The Prophet still pursues the same subject; for he reproves the hypocrisy of the Israelites, because they sought to discharge their duty towards God only by external ceremonies, while their hearts were full of deceits and of every kind of impiety and wickedness. Hence he says, that God required this from the Jews, — to plough again the fallow, and not to sow among thorns.

It is a most suitable comparison; for Scripture often compares us to a field, when it represents us as God’s heritage; and we have been chosen by God as a peculiar people for this end — that he may gather fruit from us, as a husbandman gathers produce from his fields. We can indeed add nothing to what God is; but there is a fruit which he demands; so that our whole life is to be devoted to his glory. God then would not have us to be idle and fruitless, but to bring forth some fruit. But what is done by hypocrites? They sow; that is, they shew some concern, yea, they pretend great ardor, when God exhorts them to repent, or when he invites them. They then make a great bustle; yet they mar everything by their own mixtures, the same as though one scattered his seed among thorns: but it will be of no avail thus to cast seed among thorns; for the ground ought to be well cleared and prepared. Hence God laughs to scorn this preposterous care and diligence, in which hypocrites pride themselves, and says, that they busy themselves without any advantage; for it is the same, as though an husbandman had wholly lost his seed; for when the ground is full of briers and thorns, the seed, though it may grow for a time, cannot yet bring forth fruit. For this reason God bids the Israelites to plough the fallows; (100) as though he had said, that they were like a rough ground, which is full of thorns, and that therefore there was need of unusual and by no means a common cultivation; for when thorns and briers grow in a field, of what benefit will it be to cast seed there? Nay, a field cannot be well prepared by the plough alone, so that it may produce fruit; but much labor is also necessary, as is the case with fallow ground, which is called essarter in our language.

The Prophet then intimates that the people had become hardened in their vices, and that they were not only full of vices, like a field left uncultivated for two years; but that their vices were so deep, that they could not be well cleared away by ploughing alone, except they were drawn up by the roots, as they were like thorns and brambles, which have been growing in a field for many years. We hence see, that not only impiety and contempt of God, and other sins of the people of Israel, are referred to by the Prophet, but also their perverseness; for they had so hardened themselves for many years in their vices, that there was need not only of the plough, but also of other instruments to tear up the thorns, to eradicate those vices which had formed deep roots. As then, he had before warned them, that they would labor in vain except they returned to God with sincerity of heart and acquiesced in him; so here he bids them to examine their life, that they might not cast away their seed, like hypocrites, who formally acknowledge their sins. Hence he bids them wholly to shake off their vices, which were hid within, according to what they do, who tear up thorns and briers in a field, which has been long neglected, and left without being cultivated. It now follows —

(100) Literally, “Plough for yourselves the ploughing,“ or, the plough-land; or, “Fallow for yourselves the fallow.” They were not to sow a land once ploughed; but they were to plough again. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(3) For thus saith the Lord . . .The words seem the close of one discourse, the opening of another. The parable of Israel is left behind, and the appeal to Judah and Jerusalem is more direct.

To the men of Judah.Literally, to each man individually.

Break up your fallow ground.The Hebrew has the force which comes from the verb and noun being from the same root, Break up for you a broken ground or fallow a fallow field. The metaphor had been used before by Hosea (Hos. 10:12). What the spiritual field needed was to be exposed to Gods sun and Gods free air, to the influences of spiritual light and warmth, and the dew and soft showers of His grace.

Sow not among thorns.Not without a special interest as, perhaps, containing the germ of the Parable of the Sower in Mat. 13:7. Here, as there, the seed is the word of God, spoken by the prophet, and taking root in the heart, and the thorns are the cares of this world, the selfish desires which choke the good seed and render it unfruitful.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3, 4. For, connects the two following verses with the preceding, as being the ground of them. That these verses refer to Judah, while the preceding refer to Israel, suggests a difficulty more apparent than real. For Jeremiah was the prophet of Judah, and the reference to Israel was for the sake of Judah. Hence, having thus prepared the way, it was fitting that he should urge home the lesson on those for whom he laboured.

