But the prayers dried up after the return; Isaiah’s exhortation was ignored. The returnees did keep silence, and therefore Zion was not established as a praise in the earth. The plea was for Yahweh to continue working with them, rather than casting them away as clay which refused to be malleable in His hands.</h4><h4>We note that ‘God the Father’ is the only God. It is therefore impossible that there can be a separate being called ‘God the Son’, as the false doctrine of the trinity states. The Old Testament likewise portrays Yahweh, the one God, as the Father (e:g. <a href='B:290 63:16'>Isa 63:16</a>; <a href='B:290 64:8'>Isa 64:8</a>). As there is only one God, it is impossible that Jesus could be God; if the Father is God and Jesus is also God, then there are two Gods. “But to us there is but one God, the Father” (<a href='B:530 8:6'>1Co 8:6</a>).</h4>


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<p>Don’t be furious, Yahweh, neither remember iniquity forever: see, look, we beg You, we are all Your people- As noted on :1, this is asking Yahweh to do what He had Himself multiple times promised to do- to not remember sin forever, and to look on His people with pity rather than grace. But He would no longer remember iniquity if they accepted the new covenant (s:w. <a href='B:300 31:34'>Jer 31:34</a>). And thus man is brought to God- desiring and praying for the very things which we then realize He has been earnestly offering us all the time. As the Yiddish couplet says, "And going out to meet Him, I met Him coming towards me".</p>


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<p>Your holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation- Isaiah’s later prophecies are in response to the judgment of Isaiah 39, that Judah were to go into captivity in Babylon and Jerusalem be desolated. This is therefore as it were a pro forma prayer for the captives- which it seems they did not pray, or prayed simply from the secular point of view of lamenting the loss of what were the icons of their culture and self-identity, rather than being the prayer of repentance.</p>


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<p>Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised You is burnt with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste- We could comment that they parallel "Your cities" with "our house::. places", as if recognizing that what is Yahweh’s is theirs. Or we could more negatively respond that it was God’s house, not theirs. They only mourned for the loss of it insofar as it was a reflection of what they revelled in anyway, as an expression of themselves, rather than a means of worshipping God. And their fathers not only praised Yahweh there but offered idol sacrifice there, as Ezekiel demonstrates.</p>


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<h4>Will You refrain Yourself for these things, Yahweh?- God had earlier accepted that throughout the captivity He had been "restrained toward" Israel, but now He would be restrained no longer (s:w. <a href='B:290 42:14'>Isa 42:14</a>). But He did so because of the prayer of the faithful not to restrain Himself longer (<a href='B:290 63:15'>Isa 63:15</a>; <a href='B:290 64:12'>Isa 64:12</a>). The tragedy is that His unrestrained desire to save and redeem the exiles was still refused by them; and perhaps there were few who really begged Him to no longer restrain Himself. For they were quite happy with their prosperous lives in Babylon and Persia. And so the events of the last days will elicit this more intense prayer, and Yahweh will finally act unrestrainedly in this earth.</h4><p>The statement that God will not "rest" for Zion’s sake (<a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>) must be understood in the context of the faithful at that time urging God not to "be still" [same Hebrew word translated "rest"] for His people (<a href='B:230 83:1'>Psa 83:1</a>; <a href='B:290 64:12'>Isa 64:12</a>). This is an allusion to Boaz not being at rest until he had redeemed Ruth and Naomi; see on <a href='B:290 49:26'>Isa 49:26</a>. God is not at rest, He is not distant from us; and yet His people in Babylon felt that He was. It’s no wonder that we are tempted to feel the same. Yet we must give <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a> it’s full weight- God is answering the complaint of His people by stating that no, He will never rest for them. In this same context we read that He that keeps Israel will "neither slumber nor sleep" (<a href='B:230 121:4'>Psa 121:4</a>). Much of the later chapters of Isaiah speaks of the faithful remnant in Babylon. The prayers and thoughts of that faithful minority often surface- this and <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a> is an example. Thus they fulfilled the prophecy that Zion’s watchmen would give God no rest (<a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>). But overall, the poor response of Judah seems to have led God to abandon the plan for the gloriously rebuilt Messianic temple. The plan of saving His people and reestablishing His Kingdom was reinterpreted, delayed and reapplied.</p><h4>Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?- Afflicted"is the word used in <a href='B:290 63:18'>Isa 63:18</a> of the Babylonian"adversaries"who destroyed Jerusalem. Whilst this was an act of Divine judgment, God still felt for His people all through it. Jeremiah’s laments in Lamentations that God had somehow switched off from feeling for His people were therefore simply stating things as they seemed to him at the time. For in reality, in their affliction He was afflicted (<a href='B:290 63:9'>Isa 63:9</a>). Here again we see their confession of sin tinged by misunderstanding and a lingering sense of injustice on God’s part.</h4>


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<h4>I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here am I, here am I’ to a nation that was not called by Myname- The idol worshipping exiles still sought Yahweh (s:w. <a href='B:330 14:3'>Eze 14:3</a>; <a href='B:330 20:3'>Eze 20:3</a>; <a href='B:330 20:31'>Eze 20:31</a>). The nation not called by Yahweh’s Name would be Israel who were unknown to Abraham and Jacob and who were as if Yahweh’s Name had not been called upon them,"as those who were not called by Your name"(<a href='B:290 63:16'>Isa 63:16</a>; <a href='B:290 63:19'>Isa 63:19</a>). The people in view are those of :2,3, who are clearly Israel. But Yahweh was willing to be sought and found by them even in that state. God set them up with the possibility to return to Judah, to establish there a Messianic-style Kingdom, giving them the commands in Ezekiel 40-48 for a glorious temple; but most of them preferred the soft life in Babylon, and those who did return proved small minded, selfish and disinterested in the vision of God’s glory. In this context, Isaiah ends his restoration prophecies on a tragic note from God:"I was ready to be sought::. I was ready to be found"(<a href='B:290 65:1'>Isa 65:1</a>) by the unspiritual exiles in Babylon. But Israel would not. He pictures Himself standing there crying"Here am I, here am I!"- to be rejected by a people more interested in climbing the endless economic and social ladder in Babylon and Persia.</h4><h4>Yet Paul appears to quote these words out of context, at first blush, applying them to the calling of the Gentiles who did not seek God (<a href='B:520 10:20'>Rom 10:20</a>). But this is not so out of context; for as noted on <a href='B:290 63:19'>Isa 63:19</a>, apostate Israel were effectively as Gentiles. This calling of apostate Israel was the same therefore as the calling of the Gentiles. Although we can note that many Old Testament passages are quoted in the New Testament without strict attention to context.</h4>


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<p>I have spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts- LXX"After their own sins". Again we see the focus of the Biblical revelation upon thoughts and mental patterns as being the essence of sin. Our thoughts are our"way", and we walk in practice according to our way. This is why the gift of God’s Spirit or thinking is so essential for real transformation. Otherwise we will continue in rebellion against God.</p>


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<h4>A people who provoke Me to My face continually, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense on bricks- The provocation was to God’s face, or LXX"in My presence", as if the temple precincts were in view; or perhaps the Angel of His presence of <a href='B:290 63:9'>Isa 63:9</a> is in view, whom they rebelled against and grieved by refusing to repent and return from Babylon. Perhaps they had placed bricks and a garden structure there in which they worshipped idols in the name of Yahweh worship. And the context is of the failure of the restored exiles; despite all the Godly influence of Ezra and Nehemiah, this is what was going on in the early generations after the exiles returned.</h4><h4>We note that <a href='B:290 65:3'>Isa 65:3</a> LXX is clear that demons don’t exist: “[Israel] burn incense on bricks to demons, which exist not”. The idols of the nations, representing as they did the supposed ‘demons’ of the cosmos, were “vanity” because what the demons and gods they supposedly represented did not exist – they are “beings that are nothing” (<a href='B:90 12:21'>1Sa 12:21</a> LXX), “a thing of nought” (<a href='B:300 14:4'>Jer 14:4</a>). See on :11; <a href='B:290 66:17'>Isa 66:17</a>.</h4>


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<p>Who sit among the graves and lodge in the secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels- This seems to refer to various idol rituals, LXX"They lie down to sleep in the tombs and in the caves for the sake of dreams". The"vessels"may have been those of the temple which were returned from Persia to Jerusalem. Legion’s situation was clearly presented as alluding to this verse; his madness was that of the returned exiles in their idolatry. His cure therefore looks forward as an acted parable to the final psychological healing of Israel through the work of the spirit of the Lord Jesus.</p>


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<p>Who say, ‘Stand by yourself, don’t come near to me, for I am holier than you’. These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burns all the day-"Stand by yourself"translates the common Hebrew term"draw near", which is that commonly used about drawing near to Yahweh in worship and offering. So the idea is that others were being told that they could do their worship"by yourself"and not with those who considered themselves spiritually superior (LXX"I am pure", see on <a href='B:290 66:17'>Isa 66:17</a>)- even though they were offering unclean offerings to Yahweh themselves (:4). This shows that the mentality of ’guilt by association’ has always been engrained amongst God’s people. It takes away any sense of self-examination and self awareness. For those saying this to the faithful remnant were idolaters and seriously morally compromised. This hypocrisy provoked the strongest wrath in God, and we must remember that whenever the guilt by association mentality emerges in our own thinking. See on <a href='B:290 66:5'>Isa 66:5</a>.</p>


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<h4>Behold, it is written before Me- Such self righteousness, insisting they were pure and condemning others when they were such idolaters, was what so deeply incited Yahweh’s anger. Isaiah’s words were written before God; the word spoken and preserved through Isaiah was and is also written in Heaven before God.</h4><h4>I will not keep silence, but will recompense, yes, I will recompense into their bosom- Their judgment will be according to what they did (<a href='B:290 59:18'>Isa 59:18</a>; <a href='B:290 65:6'>Isa 65:6</a>); although <a href='B:300 16:18'>Jer 16:18</a> says that some will be recompensed double. By contrast, the exiles were not receiving punishment according as their deeds deserved, but less (<a href='B:150 9:13'>Ezr 9:13</a>). These different degrees of recompense suggest that Divine judgment is far more complex than a simple ’measure for measure’. The greater complexity is because He weighs motives and inflexions of meaning attached to actions which all require different judgments. And then on top of that, there is the credit He gives for forgiveness, and for the prayers and faith of others influencing the final outcome of judgment in any given case.</h4>


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<p>Your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, says Yahweh, who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed Me on the hills; therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom- We doubt whether the Jews literally uttered blasphemy against Yahweh on the idol shrines in the mountains or hills. But that was the implication of their worshipping other gods, and Yahweh heard their actions as speaking like this. I suggested on :3 that this idolatry may have been taking place in the temple; therefore"mountains"and"hills"may be an intensive plural referring to the one great mount, the hill of Zion where the temple was located. Thus in :9"My mountains"(AV) become LXX"My holy mountain"(singular). It was this category of idolater who also ordered the faithful remnant to worship away from (see on :5).</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh, As the new wine is found in the cluster and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it, for a blessing is in it:’ so will I do for My servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all- The idea seems to be that the grape harvest was generally bad, but for the sake even of a minority, the vine of Israel would have been saved. Hence LXX"As a grape-stone shall be found in the cluster, and they shall say, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for the sake of him that serves me, for his sake I will not destroy them all". But it was this remnant which were being so abused by the hypocritical religious leadership; see on :5.</h4><h4>The shortening of the days for the sake of a remnant is predicted in <a href='B:290 65:8-9'>Isa 65:8-9</a>: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed [Jesus] out of Jacob… and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there”. The “elect” are paralleled with “my servants”. Because of them, the minority of faithful fruit, the whole tree is not destroyed. This is exactly the image of the fig tree parable; because of the beginnings of spiritual fruit on the tree of Israel, the whole nation will not be cut off and they will be saved by the coming of the Kingdom. The Lord’s description of the shortening of the days uses some rather odd past tenses: “Except the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved: but for the elect’s sake…he shortened the days” (<a href='B:480 13:20'>Mar 13:20</a> RV). One wonders if we have here an allusion back to the days of Noah, where again there was the possibility that no flesh would have been saved. The 150 days of flooding is perhaps the basis of Rev 910, where Israel is to have 150 days of tribulation at the hands of her Arab enemies in the last days. The connection between the passages would therefore seem to be teaching that the final 150 days tribulation will be shortened due to the repentance of the remnant.</h4>


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<h4>I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains; and My chosen shall inherit it, and My servants shall dwell there- See on :8. AV: “And I will bring forth a seed [singular] out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor [singular] of my mountains: and mine elect [plural] shall inherit it, and my servants [plural] shall dwell there”. His obedience would enable the peoples’ establishment as the Kingdom, upon the"mountains", perhaps an intensive plural for the one great mountain, Zion. See on <a href='B:290 66:21'>Isa 66:21</a>. Or as with LXX, the reference could be to Yahweh’s intention to lead the repentant Judah out of Babylon to the"mountains", the one great mount, Zion:"And I will lead forth the seed that came of Jacob and of Juda, and they shall inherit my holy mountain"(see on :7).</h4><h4>The reason why there are no accusers against us, not even our own sins, is because we are “God’s elect” (<a href='B:520 8:33'>Rom 8:33</a>). The supreme chosen one of God was of course the Lord Jesus, “My elect, in whom My soul delights” (<a href='B:290 42:1'>Isa 42:1</a>). And yet later on in the servant songs of Isaiah,"My elect” clearly refers to the people of Israel (<a href='B:290 45:4'>Isa 45:4</a>; <a href='B:290 65:9'>Isa 65:9</a>; <a href='B:290 65:22'>Isa 65:22</a>). The true Israel of God are therefore those counted as somehow “in” the elect one, the singular servant of God, Messiah Jesus. Those baptized into Him are therefore His elect. And how do we know we are “God’s elect”? If we are baptized into Christ, “mine elect”, then for sure we are. And further, we have heard the call of the Gospel, we have been called- so, we are God’s elect, His chosen ones. Of course the objection can be raised that the whole idea of calling or election may appear unfair. Indeed, the Greek word for “elect” can carry the idea of ‘the favoured / favourite one’:&nbsp; There is no ultimate injustice here. The chosen One is the Lord Jesus, beloved for the sake of His righteousness, His spirit of life. Those who respond to the call to be “in Him” are counted likewise. And all this is the way, the method used, in order for God to be the one who counts us as right in the ultimate judgment- for “It is God that justifies”.</h4>


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<p>Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for My people who have sought Me- This mentions Achor [where Israel were judged for not possessing the land for the right motives] as a place of special blessing in the reestablished Kingdom of God on earth- it’s as if God’s grace rejoices in inverting things, pouring out His richest blessing upon the places of our darkest failures. And we in daily life, in the interactions we have with others, are asked to reflect this same kind of grace. As Hosea’s children were to be renamed, Lo-ammi becoming Ammi, so the valley of Achor would become a door of hope (<a href='B:350 2:17'>Hos 2:17</a>), and Jezreel, scene of Israel’s rebellions, would become the place of joyful reconciliation between God and His people.</p>


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<h4>But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget My holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny- see on <a href='B:10 49:19'>Gen 49:19</a>. The hypocrisy of this group is stunning; they worshipped idols in the name of Yahweh worship, and yet disfellowshipped and persecuted the faithful remnant (see on :5). They ’forgot’ Zion in that they didn’t want to return there, and constructed a theology which allowed them to remain in Babylon and worship Yahweh through idol worship.</h4><h4>It is significant that the Greek version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) used the word daimonion for “idol”; thisis the word translated “demon” in the New Testament. “Idols” in <a href='B:230 96:5'>Psa 96:5</a> is translated “demons” in the Septuagint; and the Septuagint uses the same word in <a href='B:290 65:11'>Isa 65:11</a> to describe Gad, the Syrian god / idol of fortune. See on :3. GNB "who ignore Zion, my sacred hill, and worship Gad and Meni, the gods of luck and fate". It was not that they totally rejected Yahweh worship; rather they ignored Zion for the sake of the gods of the nations.</h4>


text:
<h4>I will destine you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn’t answer; when I spoke, you didn’t listen; but you did that which was evil in My eyes- The tragedy was that if they had called to Yahweh, even despite all their sins, He would have heard them (see on :1). And although they didn’t do that, He took the initiative and called to them through the prophets such as Ezekiel, who ministered to the exiles; and they refused to hear. They bowed down to their idols; and thereby were self-condemned, effectively bowing down to their own executions.</h4><h4>And chose that in which I didn’t delight- The context is their choice of sacrificing to idols; but in <a href='B:290 1:11'>Isa 1:11</a> the same term is used of God’s lack of delight in the sacrifices offered to Him. It seems that they worshipped the idols in the name of Yahweh worship. And this is an abiding temptation for all God’s children- to worship our idols in the name of worshipping God.</h4>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, My servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be disappointed- <a href='B:290 65:8-16'>Isa 65:8-16</a>; <a href='B:290 66:5'>Isa 66:5</a> etc. speak of a minority of Jews who trembled at the word of prophecy and were Yahweh’s "servants", who had been disfellowshipped by the leaders of the Jewish community in Babylon (see on :5). The majority of the captives insisted, according to Ezekiel 18, that they hadn’t sinned, and they were suffering unjustly because of the sins of their fathers; whereas this righteous remnant in Babylon admitted that “we have sinned. Equally with them of old time have we transgressed” (<a href='B:290 64:5'>Isa 64:5</a>). They took the message of Ezekiel to heart- unlike the majority. And thus this was the sad end of the great plan developed by the God of all grace for His people in Babylon. They rejected it, and hated His servants who brought that good news to them. And so they would not partake of the Messianic banquet, being left hungry and thirsty whilst the "servants" drunk and ate at it, and finally being left "ashamed" [s:w. "disappointed"] in the shame of final condemnation.</p>


text:
<p>Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit- This is the weeping and gnashing of teeth of final condemnation. The wailing and anguish will be because they see ["behold"] the believers in the Kingdom, and themselves cast out (<a href='B:490 13:28'>Luk 13:28</a>). The sense of the eternity they have missed, which could have been theirs, will be psychologically unbearable for them. This is far worse than any ’hell fire judgment’ of popular but mistaken tradition.</p>


text:
<h4>You shall leave your name for a curse to My chosen- This is the same threat in the context of the exiles as <a href='B:300 29:22'>Jer 29:22</a>.</h4><h4>And the Lord Yahweh will kill you; and He will call His servants by another name- GNB "I will give a new name to those who obey me" is alluded to by the Lord Jesus, when He promises to write a "new name" upon all those who have been finally faithful, at the last day when He returns (<a href='B:730 3:12'>Rev 3:12</a>). This is part of the wider theme of a new vocabulary being used at the time of the restoration (<a href='B:290 62:2'>Isa 62:2</a>; <a href='B:290 62:4'>Isa 62:4</a>; <a href='B:290 62:12'>Isa 62:12</a>), looking forward to the completely "new" naming and understanding of things in the future Kingdom.</h4>


text:
<h4>So that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in theGod of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth- "The God of truth" is as LXX, "the true God" in comparison with the idols they worshipped (:11). The picture is of all peoples in the eretz promised to Abraham swearing only by Yahweh. This could have come true at the restoration, but was precluded by Judah’s impenitence and failure to exhibit the Gospel to the Gentiles in the "earth".</h4><h4>Because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from My eyes- This didn’t come true at the restoration, but it will ultimately at the last day (<a href='B:730 21:4'>Rev 21:4</a>). If we can accept that God allows His power (i:e. His omnipotence) to be limited, it becomes easier to accept that there are circumstances He allows His omniscience (i:e. His knowledge) to be limited. Thus the God who by nature cannot forget and for whom time is nothing, can therefore have the capacity to not remember our sins on account of the Lord’s death (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>). God clearly speaks of limiting His omniscience in <a href='B:290 65:16'>Isa 65:16</a>, saying that “the former troubles… are hid from my eyes”:&nbsp; God forgets our sins; and yet God knows everything that happens and is thought today, and also yesterday. And yet, He limits that total knowledge by forgetting our sins. In <a href='B:370 8:7'>Amo 8:7</a> God swore He would never forget Israel’s sin. Yet the same word is used in <a href='B:290 65:16'>Isa 65:16</a> of how God hid their sin from His eyes. God restrained His omniscience. He erased His own permanent memory as it were.</h4>


text:
<p>For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind- The former things which would not be remembered refer primarily to Israel’s sins. They would not be remembered in that they would be forgiven. For that is a common enough usage of the term ’not be remembered’. The new system ["heavens and earth", contrasting with the sinful heavens and earth of Judah in Isaiah 1] would be therefore without sin. That is the primary feature of this new creation. <a href='B:290 65:17-19'>Isa 65:17-19</a> describes the new creation of Zion as it was possible at the restoration, when the former heavens and earth would not come into mind. The former “heavens” of Solomon’s temple did come to mind, and the old men mourned because of how far superior the former had been (<a href='B:150 3:12'>Ezr 3:12</a>). The voice of weeping was heard in the streets of Zion, as Judah mourned for their sins of marrying the surrounding nations and breaking the Sabbath. And so these things are applied in spiritual terms to the latter day, eternal Kingdom of God on earth.</p>


text:
<p>But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy- The new creation in view is of psychological attitudes within people, "joy", because the former things of their sins are not remembered against them (see on :17). And this new creation has started now in the hearts of all who allow God’s creative Spirit to work in them (<a href='B:540 5:17'>2Co 5:17</a>).</p>


text:
<h4>I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people- This Divine rejoicing over God’s people is that of the God who rejoices in fulfilling His covenant with His obedient people (<a href='B:50 28:63'>Deu 28:63</a>; <a href='B:50 30:9'>Deu 30:9</a>). It will be a mutual joy, with Yahweh’s people rejoicing in Him (:18; s:w. <a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:290 65:18'>Isa 65:18</a>) and He in them (<a href='B:290 62:5'>Isa 62:5</a>; <a href='B:290 65:19'>Isa 65:19</a>) because they have entered the new marriage covenant with Him (<a href='B:300 32:41'>Jer 32:41</a>).</h4><h4>And there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying- See on :17. The "weeping" is that of the condemned in :14, or the weeping in repentance. They will weep but then be mercifully slain in the second death. And then the faithful will no longer hear this reminder of those who chose other gods</h4>


text:
<p>There shall be no more there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed- This appears to describe the reestablished kingdom possible for the restored exiles. The simple idea is that lifespans would be greatly increased, although mortality would remain (see on :22). This didn’t happen then, and so the essence of it will do so at the return of the Lord Jesus to ultimately restore the Kingdom. But the letter of it may not be fulfilled; for eternal life is what will then be given, and not simply increased mortal lifespans. We note that for a sinner to live a long time would be part of the severity of his judgment; to simply exist, rejected, whilst the Kingdom is established::. is going to be a fate worse than death. It confirms the point the Lord makes several times- that the punishment of the wicked is going to be in terms of their own psychological trauma, weeping and gnashing of teeth in anger at themselves. Rather than any physical torture by gleeful saints or an angry God. It is for us now to realize this and to be wise, living the Kingdom life now, without reserve.</p>


text:
<p>They shall build houses and inhabit them themselves; and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit- The idea is as in :22, that they would not build and then lose what they had worked for to others. But very few houses were built in Zion, because the people preferred to live on their farms, in their cieled houses, outside the city (<a href='B:160 7:4'>Neh 7:4</a>). They planted vineyards, but sold the fruit to others- on the Sabbath (<a href='B:160 13:15-16'>Neh 13:15-16</a>). The possible fulfilment in a reestablished Kingdom of God at the time of the restoration was thus again precluded. The essence, although maybe not the literal letter of all this, will come true in the eternal Kingdom to be established at the Lord’s return. Then, there will be ultimate satisfaction in existence; and the eternal enjoyment of the fruit of the lives we are now living. We are therefore moulding right now the nature of our eternity. It’s not that our works shall save us, but that we will live with the eternal fruits of what we do for the Lord’s cause and people in this very brief life. See on :22.</p>


text:
<p>They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of My people, and My chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands- LXX "they shall long enjoy the fruits of their labours". See on :21. This phrase is alluded to by Paul when he reflects that his labour for others spiritually will result in him seeing the fruit of his labour (Php_1:22). This will be the fruit of the righteous in the eternal Kingdom- seeing the eternal effect of their work for others. The initial fulfilment could have been in increased lifespans ["as the days of a tree", not eternal, but long] in the Kingdom of God in Israel which could have been reestablished at the restoration from Babylon (see on :20). But Israel’s impenitence precluded this. And so the essence of it will be fulfilled at the return of the Lord Jesus, although to a far greater extent- eternal life, rather than enjoying the fruit of good works for a long time ["long enjoy"], as the days of a tree, which all the same dies at some point.</p>


text:
<h4>They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of Yahweh, and their offspring with them- As explained on :22, the labour in view can be understood as our spiritual labour for others, which we will then perceive was not in vain. Again, Paul has this phrase in view about our work in Christ not being in vain (<a href='B:530 15:58'>1Co 15:58</a>).</h4><h4>If we choose the way of the flesh, it will be travail for nothing, bringing forth in vain (this is seen here as a characteristic of all worldly life). But the day of the Lord will result in the wicked being "in pain as of a woman that travaileth" (<a href='B:290 13:8'>Isa 13:8</a>; <a href='B:590 5:3'>1Th 5:3</a>). The Lord seems to have alluded to this when He spoke of how the faithful just before His coming would be like a woman in travail, with the subsequent joy on delivery matching the elation of acceptance at Christ’s return (<a href='B:500 16:21'>Joh 16:21</a>). So, it’s travail- or travail, especially in the last days. We either cut off the flesh now (in spiritual circumcision), or God will cut us off. This point was made when the rite of circumcision was first given: "The uncircumcised [un-cut off] man::. shall be cut off" (<a href='B:10 17:14'>Gen 17:14</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>It shall happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear- This speaks of the closer relationship with God possible under the new covenant. This could have been the exiles’ experience had they accepted that new covenant. But they refused that. And so the essence of it comes true for we who have accepted the new covenant (<a href='B:470 6:8'>Mat 6:8</a>). And this will be even moreso in the future, eternal experience of the Kingdom of God. Our focus should be more on the quality and nature of the Kingdom life, rather than the mere eternity of it.</p>


text:
<h4>The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox- Perhaps the curse of Eden was to be ameliorated in the restored Kingdom. But wild animals are frequently used in the prophets as symbols of Israel’s aggressive neighbours (see on <a href='B:290 5:5'>Isa 5:5</a>), with Israel and Judah presented as lamb and ox. But in the restored Kingdom, these tensions amongst the nations within the eretz would have been no more; this is the force of "feed together". This didn’t come about, but it shall eternally do so at the Lord’s return. The lions in <a href='B:290 5:29-30'>Isa 5:29-30</a> clearly represent the Babylonians and Assyrians; but here the prophetic hope was that the lion would be tamed and live in Zion, the holy mountain. The vision was of Judah’s enemies being judged and repenting, and coming to live in the restored Kingdom. f Israel’s enemies would become harmless, and through repentance as a result of their judgment, come to live in God’s restored Kingdom. This was precluded at Isaiah’s time by Hezekiah’s wrong attitude to the Babylonians, and Judah serving their gods rather than bringing them to Israel’s God. And so the prophecy will come to a much grander fulfilment in the future kingdom of the Lord Jesus on earth.</h4><p>And dust shall be the serpent’s food- The allusion is to <a href='B:10 3:14'>Gen 3:14</a>, as if to say that there will be an eternal reminder of the past existence of sin and its judgment. Snakes don’t eat dust, but their location in the dust may give that impression. The idea is that the serpent will as it were remain ’down’.</p><h4>They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says Yahweh- The situation in view was still confined to Yahweh’s "holy mountain", Zion. The initial intention of the prophecies was that the Kingdom would be reestablished in Judah and Zion when the exiles returned from Babylon. But <a href='B:340 2:44'>Dan 2:44</a> had spoken of the returned exiles as a stone becoming a mountain which would fill the eretz. That didn’t happen at the time, and so a far more glorious and global extension of the "mountain" of God’s Kingdom came into view, through the work of the Lord Jesus.</h4>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh, Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: what kind of house will you build to Me? And what place shall be My rest?- LXX "And of what kind is to be the place of my rest?". See on <a href='B:230 132:8'>Psa 132:8</a>. The answer was that God recognized that the idea of a reestablished Kingdom and temple wasn’t going to happen with the restored exiles, and instead He was going to focus upon dwelling in the hearts of humble individual hearts.</h4><p><a href='B:290 11:10'>Isa 11:10</a> had spoken of how the Messianic figure possible at Isaiah’s time could have restored the Kingdom, "And his resting place will be glorious". This could simply refer to a literal appearance of glory upon mount Zion, as hinted at in several prophecies. But this was precluded at the time by Judah refusing this "rest" (<a href='B:290 28:12'>Isa 28:12</a> s:w:). Or His resting place could be the hearts of those who "trust" in Him (<a href='B:290 11:10'>Isa 11:10</a>), a resting place chosen by Him because the temple on Zion had not been rebuilt as required and therefore God chose to dwell in the hearts of individuals instead.</p><h4>Much of the later chapters of Isaiah speaks of the faithful remnant in Babylon. The prayers and thoughts of that faithful minority often surface- e:g. “Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord? Wilt thou hold thy peace?” (<a href='B:290 64:12'>Isa 64:12</a>; <a href='B:290 62:1'>Isa 62:1</a>). Thus they fulfilled the prophecy that Zion’s watchmen would give God no rest (<a href='B:290 62:6-7'>Isa 62:6-7</a>). But overall, the poor response of Judah seems to have led God to abandon the plan for the gloriously rebuilt Messianic temple. <a href='B:290 66:1-2'>Isa 66:1-2</a> records Him reflecting that “Where is the house that ye build unto me?” [i:e. they had not built itas He required in Ezekiel 40-48], and instead deciding to focus on dwelling in the hearts of the contrite faithful minority who trembled at His word. Ezekiel was sent to preach to the early captives, with the message that they were responsible personally for their exile- even though they insisted they were innocent and were suffering unjustly for their fathers’ sins. Ezekiel 18 and other passages labour the point that they personally, sitting their in captivity, were serious sinners. God even warned Ezekiel ahead of time that those captives were "a rebellious nation" (<a href='B:330 2:3'>Eze 2:3</a>), just as wicked as their fathers. There was active opposition to Ezekiel’s witness to the exiles- they persecuted him as with "briars and thorns", behaving as scorpions to him (<a href='B:330 2:6'>Eze 2:6</a>). His face had to be hardened against their faces (<a href='B:330 3:8'>Eze 3:8</a>). This was in the very early days of the exile. Jewish tradition has it that Ezekiel was murdered at the command of senior Jews in Babylon. See The Lives And Deaths Of The Prophets in J:H. Charlesworth, ed:, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Cambridge: C:U:P:, 1985). The same book claims that Isaiah was sawn in two by Manasseh, and Jeremiah was stoned to death by the Jews:. By the time of Isaiah 66, we see that even well after the restoration had happened, there was still major persecution of the faithful remnant and their prophets. Thus Isaiah speaks of the reapplication of the promises about building a temple- that temple would now be in the individual lives of a faithful remnant. <a href='B:450 4:7'>Zec 4:7</a> had prophesied that if Zerubbabel lived up to his potential, then a flat tableland would be prepared as a "platform" [Heb:] on which the new temple could be built. But this didn’t happen- and so this language was reapplied to the work of John the Baptist in making the rough places of men’s hearts smooth, in order for them to accept Jesus, the true temple.</h4>


text:
<h4>For all these things has My hand made, and so all these things came to be, says Yahweh- The contrast is between what God has made, and the man who trembles at God’s word. It’s as if God is searching for something which He Himself has not created, in the sense that He created the physical world. Perhaps the implication is that when a human being responds to the word of God, then there begins a totally free creation by the believer in his or her own life. God in one sense is the author of the new creation of human hearts- and yet the parallelism in <a href='B:290 66:2'>Isa 66:2</a> seems to imply that the difference between us and the natural creation is that we are in some sense not created by God in that same way, but rather have we allowed God’s word to mould us as, and to respond to that word, in ways which we have control over… and thus we offer ourselves to God as a creation which we have made, and in which He thereby takes extra pleasure.</h4><p>But to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a broken spirit, and who trembles at My word- "Poor" is the word usually translated "afflicted". Isaiah’s prophecies continually emphasize that God is fully aware of their "affliction" at the hands of the Babylonians, and would have mercy upon them in it (<a href='B:290 49:13'>Isa 49:13</a>; <a href='B:290 51:21'>Isa 51:21</a>; <a href='B:290 54:11'>Isa 54:11</a> s:w:). Remember that these words were primarily addressed to the exiles. It was the poor who were to enthuse about the reestablishment of Zion (<a href='B:290 14:32'>Isa 14:32</a>; <a href='B:290 41:17'>Isa 41:17</a>; <a href='B:290 54:11'>Isa 54:11</a> s:w:). The book of Esther makes clear that there were many wealthy Jews in Babylon / Persia. It was the simple pull of materialism which kept many of them from responding to the Gospel of quitting all that for the sake of the restored Kingdom of God. And it is the same today where "to the poor the Gospel is preached" with most response.</p><h4><a href='B:290 66:1-5'>Isa 66:1-5</a> seems to anticipate that the actual rebuilding of the temple would be nullified by an incorrect attitude to the sacrifices, and more important would it be that individuals in Judah trembled at God’s word. The Jews did tremble at the word at the beginning of the rebuilding (<a href='B:150 10:9'>Ezr 10:9</a>). But it was a momentary thing; they came to see the building of the walls as more important than keeping a trembling spirit. Works eclipsed spirituality. Yet Isaiah had taught that the trembling at the word was more essentially important than building temples. But Judah paid no attention in the long term. So these verses speak of God’s change of purpose after the failure of the exiles to restore the Kingdom as intended. The idea could be that God is here asking His people to not bother trying to build the temple, and stating that He will now focus upon individual relationships with humble minded individuals, through His Messiah Son who trembled at His word.</h4>


text:
<h4>He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man- The man under the Old Covenant who made his offering of, e:g. an ox, at a place other than at "the door of the tabernacle of the congregation" was viewed as having shed blood and therefore was to be cut off from the congregation (<a href='B:30 17:3-4'>Lev 17:3-4</a>). The Law foresaw that there would be this tendency, to worship God away from the rest of the congregation. Those who did so were condemned in the strongest terms: their sacrifice of an animal was seen as the murder of their brother, whereas they would have seen it as an expression of their righteousness. "He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man" (Isa 663) refers back to this, making it parallel with idolatry and proudly refusing to let God’s word dwell in the heart:&nbsp;Later Isaiah is criticizing the exiles in Babylon for their refusal to ’return’, both to their God and to their land. Perhaps in view is their attempt to offer sacrifices in Babylon, away from the sanctuary:&nbsp;</h4><h4>He who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations- What is criticized in later Israel is the tendency to worship Yahweh through offerings to Yahweh (even though they had no temple or sanctioned sanctuary), whilst at the same time as offering sacrifice to other gods. <a href='B:290 66:3'>Isa 66:3</a> speaks of this dualism in worship. An ox was sacrificed to Yahweh whilst a man child was killed in worship of the idols; a lamb was slain as a dog was struck down to an idol; an offering was brought to Yahweh as pig flesh was eaten in an idol ritual; incense was offered to Yahweh, suggesting this happened within the temple precincts, whilst idols were kissed. And the new Israel made just this same blasphemy in the way some in the Corinth ecclesia ate of the Lord’s table and also at the table of idols ["demons"]. Paul wasn’t slow to bring out the similarities when he wrote to the Corinthians. It is this kind of dualism which is so wrong; to be both Christian and non-Christian at the same time, to mix the two. But differences of interpretation between equally dedicated worshippers of Yahweh, or believers in Christ, were never made the basis of condemnation. We note that the apostate exiles in Babylon still felt the need to sacrifice to Yahweh, even though they worshipped idols; such is the strength of the culture of traditional religion. And we have that same pull within our own psychological wiring.</h4>


text:
<h4>I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they didn’t listen; but they did that which was evil in My eyes- God deceived prophets to speak things in His Name which were actually false (<a href='B:110 22:20-22'>1Ki 22:20-22</a>; <a href='B:330 14:9'>Eze 14:9</a>). He chose Israel’s delusions by making their idols answer them (<a href='B:290 66:3-4'>Isa 66:3-4</a>). Jeremiah feared God had deceived him (<a href='B:300 20:7'>Jer 20:7</a>)- showing he knew such a thing was possible. <a href='B:50 13:1-3'>Deu 13:1-3</a> warns Israel not to believe prophets whose prophecies came true although they taught false doctrines, because they may have been raised up to test their obedience. God deceived Israel by telling them about the peace which would come on Jerusalem in the future Kingdom; they didn’t consider the other prophecies which were given at the same time concerning their imminent judgment, and therefore they thought that God was pleased with them and was about to establish the Messianic Kingdom; when actually the very opposite was about to happen (<a href='B:300 4:10'>Jer 4:10</a>). This is why the Bible is confusing to those who wish to believe their word rather than God’s. God had called them back to Zion, and they had refused to respond. They preferred to worship their idols in the name of Yahweh worship; and so God confirmed them in those delusions.</h4><h4>And chose that in which I didn’t delight- The context is their choice of sacrificing to idols; but in <a href='B:290 1:11'>Isa 1:11</a> the same term is used of God’s lack of delight in the sacrifices offered to Him. It seems that they worshipped the idols in the name of Yahweh worship. And this is an abiding temptation for all God’s children- to worship our idols in the name of worshipping God.</h4>


text:
<h4>Hear the word of Yahweh, you who tremble at His word- The double reference in <a href='B:290 66:1-5'>Isa 66:1-5</a> to trembling at Yahweh’s word is a definite prediction of the situation in <a href='B:150 9:4'>Ezr 9:4</a>; <a href='B:150 10:3'>Ezr 10:3</a>, where the same rare Hebrew word is used regarding how those of the exiles who repented for their marriage out of the Faith trembled before the word in repentance Then, at that point, the Kingdom blessings could have been brought about, as described in the rest of Isaiah 66. But again, there was no staying power in their repentance. By Nehemiah’s time, and by Malachi’s time even after his, marriage out of the Faith was still their weakness:&nbsp;</h4><h4>Your brothers who hate you, who cast you out for My name’s sake, have said, ‘Let Yahweh be glorified, that we may see your joy;’ but it is those who shall be disappointed- See on :24. The religious leadership used the old argument of exclusionists- that Yahweh’s Name will be glorified through separation from those considered substandard or spiritually different within the community of believers. The faithful remnant were therefore disfellowshipped by the corrupt religious leadership of the Jews in Babylon; see on <a href='B:290 65:5'>Isa 65:5</a>. And for this they would face the shame (s:w. "disappointed") of condemnation. Such behaviour provokes the intense anger of Yahweh.</h4>


text:
<p>A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Yahweh that renders recompense to His enemies- The enemies of the humble, excluded believers (:5) were Yahweh’s enemies. He was identified with those humble, excluded ones. The city and temple which they had refused to return to was to the source of this Divine voice of judgment against them in Babylon. The city and temple would be restored, and from there would come judgment against these awful hypocrites.</p>


text:
<p>Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she delivered a son- The idea is more or less as in GNB "My holy city is like a woman who suddenly gives birth to a child without ever going into labor". The implication is that the final travail or birth pangs of God’s faithful people will be cut short in the last days (<a href='B:470 24:22'>Mat 24:22</a>). This "son" who suddenly appears in Zion will utter the voice of Yahweh which judges the hypocrites amongst His people (:6). Ultimately this is speaking of the revelation of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus, after the travail of the faithful daughter of Zion is cut short by His grace.</p>


text:
<p>Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children- As explained on :7, a singular "son" was to be brought forth after the travail of the faithful daughter of Zion is cut short. But here we find that this son is in fact plural "children", an entire nation with their own land. The restored people of God in their restored land, the Kingdom of God on earth, would be suddenly brought forth out of the sufferings of the faithful minority in Zion. Whatever primary application this could have had to Hezekiah’s time and other sufferings of Zion, the ultimate application is to the appearance of the Lord Jesus and a new nation "in Him" after the sufferings of Zion, geographically and spiritually, shall be cut short by grace (<a href='B:470 24:22'>Mat 24:22</a>).</p>


text:
<p>Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says Yahweh: shall I who cause to bring forth shut the womb? says your God- This can be read as an implicit criticism of the words of Hezekiah at the time of the Assyrian invasion, who lamented that the children had come to be born but there was no strength to bring them forth (<a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>). God is saying that He will certainly bring forth the new nation of Zion out of their trauma at the hands of their invaders. He is not powerless, and therefore Hezekiah was wrong to imply this. Why the children were not brought forth at Hezekiah’s time was because of the lack of spirituality in the daughter of Zion, rather than because of God’s limited ability:&nbsp;</p>


text:
<p>Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her- LXX has in view the people of Jerusalem rejoicing along with the Gentiles in a Divine feast in the last day, the marriage supper of the lamb: "Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and all ye that love her hold in her a general assembly". This Divine rejoicing over God’s people is that of the God who rejoices in fulfilling His covenant with His obedient people (<a href='B:50 28:63'>Deu 28:63</a>; <a href='B:50 30:9'>Deu 30:9</a>); and the Gentiles who now love Zion will join in with it (:11). It will be a mutual joy, with Yahweh’s people rejoicing in Him (:18; s:w. <a href='B:290 61:10'>Isa 61:10</a>; <a href='B:290 65:18'>Isa 65:18</a>) and He in them (<a href='B:290 62:5'>Isa 62:5</a>; <a href='B:290 65:19'>Isa 65:19</a>) because they have entered the new marriage covenant with Him(<a href='B:300 32:41'>Jer 32:41</a>).</p>


text:
<p>That you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory- This continues the image of Zion’s sufferings bringing forth a new nation (:8,9). Just as a newborn baby is immediately nursed at the breast by the mother, so these Gentile converts would be. The implication is that the new nation of Yahweh brought forth is multiethnic.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and you will be nursed. You will be carried on her side, and will be dandled on her knees- LXX suggests that the nations would come to Zion carrying the children of the repentant Israelites: "their children shall be borne upon the shoulders, and comforted on the knees". This is in view in other restoration prophecies; the idea was that the fall of Babylon would elicit repentance and migration to Zion, not only of the Jews but of the peoples amongst whom they lived, after the pattern of Egyptians joining in with the exodus. See on :11. But the ambiguity of the text is intentional; the Gentiles would nurse the children of Israel, and Israel would nurse the Gentiles (:11). This reflects the unity of Jew and Gentile within this new nation, which is to come forth from the sufferings of Zion in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem- The "comfort" continues the picture of a newborn baby being nursed at the breast of the mother. God Himself likens Himself to a nursing mother, an unusual and radical figure in the male-dominated culture of the time. But this "comfort" was offered to the exiles in <a href='B:290 40:1'>Isa 40:1</a>; but they then refused it. Finally it will be accepted, and even now it can be experienced through acceptance of the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, given to all who accept the new covenant.</p>


text:
<h4>You will see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass- The dry bones of Ezekiel 37 will now flourish, because the wind of the Spirit of the new covenant is breathed into them, and they accept it. This could have happened at the restoration from Babylon, but is now reapplied to the final revival of God’s people.</h4><h4>And the hand of Yahweh shall be known toward His servants; He will have indignation against His enemies- To know Yahweh’s hand is to recognize His hand in the sense of His power and ability; and "His enemies" will know this also, through their experience of final condemnation (s:w. <a href='B:300 16:21'>Jer 16:21</a>; <a href='B:230 109:27'>Psa 109:27</a>). The physical restoration of Zion and the Kingdom would likewise make His hand known to His servants (s:w. <a href='B:290 41:20'>Isa 41:20</a>). If all are to "know" Yahweh finally, either through salvation by grace or through condemnation- we logically must know Him now, with all that having relationship with Him implies and demands [’knowing’ in the Hebraic sense].</h4>


text:
<p>For behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and His chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render His anger with fierceness, and His rebuke with flames of fire- This would perhaps initially have been fulfilled through the cherubim returning to Jerusalem, as envisioned by Ezekiel- fire, chariots, whirlwind is all cherubim language. That didn’t happen because God’s people didn’t "return" to Him, and so this full "return" didn’t then happen. But it will come the more gloriously true in the last days, when the Lord Jesus returns in flaming fire taking vengeance (<a href='B:600 1:8'>2Th 1:8</a>). See on :18.</p>


text:
<p>For by fire and by His sword will Yahweh plead judgement on all flesh; and the slain of Yahweh shall be many- The sword of Yahweh will come down in judgment upon the peoples of the eretz and perhaps on the resurrected former abusers of His people (see on <a href='B:290 26:21'>Isa 26:21</a>). It may take the form of literal fire, as He destroyed Sodom, and as also mentioned in 2 Peter 3. But His sword comes down as part of His ’pleading with all flesh’ (see on <a href='B:290 27:1'>Isa 27:1</a>). This can be read as an allusion to judgment; but there is still the idea of pleading. The threat of the sword descending is His appeal, His pleading for repentance.</p>


text:
<p>Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together, says Yahweh- I suggested on <a href='B:290 65:3'>Isa 65:3</a> that these gardens may have been within the temple precincts. And LXX adds "and eat swine’s flesh in the porches", the temple porches. But it may refer to some idolatrous sanctuary in exile, which the exiles used as a form of Yahweh worship. It was this same group who pronounced themselves ’purified’ and abused and disfellowshipped the faithful remnant (<a href='B:290 65:5'>Isa 65:5</a> LXX "I am pure"). Isaiah ends with particular condemnation of this group; it was their hypocrisy and disfellowship of their brethren which clearly elicited God’s maximum wrath.</p>


text:
<h4>For I know their works and their thoughts- Again we note the parallel between works and thoughts. The state of the heart, our thinking, is of such paramount importance to God.</h4><h4>The time comes, that I will gather all nations and languages; and they shall come, and shall see My glory- "All nations" usually refers to all nations within or around the eretz promised to Abraham. They will all be gathered to judgment, and perceive God’s glory- which will be manifest in Israel, the parade example of the glory of His saving grace towards sinners (<a href='B:490 2:32'>Luk 2:32</a>). I suggested on :15 that the initial fulfilment could have been in the visible return of the cherubim to Zion, and they are repeatedly associated with the glory of the God of Israel (<a href='B:330 9:3'>Eze 9:3</a>; <a href='B:330 10:19'>Eze 10:19</a>; <a href='B:330 11:22'>Eze 11:22</a>). This would then have fulfilled the prophecy of the glory of Israel’s God entering the rebuilt Zion in <a href='B:330 43:2'>Eze 43:2</a>. But the exiles didn’t rebuild nor operate the temple system of Ezekiel 40-48 and so this was precluded. The greater fulfilment will be in the Lord Jesus as the image of the glory of God, returned to Zion and enthroned there before literally all nations.</h4>


text:
<h4>I will set a sign among them- The "them" is repentant, accepted Israel. They will have a sign / token placed upon them, just as circumcision had been the "sign" of the old covenant (s:w. <a href='B:20 31:13'>Exo 31:13</a> etc:). "Among them" can as well be "upon them". The token of the new covenant is the Spirit, and so this may be here in view:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4><p>The idea of taking the Gospel world-wide in the great commission was alluding to <a href='B:290 66:17-20'>Isa 66:17-20</a>. Here those who are spared the ‘Gehenna’ of the last day judgment will have a sign placed on them, as upon Cain, and they will then be sent “unto the nations… and they shall declare my glory among the gentiles”. The rejection process glorifies God’s righteous Name, and this world-wide exhibition of the rejected will actually bring men “out of all nations” to God, just as Israel’s condemnation was an “instruction” unto the surrounding nations. The connection shows that in our obedience to the great commission, we go forth as condemned men who in our case, like the disciples, have known the wonder of grace. Mark’s record stresses three times in the lead up to the great commission that the disciples “believed not”; and then, he records how they were told to go and preach condemnation on those who believed not (<a href='B:480 16:11'>Mar 16:11</a>; <a href='B:480 16:13-14'>Mar 16:13-14</a>; <a href='B:480 16:16'>Mar 16:16</a>). They were humbled men who did that.</p><p>And I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and they shall declare My glory among the nations- These peoples could earlier have come to repentance and to Zion, but they refused. Prophecies like <a href='B:290 18:7'>Isa 18:7</a> were to have a deferred fulfilment in the last days, when repentant Jews are sent to call in to Zion these "tall" peoples; those who draw or make tall the bow (s:w. "tall" peoples, <a href='B:290 18:7'>Isa 18:7</a>). The witness was to be by those Jews and Gentiles who ’escaped’ from Babylon, by grace (s:w. Jer 5028; <a href='B:300 51:50'>Jer 51:50</a>) and repented (<a href='B:330 6:9'>Eze 6:9</a>). Their united experience of grace would be such a powerful witness.</p><h4>Paul’s desire to go to Spain (<a href='B:520 15:24'>Rom 15:24</a>) indicates a commitment to taking the Gospel to the very ends of the world he then knew. He may well have been motivated in this by wishing to fulfill in spirit the Kingdom prophecy of <a href='B:290 66:18-19'>Isa 66:18-19</a>, which describes how Tarshish (which he would have understood as Spain) and other places which “have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory” will be witnessed to by those who have seen His glory and have “escaped” from God’s just condemnation by grace. Paul sees this as referring to himself. For he speaks in <a href='B:520 15:19'>Rom 15:19</a> of his ambition to take the Gospel to Spain; and in that same context, of how he will bring the Gentile brethren’s offering up to Jerusalem. This is precisely the context of Isaiah 66 - the offerings of the Gentiles are to be brought up to Jerusalem, as a result of how the Lord’s glory will be spoken of to all nations. So Paul read Isaiah 66 and did something about his Old Testament Bible study; he dedicated his life to taking the Gospel to the Gentiles, and he encouraged them to send their offerings to Jerusalem. He was no mere theologian, no academic missiologist. His study and exposition of Old Testament Scripture led to a life lived out in practice, to hardship, risk of life, persecution, loneliness, even rejection by his brethren. It is also significant in passing to note that <a href='B:290 66:19'>Isa 66:19</a> speaks of nations which occur in the list of nations we have in Genesis 10, in the context of the effect of Babel. It is as if Paul sees the spreading of the Gospel as an undoing of the curse of Babel and the establishment of the Kingdom conditions described in Isaiah 66. By his preaching of God’s Kingdom and the reign of Christ, he brought about a foretaste of the future Kingdom in the lives of his converts. And we can do likewise.</h4>


text:
<h4>They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh- I explained on :19 that the "them" are the repentant minority of Jewish exiles. It seems they are sent to bring their impenitent brethren back to Yahweh and to Zion. This is the key to successful preaching; repentant, forgiven sinners sharing the experience of grace.</h4><h4>As the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the house of Yahweh- The offering they brought would have been of their converts; and Paul uses this idea in speaking of his converts as a sacrifice. <a href='B:330 40:42'>Eze 40:42</a> speaks of the vessels to be used in the temple [AV “instruments”] with the same word used for the temple vessels which were brought up out of Babylon back to Judah, in fulfilment of several of Isaiah’s ‘Kingdom’ passages (<a href='B:150 1:6-11'>Ezr 1:6-11</a>; <a href='B:150 8:25-33'>Ezr 8:25-33</a> cp. <a href='B:290 52:11'>Isa 52:11</a>; <a href='B:290 66:20'>Isa 66:20</a>). The restoration of the kingdom could potentially have happened at the time of Ezra.</h4>


text:
<h4>Of them also will I take for priests and for Levites, says Yahweh- The "them" appears to refers to the Gentile converts. A new priesthood is in view. This would have been part of the new covenant offered to both Jews and Gentiles at the restoration, had they responded. This again was the intention for the restored exiles; for the work of the Lord Jesus put an end to the priesthood.</h4><p>In the restoration from Babylon context, <a href='B:290 66:21'>Isa 66:21</a> had prophesied that Yahweh would regather Judah, “And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD”. This implies, surely, that He would accept some as Levites who could not otherwise prove they were. <a href='B:450 6:11'>Zec 6:11</a>; <a href='B:450 6:13'>Zec 6:13</a> speaks of Joshua being crowned with the High Priestly mitre and ‘bearing the glory’, i:e. carrying the urim and thummim in the breastplate. But all this was conditional on Joshua’s obedience: “This shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey” (<a href='B:450 6:15'>Zec 6:15</a>). Because Joshua failed, he didn’t have urim and thummim, therefore no decision could be given about who was an acceptable priest, and therefore the‘Kingdom’ prophecy of <a href='B:330 42:13'>Eze 42:13</a> was left unfulfilled. So much depended upon that man. And likewise, the eternal destiny of many others depends on us. Isaiah’s prophecies of the restoration feature “the servant”- who was a symbol of both the people and a Messianic individual. His success was bound up with theirs. Thus <a href='B:290 65:9'>Isa 65:9</a>: “And I will bring forth a seed [singular] out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor [singular] of my mountains: and mine elect [plural] shall inherit it, and my servants [plural] shall dwell there”. His obedience would enable the peoples’ establishment as the Kingdom.</p><h4>The restoration prophecy of <a href='B:330 42:13'>Eze 42:13</a> commanded: “Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things”. The same words are found in <a href='B:150 2:63'>Ezr 2:63</a> and <a href='B:160 7:65'>Neh 7:65</a> - it wasn’t possible for the priests to eat of the holy things [signifying God’s acceptance of His people], because there was no record of their genealogy. Their names were not written in the “register” in fulfilment of <a href='B:330 13:9'>Eze 13:9</a>: “neither shall they be written in the writing [s:w. ‘register’, <a href='B:150 2:62'>Ezr 2:62</a>] of the house of Israel”. Only if a priest stood up with urim and thummim could they eat of the holy things. These were two engraven stones carried in a pouch in the breastplate which flashed out Divine decisions (see H:A. Whittaker, Samuel, Saul And David for an excellent study of this). <a href='B:450 3:9'>Zec 3:9</a> prophesies that Joshua the High Priest would have the engraven stone with seven eyes- the urim and thummim. It would thereby have been possible for a priesthood who had lost their genealogy record during the sacking of the first temple to eat the holy things, and thus fulfill <a href='B:330 42:13'>Eze 42:13</a>.</h4>


text:
<h4>For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, says Yahweh- <a href='B:330 44:15'>Eze 44:15</a> uses the same word: “But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me [s:w. “remain before me”] to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD”. But Ezra had to confess, using these very words of Isaiah and Ezekiel which he would have been familiar with: “O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this” (<a href='B:150 9:15'>Ezr 9:15</a>). They hadn’t lived the Kingdom life, and therefore the Kingdom prophecies could not come true in them. It makes a profitable exercise to consider all the times that Ezra and Nehemiah allude to the words of Isaiah and Ezekiel. It must have been heartbreaking for them to see the possibility of fulfilment within their grasp, and yet to know that their people didn’t see the wonder of it all.</h4><h4>So your seed and your name shall remain- This is more than a bald statement that they would be immortalized. Their seed and name would remain, just as Yahweh’s seed and Name would- for they would be identified with Him. But we shall each be given a name which is eternal, a unique reflection of our personality and character. Our struggles towards the person of Christ uniquely refracted through us will be eternally memorialized. Who we are now is who we shall eternally be. This points up the crucial importance of spiritual mindedness.</h4>


text:
<p>It shall happen, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says Yahweh- "All flesh" would not fit in the literal temple; the immediate reference is to a restored temple in the land of Judah, used by the remnants of "all flesh" in the land promised to Abraham who came to live in Judah as they came into covenant with Israel’s God. The Sabbath law has been ended in Christ. This is therefore another example of how these prophecies of the restoration were envisaged as coming true at the time the exiles returned from Babylon. But they broke the Sabbath themselves, as Nehemiah records; and they didn’t teach the GentilesGod’s ways. The essence but not the letter of all this will therefore be fulfilled in the last days, when all flesh will come before Yahweh.</p>


text:
<h4>They shall go forth, and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched- The context here is of the destruction of the apostate, hypocritical Jews who had condemned and disfellowshipped their faithful brethren (see on :5). They are the "sinners in Zion" of <a href='B:290 33:14'>Isa 33:14</a>, here described as "the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched". This is quoted in <a href='B:480 9:44'>Mar 9:44</a> concerning Gehenna, the place of punishment for the unworthy saints. If the judgement is to be at Jerusalem, it would fit into place if the unworthy are punished literally in the physical location of Gehenna. This would make more sense of the Lord Jesus Christ’s repeated allusions to it when talking of the judgement. The repeated reference to fire being used to punish the unworthy (remember the Angels can be made a flaming fire) implies their punishment will be within a defined period of time- probably very short, seeing God has no pleasure in punishing sin- and if fire is to be used, it would be logical if it was in a confined location. A punishment in literal Gehenna fits in.</h4><p>The servant was called to sustain the “dispirited” by the prophetic word (<a href='B:290 50:4'>Isa 50:4</a>). And yet passages like <a href='B:290 50:4-11'>Isa 50:4-11</a> and even Isaiah 53 speak of how the servant met even physical abuse as well as rejection in his ministry to his fellow Jews. Indeed the servant feels that his mission to them has been a failure (<a href='B:290 49:1-6'>Isa 49:1-6</a>), a complaint met by God’s promise that his mission would be in some way reapplied to the Gentiles in their captivity to sin. The way the servant is beaten and has his hair pulled out (<a href='B:290 50:4-11'>Isa 50:4-11</a>) reminds us of how the prophet Jeremiah was treated the same way by the Jews when his message was rejected (<a href='B:300 20:2'>Jer 20:2</a>; <a href='B:300 37:15'>Jer 37:15</a>). The servant was spat at by his fellow Jews- an expression of utter contempt (<a href='B:220 30:10'>Job 30:10</a>). Whilst the servant prophecies find their later fulfilment in the Lord Jesus, it seems to me that in their first context, they speak of how a prophet or prophets at the time of the exile were rejected and even beaten up by their fellow Jews. Indeed, Isaiah ends on a negative note, describing the judgments to come upon the Jews who had rejected the message of deliverance from Babylon (<a href='B:290 66:24'>Isa 66:24</a>). <a href='B:290 65:8-16'>Isa 65:8-16</a>; <a href='B:290 66:5'>Isa 66:5</a> etc. speak of a minority of Jews who trembled at the word of prophecy and were Yahweh’s servants, who had been disfellowshipped by the leaders of the Jewish community in Babylon. The majority of the captives insisted, according to Ezekiel 18, that they hadn’t sinned, and they were suffering unjustly because of the sins of their fathers; whereas this righteous remnant in Babylon admitted that “we have sinned. Equally with them of old time have we transgressed” (<a href='B:290 64:5'>Isa 64:5</a>). They took the message of Ezekiel to heart- unlike the majority. And thus this was the sad end of the great plan developed by the God of all grace for His people in Babylon. They rejected it, and hated His servants who brought that good news to them.</p><h4>And they will be loathsome to all mankind- AV "shall be an abhorring to all flesh"- the Hebrew text of <a href='B:340 12:2'>Dan 12:2</a> concerning the punishment of the responsible at judgement suggests some allusion to this: "Some to shame and everlasting contempt".</h4>


text:
<p>The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin- Anathoth was a village near Jerusalem. It was a priestly city (<a href='B:60 21:18'>Jos 21:18</a>) on the great north road through which invaders would have approached Jerusalem (<a href='B:290 10:30'>Isa 10:30</a>). "The words of Jeremiah" contrasts with him using the first person in :4, so this introduction may have been added under Divine inspiration by an editor of the prophecy, perhaps Ezra.</p>


text:
<p>To whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign- Mentioned in <a href='B:300 25:3'>Jer 25:3</a> as the start of his 23 year ministry.</p>


text:
<p>It came also in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month- The implication is that God ceased to speak through Jeremiah once Judah were taken captive. His silence was part of their punishment; although we note that Ezekiel continued prophesying to the exiles after this point.</p>


text:
<p>Now the word of Yahweh came to me saying- Perhaps in a vision, which is how "the word of Yahweh came::." in <a href='B:10 15:1'>Gen 15:1</a> (s:w:).</p>


text:
<h4>Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you- This is often misread as meaning that God had a relationship with Jeremiah whilst he was a foetus. But the text says He knew him before that. Paul interprets t in <a href='B:550 1:14-15'>Gal 1:14-15</a> as meaning known before creation. "Formed" translates the same word Jeremiah will later use of how God as the potter or former has formed Israel in order to do His work (<a href='B:300 18:2-6'>Jer 18:2-6</a>; <a href='B:300 18:11'>Jer 18:11</a>; <a href='B:300 19:1'>Jer 19:1</a>; <a href='B:300 19:11'>Jer 19:11</a>; <a href='B:300 33:2'>Jer 33:2</a>). So the ’forming’ is not simply a reference to literal creation, but of being formed in order to fulfil a specific purpose. This involves the formation of our unique personality even before birth; the spirit of man is "formed" within us (<a href='B:450 12:1'>Zec 12:1</a> s:w:). Our genetic history and formation was likewise in order to be and do specific things intended in God’s plan (<a href='B:560 2:10'>Eph 2:10</a>). Man is never better than when living up to these expectations.</h4><p>Before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations- "Sanctification" is not therefore merely forgiveness, but a calling to action. The idea of forgiveness and moral cleansing is indeed in view, but that is not to be received in a vacuum. We are sanctified so that we might be separated unto active service in response to it, with an appropriate humility. Paul clearly alludes to Jeremiah’s experience (<a href='B:550 1:15-16'>Gal 1:15-16</a>), and the NT applies these ideas to us all. Paul interprets being a prophet to the nations as preaching to them. This is how we who are not inspired as the prophets were can still continue their ministry.</p><h4>At times, the prophets are paralleled with Israel- Jeremiah was a&nbsp;“prophet to the nations”, and yet this was Israel’s role (<a href='B:290 49:2'>Isa 49:2</a>). Both the prophets and Israel are described as “the servant of the Lord”. But God and Israel were in the process of divorce, as they knew. The prophets were both on God’s side, and Israel’s. They were torn men. Just as God Himself was. He appeared “like a man confused” (<a href='B:300 14:9'>Jer 14:9</a>). Jeremiah’s ministry was partly "to the [Gentile] nations" in that his prophecies against Babylon and Egypt etc. were intended to elicit their repentance. or we can understand that he was a prophet about the Gentile nations in that Jeremiah repeatedly predicted those nations would attack Israel.</h4>


text:
<p>Then I said, Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child- It is typical of God to work through those who feel the least qualified. And yet Jeremiah’s objection to his calling was wrong, given that God had prepared him genetically from the beginning to be ideally suited for the calling he was now given (:5). AV is just as legitimate: "I cannot speak". This smacks of a refusal to accept the commission for which he had been prepared from the beginning of creation. The Hebrew for "child" is generally used of pre-adolescents, and it may be that indeed Jeremiah was very young. This indicates that God is active with children and they can legitimately respond to Him.</p>


text:
<p>But Yahweh said to me, Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak- He was not to keep telling himself that "I am a child::.". This exhortation to watch our self-talk and negative self-perception is absolutely needed today. This could be read as meaning that God would force Jeremiah’s obedience regardless of his youth; or it could simply be a more detailed reiteration of the command just given, urging his freewill obedience to it.</p>


text:
<p>Don’t be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you, says Yahweh- AV "Don’t be afraid of their faces" suggests this young man being cowed by the faces of those older than him to whom he had to witness. We know exactly this feeling, of inadequacy and awkwardness in making a witness. And we are encouraged hereby to go forward. The phrase is an exact quotation from the encouragements to go and possess the land at the time of the conquest (<a href='B:50 31:6'>Deu 31:6</a>; <a href='B:60 11:6'>Jos 11:6</a>). The unfaithful Israelites are thereby made parallel to the Canaanites; and Jeremiah like Joshua is to lead the people into possession of the kingdom of God in Israel. This was indeed the possible, potential outcome of Jeremiah’s message; if Judah had repented and accepted it, then they could have been established as God’s Kingdom and would triumph over all seemingly more powerful opposition. But that potential went tragically unrealized at the time. It was with these very same words that Jeremiah was to encourage the Jews to resist and not fear the Babylonians(<a href='B:300 42:11'>Jer 42:11</a>). As he had overcome all the faces of his opponents through obedience to God’s word, so all Judah could have followed Jeremiah’s personal example. This is indeed how the preacher must be; the word is to become flesh in us. As Jeremiah was not afraid before the faces of opponents, so Judah were to be like him before the Babylonians.</p>


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<h4>Then Yahweh put forth His hand- The same phrase as in <a href='B:10 19:10'>Gen 19:10</a>, where Yahweh through the Angels put forth His hand to preserve Lot from the men of Sodom, who are presented in the prophets as representing the men of Jerusalem and Judah in their persecution of prophets like Jeremiah.</h4><h4>And touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to me, Behold, I have put My words in your mouth- The same phrase is used in the commissioning of Isaiah in <a href='B:290 6:7'>Isa 6:7</a>. The touching of the prophet’s mouth was there symbolic of God forgiving Isaiah; and here the same idea may be in view, seeing that Jeremiah has just argued back with God in (like Moses) refusing the commission given to him, when God has explained that he had been born and prepared for this work. Jeremiah’s reluctance to preach and struggle with God is going to be a theme of his ministry, coming to full term in Lamentations, where at the end of his life he openly struggles with God over the fulfilment of the very word which Jeremiah has been inspired to preach.</h4>


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<h4>Behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant- Jeremiah had complained that he was but a child, totally inadequate; and yet through the power of the word he was preaching, he had power over the nations. His prophetic word could destroy nations like Babylon and disobedient Judah, and also result in the building and planting of a new Israel if they were obedient. These words are applied to all who "overcome"; they shall likewise be given "power over the nations" (<a href='B:730 2:26'>Rev 2:26</a>). The ’plucking up’ is the word used of how Judah would be plucked up out of their land for their disobedience to the prophetic word (<a href='B:50 29:28'>Deu 29:28</a>; <a href='B:140 7:20'>2Ch 7:20</a>). And as the Gentiles plucked up / out Israel from their land, so those nations would be plucked up (<a href='B:300 12:14-15'>Jer 12:14-15</a>; <a href='B:300 12:17'>Jer 12:17</a>). Likewise the building and planting specifically refers to the restoration of Israel after their plucking up (<a href='B:300 24:6'>Jer 24:6</a>; <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 31:40'>Jer 31:40</a>; <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>). It was God through His word who would do these things (<a href='B:300 18:7'>Jer 18:7</a>); but that possibility worked through the preacher and proclaimer of that word. Therefore here Jeremiah is presented as the one who would do these things. This is the enormous power delegated to all to this day who preach His word; we really can save people, plant them in the Kingdom by sowing the seed of the Kingdom; and those who refuse will be plucked up.</h4><h4>"Break down" is the word specifically used about the throwing down of the temple and great houses of Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 33:4'>Jer 33:4</a>; <a href='B:300 39:8'>Jer 39:8</a>). Likewise "overthrow" is used in this sense, specifically about Judah and Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 31:40'>Jer 31:40</a>). The building and planting are the words used of how God potentially would have restored and rebuilt the kingdom of God in Israel had Judah repented (s:w. <a href='B:300 24:6'>Jer 24:6</a>; <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>). The plural "nations and kingdoms" in view are therefore epitomized in the fate of Judah; although perhaps intensive plurals are being used here, in the sense of ’the one great nation’ and ’one great kingdom’ of Judah. Or it could be that the plural refers to Israel and Judah; for at times the ten tribe kingdom are also in view in Jeremiah.</h4>


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<p>Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? I said, I see a branch of an almond tree- The almond is the first tree in Palestine to bud, so it means literally the watching tree, as if it were alive and eager to come to life. The idea was that God’s prophetic word of judgment against His people, as well as the potentials for restoration, were very soon to come true, and there was an eagerness and energy latent within the word of prophecy to achieve its own ends.</p>


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<h4>Then Yahweh said to me, You have seen well; for I watch over My word to perform it- He would watch over His word to achieve the breaking down and buildingup just spoken of in :10; as is stated specifically in <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>.</h4><h4>The word translated ’hasten’ or "watch over" is very similar to the word for ’almond’. Almonds are associated with God’s eyes; the bowls of the lampstands were almonds (<a href='B:20 25:33-34'>Exo 25:33-34</a>). <a href='B:450 4:2'>Zec 4:2</a> talks about these almond bowls on the candlestick, and <a href='B:450 4:10'>Zec 4:10</a> interprets them as the "eyes of the LORD which run to and fro through the whole earth". <a href='B:140 16:9'>2Ch 16:9</a> talks about the Angels in the same way; "the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him". Similarly in <a href='B:730 4:5'>Rev 4:5</a> the lamps in the bowls of almond are equated with the "seven spirits (or Angels) of God". <a href='B:730 5:6'>Rev 5:6</a> equates the seven eyes with the seven spirits. Thus the almond rod which Jeremiah saw represented God’s eyes or Angels who would watch over the word of God which Jeremiah was to speak to perform it. See on <a href='B:340 9:14'>Dan 9:14</a>.</h4>


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<p>The word of Yahweh came to me the second time saying, What do you see? I said, I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north- It was about to be poured out southwards, upon Judah. <a href='B:330 11:3'>Eze 11:3</a>; <a href='B:330 24:3'>Eze 24:3</a> use the boiling cauldron as a symbol of Jerusalem. Perhaps in <a href='B:330 11:3'>Eze 11:3</a> the false prophets had purposefully wrested Jeremiah’s prophecy here to say that the cauldron represented Jerusalem rather than Babylon, and it would give them protection from Babylon. This is typical of how Divine words are wrested out of context in accordance with the desired narrative of the false teacher.</p>


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<p>Then Yahweh said to me, Out of the north evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land- The pouring out of the cauldron was the breaking out of evil from Babylon.</p>


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<p>For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Yahweh; and they shall come, and they shall each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah- God’s judgment was to be uttered as it were from the judgment thrones of the invaders which would be set up at the gates of Jerusalem, the place of power and judgment.</p>


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<h4>I will utter My judgements against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods- This is evidence that ’the judgment seat’ isn’t the weighing up of evidence which we may tend to think of it as. Pilate sat on the judgment seat not to weigh up evidence but to pronounce the verdict (<a href='B:500 19:13'>Joh 19:13</a>). Herod sat on the judgment seat in order to make "an oration" to the people, supposedly on God’s behalf (<a href='B:510 12:21'>Act 12:21</a> RVmg:). It wasn’t to weigh up any evidence- it was to make a statement. And thus it will be in the final judgment. Also, "judge" is often used in the sense of ’to condemn’- not to just consider evidence (e:g. <a href='B:470 7:2'>Mat 7:2</a>; <a href='B:520 3:7'>Rom 3:7</a>; <a href='B:600 2:17'>2Th 2:17</a>). The trial of our faith is going on now; the judgment will simply formally reveal the verdict which is now being arrived at. The Father judges now "according to every man’s work" (<a href='B:670 1:17'>1Pe 1:17</a>), as He did in OT times: "Thou renderest to every man according to his work" (<a href='B:230 62:12'>Psa 62:12</a>).</h4><h4>And worshipped the works of their own hands- The equivalent of idolatry today is reliance upon our own works. These then become our idols.</h4>