To the men Literally, to each man. Break up, etc. Keil translates, Break up for yourselves new ground. As much as to say, Prepare new ground for cultivation: enter upon a new life. Thoroughly prepare the field of your hearts, so that the good seed of repentance may not fall among thorns. See Mat 13:7, and Hos 10:12.

Circumcise A call to entire consecration. The phrase to the Lord is one of emphasizing force. It implies that not a mere ceremony is required, but an actual putting away of spiritual impurity. Lest my fury, etc., etc. A consciousness of sin is as fuel which is sure to be ignited by the divine presence. Consult chap Jer 8:20; Amo 5:6, and Psa 89:46.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Judah Are Called To Repentance As Well As Israel For They Are Still In Their Land, And, If They Will Only Truly Turn To Him With Genuinely Changed Hearts, Can Still Look Forward To The Future In Hope. The Truth, However, Is That They Will Not Do So With The Result That Destruction Will Come Upon Them Also ( Jer 4:3-22 ).

YHWH now turns His attention to Judah. Their position was better than Israel’s because they were still in their land, and so He calls them to true repentance and a true change of heart, warning them that if they do not repent He will bring sudden and certain judgment upon them. And that judgment is then called for and portrayed in the most vivid terms (the boiling cauldron is open from the north – Jer 1:13-14), stirring Jeremiah to upbraid Him for having given His people a wrong impression with His words of peace (this may have in mind the peace that false prophets had promised, seen as with YHWH’s permission, compare 1Ki 22:23, or it may be because Jeremiah himself had been misled by the prophecy of peace in Jer 3:14-19 and had failed to recognise its long term nature). But nothing can defer the judgment that is coming. It is already determined and the destroyer is on his way. And their world will return to being as empty as it was at the beginning, before God had shaped and formed it. The passage then ends with vivid metaphors of what will come.

A Call To Repent And Have Changed Hearts.

Jer 4:3

“For thus says YHWH to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.’ ”

YHWH now turns His attention to Judah and Jerusalem, and calls on their inhabitants to ‘break up their fallow ground and not to sow among thorns.’ These words were possibly inspired by YHWH’s words in Hosea, ‘Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground’, and if so we can remember that their climax was, ‘then I will come and rain righteousness on you’ (Hos 10:12), an idea never far away when YHWH calls men to repentance. ‘Fallow ground’ is ground suitable for sowing grain on but not yet ploughed, and it needed to be broken up so that it would receive the seeds, and also so that thorns could be removed from it. But this injunction was not intended as farming advice. The idea was clearly that they must remove the weeds and thorns from their lives and break up the hardness of their hearts so that the word of YHWH might be sown into receptive ground. This spiritual application rather than a literal one is emphasised by the next verse which speaks of spiritual circumcision. YHWH is calling for a deep shake up and softening in their hearts, minds and wills so that they will be receptive to Him. It may well be that Jesus had these words in mind when He preached by means of the parable of the sower (Mar 4:1-9).

Jer 4:4

“Circumcise yourselves to YHWH,

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.”

YHWH then tells them that they needed to ‘circumcise themselves to Him’ by removing ‘the foreskin of their hearts’. This may signify:

1. That they needed to establish His covenant in their hearts by cutting away the barrier which prevented its work within them, dealing with the stubbornness which was in their hearts ( compare Deu 10:16; Deu 30:6).

2. That they were to cut away the flap of sin and unbelief which prevented YHWH’s light from shining in their hearts (compareDeu 30:6; Rom 2:29).

3. That they were to cut away the sin and corruption that was in their lives (Rom 2:29).

And He warns them that if they do not do so His wrath will go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, as a judgment on them because of the evil of their doings, in other words, because of the wrongness of their daily behaviour. The idea behind unquenchable fire is both of its general and total destructiveness, and of the literal fires that would burn up their lands and cities during the invasion that was coming.

Warning Of The Coming Invasion.

Jer 4:5-6

“Declare you in Judah,

And publish in Jerusalem,

And say, “Blow you the ram’s horn in the land,”

Cry aloud and say, “Assemble yourselves,

And let us go into the fortified cities.