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<h4>You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and speak to them all that I command you-Jeremiah’s temptation, as ours, may have been to only speak forth part of God’s message.</h4><p>Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them- <a href='B:660 5:10'>Jas 5:10</a> puts it bluntly- the prophets are to be taken by us as our examples. Jeremiah was warned: "Be not dismayed of them, lest I dismay you" (<a href='B:300 1:17'>Jer 1:17</a> RV). This is alluded to by the Lord when He tells us that if we are ashamed of Him and His words, then He will be ashamed of us (<a href='B:490 9:26'>Luk 9:26</a>). The connection surely indicates that the Old Testament prophets and the spirit of their commissioning is intended to apply to us today in our fulfilling of the great commission. Thus the prophets become our pattern for witness; they are our “brethren the prophets” (<a href='B:730 22:9'>Rev 22:9</a>). And so an understanding of them becomes programmatic for our witness today. Our audience, the world in which we live, is in essence that in which the prophets lived.</p><h4>Jeremiah remembered this command not to be dismayed and quotes it back to himself in <a href='B:300 17:18'>Jer 17:18</a>. This is how we should act- quoting scripture to ourselves as encouragement. We note that later it is the righteous remnant who are commanded not to be dismayed (<a href='B:300 30:10'>Jer 30:10</a> s:w:); Jeremiah was to be their example and representative.</h4>


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<h4>For, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land- This was true potentially, but Jeremiah still had to make the necessary freewill decisions. Jeremiah later speaks of how he came to see Israel for who they were: “The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then thou didst show me their evil deeds” (<a href='B:300 11:8'>Jer 11:8</a>). Ezekiel was shown “what the house of Israel is doing in the dark” (<a href='B:330 8:12'>Eze 8:12</a>). To pass through human life with this level of sensitivity must’ve been so hard. Psychologically and nervously, the stress would’ve been awful. It seems to me that the prophets had to be somehow psychologically strengthened by God to endure living that sensitively in this crass and unfeeling world- hence God made Ezekiel and Jeremiah as a wall and “iron pillar” to Israel, hardened their faces, so that they wouldn’t be “dismayed at [the] looks” of those who watched them with anger and consternation (<a href='B:300 1:18'>Jer 1:18</a>; <a href='B:300 15:20'>Jer 15:20</a>; <a href='B:330 2:4-6'>Eze 2:4-6</a>; <a href='B:330 3:8-9'>Eze 3:8-9</a>; <a href='B:330 3:27'>Eze 3:27</a>). This psychological strengthening was not aimed at making them insensitive, but rather in strengthening them to live sensitively to sin in a sinful world without cracking up. And He will do the same for us, too.</h4><h4>Right in the context of God predicting the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah is presented as a strong, fortified city, made strong by God against any opposition. The implication was that the faithful should identify with Jeremiah if they wished to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah uses the same term for "fortified city" in urging the faithful to run into one in the face of the Babylonian advance (<a href='B:300 4:5'>Jer 4:5</a>). But that fortified city was himself and the community of the faithful.</h4>


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<p>They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you, says Yahweh, to deliver you- Jeremiah needed reminded of this promise in <a href='B:300 15:20'>Jer 15:20</a> where it is repeated word for word. The aggression of the people against Jeremiah was extreme. As he faced death in the cistern, he must have struggled to believe them. "I am with you" is the language of God encouraging Moses and Joshua, that inheritance of the kingdom land was possible, and :17 is likewise an allusion to this. The hint may be that Jeremiah’s ministry could have resulted in the restoration of the Kingdom, and the faithful remnant inheriting it in his time.</p>


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<p>The word of Yahweh came to me saying- This was aimed specifically at "Jerusalem" (:2), which could refer to the leadership and priesthood.</p>


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<h4>Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, I remember the kindness of your youth, the love at the time of your marriage; how you went after Me in the wilderness- The exodus and wilderness journey&nbsp; is described as God, a young man, being madly in love with the young woman of Israel. It was He who took the initiative in going after them; but He imputes this to them, just as the lover eagerly imagines that the object of love has the same passion for him as he does toward her. And they hardly showed chesed, covenant love ["kindness"], toward God. How could a God who loves purity, who cannot look upon iniquity, fall in love so passionately with such a reprobate crew? It cannot be that God turned a blind eye to their sin:&nbsp; And how can Israel be described as going after God in the wilderness, showing Him all their love when in their hearts, from Egypt right through the wilderness journey, "they despised my judgments::. (and thus) rebelled against me" (<a href='B:330 20:8'>Eze 20:8</a>; <a href='B:330 20:13'>Eze 20:13</a>; <a href='B:330 20:16'>Eze 20:16</a>; <a href='B:330 20:21'>Eze 20:21</a>)?&nbsp; This was the overpowering love which imputes love and righteousness to the beloved. So this was a reminder of how Israel were in covenant with God on the basis of having had His love imputed to them.</h4><h4>In a land that was not sown- These are the words used of how in the Sabbath and jubilee years, the land was not to be sown, and yet God would provide for His people (<a href='B:30 25:4'>Lev 25:4</a>; <a href='B:30 25:11'>Lev 25:11</a>). Perhaps Jeremiah was prophesying in one such year. But the allusion is surely to how the land of Israel was to become barren, a land now sown, in punishment for their sins (<a href='B:50 29:23'>Deu 29:23</a> s:w:). Even in this case, the promise is that God would lead the faithful remnant of the people through it, as He had led Israel through a similar environment.</h4>


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<h4>Israel was holiness to Yahweh- The very term inscribed upon the high priestly mitre (<a href='B:20 28:36'>Exo 28:36</a>). The high priest was not intended to ’do it all’ for Israel, as priests in secular religions are intended to. He was to be representative in essence of all God’s people. But "holy to Yahweh" can simply mean dedicated to Him:, and the context is of their marriage to Yahweh as an exclusive covenant (:2). This verse goes on to say that they were His "firstfruits", His firstborn Son, dedicated to Himself. That they dedicated their firstborn to Moloch was the more awful because of this.</h4><p>The first fruits of His increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come on them’, says Yahweh- Israel were Yahweh’s firstborn (<a href='B:300 31:9'>Jer 31:9</a>), and therefore He slew the firstborn of an Egypt which had destroyed them. And this would continue in the judgment of Babylon. The figure of firstborn raises the fascinating question as to whether God had had ’sons’ before in His history. The metaphor implies He had not, at least not in this intimate sense. Israel’s failure was the more tragic, therefore; although they were replaced as firstborn by His only begotten Son, His firstborn. And all those in Him likewise become the firstborn, with promise therefore of many children yet to come in future creations.</p><h4>"Devour" is literally ’to eat’, and is used of how Babylon "consumed" Jerusalem with fire (<a href='B:160 2:3'>Neh 2:3</a>; <a href='B:160 2:13'>Neh 2:13</a> etc:). The people and their land were to be "consumed" by the fire which was contained in the words Jeremiah spoke (<a href='B:300 5:14'>Jer 5:14</a>; <a href='B:300 5:17'>Jer 5:17</a>). But all who devoured / consumed them would be "held guilty" (<a href='B:300 2:3'>Jer 2:3</a>; <a href='B:300 10:25'>Jer 10:25</a>; <a href='B:300 30:16'>Jer 30:16</a>). And yet in depression, Jeremiah lamented that the fire had consumed (<a href='B:310 2:3'>Lam 2:3</a>; <a href='B:310 4:11'>Lam 4:11</a>), when it was His owns words which had been that devouring fire. His lament was therefore tantamount to a statement of regret that he had been used as the vehicle for this devouring fire. The devourers of Israel considered themselves "not guilty" because Judah had sinned against their God (<a href='B:300 50:7'>Jer 50:7</a>). But the clear statement in <a href='B:300 2:3'>Jer 2:3</a> is that "All who devour him shall be held guilty". Punishing a sinner doesn’t mean that those who do the punishing are thereby justified; we can be used by God, but that is no guarantee of righteousness or acceptability. This needs to be remembered by those who consider they can punish sinners within the church; they may well be held equally guilty for the lack of love they showed.</h4>


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<p>Hear the word of Yahweh O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel!- God’s intention was to restore the ten tribes and revive the apostate kingdom of Judah into His kingdom on earth. So this may well be addressed to the ten tribes, and presumably someone took Jeremiah’s message to them.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?- This appears addressed to the "fathers" who were still alive; for they "are" become vain, and the sense is that these fathers had and continued to find fault in Yahweh. Perhaps Jeremiah as a very young person was being asked to appeal here specifically to the younger generation; for youth need youth to appeal to them. "Gone far from me" is a word used of Israel’s exile at the hands of their invaders (<a href='B:290 6:12'>Isa 6:12</a>; <a href='B:290 26:15'>Isa 26:15</a>; <a href='B:300 27:10'>Jer 27:10</a>). But this, like all judgments, was only a reflection of how they had gone far from God in their hearts (s:w. <a href='B:290 29:13'>Isa 29:13</a>). To find something unclean in the other party and therefore to go far from them is the language of marriage breakup; which is the context of :2. It was Israel who were ending the marriage, not God; and had gone off with "vanity", other gods. It’s not hard to discern the "idols" of our age- they are the various "vanities" which so easily fill human life in this online age.</p>


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<p>Neither did they say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man lived?’- The memory of their historical beginnings and salvation by grace through baptism in the Red Sea was intended to remain with them. And with us too. Their passage so far was by grace alone, for nobody could have survived the journey they had made were it not for God. And this is true of each of us. "The shadow of death" is really ’deep darkness’. The idea of being preserved from "pits" would have recurred to Jeremiah when in the cistern.</p>


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<p>I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination- This continues a major Biblical theme- that God’s loving material blessings of His people led them to idolatry (<a href='B:50 32:15'>Deu 32:15</a>). The prosperity Gospel must give due weight to this sad experience of God’s people historically. Israel brought the idols of Egypt with them through the wilderness, and lost no time in using them and defiling the land thereby. The popular idea that the generation who entered the land were the most faithful of Israel’s generations needs some revision.</p>


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<p>The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t come to know Me. The rulers also transgressed against Me, the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit- The reason for their turning to other gods was because the priests, who were supposed to teach the knowledge of Yahweh, didn’t seek to know Him; and what knowledge they did have was not the ’knowing’ of personal relationship. We can know true propositions about God, but not thereby come "to know Me". A teacher must himself be continually learning and enquiring further. But the priests assumed they knew it all; when in fact what they did know was not the same as "knowing Me" in terms of personal relationship. And so they slipped off to idolatry. Although they had been given materially all that they needed on entering the land (<a href='B:300 2:7'>Jer 2:7</a>), the attraction of the idols was "profit". The idols of Canaan were fertility cults, and they were worshipped in the hope of good harvests and material benefits (<a href='B:300 12:13'>Jer 12:13</a>). So Yahweh’s blessing of His people materially only elicited in them a craving for yet more materialism, and they turned to the idols- which in reality did not "profit", for all such blessing is only from Yahweh.</p>


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<p>Therefore I will yet contend with you, says Yahweh, and I will contend with your children’s children- This is the language of entering into a law suite; and the results of it were going to last many generations. Or perhaps the idea is that grandparents, their children and grandchildren were all alike guilty and must stand before Divine judgment.</p>


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<p>For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing- The Gentiles were fiercely loyal to their gods, whereas Israel were for ever seeking some petty advantage or "profit" from adopting new gods. The islands of Kittim were the extreme west of Israel, and "Kedar" to the extreme east. He was a son of Ishmael (<a href='B:10 25:13'>Gen 25:13</a>); a reminder that there was more integrity in the line God had chosen not to work through than in that of Isaac and Jacob.</p>


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<p>Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit- Israel in the wilderness had changed their glory into the similitude of an ox, the golden calf (<a href='B:230 106:20'>Psa 106:20</a>). And now Judah were committing the same error:&nbsp; They prided themselves on not having the golden calves of the ten tribe kingdom, but they did have the equivalent in their hearts. Gentile nations didn’t change their gods; butGod’s people did, ever seeking a little extra material benefit from some new religion; see on :8. This is one of many examples of where unbelievers are held up as a challenge to believers; and we can take that challenge for all time.</p>


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<h4>Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, says Yahweh- "Desolate" is "dry", so the heavens / skies addressed may be literal. This theme of water continues in :13. There was to be a drought as a reflection of God’s withholding the blessings He had given when they first entered the land.</h4>


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<h4>For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water- There was to be a drought and no water from Yahweh at all (:12). Sin has various component factors, because God is so sensitive to human behaviour. The sin of forsaking Him was separate to that of adopting other gods. Baal was thought to be the rain god, and Israel’s addictive desire for extra fertility and material blessing led them to accept Baal. But Baal was no better than a broken cistern; any water that came would be wasted and could not be kept by Israel. And in any case, it was God who gave rain and He was going to therefore punish them by drying up the skies (:12).</h4>


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<p>Is Israel a servant? Is he a native-born slave? Why has he become a prey?- As noted on :3, Israel were God’s firstborn son. They were not slaves born in the house, like Ishmael. But they acted as if they were not the native born members of God’s family, by seeking other gods. And so they were treated appropriately to their own self-perception and self-identification. I explained on :8,11 that Israel turned to other gods in the hope of petty material benefit. They were therefore to become a "prey", to have their material things taken from them as booty.</p>


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<p>The young lions have roared at him and yelled, they have desolated his land. His cities are burned up without inhabitant- This is an example of the prophetic perfect, whereby things prophesied in the future are spoken of as having already happened; so certain are they of fulfilment. Just possibly the fate of the ten tribes is in view. The Divine threat to leave Judah "without inhabitant" never quite came true. Not all the urban dwellers were slain. Indeed even after the destruction of Jerusalem, they still came to offer at the site of the altar in Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 41:5'>Jer 41:5</a>). In wrath God remembered mercy. Perhaps He perceived that repentance would not be elicited by the judgments, and so they have been deferred until the last days. Or maybe there was some repentance or intercession which ameliorated the threatened judgments. And yet "young lions" is a double symbol, both of the Babylonians and of the rulers of Judah in Ezekiel; it was for their sakes that the Babylonian lions came.</p>


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<p>The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head- Egypt was always attractive for Judah to trust in. But the Egyptians ’shaved the head’ (Heb:) of Judah, taking their glory away, at great cost to them (<a href='B:120 23:35'>2Ki 23:35</a>) but provided no help against Babylon.</p>


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<p>Haven’t you procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when He led you by the way?- If we follow the moment by moment leading of God, having the attitude that we will always say "Yes" to Him, then we will not go astray to idols. And all judgment for such sin is really brought about by the sinners themselves. If we leave the God who is leading us, then we for sure will go astray to other gods and face the appropriate judgment.</p>


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<p>Now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or what have you to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?- "Shihor" may be another name for the Nile, which represented Egypt as the Euphrates did Assyria. Judah were always trying to get help from their northern or southern neighbour against the threat posed by the other, instead of trusting in Yahweh above them. The attempted alliance with Egypt is described in <a href='B:330 16:26'>Eze 16:26</a> as active prostitution with her, when Yahweh would have provided all the freedom and protection Judah wanted. Menahem king of Israel bribed Pul king of Assyria to support him, whilst Hoshea sought the aid of Egypt to enable him to throw off the Assyrians, and Josiah died fighting against the Egyptians on the behalf of Assyria. This is portrayed in Ezekiel as whoredom, the endless cycle of attraction to illicit lovers.</p>


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<p>Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that My fear is not in you, says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies- The Divine hope was that Judah would be corrected by their sins and judgments experienced; "know therefore::." is an appeal for relationship, for understanding and repentance. But this didn’t come about, although it potentially could have done. The same Hebrew word for "punish" is also translated "reform / correct" (see the play on this in <a href='B:30 26:18'>Lev 26:18</a>; <a href='B:30 26:23'>Lev 26:23</a>; <a href='B:30 26:28'>Lev 26:28</a>). The punishments were not therefore simply an expression of God’s anger, but rather intended to reform Israel.</p>


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<h4>For of old time I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; and you said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high ill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute- AV "I will not transgress" (NEV "I will not serve"). so many times God had broken the bonds of their captivity and they had promised total loyalty in response; but everywhere they still worshipped other gods. Yoke and bonds are figures of servitude. The idea was that if God had broken their bonds of servitude to the world around them, they should in response serve Him, exchanging one bondage for another, a change of masters. This was supremely seen at the exodus from the bonds of Egypt through the Red Sea baptism. And that is exactly the metaphor used by Paul in Romans 6 for our response to our freedom from this world and sin; in response, we proclaim Jesus as Lord and serve Him. But instead so many like Judah at this time served idols instead.</h4><h4>Judah had "broken the yoke and burst the bonds" of their covenant relationship with God (<a href='B:300 5:5'>Jer 5:5</a>), but He by grace had broken the yoke and bonds of those who enslaved them (<a href='B:300 2:20'>Jer 2:20</a>; <a href='B:300 30:8'>Jer 30:8</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed- How we are spiritually planted is no guarantee that we shall continue to grow in the way we were sown. The noble vine had clearly allowed foreign vine branches to be grafted in. That is the implication. And the lesson, as Paul points out in a similar analogy in Romans, is that being physically of the seed of Abraham was no guarantee at all that the fruit was going to be acceptable. And we may likewise reflect that no matter how well believing parents may plant their children, in the end this can be no guarantee that they will grow into a noble vine just because the right seed was planted. Far more individual volition than that is required. God had well planted Israel, giving them the maximal opportunity for growth and fruitfulness (<a href='B:290 5:2'>Isa 5:2</a>; <a href='B:230 80:9'>Psa 80:9</a>; <a href='B:350 10:1'>Hos 10:1</a>); and yet they turned to idols. The requirements for elders that their children be "not unruly" I would therefore see as relevant to their immature children and their manner of raising young families.</h4><h4>How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to Me?- We see here God’s shock and hurt at His people’s dashing of His best hopes. Possibly we could say that the language more indicates the Angels’ surprise at the weaknesses of their charges- "The Lord God of Hosts (Angels)::. broke thy yoke, and burst thy bands (in Egypt); and thou saidst, I will not transgress (Israel’s covenant of obedience to the Angel)::. I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed (done by the Angel, <a href='B:230 80:8'>Psa 80:8</a>; note the angelic context of Psalms 80): how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me?". But the reality is that God Himself personally can be hurt and broken by us. He limits His omniscience as He limits His omnipotence, in order to enter into real time, actual relationship with us.</h4>


text:
<p>For though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before Me, says the Lord Yahweh- The idea is that any attempt to make themselves appear externally better was irrelevant, because their problem was with their mentality and heart. That is what God looks at, and this is what He ’marks’. The sin of Judah was written- both on their hearts and in God’s record (<a href='B:300 17:1'>Jer 17:1</a>); their iniquity was "marked before me". Note how their sin was written both before God and on their hearts. The state of our hearts is actually God’s record of us; "the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord" through which He searches us (<a href='B:240 20:27'>Pro 20:27</a>).</p>


text:
<p>How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways- The Jews of course considered that they had not abandoned Yahweh; they were not atheists and had instead worshipped idols in the name of Yahweh, as an expansion of their devotions to Him. "The valley" is that of Hinnom where they had their high places (<a href='B:300 7:31'>Jer 7:31</a>; <a href='B:300 32:35'>Jer 32:35</a>). They were like a young camel in heat, desperately running around here and there looking for a partner. This was how God saw their running to various idols and gods. They were asked to look at themselves from outside of themselves: "See your way in the valley" is an invitation to take as it were an aerial photograph or video of themselves there. And this same invitation comes to us in every generation. see on <a href='B:300 3:2'>Jer 3:2</a>.</p>


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<p>A wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her- We all know the downward spiral into sin… how once we start, we can’t stop. But when Israel were like this, they are likened to a female camel in insatiable heat (<a href='B:300 2:23-25'>Jer 2:23-25</a>; <a href='B:300 5:7-9'>Jer 5:7-9</a>). We’d just rather not read that, or retranslate the words to make it seem somehow different. But we’re dealing with serious matters here. Sin is serious to God. Israel were seeking satisfaction from their various idols as if they were sexually addicted and hopelessly out of control. She was searching for them, and not they for her. This heightens the depth of her sin even more so</p>


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<p>Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them’- This passage suggests Israel were shameless. They were convinced that their behaviour was not wrong (:23). I suggest that they came to this position by assuming that they were serving Yahweh through serving the idols; and that is the essence of all spiritual temptation in every age. Any appeal to them for self control was dismissed by them.</p>


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<p>As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets- We must contrast this with the sense of shameless devotion to idols in the previous verses. See on <a href='B:300 3:22'>Jer 3:22</a>. They had not then been found (out); but they would be, and so sure was their future shaming in condemnation that Jeremiah spoke as if it was already being experienced by them. Judgment in essence is now. If they had realized that, then they would have repented.</p>


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<h4>Who tell wood, ‘You are my father;’ and a stone, ‘You have brought me forth’; for they have turned their back to Me, and not their face- See on <a href='B:300 3:4'>Jer 3:4</a>. This contrasts with the earlier statement that they were God’s firstborn (:3). But through their idolatry they denied this. This turning of the back to God was literally seen by Ezekiel, when he was shown men worshipping the sun within the temple, with their backs turned upon the holy place. God’s turning away His face from them was therefore only an extension of their own attitude to Him.</h4><h4>But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us’- This could be read as God sadly lamenting how He knows they will always turn to Him in time of crisis. But it could also be said as it were with joy and hope, knowing that in the final time of Jacob’s trouble, God’s people will turn to Him and eternally remain with Him. &nbsp;Yet this appears to be God’s fantasy and desperate hope and imagination that His people would cry to Him and not the idols. But <a href='B:300 11:12'>Jer 11:12</a> states that His people in the "time of their trouble" (s:w:) would cry to&nbsp; their idols. It’s as if by the time of Jeremiah 11 God as it were faces the reality that they would cry to their idols and not to Him.</h4>


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<p>But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah- The large number of gods is further evidence that like the out of control young camel of :23 and donkey in heat of :24, they were obsessed with finding other gods to trust, as if they were addicted to this endless search once they had cast off faith in Yahweh. The connection of thought with the earlier part of the verse seems to be: "When every city has its special deity, surely among so many there might be found one able to help his worshippers". The LXX adds: "And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem they sacrificed to Baal". This would have been an imitation of Babylon; and so to Babylon they would be sent. Their judgment was a reflection of what they themselves wanted. If we seek above all God’s Kingdom, then this will be given us.</p>


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<p>Why will you contend with Me? You all have transgressed against Me, says Yahweh- God understands Judah as having a legal issue with Him, when He has done nothing wrong to them, and they have done wrong to Him. Again we sense the absolute certainty of the people that they were not sinning. "I am not defiled" was their attitude (:23). Such a shameless attitude was only possible due to becoming psychologically hardened in the idea that they worshipped idols in the name of Yahweh, as an expansion of their devotions to Him. And this is the real danger of believing that our idolatry, in whatever form, is in fact serving God. It can be thinking that gossip is in fact a service and defence of God’s truth; or thinking that a luxury mansion is in fact in order to serve God’s people. As with Israel at this time, this will lead to an obsession with idolatry which is insatiable.</p>


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<p>I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion- The lion was a symbol of Babylon / Assyria, but they had acted like a lion in killing their own prophets. The correction given by the prophets and at the hands of the previous Assyrian and Babylonian incursions had not been "received". "Correction" is the same word for ’doctrine’ or teaching. God’s word can come to us, and especially for the illiterate in Jeremiah’s time, not only through what we now call "the Bible", but through Divinely controlledexperience.</p>


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<h4>Generation, consider the word of Yahweh. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness?- He had been like this to Egypt, but the Israelites had had light in their areas and homes. But they considered that any correction from God was treating them as if they were not His people, and were wilfully ignorant of their salvation history.</h4><h4>Why do My people say, ‘We have broken loose. We will come to You no more?’- They effectively considered they were no longer in covenant relationship with Yahweh, and acted like this. But they would never have agreed that these were their words; God counts our positions and attitudes as words.</h4>


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<p>Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number- The implication was that they should live permanently in a state of expecting an imminent marriage ceremony. They had married God at Sinai but the hope was that God would establish an eternal Messianic kingdom with them.</p>


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<p>How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have taught even the wicked women your ways- Although they didn’t dress themselves up for Yahweh (:32), they did in order to attract other lovers. This speaks of how they madly sought relationship with any Gentile nation whom they perceived could benefit them immediately. And just as prostitutes lead men into sin, so they had led even the Gentiles into sin, and encouraged other smaller states to likewise offer allegiance to multiple political partners at the same time. God is therefore portrayed as sensitive to even the sins of the Gentiles. Instead of being a light to the Gentile world, Israel instead had led them into sin.</p>


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<p>Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts, even though you did not catch them in the act of burglary- The idea is that God did not need to break through in order to see their sins; the blood of their own children and also of poor people in society whom they had used as sacrifices was as it were on their clothes. They had publically done these things in the valley of Hinnom. The LXX has: "In thine hands has been found the blood of innocent souls; I have not found them in holes, but on every oak".</p>


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<p>Yet you said, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger has turned away from me’. Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned’- "Innocent" is a word often used about being free from a covenant contract. Perhaps the idea was as in :31, that they considered they had broken free from covenant relationship with God and therefore God should not be angry with them. But they, His wife, had broken the marital covenant::. and they were not to consider they could walk away from it. It was their attitude that "I have not sinned" which was more hurtful to God than their actual sins. And so it is to this day. Or we could take "innocent" in the sense of ’cleansed’, as if they believed that the cleansing of the Mosaic rituals thereby meant that their sin was dealt with and they were free to continue in sin. This was exactly the attitude of some Christians at the time of <a href='B:520 6:1'>Rom 6:1</a>.</p>


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<p>Why do you go about so much, ever changing your way? You will be shamed by Egypt, just as you were shamed by Assyria- The attempted alliance with Egypt is described in <a href='B:330 16:26'>Eze 16:26</a> as active prostitution with her, when Yahweh would have provided all the freedom and protection Judah wanted. The final fulfilment of these prophecies as of every prophetic word will be in the final judgment of the last days. This is the scene of <a href='B:730 16:15'>Rev 16:15</a> - the rejected being made naked in shame. This slinking back in shame will fulfil the prophecies of <a href='B:290 1:24'>Isa 1:24</a>; <a href='B:290 1:29'>Isa 1:29</a> and <a href='B:300 2:35-36'>Jer 2:35-36</a>, which speak of the rejected being made ashamed, becoming ashamed, of their idols. They will be made ashamed by the judgment process.</p>


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<p>From there also you shall go forth, with your hands on your head; for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper with them- This prophecy foresaw that contrary to Jeremiah’s pleading, some in Judah would flee to Egypt, and yet also be taken captive from there. And yet the people still had freewill as to whether to flee into Egypt. This prophetic potential scenario would therefore not have come about, and this idea of Divine potential is a major theme in the prophets. We ask how did God reject Egypt in whom they trusted? The LXX has "for the Lord has rejected thine hope, and thou shalt not prosper in it". This would suggest that they thought that their trust in Egypt would be acceptable with God, despite His clearly telling them later not to go there. But He rejected that request, as it were, to accept their trust in Egypt as trust in Him. This clearly was their problem, they thought that bad behaviour could be justified as part of their worship of Yahweh. This is why repeatedly they insist that they are innocent of any wrongdoing.</p>


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<h4>They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and become another man’s, should he return to her again?’. Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers- Jeremiah often makes a play upon the Hebrew word shub- it can meanto turn away (from God), and also to ’turn back’ or repent (e:g. <a href='B:300 3:1'>Jer 3:1</a>; <a href='B:300 3:7'>Jer 3:7</a>; <a href='B:300 3:10'>Jer 3:10</a>; <a href='B:300 3:12'>Jer 3:12</a>; <a href='B:300 3:14'>Jer 3:14</a>; <a href='B:300 3:19'>Jer 3:19</a>; <a href='B:300 3:22'>Jer 3:22</a>; <a href='B:300 4:1'>Jer 4:1</a>). If Israel turned in repentance, then God would return them to their land (<a href='B:300 15:19'>Jer 15:19</a>); if they turned away from Him, He would turn them out into the Gentile world. Our lives are a twisting and turning, either to or away from God; and God is waiting to confirm us in those twists and turns. <a href='B:300 8:4-6'>Jer 8:4-6</a> comment that if one turns from the right road, then they must turn back. We all know how when we miss the way in finding an unfamiliar address, there’s a tendency to keep on going along the wrong road- because turning back is so psychologically difficult. And this is the image that God uses here- to appeal to Israel, and ourselves, not to foolishly ’backslide’, keep on turning away, from Him- just because that’s the course we’re set upon.</h4><h4>Yet return again to Me, says Yahweh- Within His own law, it was an abomination for a man to re-marry the woman he had divorced. Yet this notwithstanding, God abases Himself in asking worthless Israel to re-marry Him (<a href='B:50 24:4'>Deu 24:4</a> cp. <a href='B:300 3:1'>Jer 3:1</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see!- Again, they are asked to see themselves from outside of themselves. Likewise in <a href='B:300 2:23'>Jer 2:23</a>, "See your way in the valley" is an invitation to take as it were an aerial photograph or video of themselves there. And this same invitation comes to us in every generation.</h4><h4>Where have you not been lain with? You have sat for them by the ways, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness- Even in Jeremiah’s time, the Jews had the sense that they were superior to their ’Arabian’ relatives. But here they are presented as an Arabian prostitute. Their worship of idols on the high places is directly equal to their prostitution. They were eager for these relationships, because they were addicted to getting help from others and immediate benefit, rather than going Yahweh’s way. Sitting by the roadside could even mean that foreigners passing through Palestine were accosted by the Jews and asked to enter into political relationships with them.</h4>


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<h4>Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain- This had been God’s way of telling them that their covenant blessings were being withheld; but still they refused to respond.</h4><h4>Yet you have a prostitute’s forehead, you refused to be ashamed- The Lord hardened His face like a rock (<a href='B:290 50:7'>Isa 50:7</a>; <a href='B:490 9:51'>Luk 9:51</a>); and yet the wicked similarly harden their faces like a rock to go in the way of the flesh (<a href='B:300 5:3'>Jer 5:3</a>). We are hardened in our path, one way or the other. Jeremiah had his face hardened in response to his own hardening of face (<a href='B:300 1:17'>Jer 1:17</a>; <a href='B:300 5:3'>Jer 5:3</a>), and the wicked in Israel likewise were hardened (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a>; <a href='B:300 4:30'>Jer 4:30</a>). Israel’s shameless attitude is a major theme of God’s criticism of them:&nbsp; They were convinced that their behaviour was not wrong (<a href='B:300 2:23'>Jer 2:23</a>; <a href='B:300 2:25'>Jer 2:25</a>). I suggest that they came to this position by assuming that they were serving Yahweh through serving the idols; and that is the essence of all piritual temptation in every age.</h4>


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<p>Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth?’- I suggest in :4,5 we have the Divine hope, a kind of interjection from Yahweh fantasizing about their repentance, putting words in their mouths, of the kind we have in Hosea. God yearned for them to realize that they were His children, He and not the idol stocks was their Father (<a href='B:300 2:27'>Jer 2:27</a>). He presents Himself as sentimental about their past together in Egypt and the wilderness, and so wishes for them to let Him guide them again as He had done in the desert. God therefore presents Himself as made weak by the depth of His love, even for a worthless woman.</p>


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<h4>‘Will He retain His anger forever? Will He keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way- As explained on :4, this is still part of God’s fantasy as to the words He so hoped His repentant people would say. He wanted them to realize that they had said and done evil; and we note He gives priority to the words they had spoken. He presents Himself as a man deeply sensitive to words; and we see this reflected in the Lord’s later teaching as to how our words shall be the basis of our salvation or condemnation at the last day. He wanted them to understand that He was angry, but that His wrath was but for a moment and would not last (<a href='B:290 57:16'>Isa 57:16</a>; <a href='B:300 18:23'>Jer 18:23</a>).</h4><h4>Or we could read :5 as Israel’s response to God’s desire for their repentance in :4. The prophets spoke of the amazing grace and eternal love of God for Israel, how His wrath endured but for a moment (<a href='B:290 57:16'>Isa 57:16</a>; <a href='B:300 18:23'>Jer 18:23</a>); and yet Israel asked: “Will he be angry for ever?”. They assumed the present moment is how it shall eternally be; they lacked faith to see the wider and longer plan of God. It was more than frustrating for the prophets; they shared God’s feelings of having poured out so great a love, to see it ignored and disregarded by short termist vision.</h4>


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<p>Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute- Jeremiah recalls how God’s earnest desire and imagination of ten tribe Israel’s repentance had been disappointed in the days of Josiah king of Judah, who made great reforms, perhaps motivated by the judgment upon the ten tribe kingdom of Israel. But the essential love of idolatry was not removed. The stress on "every high mountain" matches the impression already given that Israel had been like a sexually addicted person, they wanted relationship with every possible partner. And so Judah were also being with idols.</p>


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<p>I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to Me;’ but she didn’t return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it- The ten tribe kingdom appear to have been in a hopeless state spiritually. But still God was "sure" that they would return to Him. There is a word play between the original Hebrew words for "backsliding / treacherous" and "return". Just as the Father thought that His people “surely” would reverence His Son, so He had the same attitude to Israel in Old Testament times: “I thought that after she had done all this, she would return to me, but she did not” (<a href='B:300 3:7'>Jer 3:7</a> NIV). This surely is God limiting His omniscience in order to enter fully into relationship with His people in real time.</p>


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<p>I saw, when, for the very reason of committing adultery that I had put away and given a bill of divorce to backsliding Israel, then treacherous Judah her sister didn’t fear; but likewise went and played the prostitute- The lack of "fear" in Judah repeats the theme being established; that they were shameless and refused to be convicted of their sins. They were intended to learn from Israel’s sin and punishment, but instead they went ahead and sinned yet more. See on :3. God speaks as if He was the one who put away Israel. God allowed divorce only for the hardness of man’s heart (<a href='B:470 19:7'>Mat 19:7</a>); yet God speaks as if He, with all His morality and justice, was responsible for the divorce (<a href='B:300 3:8'>Jer 3:8</a>), when in fact it was Israel who had broken the marriage contract by their unfaithfulness. But in His grace, He as it were took the blame. See on <a href='B:300 8:21'>Jer 8:21</a>.</p>


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<p>It happened through the lightness of her prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks- The problem was "Because she took her whoredom lightly::." (ESV). She had a light-hearted and not serious view of life, refusing to look to the implications, corollaries and results of her sins. She just wanted toexperience pleasure in the immediate moment with no thought for anything further nor wider. And this is exactly the spirit of our age.</p>


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<p>Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to Me with her whole heart, but only in pretence, says Yahweh- This has reference to the reforms of Josiah, which clearly did not affect the heart of the people. For they returned to their idols immediately he died. “Though they called them to the Most High, none at all would exalt him” (<a href='B:350 11:7'>Hos 11:7</a>) in the way which true repentance requires. They did turn back to Yahweh- but not in their heart. Israel rejoiced in the light of John’s teaching- and he taught real, on-your-knees repentance. They thought they’d repented. But the Lord describes John as mourning, and them not mourning in sympathy and response (<a href='B:490 7:32'>Luk 7:32</a>).</p>


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<p>Yahweh said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah- The idea is that Israel appeared more just than Judah, for Judah had sinned worse. Judah had the example of Israel to warn them, and they failed to that and therefore became the more responsible for their sins.</p>


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<p>Go, and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel’, says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful’, says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever- Again there is a play on the related Hebrew words for "return" and "backsliding". Instead of turning to idolatry, they were to turn again to their God. God assures them of His essential characteristic- that His mercy is greater than His anger with sin. No man has ever gone so far in this life that the eternal anger of God is upon him, for God doesn’t keep anger for ever. This contrasts with the&nbsp; human tendency towards unforgiveness, and being still angry over things we were angry about decades ago. This feature of God is a strong encouragement for human repentance (<a href='B:230 103:9'>Psa 103:9</a>; <a href='B:300 3:5'>Jer 3:5</a>).</p>