Set up a standard (or ‘signal’) towards Zion,

Flee for safety,

Stay not,

For I will bring evil from the north,

And a great destruction.”

Because He knows that they will not do what He has commanded He now sets the wheels of His judgment in motion. He calls on Jeremiah to warn the people in Judah and Jerusalem to blow the ram’s horn in their land, that is, the war horn which is the signal of approaching danger, and then to send out the call for the people to assemble themselves and seek shelter in the fortified cities. The idea behind this call was that the enemy were approaching so that anyone left out in the open could expect to be killed. That was the reason for having fortified cities, so that all could seek refuge in them when an enemy approached. Note the way that the staccato phrases, ‘Flee for safety’, ‘stay not’, increase the sense of urgency

The call was also to set up a standard (military flag) towards Zion, that is, towards Jerusalem, with the aim of fleeing there for safety behind their standards, or to light signal fires warning people to flee to the shelter of the walls of Jerusalem, the strongest city in the area. Nor were they to hesitate, for YHWH was bringing evil from the north in the shape of Babylonian or Scythian armies, or both (as a result of our sparsity of knowledge about those days opinion is divided), who would cause great destruction in their land.

Jer 4:7

“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.”

This invader would be like a rampant lion who leaves his thicket in search of prey (compare Hos 5:14; Joe 3:16; Amo 1:2; Amo 3:12), He would be a destroyer of nations, and what was more, in the intent of God he was already on his way (he had broken up is encampment). He has left his own place in order to desolate their land, and to lay waste their cities so that they would become uninhabited. The impending doom on Judah is being made very clear.

Nothing chilled the heart of the shepherd more than the lion that came out of its hiding place with its eyes fixed on the flock, or roaming round seeking what it may devour. But this lion was human, and his prey was Judah. He was ‘the destroyer of nations’.

A Call To Lamentation And Mourning.

Jer 4:8

“Gird you with sackcloth for this,

Lament and wail,

For the fierce anger of YHWH,

Is not turned back from us.”

In the face of this threat they are to put on sackcloth, a sign of deep mourning, and are to lament and wail like mourners at a funeral because YHWH’s fierce anger is still directed at them and has not been turned back from them.

Jer 4:9

“And it will come about at that day,

The word of YHWH,

“That the heart of the king will perish,

And the heart of the princes,

And the priests will be astonished,

And the prophets will wonder.”

And in that day (made certain by ‘the word of YHWH’) their leaders will perish, while their priests and prophets will be filled with wonder because events are not taking the course that they expected, and because of the awfulness of what they see coming on them. In other words their spiritual leaders, who were supposed to bring God’s will to the people, will instead have been proved to have taught them wrongly, and will have brought great destruction on them.

Jeremiah Upbraids YHWH For Seemingly Having Deceived His People.

Jer 4:10

“Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord YHWH! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You will have peace, whereas the sword reaches unto the life.”

Jeremiah reacts in astonishment to YHWH’s words. One moment YHWH had appeared to be telling Israel that they would have peace (Jer 3:15-19), which surely boded well for Judah. Now He had revealed that the lives of the people of Judah would be exposed to the sword. He was concerned lest YHWH had deceived the people with His seemingly contradictory message. But of course what he was overlooking was that YHWH had stressed that even Josiah’s piety had only obtained peace in his day (2Ki 22:19-20), and that they could only have permanent peace once they truly repented, something which they patently had not done.

Alternately he may have had the false prophets in mind who proclaimed peace when there was no peace. All around him he saw prophets of YHWH proclaiming peace, with Temple backing. It must have at times been very puzzling. Then Jeremiah is seen as deploring the fact that YHWH has allowed these false prophets to deceive the people (false prophets in YHWH’s eyes, but many would have been seen as legitimate ‘prophets of YHWH’). In that case he is expressing the same puzzlement as we have as we look at the world and wonder why God ‘does not do something about the situation’, and why He allows seemingly sincere men to proclaim false ideas deceiving so many. Why, in other words, does He allow evil to have its way without interfering? We overlook the fact that God is working to a programme that we cannot even begin to understand because we do not know the end from the beginning, nor do we truly understand the complexities of the issues or the problems involved. Either way the words indicate the closeness of the relationship that Jeremiah had with God. He felt able to react towards Him as a friend. God has to be very real to you for you to grumble at Him like this. (Jeremiah’ attitude was very different from that of grumbling atheists. He was concerned for YHWH’s good Name).