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<h4>Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God- Presumably Jeremiah’s message was to be taken to the ten tribes. The Divine hope was that Israel and Judah would repent together, and form a revived, united kingdom of God in Israel under a Messianic king. Their unity would be on the basis of common experience of God’s grace, their repentance and His forgiveness. It is this which is the ultimate basis of fellowship between believers.</h4><p>Jeremiah uses the same phrase for "acknowledge iniquity" in saying that "we" have done so (<a href='B:300 14:20'>Jer 14:20</a>). He either considered that he was representative of the people, or he failed to accept that their acknowledging of iniquity was only on a surface level. Although on one hand Jeremiah is in step with God’s feeling and thinking, he comes over so often (especially in Lamentations) as implying that God is unjust. He has an over positive view of his people. They did not "acknowledge iniquity" as required, but he considers they had done. Or that they had done so whereas the ten tribes had not.</p><h4>And have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed My voice’, says Yahweh- This ’scattering’ to the gods of many different peoples would result in them being appropriately scattered amongst those nations (s:w. <a href='B:190 3:8'>Est 3:8</a>; <a href='B:300 50:17'>Jer 50:17</a>; <a href='B:360 3:2'>Joe 3:2</a>). Judgment was really a reflecting back to them of what they in essence had done.</h4>


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<p>Return, backsliding children, says Yahweh; for I am a husband to you. I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion- "Two of a family" suggests that even though the ten tribes had intermarried in captivity, they would still be miraculously ’taken’ from wherever they had been scattered and returned to a restored Kingdom of God in Israel. All that was required was that they ’returned’ to God, and then He would return them. Although divorced (:1), God still felt as their husband. This is surely also relevant in trying to understand how God now feels towards His people from whom He is divorced.</p>


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<h4>I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding- The system of shepherds, be it the priesthood or the royal family, was to be replaced by one singular shepherdafter the pattern of David (<a href='B:330 34:23'>Eze 34:23</a>), although we learn here that he would have assistants who were also after God’s own heart- another way of saying they too would be like David, the man after God’s own heart (<a href='B:90 13:14'>1Sa 13:14</a>). This was God’s intention for the restored Kingdom, but Israel and many of Judah didn’t return. And so this will be fulfilled in the last days, when we will be those shepherds.</h4>


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<h4>It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Yahweh, they shall say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh!’ neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more- The intended restoration of the kingdom would feature no ark of the covenant. The temple they were to build in Ezekiel 40-48 has no mention of a place for the ark, and it concludes with the comment that the city will be called "Yahweh Shammah", the Lord is there. His personal presence would be there. This great potential wasn’t fulfilled, so it has been reapplied and rescheduled to the last days, when as Revelation says, God Himself shall be with us. The ark was a contentious issue at the time, with Judah considering they had God on their side because the ark was with them and not the ten tribes. But this mere symbolism would be irrelevant before the very presence of God Himself; as will so much of our contentions with other believers.</h4>


text:
<h4>At that time they shall call Jerusalem ‘The throne of Yahweh;’ and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem- As explained on :16, this is the equivalent of Jerusalem being called "Yahweh Shammah" in Ezekiel. The nations, who had abused Israel and Judah, were to be gathered again to Jerusalem; not to judge Jerusalem, but in repentance and acceptance of Israel’s God.</h4><h4>Neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart- Nobody in our current society would consider what you think to be a criminal act; and nobody did in early Israel, either. But time and again, the prophets passionately call down judgment for “evil thoughts” and “evil hearts” (<a href='B:300 3:17'>Jer 3:17</a>; <a href='B:300 4:14'>Jer 4:14</a>; <a href='B:300 7:24'>Jer 7:24</a>; <a href='B:300 9:14'>Jer 9:14</a>; <a href='B:300 11:8'>Jer 11:8</a>; <a href='B:300 13:10'>Jer 13:10</a>; <a href='B:300 14:14'>Jer 14:14</a>; <a href='B:300 16:12'>Jer 16:12</a>; <a href='B:300 18:12'>Jer 18:12</a>; <a href='B:300 23:17'>Jer 23:17</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north- Although God tacitly accepts Judah would sin, refuse Jeremiah’s message and go into captivity, yet He looked ahead to how they would return together with the ten tribes. Their unity would be on the basis of common experience of God’s grace, their repentance and His forgiveness. It is this which is the ultimate basis of fellowship between believers.</h4><h4>To the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers- The latter chapters of Ezekiel stress how Israel were to “inherit” the land; yet the same word is used in other restoration prophecies, about Messiah causing Israel to “inherit” the land again after their return from “the north country” (<a href='B:450 2:12'>Zec 2:12</a>; <a href='B:450 8:12'>Zec 8:12</a>; <a href='B:290 49:8'>Isa 49:8</a>; <a href='B:300 3:18'>Jer 3:18</a>). When Judah returned from the “north country”, then Jerusalem would be the universally recognized “throne of the Lord” (<a href='B:300 3:17-18'>Jer 3:17-18</a>). The Kingdom could have come when Judah returned from Babylon. It was therefore potentially possible for the returning exiles to inherit all the land outlined in <a href='B:330 47:13-21'>Eze 47:13-21</a> and share it out between the 12 tribes. But they grabbed every man for himself, his own farmstead, his own mini-Kingdom. They had no interest in the wider vision, nor in subduing extra land; and the majority of the Jewsdidn’t even want to inherit it; they preferred the soft life of Babylon, the Kingdom of men rather than the Kingdom of God. And thus the Kingdom made possible was never actually fulfilled at that time.</h4>


text:
<p>But I thought how I would set you among My children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations; and I thought you would call Me My Father, and would not turn away from following Me’- God’s being apparently mistaken because of His over enthusiasm for Israel reflects His limiting of His omniscience in order to enter into legitimate real time relationship with His people. Despite realizing this, in :22 God still offers to restore them. His enthusiasm to almost force through His intentions with His beloved stands for all time as an encouragement to His people.</p>


text:
<p>Surely as a wife faithlessly departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with Me, house of Israel, says Yahweh- Their lack of faith was the essence of their immorality and seeking other gods. Despite the passion of His love (see on :19), God doesn’t turn a blind eye to what they had done. The breaking of faith was breaking covenant; this is the essence of sin. We are to forever remember that we are in the bonds of an eternal covenant, and only wilfully walking away from it can end our part in it.</p>


text:
<p>A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God- The high places were where they worshipped idols. The tragedy was that even in the desperation of their nadir, they still would turn to their idols rather than fully to Yahweh. He simply cannot be one of many options we try in order to get us out of crises. Or it could be that this verse is another example of God as it were interjecting with His own fantasy of how they would repent; there on the high places, before their idols, He envisaged them realizing how vain were the idols, how they had forgotten Yahweh, and then by implication calling upon Him alone. Perhaps Daniel understood this verse like this, when he prays and confesses that "we" had perverted God’s way (<a href='B:340 9:5'>Dan 9:5</a> s:w:). We notice that individual acts of sin aren’t in view; rather is the issue with a "way" of being, thinking and living.</p>


text:
<h4>Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding- This is a promise to psychologically change them, if they were willing. And this operation upon their very heart or mind is the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 20. Although God’s people refused that new covenant at that time, it is that which is made with us, and the psychological transformation of His Spirit is just as much available to us today.</h4><h4>Behold, we have come to You; for You are Yahweh our God- As suggested on :21, this seems to be God’s almost placing words in their mouths in His imagination. The hopefulness and fantasy of God for Israel often comes out in His statements that Israel definitely will repent “As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is [note the present tense] the house of Israel ashamed” (<a href='B:300 2:26'>Jer 2:26</a>). This was God’s fantasy for His people. Hosea is full of this. So here too, this latter sentence is God’s fantasy about Israel, imagining them saying those words. How bitter was His disappointment therefore- and how great His delight in those of us who in our weakness do come unto Him and recognize Him meaningfully as our God. Indeed the whole of <a href='B:300 3:22-25'>Jer 3:22-25</a> is full of God fantasizing about the sort of words Israel would say upon their repentance, and how they would take responsibility for their sins rather than blame them on their fathers . This apparent certainty that Israel would repent and thus obviate the threatened judgments must have conflicted within the thinking of the Father- with His certainty that all was already too late for them. Hence passages like <a href='B:350 11:8'>Hos 11:8</a> speaks of the burning pain within the thought processes of God Almighty.</h4>


text:
<p>Truly in vain is help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Yahweh our God- God hoped Israel would come to realize that the various gods of the high places ("hills") and the whole ranges of mountains, representing the nations, could not save them. Rather was salvation (teshua) only in Yahweh. This would then make the word Yeshua, the Hebrew name for "Jesus", the salvation of Yahweh. Finally this hoped for repentance and acceptance of Yah’s salvation will come true in the latter day repentance of Israel and acceptance of Jesus as God’s Son and the source of their salvation.</p>


text:
<p>But the shameful thing has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters- God hopes and imagines that they will recognize that Baal worship, "the shameful thing", had robbed them of the blessings which He had given them. The phrase "devoured the labours" is that used in <a href='B:50 28:33'>Deu 28:33</a> of how the invading armies would devour Israel’s labours. But as so often, this judgment was only in fact what the people had themselves chosen. For they had allowed Baal to devour their labours.</p>


text:
<p>Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God- This concludes God’s fantasy about how His people would repent, the position they would adopt (lying down in shame) and thewords they would say. Instead of prostrating themselves before the shameful thing (Baal), they would lie down in shame before God, in repentance. Fantasy or imagination is part of what it is to be made in God’s image; and we must ask ourselves what our deepest hopes really are, and whether our fantasy or imagination for those who hurt us is their repentance and reconciliation::. As it was God’s for His spiteful people. Shame / confusion covered the faces of God’s people when the temple was desecrated (<a href='B:300 51:51'>Jer 51:51</a> s:w:), but this was because their faces had not been covered with shame at their sins. It’s shame for sin now, or shame at judgment day.</p>


text:
<h4>If you will return, Israel, says Yahweh, if you will return to Me- The Hebrew implies as AV that ’If you will return, then return to Me’. We can confuse a desire for change, a fleeting twinge of conscience, with real repentance. “They return, but not to the most High” (<a href='B:350 7:16'>Hos 7:16</a>). They had the sense that they must turn away from the way they were in, but this wasn’t necessarily the same as turning back behind the Lord.</h4><h4>And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight; then you shall not be removed- If there was a real turning to God, then God would not remove Judah into captivity. Or it could be that the ten tribes are still the subject, as they largely were in the previous chapter. If they returned to God, then He would miraculously return them to their land; and they would never again be removed. This would imply that some kind of Kingdom of God situation would have been established then, under a Messianic ruler, with the Gentile nations glorifying Israel’s God (:2).</h4>


text:
<h4>And you shall swear, ‘As Yahweh lives’, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory- When Israel return to the Lord and swear in truth that “the Lord lives”, then all the other nations of the world will be blessed in the coming of the Kingdom. Their repentance is a prerequisite for the second coming. The implication is that this could have happened at Jeremiah’s time, see on :1. It didn’t, and so the fulfilment is reapplied and rescheduled to the last days.</h4><h4>The implication is that God’s people swore that "Yahweh lives" but without moral justice and right behaviour. To believe that God exists is therefore to act like Him, in truth, justice and righteousness. To live otherwise is to effectively deny His existence. His very existence is therefore an imperative to live and be as He is.</h4>


text:
<h4>For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground- This repentance could have brought about some kind of Kingdom situation as described in :1,2. The idea of using fallow ground is that they were to realize their potential- which was that it Judah repented and so did the ten tribes, then those tribes would be regathered into a reestablished Kingdom of God in Israel. We too must "break up our fallow ground" (Heb. ’plough the unploughed’), analayze ourselves from outside ourselves, and use our time and our “all things” to the utmost of their potential (<a href='B:350 10:12'>Hos 10:12</a>). We were created "unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (<a href='B:560 2:10'>Eph 2:10</a>); we were redeemed that we might be zealous of good works (<a href='B:630 2:14'>Tit 2:14</a>)- not that we might drift through life playing with our hobbies and with the fascinations of our careers.</h4><h4>And don’t sow among thorns- The Lord’s parable of the sower alludes here. The thorns to Him meant the cares of life and the desire for wealth in the here and now (<a href='B:480 4:19'>Mar 4:19</a>). This was Judah’s problem; all their idolatry was choosing the fertility cults in order to get immediate material blessing.</h4>


text:
<p>Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest My wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings- To self circumcise is the picture of intimate involvement with oneself. This is what they were asked to do to their own minds and hearts; see on :9. They could have avoided the wrath to come by quenching the fire of that wrath through reformation of their own hearts. We note the paramount importance of the heart; there is no specific call to quit idolatry or any specific manifestation of sin, because the essence was and is in the heart. Here at the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry, the implication is that the wrath could be quenched still; but the time would come when it could not be. By the time of <a href='B:300 7:20'>Jer 7:20</a>, God was saying that His wrath could no longer be quenched (as <a href='B:120 22:17'>2Ki 22:17</a>; <a href='B:140 34:25'>2Ch 34:25</a>). And yet even after this point, God still speaks as if it could be quenched by repentance (<a href='B:300 21:12'>Jer 21:12</a>). Even to the point of self-contradiction, God was so eager to have His wrath quenched. And this God is our God. His eagerness for human repentance should be reflected in our attitudes, both to others and to our own sins. Breaking relationship with people by casting them out of fellowship is not reflective of that.</p>


text:
<h4>Declare in Judah and publish in Jerusalem; say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities!’- The "cities" may be an intensive plural for the one great city, Zion. For in :7 it seems that God’s wrath was at a point where the other cities would be destroyed, but if the people entered Jerusalem in repentance, then although the invaders would surround her, He would miraculously deliver her. This of course is what had happened a few generations before in the time of Hezekiah and the Assyrian invasion. God was willing to use that as a prototype for their salvation now from Babylon. A restored Kingdom of God could have emerged after the destruction of the Assyrians; but Judah didn’t really repent, and Hezekiah let the baton drop. But now, out of their sin and the need to judge it, there was to be another opportunity. See on :8; <a href='B:300 5:1'>Jer 5:1</a>; <a href='B:300 6:23'>Jer 6:23</a>.</h4><h4>Right in the context of God predicting the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah is presented as a strong, fortified city, made strong by God against any opposition (<a href='B:300 1:18'>Jer 1:18</a>). The implication was that the faithful should identify with Jeremiah if they wished to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah uses the same term for "fortified city" here in urging the faithful to run into one in the face of the Babylonian advance. But that fortified city was himself and the community of the faithful.</h4>


text:
<p>Set up a standard towards Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction- See on :5; <a href='B:300 5:10'>Jer 5:10</a>. There was to be destruction in the land, but there was potentially safety / salvation in Jerusalem for those who were obedient and repentant. This was a test to Judah, because they trusted in their defenced cities (<a href='B:300 5:17'>Jer 5:17</a>). But the prophecy of Jeremiah 4 (and <a href='B:400 5:11'>Mic 5:11</a>) asks them to believe that these cities would fall, and there would be salvation only in Jerusalem. And yet they were disobedient, and did go into those other defenced cities (:29; <a href='B:300 8:14'>Jer 8:14</a>).</p>


text:
<h4>A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant- Already God had raised up the Babylonians. They had only recently come to prominence by defeating Assyria, and were still somewhat of an unknown quantity at the time Jeremiah’s ministry began. The extent of destruction threatened here didn’t totally come; the majority of the peasants remained in the land, and they still brought food offerings to the temple even after the destruction of Jerusalem (<a href='B:300 41:5'>Jer 41:5</a>). In wrath God remembered mercy.</h4><h4>The collapsing of time at the judgment would mean that the events used to punish the world could fall upon the rejected from the judgment seat. These unfortunate individuals will be threshed, as will the world be (<a href='B:470 3:12'>Mat 3:12</a>; <a href='B:730 16:16'>Rev 16:16</a>). This is foreshadowed by the way apostate Israel were treated like the surrounding Gentile world ("nations") in the time of their judgments (<a href='B:300 4:7'>Jer 4:7</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>For this clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us- The implication is that such repentance would turn back Yahweh’s wrath; Joel uses similar language. Sackcloth and wailing suggested a death had happened; they were to believe they were condemned and the death sentence had been passed, and to lament it; and yet they could repent. I suggested on :5 that they were being encouraged to copy the example of Hezekiah turning away the Assyrians; and his urgent appeal for repentance had led to Yahweh’s fierce anger being turned back (s:w. <a href='B:140 29:10'>2Ch 29:10</a>; <a href='B:140 30:8'>2Ch 30:8</a>).</p>


text:
<p>It shall happen at that day, says Yahweh, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder- We note the continued stress upon the state of their heart; see on :4. The focus is not upon how they would beslain, tortured, have their eyes put out etc:- but upon the mental, internal panic and collapse they would experience. The physical "desolation" of the land would be matched by the internal, psychological desolation of the priests (s:w. "astonished"). Jeremiah felt the same as the other priests; he was desolated / astonished (s:w:) at the desolation of Jerusalem (<a href='B:310 1:4'>Lam 1:4</a>; <a href='B:310 1:13'>Lam 1:13</a>). We can read this as meaning that he as the righteous totally identified with the wicked; or that he was too identified with the wicked priests, and felt like them when instead he should have perceived that this was exactly the astonishment of the priests which he had prophesied.</p>


text:
<p>Then I said, Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem in saying, ‘You shall have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart- Again, as noted on :9, Jeremiah perceives that the judgments will be upon their hearts. The promise of peace was if the people repented; but Jeremiah considered it so obvious that they wouldn’t repent that he therefore accuses God of being unreasonable in even speaking of the possibility of peace. Here we see Jeremiah’s struggle with God; his experience of Divine inspiration didn’t make him just a mere instrument for relaying God’s word. He was personally involved in it. I noted on :5 and :8 the similarities with the siege of Jerusalem at the time of Hezekiah; and the same word was used by Rabshakeh in warning that Hezekiah and Isaiah were deceiving the people by saying there would be peace through Divine salvation (<a href='B:140 32:15'>2Ch 32:15</a>). This further indicates that Jeremiah was out of step with God in his feelings. God perhaps corrects things by saying that the people were deceiving themselves in thinking that the Babylonians would withdraw, because their false prophets had deceived them to think this (<a href='B:300 29:8'>Jer 29:8</a>; <a href='B:300 37:9'>Jer 37:9</a>).</p>


text:
<p>At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness towards the daughter of My people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse- The high places ("bare heights") were the scene of their apostasy with the idols. This wind represented the invasion; but "wind" and "spirit" are the same word in Hebrew, and the idea as in Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim was that the invasion would be moved by God’s Spirit. It came down, as it were, from the high places. At this point, God’s wrath was such that He intended simply to destroy; but elsewhere He says that the judgments were indeed "to cleanse" His people in a national sense (<a href='B:330 20:38'>Eze 20:38</a> s:w:). Again we see Him relenting; although perhaps the idea is that those destroyed were not personally cleansed, although the cleansing was to be thus achieved on a national level.</p>


text:
<p>A full wind for these things shall come from Me. Now I will also utter judgements against them- This is the language of the judge uttering the final judgment after the case has been considered. LXX "a spirit of full vengeance shall come upon me" may indeed be the idea; but God never carried out "full vengeance", in wrath He remembered mercy.</p>


text:
<h4>Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles- As noted on :11, this is the equivalent to Ezekiel’s vision of the clouds and chariots of the cherubim, God’s Spirit in action, being manifested in the chariots and dust clouds thus formed by the invaders.</h4><h4>Woe to us! For we are ruined- This is Jeremiah’s interjection. He sees the personal truth of the message he is relaying. Likewise Jeremiah responds to the prophecy he has to utter against the hated Philistines by begging the Father to limit these judgments, presumably on account of their repentance: “O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still” (<a href='B:300 47:6'>Jer 47:6</a>). Here likewise he almost interrupts a prophecy he is giving to Israel about judgment to come by appealing for them therefore to repent (<a href='B:300 4:13-14'>Jer 4:13-14</a>). Our handling of the prophecies of judgment to come should have a like effect upon us: they should inspire us to an inevitable witness. Each of our days cannot be just ‘the same old scene’ when we see the world in this way.</h4>


text:
<p>Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?- This is Jeremiah’s personal appeal for repentance; he so believed that what he had prophesied would come true. Again the appeal is for reformation of thought patterns; see on :4. "Evil" is literally ’vain’, a word often associated with the "vanities" of the idols. But the essence of idolatry, then as now, was vain thinking, emptiness of heart. That to this day is the essence of idolatry, and the prophetic call is not let this vanity lodge within us, but to cast out those thoughts.</p>


text:
<p>For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim- These were areas within the ten tribe kingdom which had already been carried captive. The idea is that from there would come advance warning of the Babylonian advance; just as Judah ought to have taken warning from the judgment upon the ten tribes.</p>


text:
<p>Tell the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country and lift up their voice against the cities of Judah- Why should the Gentile nations also be informed of the Babylonian advance? Presumably in the hope that they too would repent and turn to Yahweh; for this was the Divine intention. "Watchers" could simply mean ’besiegers’ (s:w. <a href='B:290 1:8'>Isa 1:8</a>; <a href='B:330 6:12'>Eze 6:12</a>); or it could be a reference to the Angels who watch over God’s word to perform it (<a href='B:300 1:11-13'>Jer 1:11-13</a>), and who would bring the invaders on their journey, like Ezekiel’s cherubim.</p>


text:
<p>As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against Me’, says Yahweh- "They (the enemy) are lying in wait on the fields round about". This would support the translation "besiegers" in :16. The rebellion of the people is specifically stated as being in their hearts (<a href='B:300 5:23'>Jer 5:23</a> s:w:). The state of the heart is such a repeated theme here.</p>


text:
<h4>Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart- Their "way" refers to their way of thought and internal imagination, the trodden paths of mental reactions and thoughts, which led to their "doings".</h4><h4>Jeremiah speaks of the pain of his heart after having spoken of the pain that would reach unto the heart of Judah (<a href='B:300 4:18-19'>Jer 4:18-19</a>). The pain of their heart became the pain of his heart. And yet Jeremiah had the mind of God in this sense, as David was after God’s own heart. This is reflected by the way in which it is very difficult at times in Jeremiah to decide who is speaking- Jeremiah, or God. <a href='B:300 9:1-3'>Jer 9:1-3</a>; <a href='B:300 9:10-11'>Jer 9:10-11</a> is a good passage to work through from this perspective, asking ‘Who is speaking? Jeremiah, or God?’. Their minds were clearly so intertwined. Both of them are described, in consecutive verses, as rising up early to plead with Israel (<a href='B:300 25:3-4'>Jer 25:3-4</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can’t hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war- See on :18. Despite being betrayed and hated by his own people, Jeremiah felt such pain for the judgment to come upon them- he was still struck with pain at the thought of their judgment. If we too have a heart that bleeds, we will come to know the mind of Jeremiah, who as he proclaimed the judgments of his last days, interrupted his sermon with this outburst. His very soul heard the message which he preached, and he interrupts his proclamation of it with this emotional outburst; this was no mindless distribution of bills or casual mention of our church. He was pained in his heart to the extent that he seems to have had some form of seizure. This is how much Jeremiah felt for those he preached to and warned, both within and without of the ecclesia. And he speaks of the pain of his heart after having spoken of the pain that would reach unto the heart of Judah (<a href='B:300 4:18-19'>Jer 4:18-19</a>). The pain of their heart became the pain of his heart.</p>


text:
<p>Destruction on destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste: suddenly are my tents destroyed, and my curtains in a moment- In this whole section, it is hard to decide whether this is Jeremiah or Yahweh speaking in the first person. Jeremiah, as every true preacher, was no mere relayer of God’s word. He was personally involved in the message, sharing the heart of God whilst also full of heartbreak for his own people- just like the Lord Jesus.</p>


text:
<p>How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?- Again we can question whether Jeremiah was correct in feeling that he didn’t want to hear any more judgment to come upon his people. And yet despite this, the personal pronouns in the next verse clearly relate to God rather than Jeremiah. He shared the mind of God, whilst being also so terribly pained for his people- a fine insight into the Lord’s mind.</p>


text:
<p>For my people are foolish, they don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skilful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge- Clearly the "me" is God, and yet the surrounding context suggests Jeremiah is speaking. Again we see how the thinking and spirit of Yahweh was meshed with that of His servant and preacher. This is how our witness should be.</p>


text:
<p>I saw the land and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light- Clearly an allusion to the language of Genesis, supporting the idea that there wehave a description of the formation of eretz Israel rather than the entire planet. The judgments were intended to bring the eretz back to what it was then; but implicit in this judgment is the expectation of new creation. See on :31.</p>


text:
<p>I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth- The vision before Jeremiah suggests that the land of Israel was to return to the state it was in when the creation process began.</p>


text:
<p>I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled- This would suggest that "no man" was to be left on the land. But this didn’t happen at this time; only the leadership were taken captive, and soon after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, local Jews still came to worship at the temple site (<a href='B:300 41:5'>Jer 41:5</a>). In wrath God remembered mercy; or perhaps responded to some degree of repentance or intercession from a minority.</p>


text:
<p>I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, before His fierce anger- Israel were told to "throw down", "break in pieces" and "utterly destroy" the idols and altars of Canaan. There were times during their history when they obeyed this command by purging themselves from their apostasy in this. The Hebrew words used scarcely occur elsewhere, except very frequently in the context of how God "broke down", "threw down" and "destroyed" Israel at the hands of their Babylonian and Assyrian invaders as a result of their not ’breaking down’ (etc:) the idols. "Throw down" in <a href='B:20 34:13'>Exo 34:13</a>; <a href='B:50 7:5'>Deu 7:5</a>; <a href='B:50 12:3'>Deu 12:3</a>; <a href='B:140 31:1'>2Ch 31:1</a> is the same word in <a href='B:140 36:19'>2Ch 36:19</a>; <a href='B:300 4:26'>Jer 4:26</a>; <a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 33:4'>Jer 33:4</a>; <a href='B:300 39:8'>Jer 39:8</a>; <a href='B:300 52:14'>Jer 52:14</a>; <a href='B:330 16:39'>Eze 16:39</a>; <a href='B:410 1:6'>Nah 1:6</a>. "Cut down" in <a href='B:50 7:5'>Deu 7:5</a>; <a href='B:50 12:3'>Deu 12:3</a>; <a href='B:140 31:1'>2Ch 31:1</a> later occurs in <a href='B:290 10:33'>Isa 10:33</a>; Jeremiah 48; Jeremiah 25; <a href='B:310 2:3'>Lam 2:3</a>. So Israel faced the choice: either cut down your idols, or you will be cut down in the day of God’s judgment. Those who worshipped idols were like unto them. The stone will either fall on us and destroy us, or we must fall on it and become broken men and women (<a href='B:470 21:44'>Mat 21:44</a>). For the man untouched by the concept of living for God’s glory, it’s a hard choice.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end- Earlier God had threatened to make a full end, the same phrase is found in <a href='B:290 10:23'>Isa 10:23</a> and <a href='B:430 1:18'>Zep 1:18</a>. But now God promises that He will not make a full end (<a href='B:300 5:10'>Jer 5:10</a>; <a href='B:300 5:18'>Jer 5:18</a>; <a href='B:300 4:27'>Jer 4:27</a>; <a href='B:300 30:11'>Jer 30:11</a>; <a href='B:300 46:28'>Jer 46:28</a>). God is not capricious; but His love and pity is such that He is unafraid to not do according to His wrath. In wrath God remembered mercy; or perhaps responded to some degree of repentance or intercession from a minority. And this God is our God.</p>


text:
<p>For this the land will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not relented, neither will I go back from it- See on <a href='B:350 13:14'>Hos 13:14</a>. God was prepared to relent (<a href='B:300 18:8'>Jer 18:8</a>; <a href='B:300 26:3'>Jer 26:3</a>; <a href='B:300 26:13'>Jer 26:13</a>; <a href='B:300 26:19'>Jer 26:19</a>; <a href='B:300 42:10'>Jer 42:10</a>), and yet He says in <a href='B:300 4:28'>Jer 4:28</a> that He will not. This is not self-contradiction, but rather a reflection f the depth of how God’s compassion is finally greater than His judgment of sin. The whole mental and emotional trauma made God weary of all the relenting, so deeply did He feel it (<a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>). There has to come a moment when the pull of the flow toward the waterfall of condemnation is now too strong, and the plunge is inevitable. It is that moment which perhaps we need to fear more than anything else in human experience. It happened to Israel- their hearts too were hard, and in the end, after a period, God have them over to their hard hearts (<a href='B:230 81:11-12'>Psa 81:11-12</a>)- the implication being that even whilst He hardened their hearts, He kept them by grace from the full consequences::. but in the end, the final inevitable drag towards the waterfall set in. This is why there were times when even repentance, as a change of mind, could not save Jerusalem from destruction (<a href='B:300 4:28'>Jer 4:28</a>; <a href='B:300 15:1-9'>Jer 15:1-9</a>; <a href='B:300 16:12'>Jer 16:12</a>; <a href='B:330 7:1-9'>Eze 7:1-9</a>). This was the moment after the inevitable tug towards the waterfall beings, but before the actual plunge. It’s Saul cowering before the witch of Endor, lying face down in the dirt that fateful night::. and this is the human condition we should most dread.</p>


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<p>Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers; they go into the thickets and climb up on the rocks: every city is forsaken, not a man dwells therein- This was avoidable; if Judah had obeyed the commandment to flee their fenced cities and go into Jerusalem. See on :6. They refused God’s peace and safety in Jerusalem, and so they fled into the rocks and thickets.</p>


text:
<h4>You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain do you make yourself beautiful; your lovers despise you, they seek your life- The very nations whose help and blessing Judah had sought, and whose idols she had worshipped, were now coming to demand her life. Just as those idols had demanded the lives of her firstborn children, and she had given them. Now her life itself would be required by them.</h4><h4>Perhaps more than anything, the prophetic descriptions of condemnation were aimed at attacking the indifference which pervaded Israel. And so the power of sexual imagery is used to the full in the description of rejected Israel as a whore all dressed up with no place to go, so utterly unwanted and despised (<a href='B:300 4:30-31'>Jer 4:30-31</a>). This was and is the tragedy of Divine rejection of those who have so desperately sought the approval of this world, when all too late they find this world is over for good. We so minimize sin. Just a bit of injustice, a little touch of selfishness, a moment of hypocrisy… but all this is obscene treatment of our God. We read the description of the red clothing, gaudy jewellery and heavy make up of the harlot Israel in Ezekiel and Jeremiah… and this is how inappropriate is mere external religion (<a href='B:300 4:30'>Jer 4:30</a>). And we’re all guilty of that, in some ways at some times.</h4>


text:
<p>For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands saying, Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers- The imagery here pictures a woman who is dying in childbirth, but who will still produce a live birth. Just as the imagery of decreation has implicit within it the hope of new life, so here. Although the woman would die, the hope was that she would bring forth a new generation who would respond. The woman in travail is the woman of :30 who desperately dresses as a prostitute in order to placate her former lovers, when she realizes they have come to murder her. And she is in fact heavily pregnant, about to give birth with her murderers standing around her. This was the pathetic, awful picture of Judah’s position. This kind of shocking imagery is deployed to try to shake them out of their indifference, as it should us too.</p>


text:
<h4>Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justice, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her- This reflected how God is in search of man. What joy therefore when He finds a man, and the man who is searching finds Him. This is the joy of the lost being found in the parables of Luke 15. Jeremiah’s search for believers was a reflection of God’s. God hunts for us like a lion, Job came to realize; and in this "You show yourself wonderful to me" (<a href='B:220 10:16'>Job 10:16</a>). And we are searching for God. God is not indifferent to our searching for Him. Those awestruck moments of wonder, of radical amazement, are where God finds us at the time we are searching for Him. Both sides are seeking each other; and in those moments, they meet. As a Jewish poet put it: "And going out to meet thee / I found thee coming toward me". In those moments, heaven and earth kiss each other. There is a click, a flash, between Almighty God and us- as we stand at a bus stop, turn left into Acacia Avenue, lay there on our bed meditating.</h4><p>Here is another allusion to the situation during the Assyrian invasion; see on <a href='B:300 4:5'>Jer 4:5</a>; <a href='B:300 4:8'>Jer 4:8</a>. Hezekiah obtained forgiveness and acceptance for those who kept the Passover “otherwise than it was written”- thanks to his prayer (<a href='B:140 30:18'>2Ch 30:18</a>). In Hezekiah’s time, all Israel had to repent to avert total destruction- but even though they didn’t, the prayer of Hezekiah saved the nation (<a href='B:300 26:13'>Jer 26:13</a>; <a href='B:300 26:19'>Jer 26:19</a>). All of Jerusalem would have been forgiven if there was even one that truly executed judgment after the pattern of Phinehas (or is this a reference to Messiah?).</p><p>"Seeks truth" can also be "is not greedy". Jeremiah speaks of running to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem, searching her squares, to see if he could find a single man who did justice and wasn’t greedy (<a href='B:300 5:1'>Jer 5:1</a>; <a href='B:300 5:5'>Jer 5:5</a>; <a href='B:300 6:6'>Jer 6:6</a>; <a href='B:300 6:13'>Jer 6:13</a>; <a href='B:300 8:10'>Jer 8:10</a>). Why get so ballistic because people are greedy and have no real sense of justice? Isn’t that part of the human deal, don’t we see it every single day? Yes we do. But the challenge of the prophets is to feel its’ awfulness and realize that for this, an awful judgment is coming from God. It is indeed hard to see the world from God’s perspective; but this is what the spirit of prophecy was and is all about.</p><h4>We wonder whether there were really no other righteous in Jerusalem apart from Jeremiah. There was Josiah, but he died in disobedience to God’s wishes, fighting against Egypt for Babylon. There was Baruch, but he seems to have had a heart for materialism (<a href='B:300 45:5'>Jer 45:5</a>). Ezekiel was not in Jerusalem but already in captivity.</h4>


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<p>Though they say, ‘As Yahweh lives;’ surely they swear falsely- Josiah’s reformation had clearly not touched their hearts. The implication is that God’s people swore that "Yahweh lives" but without moral justice and right behaviour. To believe that God exists is therefore to act like Him, in truth, justice and righteousness. To live otherwise is to effectively deny His existence. His very existence is therefore an imperative to live and be as He is.</p>


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<p>O Yahweh, don’t Your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return- Jeremiah had similar oscillations of feeling as God also had. This is his response to the command to go and search for even one man who did righteousness (:1). He is complaining that surely God sees the situation anyway, which he had to report- Israel had not grieved to repentance. And they were psychologically hardened against that possibility. But then in :4,5 his pity for them returns and he as it were tries again. We are hardened in our path, one way or the other. The Lord hardened His face like a rock (<a href='B:290 50:7'>Isa 50:7</a>; <a href='B:490 9:51'>Luk 9:51</a>); and yet the wicked similarly harden their faces like a rock to go in the way of the flesh (<a href='B:300 5:3'>Jer 5:3</a>). Jeremiah had his face hardened in response to his own hardening of face (<a href='B:300 1:17'>Jer 1:17</a>; <a href='B:300 5:3'>Jer 5:3</a>), and the wicked in Israel likewise were hardened (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a>; <a href='B:300 4:30'>Jer 4:30</a>)</p>


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<h4>Then I said, Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the way of Yahweh, nor the law of their God- See on :3. Jeremiah apparently relents from his giving up with the people in :3. He realizes that the people simply don’t know God’s way and law- because the priests, of whom he was one, had not taught them. "Poor" is better "lean"; skinny and foolish is the language of a misled flock. The priests had not led them as intended. Notice how "the law" is not a set of disconnected, discrete commandments and regulations; it was to inculcate a way of life and thought, "the way of Yahweh", with which here it is paralleled.</h4><h4>But "law" is better "judgment", as AV. Knowing God’s present judgment should have a powerful practical effect upon us. If we know the judgment of God against certain types of behaviour, we will keep away from them totally. It is only the rejected who refuse to know "the judgment of their God" (<a href='B:300 5:4'>Jer 5:4</a> AV). We are living our lives under judgment. Knowing God’s judgment-principles, we will wish to separate from all that will finally be condemned and destroyed. Israel chose to be oblivious of what they well knew; there was no (awareness of) God’s judgment in their way of life (<a href='B:290 59:8'>Isa 59:8</a>) and therefore they lacked that innate sense of judgment to come which they ought to have had, as surely as the stork knows the coming time for her migration (<a href='B:300 8:7'>Jer 8:7</a>)</h4>


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<p>I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds- As so often, there is an intentional ambiguity as to the speaker. This is Jeremiah’s response to the command to go and seek at least one man to stand in the gap; but by :7 we have God speaking. Again we see how Jeremiah’s feelings and positions were so meshed with those of God; as should be with us, the Spirit of God had become part of his spirit. Jeremiah speaks as if he had expected that those amongst "the great men" would know Yahweh’s law and way; but he is disappointed, he finds not a single one there ("all with one accord::."). Again we see Jeremiah’s overly positive and hopeful view of Israel; which was also a reflection of God’s view, so in love with them was He still. Breaking the bonds suggests they had broken their covenant relationship. Judah had "broken the yoke and burst the bonds" of their covenant relationship with God, but He by grace had broken the yoke and bonds of those who enslaved them (<a href='B:300 2:20'>Jer 2:20</a>; <a href='B:300 30:8'>Jer 30:8</a>).</p>


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<p>Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them, a leopard shall watch against their cities; everyone who goes out there shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding is increased- Even in this expression of wrath, there is the implication that the people would still be safe within their cities [an intensive plural for the great singular city, of Jerusalem?] if they remained within it. As explained on <a href='B:300 4:5'>Jer 4:5</a>; <a href='B:300 4:8'>Jer 4:8</a>, one of the many potential possibilities was that the cities would be destroyed apart from Jerusalem, and if they repentantly fled into Jerusalem they would be saved.</p>


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<h4>How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken Me, and sworn by what are no gods- The tension within God is apparent. Hosea’s the clearest on this. God wants nothing more to do with His adulterous people; and then He pleads with them to come back to Him, breaking His own law, that a put away woman can’t return to her first husband. “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?::. mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together” (<a href='B:350 11:8'>Hos 11:8</a>). And Jeremiah has more of the same: “How can I pardon you… shall I avenge myself on a nation such as this? Shall I not punish them for these things?” (<a href='B:300 5:7-9'>Jer 5:7-9</a>; <a href='B:300 5:28-29'>Jer 5:28-29</a>). God reveals Himself as oscillating between punishing and redeeming, judging sin and overlooking it. God is open to changing His stated plans (e:g. to destroy Nineveh within forty days, to destroy Israel and make of Moses a new nation). He isn’t like the Allah of Islam, who conducts a monologue with his followers; the one true God of Israel earnestly seeks dialogue with His people, and as such He enters into all the contradictory feelings and internal debates which dialogue involves. ‘God loves the sinner and hates the sin’ has always seemed to me problematic, logically and practically. Love is in the end a personal thing; in the end love and hate are appropriate to persons, not abstractions. And the person can’t so easily be separated from their actions. Ultimately, it is persons who will be saved or condemned. The prophets reveal both the wrath and love of God towards His people, in the same way as a parent or partner can feel both wrath and love towards their beloved.</h4><h4>When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the prostitutes’ houses- Here and in :8 there is continued the tragic theme that the more God blessed His people with material blessings, the more they went away from Him. This continues a major Biblical theme- that God’s loving material blessings of His people led them to idolatry (<a href='B:50 32:15'>Deu 32:15</a>). The prosperity Gospel must give due weight to this sad experience of God’s people historically. Those blessings gave them a taste for materialism, which led them to madly seek more such blessings from anybody and anything which might immediately yield them. The prostitutes were representative of the various idols they served, although that service often involved sleeping with the cult prostitutes.</h4>


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<h4>They were as fed horses roaming at large- We all know the downward spiral into sin… how once we start, we can’t stop. But when Israel were like this, they are likened to a female horse camel in insatiable heat (Jer 2:23-25; Jer 5:7-9). We’d just rather not read that, or retranslate the words to make it seem somehow different. But we’re dealing with serious matters here. Sin is serious to God.</h4><p>Everyone neighed after hisneighbour’s wife- Being unfaithful to their covenant with God led them to being unfaithful to their marital covenant. Our relationship with God is reflected in our family lives.</p><h4>Our early morning thoughts are fair indicators of how we really are with God. Interestingly, Israel are criticized for their early morning attitudes- in the mornings (AV) they fantasized after their neighbours’ wives (<a href='B:300 5:8'>Jer 5:8</a>; <a href='B:350 7:6'>Hos 7:6</a>), got up and wanted to get drunk again (<a href='B:290 5:11'>Isa 5:11</a>), had unjust thoughts about others (<a href='B:300 21:12'>Jer 21:12</a>; <a href='B:400 2:1'>Mic 2:1</a>). That’s quite some emphasis- God was so unhappy with what His people thought about in the mornings. And <a href='B:430 3:7'>Zep 3:7</a> is perhaps the most challenging of all- God condemned His people because they rose each morning and cast off all their opportunities (Heb:), despite Him every morning [potentially] revealing His word to them (<a href='B:430 3:5'>Zep 3:5</a>). They allowed themselves to be simply too busy to see all that God potentially enabled for them every single day. And what about us? God has prepared huge potential achievement for each of us- but we tend to fritter our days away in busyness and poor planning and lack of a self-disciplined life.</h4>


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<p>Shouldn’t I punish them for these things? says Yahweh; and shouldn’t My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?- God had been Israel’s wife and was in love with her. His deep desire for avenging was therefore absolutely connected with His great love for her. There had to be response from Him. This rhetorical question, enquiring as to whether Yahweh should take vengeance on Israel, is thrice repeated in Jeremiah (<a href='B:300 5:9'>Jer 5:9</a>; <a href='B:300 5:29'>Jer 5:29</a>; <a href='B:300 9:9'>Jer 9:9</a>). The answer of course is "Yes, God would be justified in doing so". And that answer was perhaps the repentance which God sought in order to avert the coming of His judgment.</p>


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<p>Go up on her walls, and destroy; but don’t make a full end. Take away her branches; for they are not Yahweh’s- The destruction of the branches implied that the stock of the vine [a prophetic symbol for Israel] was to remain. This was another way of saying that a "full end" would be made, although Jeremiah was to walk around the walls of Jerusalem and prophecy their fall- the collapse of all human strength. See on :10. We see here the power of the prophetic word- Jeremiah uttering these prophecies was as good as the destruction happening, and he therefore was the vehicle through which it would happen. Realizing this may account for the psychological breakdown of Jeremiah we see in Lamentations. On <a href='B:300 4:5-6'>Jer 4:5-6</a> we saw that an earlier prophetic potential had been that Jerusalem would be saved, but the fortified cities of Judah would fall. Now it seems that possibility had been precluded by their impenitence, and so Jerusalem too would fall. This is how God works in our lives too, working out various prophetic potentials.</p>


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<p>For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against Me, says Yahweh- This was why Jerusalem was going to fall, and the plan for her survival as outlined on <a href='B:300 4:5-6'>Jer 4:5-6</a> was now cancelled. "Treachery" means literally to cover; they thought God would not notice, and this was the reason for His anger with them. And we can take a lesson from this. His omniscience requires from us a totally open attitude toward Him and ourselves.</p>


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<p>They have denied Yahweh and said, It is not He; neither shall evil come on us; neither shall we see sword nor famine- This was a denial of the very essence of Yahweh, "I am that I am"; and they said "It is not He", or "He is not". This was effectively atheism, although they would have hotly denied that charge. The damage of false teaching is that this is where it leads people; for it was the false prophets who taught that there would be no evil coming, and the predictions of sword and famine by Jeremiah and Ezekiel would not happen (:13). To deny God’s word is therefore to deny Him, to say "He is not". For "the word was God", He is identified with His word, and our attitude to His word is our attitude to Him.</p>


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<p>The prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them- This appears to be a statement of the people and false prophets about Jeremiah and the faithful prophets (so :14 implies). "Spirit" and "wind" are the same word in Hebrew. They treated the spirit within Jeremiah as just air, a wind that would pass away. This is why God responds in :14 by saying that His word in Jeremiah would become a fire and not simply wind. Again there is the implication that it was Jeremiah’s words which would bring the fire of destruction upon Jerusalem, and this accounts for Jeremiah’s psychological breakdown in Lamentations when he views the results of that fire.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Armies, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it shall devour them- See on :13. The prophetic word in Jeremiah’s mouth was like fire, and it was the people who were to be "devoured" by it (<a href='B:330 15:5'>Eze 15:5</a>; s:w. <a href='B:300 5:14'>Jer 5:14</a>; <a href='B:300 17:27'>Jer 17:27</a>; <a href='B:300 21:14'>Jer 21:14</a>). The amazing grace explained in Ezekiel 15 was in the fact that the ’devoured by fire’ vine twig would be refined in Babylon and still used by God to re-establish His Kingdom.</p>


text:
<h4>Behold, I will bring a nation on you from far, house of Israel, says Yahweh. It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation- Babylon was "ancient" in that God had raised it up for this time and purpose. Whatever the geopolitical issues of the day, it was Yahweh who would bring this distant nation against Israel. We wonder why Babylon is not named at this point, whereas it clearly is in Jeremiah’s later prophecies. Perhaps it was because these prophecies were still conditional; they were capable of fulfilment in peoples other than the Babylonians, had Judah at that time repented; although the judgment for their sins had to come at some point. But the channel of those judgments was still flexible, depending upon their repentance. See on <a href='B:300 6:3'>Jer 6:3</a>.</h4><h4>A nation whose language you don’t know, nor understand what they say- This was to be part of their judgment, and it is applied in <a href='B:530 14:21'>1Co 14:21</a> to those in the church at Corinth who falsely claimed that speaking in unintelligible babble was the Spirit gift of speaking in foreign languages. This was in fact therefore a sign that the church was judging itself, acting as if they were the sinful Jews of Jeremiah’s day whose judgment was to be dominated by those speaking a language they didn’t understand.</h4>


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<p>Their quiver is an open tomb, they are all mighty men- The idea was that every arrow in their quiver would bring death; but this was because the tongue of the Jews had been as deadly arrows (<a href='B:300 9:8'>Jer 9:8</a>). They were "mighty men" in that they were the earthly representatives of the Angelic elohim, God’s "mighty ones". Ezekiel makes the same point- the Angel cherubim chariots were to be the chariots of Babylon.</p>


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<h4>They shall eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds. They shall eat up your vines and your fig trees- "Eat up" is used of how Babylon "consumed" Jerusalem with fire (<a href='B:160 2:3'>Neh 2:3</a>; <a href='B:160 2:13'>Neh 2:13</a> etc:). The people and their land were to be "consumed" by the fire which was contained in the words Jeremiah spoke (<a href='B:300 5:14'>Jer 5:14</a>; <a href='B:300 5:17'>Jer 5:17</a>). But all who devoured / consumed them would be "held guilty" (<a href='B:300 2:3'>Jer 2:3</a>; <a href='B:300 10:25'>Jer 10:25</a>; <a href='B:300 30:16'>Jer 30:16</a>). And yet in depression, Jeremiah lamented that the fire had consumed (<a href='B:310 2:3'>Lam 2:3</a>; <a href='B:310 4:11'>Lam 4:11</a>), when it was His owns words which had been that devouring fire. His lament was therefore tantamount to a statement of regret that he had been used as the vehicle for this devouring fire.</h4><h4>They shall beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword- There was to be destruction in the land, but there was potentially safety / salvation in Jerusalem for those who were obedient and repentant (<a href='B:300 4:5-7'>Jer 4:5-7</a>). This was a test to Judah, because they trusted in their defenced cities (<a href='B:300 5:17'>Jer 5:17</a>). But the prophecy of Jeremiah 4 (and <a href='B:400 5:11'>Mic 5:11</a>) asks them to believe that these cities would fall, and there would be salvation only in Jerusalem. And yet they were disobedient, and did go into those other defenced cities (<a href='B:300 8:14'>Jer 8:14</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>But even in those days, says Yahweh, I will not make a full end with you- Earlier God had threatened to make a full end, the same phrase is found in <a href='B:290 10:23'>Isa 10:23</a> and <a href='B:430 1:18'>Zep 1:18</a>. But now God promises that He will not make a full end (<a href='B:300 5:10'>Jer 5:10</a>; <a href='B:300 5:18'>Jer 5:18</a>; <a href='B:300 4:27'>Jer 4:27</a>; <a href='B:300 30:11'>Jer 30:11</a>; <a href='B:300 46:28'>Jer 46:28</a>). God is not capricious; but His love and pity is such that He is unafraid to not do according to His wrath. In wrath God remembered mercy; or perhaps responded to some degree of repentance or intercession from a minority. And this God is our God.</p>


text:
<p>It will happen, when you say, ‘Why has Yahweh our God done all these things to us?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Just like you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours’- Jeremiah was commanded to prophecy this when the judgment happened. Perhaps he did, but Lamentations records him struggling with the "Why, God:::?" questions, and concluding that it was all unreasonably severe judgment. He really is portrayed as a man in struggle with God, despite being of His mind and Spirit in so much.</p>


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<p>Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah saying- This was to go to all Judah and not just Jerusalem, as previous prophetic words.</p>


text:
<p>‘Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and don’t see; who have ears, and don’t hear- These words are quoted about the Jews in the Lord’s day. But it is not to say that they were incapable of hearing or seeing, for this is part of an appeal to hear and respond (:22). The idea is that they had the eyes to see, but wouldn’t. It’s like the appeal to break up their fallow ground (<a href='B:300 4:3'>Jer 4:3</a>)- they were to use their potential. They were without understanding because they chose not to open their eyes and ears. Not understanding Divine teaching therefore has a moral basis to it; it’s not mere intellectual failure, but is rooted in a deep psychological desire not to repent.</p>


text:
<p>Don’t you fear Me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at My presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail; though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it’- They refused to fear God and sense His presence because they were persuaded that they had done nothing wrong (:12). This is the narrative story that is endlessly repeated in the hearts of so many: ’I am a good person, I don’t sin, the problem is with us, get off me and stop trying to make me feel my behaviour displeases God’. They had the potential to understand this (:21), but refused to live according to it. The reference to the sea and waves being limited as to their destructive effect is clearly a reference to the seas of the Gentile invaders; God had promised not to make a full end of Israel, and so the waves of the invaders would not be allowed to totally destroy the land / eretz. This was part of God’s covenant with Israel, His "perpetual decree". It was this experience of grace which ought to have made Judah tremble at the presence of the God of such grace.</p>


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<p>But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone- Again the issue is with their heart; they were the stubborn and rebellious son of <a href='B:50 21:18'>Deu 21:18</a>; <a href='B:50 21:20'>Deu 21:20</a> (s:w:) who had to be slain. Their refusal to understand (:21) was not therefore a case of intellectual failure, but was rooted in a desire to revolt from the God who had so loved them and walk away ("gone") from Him. Jeremiah mourned Israel’s lack of spiritual sensitivity and failure to live up to their potential- they had eyes, but didn’t see, they were God’s servant, but a blind one; His messenger, but unable to hear any message (<a href='B:290 42:19'>Isa 42:19</a>). So the prophets weren’t satisfied just because a minority responded to their message of God’s love. They were heartbroken because the majority rejected it. I suspect we tend to think that 1 response in 1000 is good, 1 in 10,000 isn’t bad. But what about the other 999, or 9,999, who receive our tracts, hit our websites, hear our witness- and don’t respond? Is our witness in the spirit of the prophets? Are we happy that the tiny minority respond, and don’t spare a thought for the tragedy of the majority who don’t? Not only their tragedy, but the tragedy for God?</p>


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<p>Neither do they say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear Yahweh our God who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest’- Yet again the emphasis is upon the heart. They failed to perceive that the rains in Palestine were arranged by God for the optimal times- just after sowing and just before harvesting, and then no rain during the harvesting season. Those "weeks of the harvest" were appointed by God for them. But they refused to "see" that (:21).</p>


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<p>Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you- The rains, so carefully designed to give them an optimal growing season and harvest (see on :24), were turned away from them because these were the blessings of the covenant which they had broken. The potential good that was planned would not come. This failure to realize potential is such a major theme of the prophets, and it can be seen in human life just as much today.</p>


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<p>For among My people are found wicked men. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men- God had told Jeremiah at the start of his ministry that He would watch over His word to perform it; but in the false Israel, there were false prophets who likewise watched over the fulfilment of their evil plans. "Trap" is the same word used about the "mount of corruption" in Jerusalem which Josiah had destroyed (<a href='B:120 23:13'>2Ki 23:13</a>). But his reforms were only tokenistic; the false prophets remained, setting up similar traps of corruption. It is the same word translated ’destruction’, which the Babylonians would bring (<a href='B:300 51:25'>Jer 51:25</a>; <a href='B:330 5:16'>Eze 5:16</a>). But as the Babylonians would entrap Jerusalem in the siege, so they had in essence done to themselves already.</p>


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<p>As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they became great and grew rich- The bird traps featured live birds within them, encouraging other birds to fly in to the trap or cage. This is how advertising works- see how this wonderful thing happened to this person, so why not join them within the cage. The wealth of the false prophets attracted the people to act like them.</p>


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<p>They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t judge the right of the needy- The "wicked men" of :26 were therefore the spiritual and civil leadership, and their wealth was gained through oppressing the poor. This was mentioned rather than their idolatry, because it is attitudes to the poor which are of such huge significance to God. The very same reasons are given by Ezekiel for the Babylonian judgment at this time (<a href='B:330 22:29'>Eze 22:29</a>).</p>


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<p>Shall I not punish for these things? says Yahweh. Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?- See on :9. The judgment was against the "nation", whereas :26-28 appear to condemn the ruling classes. God does not judge the righteous along with the wicked. The corruption of these men had spread throughout society; as noted on :27, they were a self-advertisement for getting wealth by abusing others, and all society were attracted to it. The abuse of the leadership was ’loved’ by the people (:31).</p>


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<p>An astonishing and horrible thing has happened in the land- God was ’astonished’ in that again, He limited His omniscience in order to enter fully into relationship with His people. He had higher hopes for His people, and is portrayed as shocked and shattered when those hopes were dashed. The false prophecies uttered in His Name and supported by His priests were particularly shocking to Him (:31).</p>


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<h4>The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and My people love to have it so- The entire society was guilty because leaders only act as the people want; see on :29. The priests were to teach the people God’s law, but the prophets who claimed to give God’s word gave false words in His Name. Hence there was a conspiracy between prophets and priests. And yet all Israel were to be priests. Although there was a special priesthood, it was clearly God’s intention that all Israel should be like priests; they were to be a "Kingdom of priests" (<a href='B:20 19:6'>Exo 19:6</a>). Israel were all “saints”, and yet saints and priests are paralleled in passages like <a href='B:230 132:16'>Psa 132:16</a>. Israel in the wilderness had clothes which didn’t wear out- just as the Priestly clothes didn’t, and were handed down from generation to generation (so <a href='B:20 29:29'>Exo 29:29</a> implies). Israel were to teach every man his neighbour and brother, saying, Know the Lord (<a href='B:650 8:11'>Heb 8:11</a>). God therefore saw all Israel as represented by the priests(<a href='B:350 4:9'>Hos 4:9</a>; <a href='B:290 24:2'>Isa 24:2</a>; <a href='B:300 5:31'>Jer 5:31</a>; <a href='B:300 8:10'>Jer 8:10</a>).</h4><h4>What will you do in the end of it?- This is typical of the rhetorical questions in Jeremiah. They were designed to elicit an acceptance by the people that all this would come to an appropriate end in a dramatic destruction. And it was a recognition of this which was vital for repentance. All the time, God is seeking to elicit repentance- from people we would likely have given up with long before.</h4>


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<h4>Flee for safety, you children of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, blow the trumpet in Tekoa and raise up a signal on Beth Haccherem; for evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction- On <a href='B:300 4:5-6'>Jer 4:5-6</a> we saw that an earlier prophetic potential had been that Jerusalem would be saved, but the fortified cities of Judah would fall. Now it seems that possibility had been precluded by their impenitence, and so Jerusalem too would fall. This is how God works in our lives too, working out various prophetic potentials. Tekoa and Beth Haccherem were to the south of Jerusalem; the idea is that the invaders from the north would take Jerusalem and pursue its inhabitants further south.</h4><h4>The frequent predictions of judgment upon Israel were effectively calls to repentance, whereby the predicted judgment need not actually happen. The more Israel resisted the call, the more they were as it were tightening the bands which the prophetic word had laid around them: "Now therefore be not mockers, lest your bands be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth" (<a href='B:290 28:22'>Isa 28:22</a>). Thus <a href='B:300 6:2'>Jer 6:2</a> appears to be a specific prophecy of future destruction in Jerusalem: "The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off" (RV). But the preceding verse is in fact a call for the "daughter of Zion" to "Flee for safety out of the midst of Jerusalem" (<a href='B:300 6:1'>Jer 6:1</a> RV). If they had obeyed that call, then the prophecy of cutting off wouldn’t have come true. Note in passing that this is the basis for the Lord’s command to flee out of Jerusalem in the "last days" of AD70 and before His return to earth. The prophecies of destruction within Jerusalem had [in AD70] and will yet have an element of conditionality about them. Hence the appeal of <a href='B:300 6:8'>Jer 6:8</a>; <a href='B:300 6:26'>Jer 6:26</a> to the "daughter of Zion" to "be instructed" and to mourn in repentance; if this had been done, in Jeremiah’s time, in AD70 and if it will be done in our last days, so many prophecies of certain judgment will not in fact be fulfilled.</h4>


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<p>The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off- See on :1. The translation could refer to good pastureland, which fits with :3. Or LXX: "And thy pride, O daughter of Sion, shall be taken away".</p>


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<p>Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her all around; they shall feed each one in his place- Again we note that "Babylon" is not mentioned here, and the idea of nomadic shepherds encamping around Jerusalem leads us to think that the nomadic Scyths are in view here. One prophetic potential was that had Judah repented, then the invasion of the Scythian tribes mentioned in Ezekiel 38 would have happened but would have been destroyed by Divine intervention, and then a repentant Judah would have built the temple system of Ezekiel 40-48. But this potential didn’t come about. The Babylonians weren’t characterized as shepherds, and yet they fulfilled the essence of the prophecy by besieging Jerusalem. See on <a href='B:300 5:15'>Jer 5:15</a>.</p>


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<h4>Prepare war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon- Attacks were usually made at dawn and not in the midday heat, but the invaders were to be so enthusiastic, having prepared / sanctified war against Jerusalem. This jihad is going to be seen in the last days, when these prophecies will come to their ultimate term.</h4><h4>Woe to us! For the day declines, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out- Here we see how Jeremiah totally identifies with the people he is teaching. In the midst of stating how the invaders would act and speak, he himself cries out "Woe to us!". He sees that the word he is preaching is absolutely true and will really happen. The day of opportunity for repentance is drawing to a close, although it is a long evening, stretching out a long time, because God really so sought their repentance before the night of the invasion came.</h4>


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<p>Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces- As noted on :4, Jeremiah is predicting the words of the invaders, although he himself interjects an outburst of "Woe unto us!" in :4. The "palaces" refer not only to the temple, but to the houses of the wealthy, built on exploitation of the poor (<a href='B:300 5:28'>Jer 5:28</a>). The historical records in Jeremiah and 2 Chronicles stress that "the great houses" were destroyed.</p>


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<p>For Yahweh of Armies said, Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her- The invaders were under the direct command of Yahweh of Armies; their armies were His armies, reflecting the Angelic armies of heaven. Just as Ezekiel’s cherubim were Angelic chariots, manifested in the chariots of Babylon. God commanded the invaders to cut down trees in order to make siege engines. This was specifically the opposite of how He had commanded Israel to make war (<a href='B:50 20:19-20'>Deu 20:19-20</a>). We could draw the conclusion that what God expects of His people, He doesn’t expect of the Gentile world; indeed He may expect the very opposite. This would suggest that it is inappropriate for Christians to demand that the secular world adopts exactly their positions.</p>


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<p>As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard inher; before Me continually is grief and woundedness- The violence and destruction were what the Jews were doing to each other; and so violence and destruction came upon them. That judgment was merely a continuation of how they themselves acted. The continual bubbling forth of their wickedness, as from a perpetual fountain, was matched in God’s continual woundedness. That God can be wounded by our behaviour::. is a stunning concept. This reveals the extent to which God has sensitized Himself toward man, when we are but ants before Him, the King of the cosmos. The same word is used of the deep wounding of God’s people by the invaders (<a href='B:300 14:17'>Jer 14:17</a>; <a href='B:300 30:14'>Jer 30:14</a>); but God felt that Himself even before they did.</p>


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<h4>Be instructed, Jerusalem- The appeal for Jerusalem to be "instructed" uses the same word translated "punish" (<a href='B:30 26:18'>Lev 26:18</a>). The idea was that the punishments were to be instruction; they were not the lashing out of an offended Deity. It was God’s hope, even ’fantasy’ would not be too strong a word, that His people would realize this, and come to say "You punished / instructed me, and I was instructed" (<a href='B:300 31:18'>Jer 31:18</a> s:w:).</h4><h4>Lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited- See on :1,2. Here and <a href='B:330 23:18'>Eze 23:18</a> speaks of how God’s soul "departed" from His people- but the same word is translated to hang / crucify (<a href='B:40 25:4'>Num 25:4</a>; <a href='B:100 21:6'>2Sa 21:6</a>; <a href='B:100 21:9'>2Sa 21:9</a>; <a href='B:100 21:13'>2Sa 21:13</a>). It’s as if God was crucified in His pain for Israel. And in the death of His Son He went through that pain. And so never, ever, ever::. can we nor Israel complain that our pain is greater than God’s. Never. The pain of God at Israel’s sin leads Him to exclaim (almost in the language of piercing and crucifixion): "Before me continually is grief and wounds" (<a href='B:300 6:7'>Jer 6:7</a>). We can wound God by our sin, so sensitive is He to us. In the end, we read that God’s "soul" departed from them, because "the Lord has rejected you" (<a href='B:300 6:8'>Jer 6:8</a>; <a href='B:300 6:30'>Jer 6:30</a>). This is the same language used about Saul- God rejected him, and so His spirit departed from him (<a href='B:90 15:23'>1Sa 15:23</a>; <a href='B:90 16:14'>1Sa 16:14</a>). The implication was that God’s very soul / spirit is "with" us, and therefore He can be so terribly wounded by us in His heart by the rebellions of those in covenant relationship with Him. For His heart / soul / spirit is so close to us His beloved people.</h4>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine- The idea is that virtually no grapes would be left. And yet in fact the majority of the population, the working classes, were left in the land by the Babylonians. They had a policy of only taking the upper classes into captivity, and they did this with Judah. So here we see again God speaking in a wrath which He didn’t completely fulfil.</h4><h4>Turn again your hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets- The idea seems to be as GNB: "So you must rescue everyone you can while there is still time". Perhaps the fact that not all were destroyed nor taken captive, as seems to be implied would happen, was because of the success of Jeremiah’s ministry.</h4>


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<p>To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they can’t listen. Behold, the word of Yahweh has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it- This would be Jeremiah somewhat rebellious response to the command in :9: "So you must rescue everyone you can while there is still time" (GNB). Jeremiah’s response to this is that made by many believers today: ’But nobody’s interested in repentance’. They had been asked to circumcise their hearts (<a href='B:300 4:4'>Jer 4:4</a>), but Jeremiah considers that none have done so. And therefore, they would not listen, in the sense of responding. Jeremiah’s lament that the people had no joy ordelight in God’s word is the basis for his comment that when he found God’s words, they were his joy (<a href='B:300 15:16'>Jer 15:16</a>). We might therefore detect there a sense of spiritual superiority over the Jews for whom God’s word was not their joy.</p>


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<h4>Therefore I am full of the wrath of Yahweh. I am weary with holding in- Seeing the world through the eyes of both God and man, Jeremiah said that God’s wrath was his wrath, “I am full of the wrath of Yahweh”, and yet he stood before God “to turn away thy wrath from them” (<a href='B:300 18:20'>Jer 18:20</a>). Hence the huge psychological tension within the prophets. Like God Himself in <a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>, Jeremiah was "weary" of the stress and tension of continually threatening inevitable judgment and yet offering the utter grace of a way out of it. And so Jeremiah asks God to as it were be done with it, and pour out His anger.</h4><h4>Pour it out on the youths in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days- This did happen, in response to Jeremiah’s request that it happen; and yet after the Babylonian invasion, he bitterly laments the suffering of young and old in Jerusalem in just the same language&nbsp; (<a href='B:310 2:12'>Lam 2:12</a>; <a href='B:310 2:19'>Lam 2:19</a>; <a href='B:310 2:21'>Lam 2:21</a>; <a href='B:310 5:14'>Lam 5:14</a>). The lesson is that what we pray for in depression and desperation, we may receive. And we should be therefore careful what we pray for.</h4>


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<h4>Their houses shall be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out My hand on the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh- This is God’s response to Jeremiah’s request that God pour out His wrath and end the tension of threatening to do so but not doing it (:11). God likewise says in <a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a> that because He was weary with repenting, with changing His mind, He would "stretch out My hand" in judgment, using the same phrase found here.</h4>


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<h4>For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely- That all of society was guilty is a major theme of the prophets. They were attracted by the idea of immediate wealth, they coveted this, and therefore turned to idols which offered this. Hence covetousness is here paralleled with dealing falsely, which is what they were doing by proclaiming faithfulness to Yahweh whilst serving other gods.</h4>


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<p>They have healed also the hurt of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace- There were false prophets both in Judah as the Babylonians approached, and also amongst those of them already in exile (<a href='B:300 6:14'>Jer 6:14</a>; <a href='B:300 8:11'>Jer 8:11</a>; <a href='B:330 13:16'>Eze 13:16</a>). They were assuring the sinful people that in fact they were at peace with God, and that contrary to the prophetic message of desolation at the hand of the Babylonians, they would instead have "peace". This is described in Jeremiah as "lightly" healing the great wound or illness of Judah. That wound is described ambiguously; it was a wound or breach in themselves caused by God’s smiting of them in the earlier Babylonian incursions (<a href='B:300 14:19'>Jer 14:19</a>), but also caused by them to God Almighty. "Lightly" carries with it the idea of not serious, light hearted, superficial, trifling. And we must likewise beware of this kind of religion that is pedalled in the name of Christianity; not facing our personal issues, and using a few Bible words from here and there to superficially cover over the most fundamental issues of our eternal destiny. And this was and is so attractive. But sin and its consequences are far deeper than any superficial, light hearted covering. It requires nothing less than the blood and word of the Lord Jesus.</p>


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<h4>Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush- We are either ashamed of our sins in repentance; or we will be made ashamed of them in the judgment (<a href='B:300 6:15'>Jer 6:15</a> RVmg:)- it’s shame either way. We either wail for our sins now, or we will wail for them at judgment day (<a href='B:300 9:19-20'>Jer 9:19-20</a>). Our shame should be before God for our sins against Him, and not before men. Hence the prophets often criticize Israel for not being ashamed of their sins before God. Our shame before men leads to anger; our shame before God is resolved in repentance and belief in His gracious forgiveness. Thus Jeremiah recalls how his repentance involved being ashamed, and yet then being "instructed" (<a href='B:300 31:19'>Jer 31:19</a>). It’s through knowing this kind of shame efore God that we come to a position where we are unashamed.</h4><h4>Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, says Yahweh- The allusion is to falling down before idols. By doing so they were living out how they were to fall before the nations of those idols. They would be cast down by God, but they had cast themselves down. Sin is its own condemnation.</h4>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it’- The "old" paths are literally ’the paths of olahm’, the ways of eternity, the way that will lead to eternal life. This is the real sense of the phrase; it has been much misused by those whose native conservatism leads them to imagine that the old ways of their denomination must be correct and worthy of defence, just because the phrase "old paths" occurs in the Bible. But this is a mistranslation. Out of all the ways before Israel suggested by the various idols, they were to choose the paths [or perhaps it can be read as an intensive plural, the one great path, referred to by the people as "it"] that leads to eternity. The ways of the idols led at very best only to temporary betterment.</p>


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<p>I set watchmen over you saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’. But they said, ‘We will not listen!’- The rejection of Jeremiah was in line with the repeated rejection of the earlier prophets / watchmen. It’s unlikely that they actually said "We will not listen", but God counts attitudes for what they effectively are, and imputes such statements to men as this is what their attitudes are effectively saying. And it is by such words that we shall be judged, and saved or condemned.</p>


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<p>Therefore hear, you nations, and know, congregation, what is among them- The appeal to God’s people is parallel with an appeal to the Gentile nations. It was the Divine intention that His people would repent along with the surrounding Gentile nations, and all come together in a revived Kingdom of God in Israel under a Messianic king.</p>


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<p>Hear, earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to My words; and as for My law, they have rejected it- As noted on :17, the people never formally rejected God’s law and words (:20), but this was effectively their attitude, and so these words and positions were counted to them. This was what their thoughts implied; and we note the judgment of thoughts as being of primary importance to God.</p>


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<h4>To what purpose comes there to Me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to Me- They had "rejected" God’s law (:19) but still were obedient to parts of it. This is typical of where form becomes more important than content in the lives of religious people. The culture becomes the religion. Israel mixed Yahweh worship with that of the idols, hence the offerings were of materials from "a far country"; Babylon is probably in view.</h4><h4>Like many of the surrounding peoples, the Jews were sure that because they had a temple, because they offered sacrifice to their God and went through required rituals, therefore they were OK. The prophets exposed all this as scandalous pretension, revealing Israel’s cherished beliefs and suppositions about these things as meaningless and false. Their surrounding world taught that if you offered sacrifice to your god, all went smoothly. And yet Jeremiah blasts them: “To what purpose does frankincense come [up] to me… your burnt offerings are not acceptable” (<a href='B:300 6:20'>Jer 6:20</a>).</h4>