YHWH Continues With His Words Of Judgment.

Jer 4:11-12

‘At that time will it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse, a full wind from these will come for me (i.e. ‘on my behalf’), now will I also utter judgments against them.”

YHWH continues with His words of judgment. The people will be informed of a harsh, burning wind (‘a clear wind’) coming towards them from the bare heights in the wilderness, not a wind which will be beneficial, that is, will winnow (blow away the chaff from the wheat at the threshingfloor) or cleanse, but a wind of judgment, fulfilling His words of judgments against them. The east wind coming in from the desert was renowned for its burning heat and almost unbearable effects. Note that the burning wind comes from the very same ‘bare heights’ where they had worshipped their idols (Jer 3:2).

There is an ominous finality about these words. The day for chastisement is over, the day of winnowing and cleansing has gone, now only final judgment awaits.

Jer 4:13

‘Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! for we are ruined.’

Jeremiah picks up on YHWH’s words, recognising that they spell doom. ‘Behold,’ he says, ‘he will come as clouds, and his chariots as a whirlwind, and with his horses swifter than eagles.’ The ‘he’ may be referring to YHWH as the bringer of the judgments, or alternatively to the one who will command those forces on YHWH’s behalf. The clouds express the huge size of his forces, the whirlwind the speed and destructive capacity of his chariots, and the horses, descending like eagles, emphasise the rapidity with which it will all happen (compare here Deu 28:49 and 2Sa 1:23). But the final words reveal the effect of these ideas on Jeremiah, for he cries out, ‘woe to us for we are ruined!’ He recognises that there was no hope. We can compare here the similar cry of Isaiah, ‘Woe is me, for I am undone’, when faced up with the awful holiness of YHWH (Isa 6:5).

A Further Call To Repent And Be Saved.

Jer 4:14

‘O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you?’

YHWH now renews His call to Jerusalem to repent. There could still be hope if only they would repent. And He calls on them to remove the iniquity from their hearts in order that they might be saved from the coming judgments, asking them how long they will allow their evil thoughts to lodge within them. Note that it was the fact that their evil thoughts did not just come to them, for all at times experience such evil thoughts, but also were allowed to lodge within them that lay at the root of the problem. Continuing sin is unforgivable sin.

For the idea of washing the heart as indicating turning from sin compare Isa 1:16, ‘wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek justice, correct oppression, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.’ In other words it indicated turning to Him and obeying His covenant.

The Time Of The Invasion Approaches.

Jer 4:15

‘For a voice declares from Dan,

And publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim,’

Dan was on the far northern borders of what had been Israel. The hills of Ephraim bordered on Judah. And from these border posts came the voice of warning to Jerusalem to prepare itself, no doubt via swift horsemen. Note the increasing tension, first ‘declares’ and then ‘proclaims, publishes’. There is here, therefore, a pointer to judgment slowly approaching from the north, first affecting Dan, and then, as it advanced, reaching the hills of Ephraim. God’s judgment is seen as advancing on Jerusalem. It is almost there.

The word for ‘evil, affliction, emptiness’ is that same as that for ‘vanity, worship of what is vain’. Awen will come on them come because of their awen. The country will be made empty because of the emptiness of their worship. The prophets had altered the name of Bethel (house of God) to Beth-awen (house of emptiness and of what was vain) for the same reason

Jer 4:16

‘Make you mention to the nations,

Behold, publish against Jerusalem,

Watchers come from a far country,

And give out their voice against the cities of Judah.’