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<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them. The neighbour and his friend shall perish- God confirms men in the way in which they choose to go. He can deceive those who don’t have the love of the truth (<a href='B:600 2:10'>2Th 2:10</a>), and so here He would lay stumbling blocks. Ezekiel was prophesying at about the same time to the same people, although from Babylon. He too mentions this feature of God laying stumbling blocks before the wicked, although he says that the prophets gave such people warning (<a href='B:330 3:20'>Eze 3:20</a>):&nbsp; But they had in fact themselves laid the stumbling blocks of their idolatry within their hearts (<a href='B:330 14:3'>Eze 14:3</a>). So here God is only psychologically confirming them in what they had themselves chosen. He works directly on human hearts, through "an evil spirit from the Lord" as with Saul, or positively through the transforming of His Holy Spirit. This theme is continued in :22.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh, Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth- Whoever the invaders refer to, be it Babylon or the Scythians (see onJer 5:15; <a href='B:300 6:3'>Jer 6:3</a>), they were from the very borders of the eretz promised to Abraham, which is "the earth" in view. They were "stirred up" in the same way as the spirit of Cyrus was later stirred up (s:w. <a href='B:150 1:1'>Ezr 1:1</a>). As noted on :21, God works directly upon human hearts, placing ideas and desires within the human psyche. Just as God stirred or raised up Babylon to invade, so He would stir up, or psychologically provoke, other nations to come and judge her (<a href='B:300 50:9'>Jer 50:9</a>; <a href='B:300 50:41'>Jer 50:41</a>; <a href='B:300 51:1'>Jer 51:1</a>; <a href='B:300 51:11'>Jer 51:11</a>). This is greatly emphasized. The activity of God directly upon human hearts is a great theme of the Biblical revelation, and is to encourage us that He is eager to transform hearts, and to place desires within us beyond our own unaided psychological ability.</p>


text:
<p>They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, each one set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion- The present tense is used although the events were still future; they were that certain of coming true, because God’s word is sure. This is the language of the Assyrian invasion in Hezekiah’s time, and I suggested on <a href='B:300 4:5'>Jer 4:5</a>; <a href='B:300 4:8'>Jer 4:8</a>; <a href='B:300 5:1'>Jer 5:1</a> that the events in Judah at that time are often alluded to in Jeremiah. There was still the possibility that at the last moment, salvation by grace would be revealed in Jerusalem. But <a href='B:290 17:12-13'>Isa 17:12-13</a> had said that the great rushing of the attackers like the waves was going to be turned back. There was still that potential.</p>


text:
<p>We have heard its report; our hands become feeble: anguish has taken hold of us, pains as of a woman in labour- The audience of Jeremiah generally rejected his message, insisting that no evil was going to come (<a href='B:300 5:12'>Jer 5:12</a>). So the "we" refers to Jeremiah and the minority who repented. They were in labour, to bring forth the new Zion, the envisaged reborn community of Israel. In Micah, the daughter of Zion was to be in labour pangs (symbolic of their troubles in the 70 years captivity), and then give birth to a new nation as a result of this (<a href='B:400 4:9-10'>Mic 4:9-10</a>), as well as her Messiah (<a href='B:400 5:2'>Mic 5:2</a>), who would lead Judah in destroying Babylon (<a href='B:400 4:13'>Mic 4:13</a>; <a href='B:400 5:5-8'>Mic 5:5-8</a>). But Judah didn’t want to destroy Babylon. Most of them preferred to carry on living there. So, no Messiah. At that time. Another different sequence of prophetic fulfilment had to develop:&nbsp; But this potential was there even before the Babylonian invasion.</p>


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<p>Don’t go forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side- This is a warning from Jeremiah; those who believed no evil would come would have disbelieved him (<a href='B:300 5:12'>Jer 5:12</a>), and perished as a result. It’s rather like the command in the Olivet Prophecy to flee to the mountains.</p>


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<p>Daughter of My people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us- Jeremiah again appeals for repentance, to believe that death would come and so to mourn as if they had received their punishment. See on :1,2. The Canaanite tribes spoke of how their gods were married to their land and would defend it. But the prophets, especially Hosea, reveal Yahweh as married to His people. “Thus says the Lord, O my dear people [bath ‘ami- as if they are God’s partner]… make mourning… for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us” (<a href='B:300 6:22'>Jer 6:22</a>; <a href='B:300 6:26'>Jer 6:26</a>). God delicately speaks as if He is married to Israel, and that even in their sufferings, He would suffer with them, as a husband suffers with his wife. “The destroyer will come upon us” even sounds as if God let Himself in a way be ‘destroyed’ in Israel’s destruction; for each of us dies a little in the death of those we love.</p>


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<h4>I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among My people; that you may know and try their way- This doesn’t mean that Jeremiah decided who was the faithful, the true metal, by testing their way Rather, the word of God which he preached was a test of the people, and their response to it revealed "their way". Thereby it was God who tried the way of His people (s:w. <a href='B:300 17:10'>Jer 17:10</a>). Those who responded positively would find Jeremiah and his words to be a fortress, and could save themselves thereby.</h4><h4>Not only in our own self-examination should there be unity between our judgment and that of the Father; Jeremiah was told to "know and try" Israel’s way, just as God said that He did (<a href='B:300 6:27'>Jer 6:27</a> cp. 9:7; 17:10). Our ’judging’ of others, as well as ourselves, must be according to God’s judgments of them. And further; if we know the judgments of God, then we will be more strongly motivated in our preaching and pastoral work, to pull men out of the fire of condemnation (<a href='B:720 1:23'>Jud 1:23</a>).</h4>


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<p>They are all grievous rebels, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly- This may be Jeremiah’s response to the command to use God’s prophetic word to refine the people. He reports that the people are corrupted brass and iron, their encounter with God’s prophetic word had not refined them. They were epitomized by slander. This could refer to the false prophecies they believed which slandered God. But it seems more natural to take this as meaning that slander was their characteristic sin. Because gossip is such an epitome of the flesh, it is ranked along with sins like fornication, idolatry and murder in <a href='B:330 22:9'>Eze 22:9</a>. And so there are passages in Jeremiah which describe slander and gossiping as being the reason why God condemned Judah (<a href='B:300 6:28'>Jer 6:28</a>; <a href='B:300 9:3-8'>Jer 9:3-8</a>). The soap operas of the world are full of this kind of gossip and intrigue; they glorify it. And the more we feed ourselves with these things, the more likely we will be to see gossip as just part of life. And yet let’s not mistake the words of the prophets; it is seen as murder, because effectively it puts to death a man’s relationship with his fellows. God hates the man who sows such discord among brethren through gossip in the church (<a href='B:240 6:19'>Pro 6:19</a>). "The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly" (<a href='B:240 26:22'>Pro 26:22</a>). That casual remark, that passing on of information under the guise of ’concern’- it was a body blow to the one you gossiped about, a blow so hard that it caused deep internal damage.</p>


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<p>The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away- This is the tragedy of Israel throughout their history, just as it is the tragedy of so many life histories. Terrible sufferings have been experienced, but still repentance and transformation has not been elicited. The fire was so intense that the lead itself was burned up by it, without achieving the desired cleansing:&nbsp; And the bellows, according to the AV, were also burned. Babylon themselves would be destroyed.</p>


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<p>Men will call them rejected silver, because Yahweh has rejected them-&nbsp; The idea is that "men", the inhabitants of the earth, will come to see Yahweh’s judgments from His perspective. "Rejected" is the same word translated "rejected" in <a href='B:300 6:19'>Jer 6:19</a> where Israel rejected God’s word. Their response to that word was therefore their judgment, and the refining fire upon them. It is also translated "despised", and Judah had despised the covenant and word of God (<a href='B:30 26:15'>Lev 26:15</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43-44'>Lev 26:43-44</a> s:w:). But as those verses in Leviticus bring out, although Israel rejected / despised God, He would not "for all that" reject / despise them eternally. This is the great paradox of God’s grace to Israel, which serves as eternal encouragement to His sinful people of all ages. He does not actually operate a measure for measure &nbsp;policy, of treating His people as they treat Him; although this is not to say that He will not judge them. That generation were "rejected" (<a href='B:300 7:29'>Jer 7:29</a>), but that is not to say that there was no hope for their future acceptance; the rejection by God was not eternal.</p>


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<p>The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying- This appears to be parallel to the incidents of Jeremiah 26, as Jeremiah’s prophecies and events in his life aren’t at all chronological within the book of Jeremiah.</p>


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<p>Stand in the gate of Yahweh’s house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh- This was probably not one of the outer gates, but one of he three gates which led from the inner court to the outer. Probably it was the gate where Baruch later recited the prophecies of Jeremiah, called "the new gate of the Lord’s house", located in the "upper" i:e. inner court (<a href='B:300 36:10'>Jer 36:10</a> cp. 26:10). Probably the time was one of the three great feasts, when the people of Judah would have come up to the temple.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place- Jeremiah especially reveals the grace which God was so eager to show to the exiles. <a href='B:300 7:3-7'>Jer 7:3-7</a> made it clear that Judah’s return to the land was to be conditional upon them not oppressing the poor- only “then will I cause you to dwell in this place” (AV). Yet in His grace and zeal for His people, it seems God overlooked that condition- for the returned exiles did oppress (<a href='B:160 5:1-5'>Neh 5:1-5</a>), and yet they returned to the land. And yet they would’ve dwelt in Zion “for ever and ever” (<a href='B:300 7:7'>Jer 7:7</a>) if they had not been abusive to others and truly loved God.</p>


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<p>Don’t trust in lying words by saying, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these- Time and again Jeremiah accuses the people of purposefully inciting God to anger through their worshipping of Him (<a href='B:300 7:18-19'>Jer 7:18-19</a>; <a href='B:300 11:17-18'>Jer 11:17-18</a>; <a href='B:300 25:6'>Jer 25:6</a>; <a href='B:300 44:3-8'>Jer 44:3-8</a>)- whereas the onlooker would’ve likely commented that at least they were doing something , and Jeremiah should just calm himself down about it all. He uses a grating sarcasm in <a href='B:300 7:21-23'>Jer 7:21-23</a>: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh… I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings…but this command I gave them: Obey my voice”. The people loved their temple: “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord…’, they said. And Jeremiah responds: “You trust in deceptive words to no avail” (<a href='B:300 7:4'>Jer 7:4</a>; <a href='B:300 7:8'>Jer 7:8</a>). And time and again, the prophets predicted the destruction of the temple by the God of Israel. This was radical stuff in those days; the idea was that the survival of a god depended upon the survival of his temple or shrine. No pagan god would threaten to destroy his own shrine. Israel’s God was so different.</p>


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<p>For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbour- Perhaps their "ways" refer to the well trodden ways and paths of thought within the mind, reflected in "doings". "Amend" is the word used of how Cain was bidden "do well", to amend his ways, and a sin offering was even provided for him (<a href='B:10 4:7'>Gen 4:7</a>). Hereby Israel are set up as Cain, a parallel which the Lord (<a href='B:500 8:44'>Joh 8:44</a>) and New Testament writers also perceive. Judah had "trimmed" or "amended" their ways to seek relationships with the surrounding nations (<a href='B:300 2:33'>Jer 2:33</a> s:w:), willing to accept their gods and whatever cult obligations to them which were required. But they would not amend their ways for Yahweh. "Amend" is the word translated ’to do well to’ in <a href='B:300 7:23'>Jer 7:23</a>. If they amended their ways, God would amend or change His plans of judgment. Here we behold the openness of God, His deep sensitivity to human repentance and change.</p>


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<p>If you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt- Because they oppressed Gentiles, therefore they were to be oppressed by them (<a href='B:50 28:29'>Deu 28:29</a>; <a href='B:50 28:33'>Deu 28:33</a>; <a href='B:300 50:33'>Jer 50:33</a> s:w:). Their judgments were appropriate to their sins. Innocent blood was shed in the temple; it was there that the idols were worshipped and child sacrifice made. This is in proximity to the description of that temple as a den of robbers (<a href='B:300 7:11'>Jer 7:11</a>), and these two ideas are found in Eze 1810 : "If he fathers a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, and who does any one of these things". These were all things going on at the time of Ezekiel. The exiles needed to repent of these things. These actual things had been practiced by the ruling classes who were now in exile with Ezekiel. The same word is used to express how the Jerusalem temple had been turned by the priests into a "den of robbers" or oppressors (<a href='B:300 7:11'>Jer 7:11</a>). Jeremiah as a priest is addressing the leaders of the priests. One reason Judah was destroyed was because Manasseh was a ’shedder of blood’ (<a href='B:120 21:16'>2Ki 21:16</a>; <a href='B:120 24:4'>2Ki 24:4</a>). Perhaps this was being focused upon by some, complaining that God was unfairly punishing them for Manasseh’s sins. But the reality was that in essence, his descendants and wider family had done the same as he had done. For they too had been involved in the shedding of the innocent blood of their own children to the idol cults (<a href='B:230 106:38'>Psa 106:38</a>).</p>


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<p>Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even for evermore- The whole exile and return need never have happened- the prophecies of this need not have come true in the way they did, for even before the Babylonian invasion, Judah had been offered the prospect of eternally remaining in their land, if they repented. And after it happened, Jeremiah commented: “Your prophets… did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity” (<a href='B:310 2:14'>Lam 2:14</a> NIV). It could have been ‘warded off’ by the peoples’ repentance. Note how Jeremiah, himself a prophet at the time, so wishes to take the blame upon himself for not&nbsp; pleading more powerfully with the people. Perhaps we will have similar feelings when the time of tribulation breaks forth in the very last days.</p>


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<p>Behold, you trust in lying words, that can’t profit- The attraction to them of the false prophets was that they offered "profit". It was materialism and a chronic coveting of instant wealth which led them to idolatry, which the prophets taught. This was because those idols were fertility cults offering good harvests and prosperity in return for worshipping them. It was idolatry which "can’t profit" (s:w. <a href='B:90 12:21'>1Sa 12:21</a>; <a href='B:290 44:9-10'>Isa 44:9-10</a>; <a href='B:300 2:8'>Jer 2:8</a>), and this was what the "lying words" were all about.</p>


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<p>Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known- This was the behaviour inculcated by the false prophets of :8. They "walked after" gods they did not "know", in the Hebraic sense of having a relationship with. Idols don’t have relationships with people; they are worshipped in the minds of the idolaters. Yahweh alone has real, legitimate two way relationship with His people.</p>


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<p>And come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are saved; so that you may do all these abominations?- The lack of conscience and shamelessness of the people is quite a theme in Jeremiah. They thought that their connection with Yahweh and the temple was some kind of ’once saved always saved’ position which meant they could not really sin. This led them to what appears terrible hypocrisy; doing the things of :9 and then coming into the temple to proclaim their innocence. Indeed it seems Judah purposefully committed their worst sacrilege in the temple on the Sabbath, "in the same day" (<a href='B:330 23:38'>Eze 23:38</a>). The child sacrifices of <a href='B:330 23:39'>Eze 23:39</a> were committed on the Sabbath. They had justified their perversions by claiming that they were in fact a form of Yahweh worship. That was the only way their consciences could be numbed to do as they did. This is the scenario of <a href='B:300 7:7-10'>Jer 7:7-10</a>; they offered their children in nearby Gehenna and then came into the temple, reasoning that they were "delivered", saved from Egypt and from threatened judgment, in order to be able to sin without conscience. This was the Old Testament form of continuing in sin because grace abounded (<a href='B:520 6:1'>Rom 6:1</a>).</p>


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<p>Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Yahweh- A robbers’ "den" is a place where they retreat in safety, certain that in their den they are safe from prosecution or the judgment of those they had stolen from. This is what they considered the temple to be. But there was no special, holy place which of itself provided a literal space which shielded from the eyes of Yahweh’s judgment. Their holy concept of sacred space, and protection within it, was a false teaching from their prophets.</p>


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<h4>But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I caused My name to dwell at the first- Commonly enough, the New Testament speaks of baptism as a calling upon the Name of the Lord. This must be understood against its Hebrew background-qara’ beshem Yahweh, which originally referred to approaching God in sacrifice (<a href='B:10 12:7-8'>Gen 12:7-8</a>; <a href='B:230 116:4'>Psa 116:4</a>; <a href='B:230 116:17'>Psa 116:17</a>). God placed His Name upon places in order to make them suitable places for sacrifice to be offered to Him (<a href='B:50 12:4-7'>Deu 12:4-7</a>; <a href='B:50 12:21'>Deu 12:21</a>; <a href='B:300 7:12'>Jer 7:12</a>). Baptism was thus seen as a sacrificial commitment to Yahweh in solemn covenant.</h4><h4>And see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel- This reminder is in the context of :11, where we saw that Israel considered the temple a sacred space which somehow automatically preserved them from any prosecution for their sins. And so they were reminded that God doesn’t operate sacred spaces like that. God’s earlier sacred space in Shiloh had been destroyed because of the wickedness of the people, and the Jerusalem temple was not going to be any different. If the people had taken a more Biblical approach, they would have realized that the Scriptures spoke of God’s people being taken captive out of their land; the existence of the temple was not going to save them from that.</h4>


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<p>Now, because you have done all these works, says Yahweh, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn’t hear; and I called you, but you didn’t answer- Several times God speaks of His rising up early in the morning through the ministry of the prophets, every single day since Israel left Egypt (<a href='B:140 36:15'>2Ch 36:15</a>; <a href='B:300 7:13'>Jer 7:13</a>; <a href='B:300 7:25'>Jer 7:25</a>). The figure is stressed- God Himself rose up early every day to teach and appeal to His people (<a href='B:300 32:33'>Jer 32:33</a>). Alarm clocks have changed our appreciation of this. Have you ever had to make yourself wake up before dawn, without an alarm clock? You can only do it by having a deep internal, subconscious awareness that you must get up early. You don’t sleep well, you keep waking up and wondering if it’s time to get up. So to make oneself rise up early was easily understood as a figure expressing great mental effort. And God did this every day for centuries::.</p>


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<p>Therefore thus will I do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh- Trust in the physical temple as a place of salvation and automatic shielding from God’s judgment is seen today, in that religious people tend to trust in the external structures and symbols of their religion. This is the problem with religion; and human beings are wired with a tendency toward such external religion. The way of Yahweh is the way of the heart, of the Spirit; and external religion militates against this. Their "trust" was in the external form of their religion rather than the essential content- which should have been Yahweh. This "trust" was in the lying words of the prophets who taught this false idea about Jerusalem (:4,8).</p>


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<p>I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim- As pointed out to them earlier, the fate of the ten tribes was to be theirs. They considered God’s "sight" or presence (s:w:) to be uniquely in the Jerusalem temple. This was not in fact the case, but for the sake of getting through to them, God accepts this for a moment to be true (as the NT language of demons does); and says that in any case, they will be cast out of Jerusalem and His presence in Zion. Ezekiel puts it another way, in saying that God’s presence would depart, and the visions of the cherubim departing put that in visual terms. Here, God says that they will be cast out of His presence, even assuming that presence remained in Zion.</p>


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<h4>Therefore don’t pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you- Perhaps God was purposefully alluding to how Abraham’s intercession saved Lot out of Sodom. But in this case, therefore, the sins of Jerusalem were worse than those of Sodom, and this precluded the power of such intercession. See on :27. For the sake of our prayers, in some cases sins of others can be forgiven when otherwise they wouldn’t be. For the sake of our conversion of our erring brethren, they can be saved from eternal death and have their sins covered. The Lord’s prayer says as much- we ask God to forgive us our &nbsp;sins; not ‘me my sins’. Only once Israel had passed a certain level of sinfulness was Jeremiah told to cease prayer for them (<a href='B:300 7:16'>Jer 7:16</a> cp. 11:14). Until that point, God seems to have been willing to read Jeremiah’s prayer for them as their prayer (his “cry” was seen as theirs). And <a href='B:330 14:14'>Eze 14:14</a>; <a href='B:330 14:18'>Eze 14:18</a> imply the same- Noah, Daniel and Job could have delivered Israel at this time up to a certain point, but they were so hardened in sin at Jeremiah and Ezekiel’s time that even those men wouldn’t have saved a nation which otherwise, for a lower level of sin as it were, they could otherwise have saved. If we have any grain of love in us, we will likewise dedicate ourselves to fervent prayer for our brethren, seeing it does have effect and validity within certain boundaries.</h4><p>The new Testament references to intercession never suggest that the Lord Jesus Christ intercedes in the sense of offering our prayers to God. "Intercession" can be read as another way of describing prayer; this is how the term is invariably used (<a href='B:300 7:16'>Jer 7:16</a>; <a href='B:300 27:18'>Jer 27:18</a>; <a href='B:520 11:2'>Rom 11:2</a>; <a href='B:610 2:1'>1Ti 2:1</a>). Thus when Jeremiah is told not to intercede for Israel, this meant he was not to pray for them; it does not imply that he was acting as a priest to offer Israel’s prayers to God. Nowhere in the Bible is the idea floated that a man can offer another man’s prayers to God and thereby make them acceptable. The Greek for "intercession" essentially means to meet a person; prayer / intercession is a meeting with God. There is evidently nothing morally impossible about a man having direct contact with God in prayer without any priest or ’mediator’; the Old Testament abounds with such examples. The fact we are called upon to make intercession for others is surely conclusive proof that "intercession" means prayer, not relaying the words of another to God (<a href='B:610 2:1'>1Ti 2:1</a>). This meaning of intercession needs to be borne in mind when we consider its occurrences in Romans 8. There we are taught that we know not what to pray for as we ought; the Lord Jesus makes intercession for us- i:e. He prays for us- not with words, i:e. not transferring our human words into God’s language, not shuttling to and from between us and God as it were, but with His own groanings of the spirit. We don’t know how to pray, so Christ prays (intercedes, in the language of Romans 8) for us.</p><h4>And yet Jeremiah did pray for the people. We see here the degree to which he recognized that God was and is open to dialogue with man. Perhaps he recalled how God had asked Moses not to intercede with Him not to destroy Israel ("now therefore let Me alone::.", <a href='B:20 32:10'>Exo 32:10</a>); and yet Moses had continued interceding and God changed His plan. But now, that was not possible. An end had to come.</h4>


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<p>Don’t you see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?- The implication could be that Jeremiah was too slow to perceive exactly how wicked the people were. The sins on the streets of Jerusalem were having idols on every street and naming every street after an idol, just as was done in Babylon.</p>


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<h4>The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger- Again we see that the whole of society, including women and children, were implicated in the idolatry. They would not have considered that they were intentionally doing this to provoke Yahweh to anger, but this is how He read it. For God as it were imputes to our actions their real implications, both positively and negatively.</h4><h4>"The queen of heaven" was a Babylonian fertility god, otherwise called Ishtar, shaped like the moon or the planet Venus. It was the god of female fertility, hence the note that the women and children were a large part of its worship. Each female devotee was expected to sleep with the male cult prostitutes of this cult. And then sacrifice one of their children to it. No wonder this so upset God, seeing that He was the source of Israel’s fertility, and their children were born to Him and not to the supposed queen of heaven. The women later protested that they were impenitent of this worship of the queen of heaven, and they did so with the full blessing of their husbands; this was significant, seeing that the cult involved sleeping with other men and offering their children to Ishtar (<a href='B:300 44:19'>Jer 44:19</a>). See on :22.</h4>


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<p>Do they provoke Me to anger? says Yahweh. Don’t they provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?- So the theme is repeated- that sin is its own judgment, and they were sinning against their own souls as well as against God. This ’confusion of face’ is a term used by both Ezra and Daniel in their prayers, counting themselves amongst those who had suffered this judgment, even though they had not committed the sins of :18 (<a href='B:150 9:7'>Ezr 9:7</a>; <a href='B:340 9:7-8'>Dan 9:7-8</a>). This is a powerful example of how the righteous do not separate themselves from the wicked but consider themselves united in sharing the same judgment; just as the righteous Lord Jesus did for us in tasting death for every man.</p>


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<p>Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, My anger and My wrath shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched- At the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry, the implication was that the wrath could be quenched still(<a href='B:300 4:4'>Jer 4:4</a>); but the time would come when it could not be. By the time of <a href='B:300 7:20'>Jer 7:20</a>, God was saying that His wrath could no longer be quenched (as <a href='B:120 22:17'>2Ki 22:17</a>; <a href='B:140 34:25'>2Ch 34:25</a>). And yet even after this point, God still speaks as if it could be quenched by repentance (<a href='B:300 21:12'>Jer 21:12</a>). Even to the point of self-contradiction, God was so eager to have His wrath quenched. And this God is our God. His eagerness for human repentance should be reflected in our attitudes, both to others and to our own sins. Breaking relationship with people by casting them out of fellowship is not reflective of that.</p>


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<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat meat- As with Saul, God can send "an evil spirit from the Lord" to confirm men in their evil way, and also conversely the Holy Spirit to confirm those who wish to be spiritual in their way. This is why we are to pray "Lead us not into temptation", for God can encourage sinners in their way as He does here. And so Israel went backward and not forward, they were confirmed in their backward path (:24).</p>


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<p>For I didn’t speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices- God did command sacrifices; but He not so much commanded them as required Israel’s spirit of obedience and acceptance of Him. "Not A::. not B" is a construction found in Hebrew and other languages which means ’Not so much A, but actually more importantly B’. The sacrifices to the idols in :18 were therefore being performed in the name of Yahweh worship. This explains how shameless Israel were in their idolatry. They had convinced themselves that the false teachings from the false prophets were correct, and therefore they could worship Yahweh through idolatry. And this is an abiding temptation throughout all the generations of God’s people.</p>


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<h4>But this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to My voice, and I will be Your God, and you shall be My people; and walk in all the way that I command you- As explained on :22, the requirement for burnt offerings was not God’s essential desire. He wished for obedience and relationship with Him far more than technical obedience; the laws about offerings were to elicit and strengthen that essentially personal relationship between God and individual people. It was quite possible to perform the religious side of Yahweh worship without any personal sense of obedience to His word and relationship with Him. And we all have within us the poles of religion on one side, and spirituality on the other. They were completely on the religious pole, and lacked any real spirituality.</h4><h4>That it may be well with you- "Amend" in :5 is the word here translated ’to do well to’. If they amended their ways, God would amend or change His plans of judgment. Here we behold the openness of God, His deep sensitivity to human repentance and change.</h4>


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<h4>But they didn’t listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart- And went backward, and not forward- The "counsel" or advice / teaching they were following was that of the false prophets (:22). But actually those "counsels" were from their own evil minds. The false teachers were teaching them what they knew the mass of the people subconsciously wanted to hear. It is a feature of human nature that we can even subconsciously perceive what the ’other’ or our audience wants us to say and teach- and to do and say what they want. Hence the weak Christians of the first century heaped to themselves teachers who taught them what they subconsciously wanted to hear, repeating to them what "their own lusts" wanted (<a href='B:620 4:3'>2Ti 4:3</a>).</h4><h4>And went backward, and not forward- As explained on :21, Israel went backward and not forward, in that they were confirmed in their backward path.</h4>


text:
<p>Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them- See on <a href='B:300 23:18'>Jer 23:18</a>; <a href='B:300 23:22'>Jer 23:22</a>. God reminds Israel that “day after day”, ever since they left Egypt, He had consistently and persistently sent His prophets to them- there was never a day when a prophet wasn’t active (<a href='B:300 7:25'>Jer 7:25</a>; <a href='B:300 11:7'>Jer 11:7</a>; <a href='B:300 25:4'>Jer 25:4</a>; <a href='B:300 26:15'>Jer 26:15</a>; <a href='B:300 29:19'>Jer 29:19</a>; <a href='B:370 3:7'>Amo 3:7</a>; <a href='B:370 2:12'>Amo 2:12</a>). And yet obviously we only have the written record of a few of those prophets. It would seem from this that there were prophets apart from Moses who appealed to Israel in the wilderness to repent of their ways</p>


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<p>Yet they didn’t listen to Me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers- Inclining or humbling / bowing down the ear means that true response to God’s word ought to be a humbling experience. We cannot come away from engagement with God’s word without being humbled. And this very phrase is used of how God bows down / inclines His ear to human prayer (<a href='B:120 19:16'>2Ki 19:16</a>; <a href='B:230 17:6'>Psa 17:6</a>; <a href='B:230 31:2'>Psa 31:2</a>; <a href='B:230 71:2'>Psa 71:2</a> and often). We see here the mutuality possible between God and man, and the interplay between Bible reading and God’s response to our prayers. We speak to God in line with our understanding of His word, and He responds to our prayers. Bible reading and prayer therefore mesh together in the Christian life, as part of the upward spiral of spirituality. God is not silent to our prayers- He reveals Himself in response through His word.</p>


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<p>You shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you- Jeremiah like Ezekiel (<a href='B:330 3:7'>Eze 3:7</a>) was told that Israel wouldn’t hear him, but still he pleaded with them to hear (<a href='B:300 9:20'>Jer 9:20</a>; <a href='B:300 10:1'>Jer 10:1</a>; <a href='B:300 11:6'>Jer 11:6</a>; <a href='B:300 16:12'>Jer 16:12</a>; <a href='B:300 17:24'>Jer 17:24</a>; <a href='B:300 38:15'>Jer 38:15</a>); just as he was told not to pray for them, but he kept praying. This reflected God’s hope was that perhaps they would hearken (<a href='B:300 26:3'>Jer 26:3</a>) although He had foretold they wouldn’t. Jeremiah was told not to pray for Israel (<a href='B:300 7:16'>Jer 7:16</a>; <a href='B:300 11:14'>Jer 11:14</a>; <a href='B:300 14:11'>Jer 14:11</a>) and yet he did (<a href='B:300 14:20'>Jer 14:20</a>; <a href='B:300 42:2'>Jer 42:2</a>; <a href='B:300 42:4'>Jer 42:4</a>). And in similar vein, knowing the destruction that would come on all except Noah, God waited in the hope that more would be saved. He as it were hoped against His own foreknowledge that more would saved (<a href='B:670 3:20'>1Pe 3:20</a>).</p>


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<h4>You shall tell them, This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of Yahweh their God, nor received instruction- The instruction given and refused was the previous incursions of Judah’s enemies and the drought God had brought upon them (<a href='B:300 2:30'>Jer 2:30</a>; <a href='B:430 3:7'>Zep 3:7</a>).</h4><h4>Truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth- "Truth" is a term often used about covenant relationship. The greatest truth is not some intellectually correct analysis of Bible verses, but of real covenant relationship with God. But they had rejected this, and so God had rejected them (:29). "Truth" in the sense of intellectually correct understanding cannot "perish", nor has it done so over the generations in that some have always understood correctly. God doesn’t need His truth in that sense to be defended. But truth in the sense of covenant relationship can perish from those who once held it, and that is the paramount concern.</h4>


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<h4>Cut off your hair and throw it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights- The AV adds "Cut off your hair, O Jerusalem". They had thrown away their glory, their God, and so they were invited to throw away their natural glory (<a href='B:530 11:15'>1Co 11:15</a>). And for a woman to have a shaved head was a sign of her shame. They were being told to do this to themselves, because spiritually that was what they had done. The rejected are witnesses against themselves (<a href='B:290 44:9'>Isa 44:9</a>; <a href='B:470 23:31'>Mat 23:31</a>). Herein lies the crass folly and illogicality of sin. Jeremiah pleaded with Israel: "Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls [i:e. yourselves], to cut off from you man and woman::. that ye might cut yourselves off" (<a href='B:300 44:7-8'>Jer 44:7-8</a>, cp. how Jerusalem was to cut her own hair off here in <a href='B:300 7:29'>Jer 7:29</a>). Yahweh is the one who does the cutting off (<a href='B:300 44:11'>Jer 44:11</a>); but they had cut themselvesoff. Likewise as they had kindled fire on their roofs in offering sacrifices to Baal, so Yahweh through the Babylonians would set fire to those same houses (<a href='B:300 32:29'>Jer 32:29</a>). Thus Israel were the ones who had kindled the fire of Yahweh’s condemnation (<a href='B:300 17:4'>Jer 17:4</a>). Both Yahweh and Israel are described as kindling the fire of judgment; He responded to what they had done (<a href='B:300 11:16'>Jer 11:16</a>; <a href='B:300 15:14'>Jer 15:14</a>; <a href='B:310 4:11'>Lam 4:11</a> cp. <a href='B:300 17:4'>Jer 17:4</a>).</h4><h4>For Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath- "Rejected" is the same word translated "rejected" in <a href='B:300 6:19'>Jer 6:19</a> where Israel rejected God’s word. Their response to that word was therefore their judgment, and the refining fire upon them. It is also translated "despised", and Judah had despised the covenant and word of God (<a href='B:30 26:15'>Lev 26:15</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43-44'>Lev 26:43-44</a> s:w:). But as those verses in Leviticus bring out, although Israel rejected / despised God, He would not "for all that" reject / despise them eternally. This is the great paradox of God’s grace to Israel, which serves as eternal encouragement to His sinful people of all ages. He does not actually operate a measure for measure &nbsp;policy, of treating His people as they treat Him; although this is not to say that He will not judge them. That generation were "rejected", but that is not to say that there was no hope for their future acceptance; the rejection by God was not eternal.</h4>


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<h4>For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight, says Yahweh: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name-&nbsp; The only way their conscience allowed them to do this was because they absolutely convinced themselves that their idolatry was part of their worship of Yahweh. People can believe very strongly in what they want to believe in, and we see here a deep level of faith in their idea that they could serve Yahweh by serving idols. People believe in what they want to believe in. This is where Biblical faith is so different- we are asked to believe in God’s word, in His realities and perspectives, which are not what we intuitively would want to believe in of ourselves.</h4><h4>To defile it- The temple was to be defiled by the Babylonians, but as with all judgments, this was but an extension of what they themselves had done.</h4>


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<p>They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn’t command, nor did it come into My mind- As noted on :30, they did these things because they had persuaded themselves that their idolatry was a form of Yahweh worship. Hence God insists that He had not commanded this, it was not in His mind that they should do this- whereas it seems the false prophets and the priests were teaching that actually this was commanded by God.</p>


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<p>Therefore behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, until there is no place to bury- Where they had offered their own children, they would also be slain. Again, their judgment was appropriate to their sins. A valley full of bodies is the basis for the dry bones in a valley prophecy of Ezekiel 37. Out of this awful apostasy and its judgment there could come revival. Such was and is the power of God’s Spirit. Remember that Ezekiel was contemporary with Jeremiah.</p>


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<p>The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth; and none shall frighten them away- Lack of burial was the ultimate shame within their culture, and so their judgments were appropriate to their own self understandings. We recall how when God made His unilateral covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, the birds of prey were frightened away. This may be implying therefore that the covenant relationship was now broken.</p>


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<p>Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste- The streets of Jerusalem have previously been mentioned (:17) in the context of their being the scene of idolatry, with each street named after a god, just as in Babylon. The mirth and gladness was therefore in their idol rituals. It was this which led to the land becoming "waste", the phrase used about the result of breaking covenant relationship with Yahweh (<a href='B:30 26:31'>Lev 26:31</a>; <a href='B:30 26:33'>Lev 26:33</a>).</p>


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<h4>At that time, says Yahweh, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his 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- The valley of dry bones vision in Ezekiel 37 depicted Israel in captivity as bones waiting to come together and return to the land as a great army. We noted on <a href='B:300 7:32'>Jer 7:32</a> that this vision was as it were being set up by the picture of Israel’s bodies being left in a valley unburied. <a href='B:300 8:1'>Jer 8:1</a> and other passages in Ezekiel (<a href='B:330 6:5'>Eze 6:5</a>; Eze 244) had described both Judah and Israel as dry bones. The feeling of those bones was that "our bones are dried and our hope is lost" (<a href='B:330 37:11'>Eze 37:11</a>). Judah in captivity felt that they had no "hope", that God had cast them off, and that they were unable to have a full relationship with Him outside the land. However, it seems that this was a rather convenient piece of theology for them- they were doing well in Babylon, and despite the opportunity to return to the land, they largely chose to remain in Babylon.</h4><h4>But instead of allowing this revival to happen, instead the people would superstitiously use those dry bones in order to desperately appeal to their false gods to respond (:2). The revival of Ezekiel 37 was therefore precluded by Judah at the time; that is the point of the connection. But it will ultimately come true in the last days.</h4>


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<p>And they shall spread them before the sun, the moon and all the army of the sky which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried, they shall be for dung on the surface of the earth- See on :1. They were so devoted to their idolatry that even when their leadership were slain, they would use the bones to implore their idols to still save them. They would not be reformed even by the experience of national condemnation. "Walked::. sought::. worshipped::. served" are all terms used of how they ought to have served Yahweh. "They shall not be gathered" stands in tension with the repeated prophecies that judged Judah would then be gathered. They could have been, there could have been a restored Kingdom of God in Judah, but they precluded its fulfilment at that time by refusing to be gathered.</p>


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<p>Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Yahweh of Armies- I suggested on :1 that Ezekiel’s prophecy of the revived dry bones could have been fulfilled, but instead of allowing the Spirit of new life to enter them, Judah preferred death to life. They used the dead bones to desperately implore the help of their idols. And this would be done by the exiles, who were driven into exile in "all places". Ezekiel’s ministry was specifically to those exiles, and yet he was up against the fact that it was here prophesied that the exiles would preclude the fulfilment of the prophecies of life, and choose death instead.</p>


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<p>Moreover you shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall one turn the wrong way, and not return?- As explained on :1-3, they could have been revived fro those dead bones. Men who take a wrong turning do eventually retrace their steps. But these would not (:5). Jeremiah often makes a play upon the Hebrew word shub- it can mean to turn away (from God), and also to ’turn back’ or repent (e:g. <a href='B:300 3:1'>Jer 3:1</a>; <a href='B:300 3:7'>Jer 3:7</a>; <a href='B:300 3:10'>Jer 3:10</a>; <a href='B:300 3:12'>Jer 3:12</a>; <a href='B:300 3:14'>Jer 3:14</a>; <a href='B:300 3:19'>Jer 3:19</a>; <a href='B:300 3:22'>Jer 3:22</a>; <a href='B:300 4:1'>Jer 4:1</a>). If Israel turned in repentance, then God would return them to their land (<a href='B:300 15:19'>Jer 15:19</a>); if they turned away from Him, He would turn them out into the Gentile world. Our lives are a twisting and turning, either to or away from God; and God is waiting to confirm us in those twists and turns. <a href='B:300 8:4-6'>Jer 8:4-6</a> comment that if one turns from the right road, then they must turn back. We all know how when we miss the way in finding an unfamiliar address, there’s a tendency to keep on going along the wrong road- because turning back is so psychologically difficult. And this is the image that God uses here- to appeal to Israel, and ourselves, not to foolishly ’backslide’, keep on turning away, from Him- just because that’s the course we’re set upon.</p>


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<p>Why then is this people of Jerusalem sliding back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return- The Hebrew words for “sliding back” and “return” are identical. The image is of a man on a muddy slope; he slides back either into sin, or into the way of the Lord. We must ‘slide’ one way or the other; every micro decision which makes up the stream of daily life is confirmed by God one way or the other. The refusal to return after taking a wrong turning (:4) is readily imaginable by our generation. If we take a wrong turning, we must come to a point where we humble ourselves and turn back. If we refuse to do this, then we shall be forever lost. We continue going further and further along the wrong path only because we are proud. But they were on a perpetual sliding back from God’s intended path. They "refused to return", because they refused to be ashamed (<a href='B:300 3:3'>Jer 3:3</a> s:w:); and they "refused" God’s word through the prophets because it shamed them (<a href='B:450 7:11'>Zec 7:11</a>). It was pride which was at the core of their refusal, and their perpetual lostness.</p>


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<h4>I listened and heard, but they didn’t speak aright- The speaker here is God (:5). He was intently listening for the words of repentance He so wished to hear. We see here His eagerness for human repentance. As we go forth into this world to witness, the word we preach is being watched over by God, with His ear eager to hear any sounds of response. This word for intently listening is that used for God’s wish that people would intently listen to His word (<a href='B:300 6:17'>Jer 6:17</a>; <a href='B:300 6:19'>Jer 6:19</a> etc:). If we listen, then God will listen to us. Again we see related our attitude to God’s word, and His attitude to our words in prayer. Bible reading and response thereto is part and parcel of God’s response to our words in prayer.</h4><h4>No man repents him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Each one turns to his course, as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle- "What have I done?" is the question God asked Adam and Cain (s:w. <a href='B:10 3:13'>Gen 3:13</a>; <a href='B:10 4:10'>Gen 4:10</a>). Adam is everyman, and he specifically represents Israel in their sin. But they refused to listen, and were like a horse set on a course, blinkered to anything apart from rushing headlong forwards along a chosen course. Their question was "Why has Yahweh done this to us?" (<a href='B:300 5:19'>Jer 5:19</a>); when the question should have been rather elicited as to "What have I done?".</h4>


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<p>Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times; and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but My people don’t know Yahweh’s law- The parallel is between knowing God’s law, and repenting (:6). To know God’s word is not therefore an academic issue; engagement with His word as intended will elicit repentance. The birds return from migration naturally, and there is the sense that repentance ought to have been somehow the natural response from Israel. A child will naturally repent of bad behaviour; but Israel didn’t do this because they were driven by an underlying narrative, that they were right, God was unjust, and they were too proud to accept they had sinned. This is the awful power of human pride. Israel therefore chose to be oblivious of what they well knew; there was no (awareness of) God’s judgment in their way of life (<a href='B:290 59:8'>Isa 59:8</a>; <a href='B:300 5:4'>Jer 5:4</a>) and therefore they lacked that innate sense of judgment to come which they ought to have had, as surely as the stork knows the coming time for her migration (<a href='B:300 8:7'>Jer 8:7</a>).</p>


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<p>How do you say, We are wise, and the law of Yahweh is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely- As explained on :7, engagement with God’s law was and is designed to elicit repentance. But it didn’t in Israel’s case, because their scribes had misrepresented God’s law as meaning that their idolatry was in fact legitimate worship of Yahweh. As noted on <a href='B:300 7:8'>Jer 7:8</a>; <a href='B:300 7:10'>Jer 7:10</a> and often, the priests and prophets were teaching the illiterate people what they subconsciously wanted to hear. And so it was not simply that the false prophets mislead the ignorant masses; the masses wanted to believe that they had not sinned and were free to worship idols as part of their Yahweh worship. And so all society were judged. Those who said "The law of Yahweh is with us" were the prophets and priests, of whom Jeremiah was one. Here he is therefore deeply condemning his very own people. "False:::. falsely" is the same word used in <a href='B:140 18:22'>2Ch 18:22</a>, where God put a false or lying spirit in the mouth of prophets, to confirm His apostate people in the path they chose. And so at Jeremiah’s time, "the prophets prophesy falsely" (<a href='B:300 5:31'>Jer 5:31</a>; <a href='B:300 6:13'>Jer 6:13</a> s:w:), falsely saying that the temple would never fall (<a href='B:300 7:14'>Jer 7:14</a>), twisting Yahweh’s words to say that.</p>


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<p>The wise men are disappointed, they are dismayed and taken: behold, they have rejected the word of Yahweh; and what kind of wisdom is in them?- Misrepresenting Yahweh’s word (:8) was the same as rejecting it. This needs some meditation. Interpreting God’s word can so easily be done with our own unconscious agenda in mind; and this can effectively be a rejecting of His word. "Disappointed [ashamed]::. dismayed" is the phrase used of all the other nations overcome by the northern invader (<a href='B:290 37:27'>Isa 37:27</a>). As noted often so far in Jeremiah, the deliverance of Jerusalem at the last minute during the Assyrian invasion a few generations previously could have been repeated during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. But it wasn’t, because there was not enough repentance. And this is the tragedy ofthose who twist God’s word to what they wish it would say- they end their days in disappointment. Judah were not ashamed [s:w. "disappointed"] at their sins (:12), but they would be ultimately. So the disappointment and dismay spoken of here finally will be true only at judgment day. And then it will be too late to change the outcome.</p>


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<h4>Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them- Land and wife were the supreme possessions of a man, and God would give these to others.</h4><h4>For each one from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest each one deals falsely- The leadership reflected what the people wanted, and so all of the society was equally guilty. Although there was a special priesthood, it was clearly God’s intention that all Israel should be like priests; they were to be a "Kingdom of priests" (<a href='B:20 19:6'>Exo 19:6</a>). Israel were all “saints”, and yet saints and priests are paralleled in passages like <a href='B:230 132:16'>Psa 132:16</a>. Israel in the wilderness had clothes which didn’t wear out- just as the Priestly clothes didn’t, and were handed down from generation to generation (so <a href='B:20 29:29'>Exo 29:29</a> implies). Israel were to teach every man his neighbour and brother, saying, Know the Lord (<a href='B:650 8:11'>Heb 8:11</a>). God therefore saw all Israel as represented by the priests (<a href='B:350 4:9'>Hos 4:9</a>; <a href='B:290 24:2'>Isa 24:2</a>; <a href='B:300 5:31'>Jer 5:31</a>; <a href='B:300 8:10'>Jer 8:10</a>).</h4>


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<p>They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace- There were false prophets both in Judah as the Babylonians approached, and also amongst those of them already in exile (<a href='B:300 6:14'>Jer 6:14</a>; <a href='B:300 8:11'>Jer 8:11</a>; <a href='B:330 13:16'>Eze 13:16</a>). They were assuring the sinful people that in fact they were at peace with God, and that contrary to the prophetic message of desolation at the hand of the Babylonians, they would instead have "peace". This is described in Jeremiah as "slightly" healing the great wound or illness of Judah. That wound is described ambiguously; it was a wound or breach in themselves caused by God’s smiting of them in the earlier Babylonian incursions (<a href='B:300 14:19'>Jer 14:19</a>), but also caused by them to God Almighty. "Lightly" carries with it the idea of not serious, light hearted, superficial, trifling. And we must likewise beware of this kind of religion that is pedalled in the name of Christianity; not facing our personal issues, and using a few Bible words from here and there to superficially cover over the most fundamental issues of our eternal destiny. And this was and is so attractive. But sin and its consequences are far deeper than any superficial, light hearted covering. It requires nothing less than the blood and word of the Lord Jesus.</p>


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<h4>Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush- "Ashamed" is s:w. "disappointed" in :9. They refused to be ashamed, yet they will be ashamed ultimately- in the shame of the rejected in the last day. We are either ashamed of our sins in repentance; or we will be made ashamed of them in the judgment (<a href='B:300 6:15'>Jer 6:15</a> RVmg:)- it’s shame either way. We either wail for our sins now, or we will wail for them at judgment day (<a href='B:300 9:19-20'>Jer 9:19-20</a>). Our shame should be before God for our sins against Him, and not before men. Hence the prophets often criticize Israel for not being ashamed of their sins before God. Our shame before men leads to anger; our shame before God is resolved in repentance and belief in His gracious forgiveness. Thus Jeremiah recalls how his repentance involved being ashamed, and yet then being "instructed" (<a href='B:300 31:19'>Jer 31:19</a>). It’s through knowing this kind of shame before God that we come to a position where we are unashamed.</h4><h4>Therefore shall they fall among those who fall; in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Yahweh- The allusion is to falling down before idols. By doing so they were living out how they were to fall before the nations of those idols. They would be cast down by God, but they had cast themselves down. Sin is its own condemnation.</h4>


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<h4>I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh: no grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade- By grace, the people were not utterly consumed. They produced enough fruit even after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem to bring produce to the temple site as an offering (<a href='B:300 41:5'>Jer 41:5</a>). <a href='B:300 2:21'>Jer 2:21</a> had stated that Judah brought forth bad grapes; but here, the Hebrew suggests there were no grapes brought forth. So bringing forth an appearance of spiritual fruit is going to be revealed as having no fruit.</h4><h4>And the things that I have given them shall pass away from them- The idea is "And I will give them to those who shall pass over them". This is the language of invading armies (<a href='B:290 8:7'>Isa 8:7</a>; <a href='B:340 11:10'>Dan 11:10</a>; <a href='B:340 11:40'>Dan 11:40</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there- This was an act of disobedience. There was to be destruction in the land, but there was potentially safety / salvation in Jerusalem for those who were obedient and repentant (<a href='B:300 4:5-7'>Jer 4:5-7</a>). This was a test to Judah, because they trusted in their defenced cities (<a href='B:300 5:17'>Jer 5:17</a>). But the prophecy of Jeremiah 4 (and <a href='B:400 5:11'>Mic 5:11</a>) asks them to believe that these cities would fall, and there would be salvation only in Jerusalem. And yet they were disobedient, and did go into those other defenced cities.</h4><h4>For Yahweh our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Yahweh- The sufferings of Christ on the cross have connections with the punishments for Israel’s sins (e:g. being offered gall to drink = <a href='B:300 8:14'>Jer 8:14</a>; <a href='B:310 3:5'>Lam 3:5</a>). Israel were temporarily forsaken by God because of their sins (<a href='B:290 49:14'>Isa 49:14</a>; <a href='B:290 54:7'>Isa 54:7</a>), and therefore so was Christ. Christ was chastened with the rod of men "and with the stripes of the children of men", i:e. Israel (<a href='B:290 53:5'>Isa 53:5</a>; <a href='B:670 2:24'>1Pe 2:24</a>; <a href='B:400 5:1'>Mic 5:1</a>), in His death on the cross.</h4>


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<h4>We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!- The false prophets predicted "peace", but it didn’t come. And now the people blame this dashed expectation on Yahweh. They liked to cling on to their belief that the false prophets were in fact prophesying from Yahweh, and therefore the failed fulfilments of their words were Yahweh’s fault. This was just perversity.</h4><h4>"Good" here refers to the promised Kingdom of God. The future Kingdom is called “good things” in <a href='B:290 52:7'>Isa 52:7</a> (quoted in <a href='B:520 10:15'>Rom 10:15</a>) and <a href='B:300 8:15'>Jer 8:15</a>. "All things work together for good" (<a href='B:520 8:28'>Rom 8:28</a>) doesn’t mean that somehow everything will work out OK for us in this life- for so often they don’t. We are asked to carry the Lord’s cross, to suffer now and be redeemed in glory later at His return, in the “good things” of the Kingdom.</h4>


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<p>The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan: at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles; for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it; the city and those who dwell therein- News of the Babylonian advance came from Dan in the north, which was in the territory of the ten tribes. This continues the theme that Judah were intended to have learnt from what happened to the ten tribes. The past tense is put for the future here, so certain was God’s word of fulfilment. The people trembled in fear because of the Babylonian advance, and yet endlessly assured themselves that the predictions of "peace" by the false prophets were true. This is a quite imaginable situation, and is yet another internal coherence to the Biblical record.</p>


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<p>For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed; and they shall bite you, says Yahweh- "Charmed" is also translated "orator" or "prayer" (<a href='B:290 3:3'>Isa 3:3</a>; <a href='B:290 26:16'>Isa 26:16</a>). No prayer, using even the most charming words, was now going to be heard; and for this reason Jeremiah had been told not to pray for the people. But he continued to do so, knowing that God is always open to dialogue. See on <a href='B:300 7:16'>Jer 7:16</a>. There may be an intentional allusion to the serpents in the wilderness (s:w. <a href='B:40 21:6'>Num 21:6</a>; <a href='B:40 21:8'>Num 21:8</a>) whose deadly bite could only be healed by looking in desperate repentance at the brazen serpent, which represented their lifted up future Messiah. For in all these words of judgment there are allusions which suggest the possibility of forgiveness and restoration even at the last moment.</p>


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<p>Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me- What begins as Jeremiah’s cry from the heart merges into God’s- for it is Yahweh who becomes the speaker in :19. Jeremiah’s conflicted emotions can beread as his having a too positive view of Israel, and his book of lamentations could therefore be read as a statement of protest at God’s judgments. But it could also be that Jeremiah was so in tune with God’s thinking that these struggles at the amount of suffering brought upon Judah were also God’s. The struggles within Jeremiah would therefore reflect God’s changes of mind and feeling about judging His people were endlessly "kindled together", just as they were reflected in Hosea’s oscillations of feeling concerning Gomer; see on <a href='B:350 11:8'>Hos 11:8</a>. Jeremiah’s heart was "faint within me" both before (<a href='B:300 8:18'>Jer 8:18</a>) and after (<a href='B:310 1:22'>Lam 1:22</a>), the destruction of Jerusalem. He was so sure that the prophetic word that he even felt as if it had come true before it did. It was the heart of Judah which was faint (<a href='B:290 1:5'>Isa 1:5</a>), and Jeremiah identified totally with their feelings in sorrow with them.</p>


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<p>Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: Isn’t Yahweh in Zion? Isn’t her King in her? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their engraved images, and with foreign vanities?- Both God and Jeremiah foresee here the captivity in the "land that is very far off". Or we can read with AV "Because of them that dwell in a far country". Until the cherubim of glory departed from Zion, God’s shekinah glory was still there. Despite that very clear statement of His presence in Zion, they still worshipped the vain idols of their enemies. It all seemed so incomprehensible even to God. This impression that God found it incomprehensible reflects the degree to which He limits His omniscience in order to enter into legitimate relationship with His people in real time. Israel after all was the only nation to have the visible symbols of their God’s living&nbsp; presence amongst them, as seen in the shekinah glory between the cherubim. And still they preferred the vanities of foreign idols. The same apparently incomprehensible rejection of an evidently living God and Lord goes on today. See on :22.</p>


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<p>The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved- Jeremiah seems to now be thinking ahead, to after the destruction of Jerusalem. That harvest of judgment (<a href='B:300 51:33'>Jer 51:33</a>; <a href='B:730 14:15'>Rev 14:15</a>) would end, and so would the ’Summer harvest’, the harvest of tree fruits which followed the main harvest season, which was from April to June- and yet still he foresaw that Judah would not be saved. He speaks in the present tense of that which was yet future. "Saved" is the word which in Greek would form part of the word ’Jesus’, Yah saves. And this has been the abiding tragedy of Israelite history; that all the harvests of judgment did not bring them to accept Yah’s salvation, which is now in the person of His Son Jesus. Not being saved is paralleled effectively with there being no fruit harvest. Spiritual fruit was required for the intended salvation to come, and that meant repentance. Perhaps in a literal sense, the people looked for salvation from the Babylonian siege in the summer, but it didn’t come. Jerusalem fell in August 587 BC (<a href='B:140 36:18-19'>2Ch 36:18-19</a>), which would have been at the end of the ’summer [harvest]’.</p>


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<p>For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me- We noted on :18 how as the heart of Judah which was faint (<a href='B:290 1:5'>Isa 1:5</a>), so was Jeremiah’s. He identified totally with their feelings in sorrow with them. And yet "My people" surely speaks of Yahweh Himself as well. God likens Himself to a young man hopelessly in love with a woman (Israel) who was really no good, a man who took the blame when it was undoubtedly her fault (<a href='B:290 54:6-7'>Isa 54:6-7</a>), grieving that she wouldn’t return to Him (<a href='B:370 4:8'>Amo 4:8</a> etc:). "I am broken with their whorish heart::. I am crushed" (<a href='B:330 6:9'>Eze 6:9</a>; <a href='B:300 8:21'>Jer 8:21</a> NIV). God likens Himself to a broken man because of Israel’s fickleness. He went through the pain of the man who knows He has been forgotten by the woman he still desperately remembers (<a href='B:350 2:13'>Hos 2:13</a>). "Hurt" in Hebrew carries the idea of a breach, and we recall the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (<a href='B:300 39:2'>Jer 39:2</a>; <a href='B:300 52:7'>Jer 52:7</a>); indeed the word seems to have the sense of the rape of a virgin when we read that the virgin daughter of Zion had been breached (<a href='B:300 14:17'>Jer 14:17</a>). And both Jeremiah and even God, according to <a href='B:300 8:21'>Jer 8:21</a>, felt themselves breached in this breach of God’s people and city. This was how closely identified God was with His wicked people; and how much more does He feel with us in Christ, we who at least seek not to live as Judah did at that time::.</p>


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<p>Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?- Gilead’s balm was well known (<a href='B:10 37:25'>Gen 37:25</a>; <a href='B:330 27:17'>Eze 27:17</a>). There was balm and a physician in Gilead which could heal the sick person- but they wouldn’t go to it. This continues the sense of incomprehension we explained on :19. The cure was readily available- but Judah refused to make use of it.</p>


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<h4>Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!- Jeremiah wishes he had more emotional capacity than he has as a person. His desire to weep may mean that he wept before God, and therefore thought he could change God’s mind about Judah’s judgment.</h4><p>But like us, Jeremiah didn’t always have such a heart of compassion. Initially he didn’t even want to preach to his people. And he even prayed that he would so grieve for them in regard to the message he gave them, that he would cry for them day and night. And this prayer was heard. For by Lamentations, this is just what he was doing. And if what we read of Jeremiah troubles us, we too can pray for a heart that bleeds, and through the experience of life which the Lord allows us, He will develop such a heart in those who want it. You may be so caught up in your business, your family, your ecclesia even, your web of social contact… that in honest moments, you know that your heart doesn’t bleed as it should. You see the needs and pain and struggle of men and women, but it doesn’t touch your heart very deeply. Jeremiah may well have been like this; but he prayed for a new heart, and so can you. Jeremiah had actually been commanded by God to have such a level of grief for His people: “Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken” (<a href='B:300 14:17'>Jer 14:17</a>). Jeremiah’s grief was God’s word of care and concern to the people; and so it can be with us. Jeremiah was to be like this, to reflect God’s passion for His people; so he prayed that he would have such a heart of true compassion [note that the chapters in Jeremiah are totally out of sequence chronologically]; and in the end, he found it.</p><p>The Biblical record contains a large number of references to the frequent tears of God’s people, both in bleeding hearts for other people, and in recognition of their own sin. And as we have seen, these things are related. Consider:</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; “My eye pours out tears to God” [i:e. in repentance?] (<a href='B:220 16:20'>Job 16:20</a>)</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Isaiah drenches Moab with tears (<a href='B:290 16:9'>Isa 16:9</a>)</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Jeremiah is a fountain of tears for his people (<a href='B:300 9:1'>Jer 9:1</a>; <a href='B:310 2:8'>Lam 2:8</a>)</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; David’s eyes shed streams of tears for his sins (<a href='B:230 119:136'>Psa 119:136</a>; <a href='B:230 6:6'>Psa 6:6</a>; <a href='B:230 42:3'>Psa 42:3</a>)</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Jesus wept over Jerusalem (<a href='B:470 23:37'>Mat 23:37</a>)</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Blessed are those who weep (<a href='B:490 6:21'>Luk 6:21</a>)</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Mary washed the Lord’s feet with her tears (<a href='B:490 7:36-50'>Luk 7:36-50</a>)</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Paul wept for the Ephesians daily (<a href='B:510 20:19'>Act 20:19</a>; <a href='B:510 20:31'>Act 20:31</a>).</p><p>We have to ask whether there are any tears, indeed any true emotion, in our walk with our Lord. Those who go through life with dry eyes are surely to be pitied. Surely, in the light of the above testimony, we are merely hiding behind a smokescreen if we excuse ourselves by thinking that we’re not the emotional type:&nbsp; Nobody can truly go through life humming to themselves “I am a rock, I am an island… and an island never cries”. The very emotional centre of our lives must be touched. The tragedy of our sin, the urgency of the world’s salvation, the amazing potential provided and secured in the cross of Christ…surely we cannot be passive to these things. We live in a world where emotion and passion are decreasing. Being politically correct, looking right to others… these things are becoming of paramount importance in all levels of society. The passionless, postmodernist life can’t be for us, who have been moved and touched at our very core by the work and call and love of Christ to us. For us there must still be what Walter Brueggemann called “the gift of amazement”, that ability to feel and say “Wow!” to God’s grace and plan of salvation for us.</p><h4>Jeremiah wished he had more moisture in his body, so that he could weep both day and night for Judah- and yet he goes on to describe them as proceeding from evil to evil in an ever downward spiral, shooting lies everywhere… Everyone is special, nobody is like anyone else. This is how God sees His children, and we should reflect this perspective. It is this which will make us arrestingly different from the people with whom we daily walk. We will cry out with Jeremiah: “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”, unmoved and lost as they are in their own petty issues (<a href='B:310 1:12'>Lam 1:12</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men- "Lodging place" is the same word translated "lodge" in <a href='B:300 14:8'>Jer 14:8</a>. There, Jeremiah seems to see it as tragic that God had felt this way about His people. And indeed it was and is. The desire to leave them was because they were adulterous women and dishonest men. "Treacherous" is used about Judah’s marital infidelity in <a href='B:300 3:8'>Jer 3:8</a>; <a href='B:300 3:20'>Jer 3:20</a>; <a href='B:350 5:7'>Hos 5:7</a>. And so the God of all grace, the most surpassingly loving husband, wanted to become an endlessly travelling man, weary of the road, who wanted to just turn in to a one night motel and rest from His weariness. He elsewhere speaks as if the emotional drain of the relationship wearied Him (<a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>). This of course is Almighty God adjusting Himself to mortal man, allowing Himself to feel through our limitations.</h4><h4>We can too easily assume that these are the thoughts of Jeremiah. But the references to "my people" in the passage point us toward God as the person expressing these feelings. And then in <a href='B:300 9:3'>Jer 9:3</a> we have the speaker defined: "::. and they know not me, said the Lord". These were God’s thoughts. He wished He had human tear ducts to weep with::. this was how He felt for them. There is a mutuality between God and His people. Several passages in Jeremiah shows how the prophet feels or says something, and Yahweh responds to it (e:g. <a href='B:300 9:1-2'>Jer 9:1-2</a> = Jeremiah; v:3 = God; v. 10 = Jeremiah; v. 11 = God’s response).</h4>


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<p>They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don’t know Me, says Yahweh- Jeremiah’s mourning turns into that of God Himself. The process of inspiration meant that Jeremiah felt as God did. The proceeding from evil to evil refers to how God was confirming them in the downward path they had chosen; see on <a href='B:300 7:21'>Jer 7:21</a>; <a href='B:300 7:24'>Jer 7:24</a>. Specifically, their gossiping was associated with ’proceeding from evil to evil’ (<a href='B:300 9:3'>Jer 9:3</a>); it is part of a downward spiral of spirituality. Once gossip starts a quarrel, it’s like water bursting out of a dam; soon the whole land of Israel will be flooded (<a href='B:240 17:14'>Pro 17:14</a> NIV). Because gossip is such an epitome of the flesh, it is ranked along with sins like fornication, idolatry and murder in <a href='B:330 22:9'>Eze 22:9</a>. There are passages in Jeremiah which describe slander and gossiping as being the reason why God condemned Judah (<a href='B:300 6:28'>Jer 6:28</a>; <a href='B:300 9:3-8'>Jer 9:3-8</a>). The soap operas of the world are full of this kind of gossip and intrigue; they glorify it. And the more we feed ourselves with these things, the more likely we will be to see gossip as just part of life. And yet let’s not mistake the words of the prophets; it isseen as murder, because effectively it puts to death a man’s relationship with his fellows. God hates the man who sows such discord among brethren through gossip in the church (<a href='B:240 6:19'>Pro 6:19</a>). "The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly" (<a href='B:240 26:22'>Pro 26:22</a>). That casual remark, that passing on of information under the guise of ’concern’- it was a body blow to the one you gossiped about, a blow so hard that it caused deep internal damage.</p>


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<p>Beware everyone of his neighbour, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will go about with slanders- This speaks to Israel as if they were all Esau, being warned about the cunning of his brother Jacob: “Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant”. Again, in a clever way, both Jacob and Esau are shown to be in the wrong, and Jacob is therefore treated as Esau. See on :26. Perhaps Jeremiah’s over positive view of his own people and the priesthood, which would’ve included his own family and brothers, needed some correction; he is warned here that they will seek to slander and destroy him, which in fact they later did.</p>


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<p>They will deceive each one his neighbour and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity- Jerusalem ’wearied herself’ with lies in that the "lies" were her dishonest covenants with the various surrounding nations, as well as with Yahweh (s:w. <a href='B:330 24:12'>Eze 24:12</a>). She even became ’weary’ of this way of life; but still she would not be purged. The Hebrew word carries the idea of loathing; they in a sense hated their sin (s:w. <a href='B:300 9:12'>Jer 9:12</a>), climaxing in Jerusalem loathing herself and wanting to pluck off her own breasts (<a href='B:330 23:34'>Eze 23:34</a>). The world is full of people weary with sin, who loathe their own addictions and sin, yet they will not surrender themselves to God’s demands and be purged. We note that as Judah were wearied in their life of sin, so God was wearied [s:w:] in His endless relenting regarding punishing them, and weary of the pain of being deceived and rejected by them (<a href='B:300 15:6'>Jer 15:6</a>). The picture is being built up of a relationship coming to an end, with both sides eliciting the same negative emotions in the other. The God of Israel is not far off and stone faced; He is passionately in relationship with His people, with all the feelings that go with being in relationship.</p>


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<p>Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me, says Yahweh- The ESV is correct: "Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the LORD". The sense is of a downward spiral of spiritual declension. They were so obsessed with immediate wealth that they deceived and oppressed their brethren to get it. This is true of some Pentecostal pastors today just as much as it was of Israel in those days. And indeed, materialism is an addiction, and it leads to an ever increasing spiral of deceit and oppression, however indirect or operated through third parties, in order to attain it.</p>


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<h4>Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how should I deal with the daughter of My people?- This rhetorical question reflects the ’humanity of God’. He really was as it were in despair at what to do in order to keep them as His people. There was so much dross that He could only melt them in the fire of the Babylonian invasion in order to remove that dross. But it happened that they were resistant even to that; Ezekiel uses the same figure about the same people at this time, and he says that the cauldron holding the metal was destroyed by the heat, and no dross was removed.</h4><h4>Not only in our own self-examination should there be unity between our judgment and that of the Father; elsewhere it is Jeremiah who was told to "know and try" Israel’s way, just as God said that He did (<a href='B:300 6:27'>Jer 6:27</a> cp. 9:7; 17:10). Our ’judging’ of others, as well as ourselves, must be according to God’s judgments of them. And further; if we know the judgments of God, then we will be more strongly motivated in our preaching and pastoral work, to pull men out of the fire of condemnation (<a href='B:720 1:23'>Jud 1:23</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him- The idea in <a href='B:300 5:16'>Jer 5:16</a> was that every arrow in the quiver of the invaders would bring death; but this was because the tongue of the Jews had been as deadly arrows. This reflects the huge importance God places upon honest words and not being hurtful with our tongues.</h4><h4>Ourworld’s devaluing and misunderstanding of sin has likely affected all of us. We see the rich abusing the poor, manipulation of all sorts going on, petty injustices, hypocrisy in the ecclesia, falsehood, cheating in business, white lies, unkindness to ones’ brethren… and we shrug and think that it’s just normal, part of life as it is. And yet for the prophets, these things were a catastrophe. Saying one thing to someone whilst feeling differently about them in the heart was the reason for God passionately wishing to take vengeance “on a nation such as this” (<a href='B:300 9:8-9'>Jer 9:8-9</a>)- note that the whole nation are counted as guilty, in that society just shrugged at hypocritical words. What to us are the daily minor sins and injustices of life were to them issues of cosmic proportion.</h4>


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<h4>Shall I not visit them for these things, says Yahweh- The "things" are those of :8, the apparently relatively minor sins of deceit and dishonest words. We would rather think that the "things" in view would be idolatry. But dishonest words and hypocritical speaking are of such critical importance to God.</h4><h4>Shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?- God had been Israel’s wife and was in love with her. His deep desire for avenging was therefore absolutely connected with His great love for her. There had to be response from Him. This rhetorical question, enquiring as to whether Yahweh should take vengeance on Israel, is thrice repeated in Jeremiah (<a href='B:300 5:9'>Jer 5:9</a>; <a href='B:300 5:29'>Jer 5:29</a>; <a href='B:300 9:9'>Jer 9:9</a>). The answer of course is "Yes, God would be justified in doing so". And that answer was perhaps the repentance which God sought in order to avert the coming of His judgment.</h4>


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<h4>For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are gone- Jeremiah so believed the words he was relaying to Israel, that he now interjects with his own grief at what was to happen. Jeremiah speaks of the pain of his heart after having spoken of the pain that would reach unto the heart of Judah (<a href='B:300 4:18-19'>Jer 4:18-19</a>). The pain of their heart became the pain of his heart. And yet Jeremiah had the mind of God in this sense, as David was after God’s own heart. This is reflected by the way in which it is very difficult at times in Jeremiah to decide who is speaking- Jeremiah, or God. <a href='B:300 9:1-3'>Jer 9:1-3</a>; <a href='B:300 9:10-11'>Jer 9:10-11</a> is a good passage to work through from this perspective, asking ‘Who is speaking? Jeremiah, or God?’. Their minds were clearly so intertwined. Both of them are described, in consecutive verses, as rising up early to plead with Israel (<a href='B:300 25:3-4'>Jer 25:3-4</a>).</h4><h4>But the picture presented here is of the complete destruction of all life in the land, through fire. But this didn’t happen; soon after the destruction of Jerusalem, the people who remained [who were many] still brought food offerings to the site of the temple (<a href='B:300 41:5'>Jer 41:5</a>). This word will come finally true, for the ’heavens and earth’ of Israel are to be destroyed by fire in the last days just as the world of Noah’s time was destroyed by water (2 Peter 3). But in Jeremiah’s time, the full extent of the planned wrath didn’t come about. Perhaps there was a modicum of repentance or intercession which stopped it, or perhaps God delayed, reapplied or rescheduled His full intentions because He knew that Judah would not repent as intended.</h4>


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<p>I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant- As explained on <a href='B:300 9:10'>Jer 9:10</a>, this didn’t completely happen to the extent here prophetically envisaged. As noted on :10, we note again the shift of speaker from Jeremiah to God. What began as Jeremiah’s interjection of pain in :10 now merges into the actual prophetic thoughts of God. The jackal comes to eat what the lion has left in the carcase; the idea was that after the lions of Babylon had finished with Jerusalem, there would be others who came to totally destroy her. But this didn’t historically happen, because it seems God relented from the full execution of His wrath. The language here of Jerusalem’s destruction into heaps haunted by jackals is applied to Babylon (<a href='B:300 51:37'>Jer 51:37</a>). What latter day Babylon does to Jerusalem shall be done to her; and that is the theme of the book of Revelation, where the seals of judgment upon Israel become the vials of judgment upon the beast system.</p>


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<h4>Who is the wise man, that mayunderstand this? Who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it?- Whoever truly understood God’s word would declare it. Hearing God’s word in faith is associated with declaring it (<a href='B:300 9:12'>Jer 9:12</a>). “Your participation in the [preaching of the] gospel” is paralleled with “your faith” (Php_1:5). If we really believe, we will be involved in the preaching of what we believe. The false prophets were the "wise men" of <a href='B:300 8:9'>Jer 8:9</a>. If they were truly wise they would declare the same truths which Jeremiah was stating. It would be true to say that attitudes to evangelism reflect the sincerity of an individual’s belief.</h4><h4>Why is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through?- Already God had sent famine, so the land was perished, and for fear of the Babylonian incursions, Palestine was no longer a highway and the Jews were scared to travel. Perhaps "the land" in view is also specifically that of the ten tribe kingdom which had already been destroyed, and which Judah was intended to take warning from.</h4>


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<p>Yahweh says, Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, neither walked therein- God’s law and His voice are paralleled. The word was to be seen as a living word, God actively in ongoing communication with people; rather than a set of regulations which could be partially obeyed on the level of cultural conformity to the faith of their fathers. And that is a challenge which echoes to God’s people of all generations.</p>


text:
<p>But have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them- The choice was between walking after God’s word (:13), or walking after their own hearts. This is where God’s word is not like any other literature. It is to take a grip upon the human heart and to inculcate a way of thought which is contrary to our own natural heart or thinking. This points up the danger of using the Bible simply to reinforce our own natural ideas, whilst disregarding the rest. "Stubbornness" also can mean "imagination". <a href='B:50 29:19'>Deu 29:19</a> speaks directly of Judah at this time- when they heard the words of the curses for disobedience, they would think they would still have peace because they walked in the imaginations [s:w. "stubbornness"] of their own hearts. The false prophets were preaching exactly such "peace" (<a href='B:300 6:14'>Jer 6:14</a>; <a href='B:300 8:11'>Jer 8:11</a>). The heart [mind] is a fountain of imagination, of fantasy, and it is this which can be redirected by the influence of God’s word and Spirit upon the human heart. But the sense of "stubbornness" in the Hebrew word for "imagination" shows that by exercising our own imaginations without the influence of God’s word, we become set in those ways of thought, until they come to define us.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink- This judgment was taken by the Lord Jesus on the cross, who was there "the servant of Yahweh", which Israel had been intended to be. Wormwood and gall were what would be the result of false teachers encouraging the people to commit idolatry (<a href='B:50 29:18'>Deu 29:18</a>). So they had fed themselves with these things, and their judgment to drink them was therefore God’s confirmation of people in what they themselves had chosen. And that is how all His judgments operate.</p>


text:
<h4>I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known- Judah were to be scattered to the Babylonian empire, whom they had not "known"; although they eagerly served their gods, to the point of sacrificing their children to them. But they didn’t "know" them in the Hebraic sense of having relationship with them. For Yahweh was and is unique in offering passionate personal relationship. This sets the background for the magnificent statement in :24 that God’s true people "know" Him.</h4><h4>And I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them- As explained on <a href='B:300 9:10'>Jer 9:10</a>, this didn’t completely happen to the extent here prophetically envisaged. The jackals who were to come after the Babylonian lions to finish off the carcass (see on :11) didn’t come.</h4>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh of Armies, Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come- The wonder of this is to be ’considered’; for as explained on :18, it is quite something for God Almighty to invite mourning over "us", the failed relationship He was in with Israel, with all the tragedy of that statement. The idea of mourning women was that they were intended to provoke mourning in others, and this wasGod’s desire too. Or it could be that in line with the statement in :1, both God and Jeremiah felt unable to lament as much as they wished, they were at full personal capacity, and ’needed’ others to mourn in addition.</p>


text:
<h4>And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters- “The Lord of hosts” even calls the mourning women to come “and raise a lament over us” (<a href='B:300 9:17-18'>Jer 9:17-18</a>). The “us” is God and Israel. The tragedy is awful, beyond words. All commentary is bathos. His love is wondrous. The intimacy is such that some versions replace the "us" with "you". But this is an example of translation bias when the translator cannot accept the wonder of God’s true revelation.</h4>


text:
<h4>For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! We are greatly confounded- We are either ashamed of our sins in repentance; or we will be made ashamed of them in the judgment (Jer 6:15 RVmg:)- it’s shame either way. We either wail for our sins now, or we will wail for them at judgment day (Jer 9:19-20).</h4><h4>Because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings- The idea is "Our dwellings have cast us out". This is picturing the inhabitants of Zion as they realize they are going to be taken into captivity. Hence GNB: "Listen to the sound of crying in Zion:"We are ruined! We are completely disgraced! We must leave our land; our homes have been torn down". The homes that were torn down are those of the wealthy, the historical records emphasize that both the"great houses"and the temple were thrown down. So those"in Zion"who are wailing are the wealthy leadership; for it was they and not the poor of the land who were taken into captivity. The mourning women are called to add their voice to these women who are actually wailing as they face captivity (:18).</h4>


text:
<h4>Yet hear the word of Yahweh, you women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and each one her neighbour lamentation- To"hear the word of Yahweh"is a call to repentance. Even when facing captivity, these women could still repent. We note in Jeremiah that the women are given more emphasis than in contemporary accounts. Later in Jeremiah we learn that they were absolutely behind the behaviour of their men. If they lamented for the tragedy of what had happened in spiritual terms, and not just for the human tragedy of it all, then they would soon return. We see God’s enthusiasm for their repentance, imagining it, wanting to even teach them repentance.</h4><h4>The women were to teach this song of repentance through lamentation to others. Those who heard God’s call to repentance are to naturally teach repentance to others (<a href='B:300 9:20'>Jer 9:20</a> cp. 19). If we have really received forgiveness, and have thereby grasped hold of salvation here and now, the wonder of our own experience will inevitably lead us to tell others, as it did David and Peter.</h4>


text:
<p>For death has come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets- This is part of the dirge of repentance God wanted them to learn (:20). They were to accept that the judgment of death had come upon them like a flood, right up to their windows out of which they were looking. Their great houses, or"palaces", had been entered by death. But they were still alive. It was like the living lamenting their own death. The idea was that they recognized that the judgment of death was correct and appropriate; and yet by grace they would be saved out of it. It was as if from the windows they were watching the children and youths perishing in the streets- even though they had sacrificed their own firstborns to the idols. This was the picture alluded to in <a href='B:450 8:5'>Zec 8:5</a>, where in the reborn Zion, the youth and children would play happily in the streets when all possibility of such condemnation was taken away.</p>


text:
<h4>Speak, Thus says Yahweh- It is as if the funeral dirge was being taught to them in stanzas.</h4><h4>The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester; and none shall gather them- This is a repeat of Jeremiah’s prophetic words, but the repentant women are asked to repeat them. By so doing they would demonstrate their acceptance of the justice of the condemnation. The harvester dropped handfuls of grain which the impoverished gleaners like Ruth then picked up; but there would be no gleaners. Repentance involves accepting that God’s judgments are right, and placing them in our own mouths in agreement.</h4>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh, Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don’t let the rich man glory in his riches- This is still part of the song of mourning and repentance which Yahweh wanted them to sing (see on :20). The false prophets were the"wise men"of <a href='B:300 8:9'>Jer 8:9</a>. And so the repentant dirge was to involve a repudiation of those men in favour of a humble acceptance of God’s word and principles (:24). The rich and mighty are identified here with the"wise men". They had become wealthy through religiously and spiritually abusing the people. The wealthy women who were about to go into captivity (for the"poor of the land"didn’t go into captivity) were to resign the importance of personal wealthy and glory. This too is part of repentance</p>


text:
<h4>But let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows Me- The repentance song (:20) was to involve the recognition that the only true understanding is repentant relationship with Yahweh. This must be given full weight today, where"understanding"and"knowledge"have become understood to mean pure academic, theological knowledge. But the true understanding is in repentance and from our knees, arising to relationship with God. The glory in ’knowing’ Yahweh is set against the background of :16. Judah were to be scattered to the Babylonian empire, whom they had not"known"; although they eagerly served their gods, to the point of sacrificing their children to them. But they didn’t"know"them in the Hebraic sense of having relationship with them. For Yahweh was and is unique in offering passionate personal relationship.</h4><h4>That I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh- The women were about to go into captivity and had lost their loved ones. But the repentance song involves accepting that Yahweh is just, and full of grace, kindness and righteousness. His"delight"is in them; He just loves doing them. But Israel had turned away from them. Although God does slay the wicked, He has no"delight"in that (<a href='B:330 18:23'>Eze 18:23</a>; <a href='B:330 18:32'>Eze 18:32</a> s:w:). Repentance involves the faith that God’s dominant desire is kindness and salvation, although He does justly judge sin. This would have been a hard funeral dirge to sing, lamenting over the dead bodies of those who had just been slain. Repentance and humility before God involves accepting that He is essentially just as well as gracious. And so many find this song hard to sing. It is the spirit of <a href='B:420 3:17-18'>Hab 3:17-18</a>, where despite the hard reality of the Babylonian destruction, Habakkuk still rejoices and exalts in the God whose ways he obviously struggled to immediately understand. This is in fact the true understanding and knowledge of God.</h4>


text:
<p>Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will punish all those who are circumcised along with the uncircumcised- <a href='B:300 9:25'>Jer 9:25</a> RV speaks of punishing “them which are circumcised in their uncircumcision”. As Paul makes clear, one can be circumcised physically but not spiritually. A person can be circumcised yet effectively uncircumcised at one and the same time. This is the nature of the spiritual schizophrenia which so afflicts us. This verse ends the funeral dirge of repentance which God had wished the women to sing in :20-24; now He points out that physical circumcision is not going to make any difference. Perhaps the false prophets had taught that circumcision meant that the covenant was with Judah and they could not therefore be destroyed. The fact the ten tribes were destroyed, although circumcised, was wilfully overlooked. As circumcision was seen as something which was the duty of the women to perform, this point is perhaps made at this point because the women have just been specifically addressed. Covenant relationship involved understanding and knowing God in repentance (see on :24)- not in physical circumcision.</p>


text:
<p>Egypt, Judah, Edom and the children of Ammon, Moab and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart- This makes it clear right back then that circumcision was a matter of the heart more than the flesh; and that therefore there was no essential difference between a spiritually uncircumcised Israel and their apostate cousins. See on :4. The surrounding nations had their various signs of identification, often connected with how their hair or beards were cut. The sign of identity God had chosen was not visible; it was upon the most concealed part of the male body. And this spoke of how the real sign of identity as God’s people was in fact nothing external, but in the state of heart, a way of thinking with the flesh cut off from it. This is why we may look the same as others in this world, on some counts. But the difference is in our hearts.</p>


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<p>Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel!- This is no mere formal introduction, a standard rubric. It is a desperate appeal for repentance.</p>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh, Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them- There was still hope that there could be a miraculous last minute deliverance of Jerusalem, as had happened in the time of Hezekiah. The surrounding nations had all been"dismayed"and destroyed (<a href='B:120 19:26'>2Ki 19:26</a>). Judah were not to be like them; but they were following their astrology, and the results of that"dismayed"them. They were desperately ’learning’ the religion of those who were about to destroy them, rather than learning God’s way through repentance (<a href='B:300 9:23-24'>Jer 9:23-24</a>). They should instead have been dismayed at Jeremiah’s prophetic words; and to have seen the connection with the frequent exhortations not to be dismayed but to possess the Kingdom (<a href='B:50 1:21'>Deu 1:21</a>; <a href='B:60 1:9'>Jos 1:9</a> etc:). Jeremiah had been commanded not to be dismayed (<a href='B:300 1:9'>Jer 1:9</a> s:w:); he was to be their example, as is every preacher to be the word made flesh."Dismay"was a punishment from God upon them (<a href='B:300 17:18'>Jer 17:18</a>) but as with all Divine judgments, this was just an extension of what the people had done to themselves. For they had dismayed themselves.</h4><h4>Many Babylonian cuneiform tablets are in the British Museum in London. They claim that"the appearance of comets, eclipses of the sun and moon, earthquakes, and in fact every kind of change occasioned by the atmosphere, whether good or bad, both to nations and to kings and private individuals [were omens offuture events]". The British Museum collection of inscriptions lists"A collection of twenty-five tablets of the signs of heaven and earth, according to their good presage and their bad::. Tablets [regarding] the signs of the heaven, along with the star (comet) which has a corona in front and a tail behind; the appearance of the sky". Judah were desperately trying to learn the astrology of the Babylonians as the Babylonian army approached. But they are being told this was all nonsense.</h4>


text:
<p>For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe- Judah were bidden look at things from a bird’s eye view, and to perceive how bizarre is idolatry. All idolatry is vanity because it is the work of human hands. The way of spirituality is to accept God’s work rather than the work of our own hands. They were ’learning’ the astrology of the Babylonians who were about to destroy them (:2); and now they were accepting the"statutes"or"customs"of those people, taking on the yoke of a new law and religious system in the name of Yahweh worship. And thereby ignoring His law.</p>


text:
<p>They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move- This alludes to very similar language in <a href='B:290 40:20'>Isa 40:20</a>; <a href='B:290 41:7'>Isa 41:7</a>. See on :5."Deck"is the word used of how the Jews tried to make themselves attractive to the other nations by as it were ’dressing themselves up’ (<a href='B:300 4:30'>Jer 4:30</a>). They did this through worshipping their idols. This confirms the impression that on the eve of destruction, they were turning to the idols of their attackers rather than to Yahweh.</p>


text:
<h4>They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak-"Turned work"is a word only used about the beaten work of the tabernacle (<a href='B:20 25:18'>Exo 25:18</a>; <a href='B:20 25:31'>Exo 25:31</a>; <a href='B:20 25:36'>Exo 25:36</a> etc:). We will suggest on :9 that they were building a new kind of tabernacle for their idols.</h4><h4>They must be carried, because they can’t walk. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good- This is quoting from <a href='B:290 46:7'>Isa 46:7</a>. There are many points of similarity between Jeremiah and Isaiah, because the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian siege in Isaiah’s time could still be replicated at Jeremiah’s time. But afterwards, Hezekiah dropped the baton, and so later Isaiah goes on to lament how the Babylonians would come and destroy Judah, and how the people would turn to idolatry and persecute the true prophets. This was now coming true in Jeremiah’s time. <a href='B:290 45:5-7'>Isa 45:5-7</a> in the same context puts all this another way in saying that Yahweh is the source of good and evil [in the sense of disaster], light and darkness- rather than the Babylonians gods of good and evil.</h4>


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<p>There is none like You, Yahweh; You are great, and Your name is great in might- The supreme, ultimate greatness of Yahweh meant that all claims of other gods were worth nothing. This continues the allusions to later Isaiah, this time to <a href='B:290 46:9'>Isa 46:9</a>. See on :5.</p>


text:
<p>Who should not fear You, King of the nations? For it is appropriate for You; because among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like You- It was the prophetic potential that Israel and Judah would repent together, return from captivity, and re-establish the Kingdom of God in Israel under a Messianic ruler, with the surrounding nations also repentant and acceptant of Israel’s God."Who should not::."accept Yahweh out of the nations? We marvel how with Israel so deeply resistant to God’s purpose at this point, still the prophets allude to this massive potential. See on :11. This was not fulfilled at the time, but this passage is quoted in <a href='B:730 15:4'>Rev 15:4</a> as having ultimate fulfilment in the last days.</p>


text:
<p>But they are together primitive and foolish: the instruction of idols! It is but a stock- The idea that a piece of wood could teach God’s people is mocked; but this is in the context of how :1,2 have condemned Judah for earnestly seeking to"learn"the religious ways of Babylon. They stood in front of a piece of wood in order to be taught by it."Primitive"translates a word which effectively means ’kindling wood’ (s:w. <a href='B:20 35:3'>Exo 35:3</a>). They were wooden, and would be the kindling which brought about the final burning of Jerusalem. See on <a href='B:300 11:16'>Jer 11:16</a>.</p>


text:
<p>There is silver beaten into plates which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skilful men- Silver, plates, gold, blue, purple and the work of skilled craftsmen is all language reminiscent of the construction of the tabernacle and high priestly robes. The new religious system and laws which they were desperately learning (see on :1,2) was a quasi law of Moses. And yet it was done in the name of Yahweh worship; this explains the similarities, and also how the people also called to Yahweh at this time. See on :5,12,20.</p>


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<h4>But Yahweh is the true God; He is the living God and an everlasting King- A bald statement, urging the Jews on the eve of destruction to quit their idolatry and return wholeheartedly to Yahweh. He was alive, whereas the idols were just dead wood (:8). He would last for ever, whereas the idols of that age, as of every age, stand only for a short time.</h4><h4>At His wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to withstand His indignation- The earth / land of Israel along with the nations was to be judged. Perhaps a literal earthquake was in view, as mentioned in many of the prophets. It was the prophetic intention that the judgment of Babylon and her coalition would follow soon after their judgment of Israel. This didn’t happen as intended, because the lack of repentance precluded the scenario happening then. But as the book of Revelation makes clear, this will all come true in the last days.</h4>


text:
<p>You shall say this to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens- This verse stands out from those around it in that it is written in Chaldee. Perhaps this was intended to be sent and spoken to the Babylonians. To curse a nation’s gods was the ultimate insult. And this is what Jeremiah was doing. And he says this when Judah were desperately learning the religion of the Babylonians (:1,2) in the hope that it would save them from Babylon. But the hope also was that Babylon and the surrounding nations would repent and come to Yahweh; see on :7. The Babylonians worshipped the heavenly bodies; but they were worshipping the created rather than the creator.</p>


text:
<p>He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding has He stretched out the heavens- This contrast between the idols and Yahweh as the creator of all things is typical of the later part of Isaiah; see on :5. The language of setting up ("established", literally ’to make stand erect’) and stretching out suggests that the heavens and earth are a tent or tabernacle. This alludes to how the Jews were desperately constructing a tabernacle to idols; see on :9,20.</p>


text:
<p>When He utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and He causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of His treasuries- This could refer to a literal thunderstorm that burst over Jerusalem as Jeremiah was speaking. The waters which arose from the ends of the land represented the nations arising from the boundaries of eretz Israel, who were to come in judgment upon Jerusalem.</p>


text:
<p>Every man has become primitive and without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them- This is the ultimate end of all idolatry, of all life lived without total devotion to God- disappointment. Life is only in Yahweh; both eternal life, and meaningful life now. The same word for"disappointed"is used of what would happen to the idols of Babylon (<a href='B:300 50:2'>Jer 50:2</a>). Just before the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, the Jews within the city were making those very same idols, and would be disappointed in them just as Babylon was to be. It was the idols who were primitive and without knowledge (:8); and those who make and worship idols become like unto them, also"primitive::."(<a href='B:230 115:8'>Psa 115:8</a>). The desire to worship is built within the human condition. And we become like what we worship. It is therefore critically important to worship the right thing.</p>


text:
<h4>They are vanity, a work of delusion- It is emphasized in <a href='B:300 10:15-16'>Jer 10:15-16</a> that the God of Jacob is not an idol, nor is He created by an ’errorist’- using the same rare Hebrew word concerning Jacob being a ’deceiver’ in <a href='B:10 27:12'>Gen 27:12</a>. Jacob was a ’deceiver’, and for much of his life did not accept Yahweh as his God, preferring the idols of the land (<a href='B:10 28:20-21'>Gen 28:20-21</a>). Yet <a href='B:300 10:15-16'>Jer 10:15-16</a> says that idols are made by ’deceivers’, and the God Jacob believed in was not an idol like this. God is almost turning everything upside down to frame a weak, faltering Jacob as the very opposite. And He will do likewise with every one of the true Israel.</h4><h4>In the time of their visitation they shall perish- The same words are used of how ultimately Babylon itself would realize this about its own idols (<a href='B:300 51:18'>Jer 51:18</a>). All idols fail at their point of critical testing; the Babylonians should have learnt from the way their idols never saved Jerusalem from destruction. Here we see God’s wonderful hope, that even Babylon would repent. We give up on people far too easily compared to Him. The common prophetic idea of"the day/ time of visitation"is applied by Peter to the day of the Lord’s return and the final judgment (<a href='B:670 2:12'>1Pe 2:12</a>). All these prophetic possibilities never quite came about in their day; but they will do, in the last day:&nbsp;&nbsp;</h4>


text:
<h4>The portion of Jacob is not like these- See on :15. Jacob inherits God, having Him as his portion; and God inherits Israel / Jacob. We see here the mutuality intended between God and Israel. This is yet another reflection of God’s recognition that finally, Jacob fulfilled his promise to make Yahweh his God (<a href='B:10 28:20'>Gen 28:20</a>). The lessons of Jacob’s name change were finally learnt.</h4><h4>For He is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is His name- It was the prophetic hope that Judah and the ten tribe kingdom would unite as one in the restored kingdom of God in Israel."Israel"is therefore described here as a singular tribe.</h4>


text:
<p>Gather up your wares out of the land, you who live under siege-"Wares"is literally"bundle"; the idea is that the siege would end with the people going into captivity with just a bundle of belongings. This prophecy was given in the very last moments of opportunity, whilst the people were besieged.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it- But in wrath, God remembered mercy. For not all the inhabitants of the land were taken into captivity. Only the ruling classes were. The Babylonians, unlike the Assyrians, didn’t practice mass deportations. They removed the leadership of subjected peoples, and appointed locals as the leaders under their control. This is what they did to Judah, taking the royal family and priesthood into captivity, and establishing Gedaliah as puppet governor (<a href='B:300 40:7'>Jer 40:7</a>; <a href='B:120 25:2'>2Ki 25:2</a>) along with some local Jewish"elders"(<a href='B:310 5:12'>Lam 5:12</a>), with Mizpeh rather than Jerusalem as the capital:&nbsp; <a href='B:150 9:7'>Ezr 9:7</a> is clear that it was"our kings and our priests [who] have been delivered"into captivity. The Babylonians saw no economic purpose in bringing masses of unskilled peasant farmers into captivity in their cities. It’s been estimated that at least 90% of Judah were peasant farmers; and these, the impoverished masses, were left in the land and not deported (<a href='B:300 52:16'>Jer 52:16</a>; <a href='B:120 25:12'>2Ki 25:12</a>). See on <a href='B:330 11:15'>Eze 11:15</a>. The Babylonian policy regarding deportation and management of conquered lands is described in N:P. Lemche, Ancient Israel: A New History of Israelite Society (Sheffield: JSOT, 1988) and D:L. Smith, The Religion of the Landless: The Social Context of the Babylonian Exile (Bloomington, IN: Meyer Stone, 1989). God did not therefore scatter all the people quite as He intended. There is archaeological evidence for continued agricultural activity in the land after the deportations. And <a href='B:300 41:5'>Jer 41:5</a> seems to speak of men coming to the Jerusalem temple from Shechem and Shiloh, in the ten tribe area, in order to offer grain offerings at the site of the temple. Presumably the altar had been destroyed, hence no animal sacrifices are mentioned. It has been suggested that the book of Lamentations was written as part of a temple ritual or at least material to be recited at the site of the temple. See on <a href='B:300 12:4'>Jer 12:4</a>; <a href='B:300 13:19'>Jer 13:19</a>.</p>


text:
<p>Woe is me because of my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it- This was Jeremiah’s pained interjection, but as often, we find his feelings are those of God. And so here in a context where the first person pronouns clearly refer to God and not Jeremiah, we read: “Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is grievous… truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. My tabernacle is spoiled… my children are gone forth… there is none to stretch forth my tent” (<a href='B:300 10:18-20'>Jer 10:18-20</a>). This is the almost unbelievable extent of God’s pain and hurt for His people. Truly did it hurt God more than His children knew to punish them."Hurt"is literally ’breaking’. God was broken by His people’s behaviour. It is the word often used of the breaking up of Jerusalem and Judah (<a href='B:300 4:6'>Jer 4:6</a>; <a href='B:300 4:20'>Jer 4:20</a> etc:); but this as it were broke the heart of God (see on <a href='B:300 8:21'>Jer 8:21</a>). The deadly,"grievous"wound suffered by Judah was felt by God as His"grief"(<a href='B:300 6:7'>Jer 6:7</a>). We have a window here onto how the Father felt the sufferings of His Son, when"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself". To explain that as simply meaning"Jesus = God"is to miss so much that it is a tragic misinterpretation. The judgment sufferings for sin were thereby felt by the God who brought them. The very words for ’bearing grief’ are used inIsa 53:4 of how the Lord Jesus bore the griefs of condemned Israel, and indeed all the people of God. For all have sinned and merit condemnation. Jeremiah at this point knew those essential feelings of the Messianic saviour figure, which were also the feelings of God."I must bear it"would then be Jeremiah’s desire to try to bear their condemnation, as ultimately only the Lord Jesus could do for Israel. He sees himself as the lamb led to slaughter in <a href='B:300 11:19'>Jer 11:19</a>.</p>


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<p>My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth from me, and they are no more: there is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains- God speaks of the tabernacle rather than the temple because it seems from :9 that they were constructing another tabernacle, but to the gods of Babylon. We noted on :9,12 that God had set up His tabernacle / tent just as He had stretched out the skies at creation. But the Jews were building another tabernacle to other gods. They had taken down Yahweh’s tent thereby, and so God was as it were left homeless, able to identify with those left homeless. We deduce from the argument here how Almighty God is in a sense"in need of man", as Avraham Heschel put it. He had nobody to spread out His tent- He, the God who spread out the skies of the cosmos by His great power.</p>


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<p>For the shepherds are become primitive, and have not inquired of Yahweh: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered- Those who ought to have set up the tabernacle in :20 were the priests and Levites, and they had turned away from Yahweh. This was especially hard for Jeremiah to utter, seeing he was from a priestly family. The shepherds, the priests, became"primitive", the same word used of the idols themselves in :8,14. They became like that which they worshipped (<a href='B:230 115:8'>Psa 115:8</a>). Any shepherd / teacher should themselves be ever ’inquiring’ of Yahweh. But they instead were learning all they could about idol worship (:1,2). They did not ’prosper’, Heb. ’understand’; and so new pastors were needed, who would teach understanding (<a href='B:300 3:15'>Jer 3:15</a> s:w:).</p>


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<h4>The voice of proclamation, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country- The word for the"rushing"noise of the cherubim wheels in Ezekiel is used elsewhere about the noise of the chariots of Israel’s enemies and the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:300 10:22'>Jer 10:22</a>; <a href='B:300 47:3'>Jer 47:3</a>; <a href='B:410 3:2'>Nah 3:2</a>). The Angelic armies of Heaven were therefore revealed on earth in the chariots of Babylon; it was both Babylon and the Angelic cherubim behind them who took Judah captive, and who could also return them to their land. Hence the stress in Ezekiel’s vision that the wheels of the cherubim were on the earth / land. Clearly enough, the things that go on in our lives, even those things which appear as brutal and tragic as the Babylonian chariots were to Judah, are not random machinations of men; they are, in some unfathomable way, under the direct control of a God of love, who only means to do us good at our latter end.</h4><h4>To make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals- As explained on <a href='B:300 9:10'>Jer 9:10</a>, this didn’t completely happen to the extent here prophetically envisaged. The jackal comes to eat what the lion has left in the carcase; the idea was that after the lions of Babylon had finished with Jerusalem, there would be others who came to totally destroy her. But this didn’t historically happen, because it seems God relented from the full execution of His wrath. The language here of Jerusalem’s destruction into heaps haunted by jackals is applied to Babylon (<a href='B:300 51:37'>Jer 51:37</a>). What latter day Babylon does to Jerusalem shall be done to her; and that is the theme of the book of Revelation, where the seals of judgment upon Israel become the vials of judgment upon the beast system.</h4>


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<p>Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps- The passage from :23-25 could be a prayer of Jeremiah, who recognizes his own sinfulness on a personal level. In this case we see how he prayed despite being asked by God not to pray (<a href='B:300 7:16'>Jer 7:16</a>; <a href='B:300 11:14'>Jer 11:14</a>; <a href='B:300 14:7'>Jer 14:7</a>). But it could also be the wish or even fantasy of God for the repentance of the people; these are the words He imagines an individual repentant Israelite saying. The idea is perhaps that man cannot direct his path whilst he is walking; he must firstly direct his steps, and then walk accordingly. The way of Adam (Heb:) would allude to how Adam could not direct his own way back to the tree of life; the Angel cherubim would keep that way and direct man upon it (<a href='B:10 3:24'>Gen 3:24</a>). Jeremiah sees the exile of Judah to the east as the driving out of Adam eastward from Eden, the same eretz Israel. And he knew now that it would not be of man, of Israel as it was not of Adam, to get back; it required the Angel cherubim to bring them back. And that was just the message of Ezekiel at this same time and context. It is Yahweh alone who can direct the steps of man (same words in <a href='B:240 16:9'>Pro 16:9</a>).</p>


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<p>Yahweh, orrect me, but in measure: not in Your anger, lest you bring me to nothing- If this is a personal prayer of Jeremiah on behalf of the people, then perhaps God did hear; because He did indeed correct them"in measure"(s:w. <a href='B:300 30:11'>Jer 30:11</a>"I will correct you in measure, and not leave you altogether unpunished"), but the full extent of His prophesied anger [such as the destruction of all animal and human life in the land by fire] was not carried out. Judah were not literally ’brought to nothing’. This was in response to Jeremiah’s prayer here- to correct / punish [s:w:] Judah, but not bring them to nothing. The same phrase"bring to nothing"is found in <a href='B:300 30:19'>Jer 30:19</a>, where God promises that He will not bring Judah to nothing. This was in direct response to Jeremiah’s prayer here. Jeremiah here is praying as representative of all Israel, just as he personally says"Amen"to the offer of the new covenant in <a href='B:300 11:5'>Jer 11:5</a>.</p>


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<p>Pour out Your wrath on the nations that don’t know You, and on the families that don’t call on Your name: for they have devoured Jacob, yes, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation- This could mean that although those nations were used by God to execute judgment, they were willing and eager to abuse Israel, and so were to be punished. Or perhaps they went beyond their commission, and it was for this that they were punished (<a href='B:290 10:6-7'>Isa 10:6-7</a>; <a href='B:290 47:6'>Isa 47:6</a>; <a href='B:450 1:15'>Zec 1:15</a>). Yet we could read Jeremiah here as out of step with God’s hope that even Babylon would repent; and failing to realize the extent to which Judah deserved their punishments.</p>


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<p>The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying- Jeremiah is not a chronological book. This could refer to the time when the book of the covenant was discovered by Josiah; or it could be a reminder at a later point that the people ought to have been obedient to that covenant which had been discovered and proclaimed.</p>


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<p>Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem- See on :1. The allusion is indeed to the book of the covenant discovered by Josiah. But we should also consider that according to Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 20 etc:, God offered a new covenant to the people at this time, seeing they had broken the old covenant in the form of the Mosaic law.</p>


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<p>And say to them, Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Cursed is the man who doesn’t hear the words of this covenant- The allusion is to how the old covenant was pronounced, and this same curse was made binding. Like us, Israel were reminded that His covenant with His people was not a mere historical incident. His word is living, and the covenant applied to them just as much as it did to those who first heard it; with the attendant blessings and cursings. We can likewise reflect how the promises to Abraham are similarly personally relevant to us, being the basis of the new covenant.</p>


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<p>Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace saying, Obey My voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so you shall be My people, and I will be your God- They had been saved from the furnace of Egypt, but they were now within the furnace of Jerusalem (<a href='B:330 22:18'>Eze 22:18</a>; <a href='B:330 22:20'>Eze 22:20</a>). Just as they had been saved from the Egyptian furnace, so now they also could be from that of Divine judgment. But the deliverance was to be conditional upon obedience. The commandments to be obeyed were not mere tests of obedience or loyalty;"so you shall be My people"means that they were designed in order to facilitate in practice the relationship between God and His people. The deliverance from the furnace of Egypt was in order that they become God’s people (<a href='B:50 4:20'>Deu 4:20</a>; <a href='B:110 8:51'>1Ki 8:51</a>). But if they didn’t want to become God’s people, then deliverance would be pointless. The furnace was to be a refining process (<a href='B:290 48:10'>Isa 48:10</a>), but if they didn’t want this, then they would be destroyed in that furnace.</p>


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<h4>That I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day- We need to remember in our preaching that success is potentially possible; God is working through us to give those we intersect with the chance of a real salvation. Their rejection shouldn’t be so discouraging the more we perceive that we on God’s side in all this, He is working through us to try to appeal to them. And appreciating this will give a far greater intensity and urgency of appeal to our preaching. In <a href='B:300 11:4-5'>Jer 11:4-5</a> God speaks of how obedience is required in order for Him to fulfil the promises to us which He so wishes to fulfil:"Be my people::. and this will allow me to carry out the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as I have in fact done"["as at this day"]. We see here how Godallows Himself to be limited by us- we can ’allow Him’ to carry out His purposes, or not. And yet in this example we see His grace, in the words"As I have in fact done". For Israel weren’t obedient to the covenant- and yet He still gave them the promised land. His grace shines through, breaking even His own conditions.</h4><h4>Then answered I and said, Amen, Yahweh- This is reminiscent of Israel saying"Amen"to the covenant. Jeremiah acts on their behalf, just as his prayer at the end of Jeremiah 10 is in the first person, but is representative of all Israel.</h4>


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<p>Yahweh said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem saying, Hear the words of this covenant, and do them- In <a href='B:300 5:1'>Jer 5:1</a>, Jeremiah was asked to run to and fro in those streets, representing God in search of man. The medium of God’s searching for man is the word of offer of covenant relationship with Him. Obedience to this commandment would have taken Jeremiah some time."The cities of Judah"had not yet fallen to the Babylonians, so this prophecy must be relatively early in his ministry. Hearing and doing is the classic language of obedience to the covenant (e:g. <a href='B:50 4:1'>Deu 4:1</a>). James alludes to it in saying that those under the new covenant likewise are to both hear and do. We note that Jeremiah doesn’t repeat the covenant here; perhaps because he is referring to the book of the covenant found by Josiah (:1,2).</p>


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<p>For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting saying, Obey My voice- Again we have the sense of God’s living word, speaking to every generation. What He said to their fathers was spoken to&nbsp; every subsequent generation"even to this day". This is the art of faithful Bible reading- perceiving God’s historical voice as coming to us personally."Protested"is the same word translated"testify"in the records of the giving of the covenant; and that testifying was"by heaven and earth"(<a href='B:50 30:19'>Deu 30:19</a>), whom Israel were now worshipping as Babylon worshipped them, rather than seeing in them evidence of Yahweh’s creation.</p>


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<h4>Yet they didn’t obey, nor turn their ear, but walked each one in the stubbornness of their evil heart- Inclining or humbling / bowing down the ear means that true response to God’s word ought to be a humbling experience. We cannot come away from engagement with God’s word without being humbled. And this very phrase is used of how God bows down / inclines His ear to human prayer (<a href='B:120 19:16'>2Ki 19:16</a>; <a href='B:230 17:6'>Psa 17:6</a>; <a href='B:230 31:2'>Psa 31:2</a>; <a href='B:230 71:2'>Psa 71:2</a> and often). We see here the mutuality possible between God and man, and the interplay between Bible reading and God’s response to our prayers. We speak to God in line with our understanding of His word, and He responds to our prayers. Bible reading and prayer therefore mesh together in the Christian life, as part of the upward spiral of spirituality. God is not silent to our prayers- He reveals Himself in response through His word.</h4><h4>Therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they didn’t do them- Again we see God’s grace. Because not all the curses for covenant breaking were brought upon Israel. In wrath He remembered mercy, even when they were impenitent.</h4>


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<p>Yahweh said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem- The conspiracy against Jeremiah by his own local people and family (:19) was itself a reflection of how these men had as it were made a conspiracy against God. As Jeremiah’s positive view of his own people seems to have prevented him from perceiving it, so God reveals Himself as shocked that as it were ’in secret’, His people had conspired against Him. We see here the unity between God and His servant. The idea of a conspiracy suggests a wilful, conscious decision to rebel against God. It is the consciousness of their disobedience which is so stunning. They were led into this by their false prophets telling them that they could serve Yahweh in ways which were disobedient to His covenant. Hence the contemporary <a href='B:330 22:25'>Eze 22:25</a> says that the"conspiracy"(s:w:) was amongst the false prophets.</p>


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<p>They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My words; and they are gone after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers- Judah were continually being reminded by Jeremiah that they were not better than the ten tribe kingdom of Israel, and would meet a similar destruction and exile as they had. The breaking of covenant was a conscious act, indicatedby it being a"conspiracy"(:9). If they had"turned back"to God, then the exiles would have been"turned back"to Zion. But instead they had"turned back"to the sins of their fathers. This point is significant in that Ezekiel 18 reflects how they considered they were being unfairly punished for the sins of their fathers. But here they are reminded that they were committing the very same sins as their fathers.</p>


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<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and they shall cry to Me, but I will not listen to them- And yet the many prophetic messages at this time showed that they were"able to escape". But they chose not to. We noted on :9 and :5 how Jeremiah personally was representative of Judah. They were told here that prayer was going to be pointless for them; hence Jeremiah personally was commanded not to pray in their name (<a href='B:300 7:16'>Jer 7:16</a>; <a href='B:300 11:14'>Jer 11:14</a>; <a href='B:300 14:7'>Jer 14:7</a>). This is perhaps the nadir of all existence; for God’s people to be unable to pray to Him. This is the picture of condemnation; this will be the reason for gnashing of teeth.</p>


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<h4>Then shall the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense: but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble- The time of Jacob’s trouble was to come at the Babylonian entry into Jerusalem. In that moment, Jacob should surely have cried to his God; but tragically, they cried to the gods of their invaders. As observed earlier, idols always fail at the point of critical testing; the Babylonians should have learnt from the way their idols never saved Jerusalem from destruction. Here we see God’s wonderful hope, that even Babylon would repent. We give up on people far too easily compared to Him. In <a href='B:300 2:27'>Jer 2:27</a> God had fantasized that His people in the"time of their trouble"(s:w:) would cry to Him. But now He as it were faces the reality that they would cry to their idols and not to Him. And yet whilst crying to the idols, they would also cry to Him (:14). We have the picture of them crying out to every god they had ever worshipped, as well as Yahweh. But that is not the singular faith in Him which He can respond to. He is not one of many options and loves of our lives. He is to be the passion of our faithful, loyal hearts.</h4>