As we have already seen all nations were intended to enjoy the blessing of YHWH because of the testimony of the people of Israel/Judah (compare Jer 3:17). Such nations are therefore here seen as very interested in anything that concerns Judah. But Judah has been revealed to be faithless, and therefore the nations will make their declaration against them, they are exhorted to (if we parallel with ‘give out their voice against the cities of Judah’) ‘publish against Jerusalem’. Instead of exalting her they are to hold her up to shame because she has failed to be obedient to YHWH. Alternately ‘publish against Jerusalem’ may parallel the first line ‘make you mention to the nations’, indicating a parallel action. And even those who come from a far country will give out their voices against the cities of Judah, declaring them worthy of the judgments that are coming on them. The ‘watchers’ here may be Babylonian scouts surveying ahead for the prospective invasion, or they may be spies who constantly reported back to Nebuchadnezzar what was happening in Palestine, or they may indicate the watching of the besiegers of the cities as they wait for the cities to fall (such watching was enough to chill the heart). Or the term may simply indicate those who watch as the nations were watching, waiting to see what would happen next, their coming from a far country indicating the deep interest of all nations concerning what is happening in Jerusalem. But whichever they are their verdict is against Judah.

Jer 4:17

“As keepers of a field are they against her round about,

Because she has been rebellious against me,” says YHWH.’

The ‘keepers of the field’ were the local watchmen who watched over the unfenced fields and vineyards, partly in order to prevent theft, and partly in order to keep an eye on the depredations of wild beasts. So these ‘watchers of Jerusalem’ were similarly watching Jerusalem, and have given a verdict against her, because they are witnesses to the fact that she has been rebellious against YHWH, because she bears no fruit. And this is ‘the word of YHWH’ (neum YHWH).

Alternately the ‘keepers of the field’ may be indicating the siege battalions that are to gather round Jerusalem, watching and waiting until her downfall becomes a reality.

The Reason For The Coming Judgment.

Jer 4:18

‘Your way and your doings,

Have procured these things to you,

This is your wickedness, for it is bitter,

For it reaches to your heart.’

And all this was true of Judah and Jerusalem because of their evil ways and doings. It was their evil ways and doings which had bought for her the attention of the nations, and even the nations were appalled at what they saw. For their ways and doings were epitomes of wickedness, a wickedness that was bitter and reached to their very heart.

Jeremiah’s Anguish At The Situation.

Jer 4:19

‘My anguish, my anguish!

I am pained at my very heart,

My heart is disquieted in me,

I cannot hold my peace,

Because you have heard,

O my soul,

The sound of the ram’s horn,

The alarm of war.’

At what he has seen and at the sound of the ram’s horn declaring war on Judah and Jerusalem Jeremiah is cut to the heart. His tender heart can hardly bear what it means. He is filled with anguish, and pained right to his heart (literally ‘at the walls of my heart’). His heart is disquieted, and he cannot keep silent, because he knows exactly what the war horn is going to mean, destruction upon his people.

‘My anguish, my anguish.’ Literally, ‘my bowels (intestines), my bowels’ in the same way as we speak of being affected by distress in the pit of our stomachs.

Jer 4:20-21

‘ “Destruction upon destruction” is cried,

For the whole land is laid waste.

Suddenly my tents are destroyed,

My curtains in a moment.

How long will I see the standard,

And hear the sound of the ram’s horn?’

The dire situation is vividly brought out here. The cry is, ‘destruction upon destruction’ (‘breaking up upon breaking up, crash upon crash’), because the whole land is laid waste. And the end will come suddenly. Their homes will be destroyed (‘tents’ being a metaphor for homes, as often, although many possibly still lived in tents), and their curtains (the curtains of their tents and those acting as dividers in their homes) will be torn down ‘in a moment’ as the invaders loot their houses and tents. And the final two lines indicate the sad cry that makes clear that the end is near. How much longer will their standard keep flying to hearten the defenders, how long will the sound of the ram’s horn organising the defence still be heard? For when the standard ceases flying, and the ram’s horn ceases sounding, it will be the indication that all is over.

It is worth comparing Jer 4:19 line by line with Jer 4:20-21, on the one hand the anguish of the prophet (‘my anguish, my anguish’), on the other the certainty of the destruction (‘destruction upon destruction’). Note also the repetition of ‘the sound of the ram’s horn’, first causing anguish and then indicating the end.

YHWH’s Charge Against His People.

Jer 4:22

‘For my people are foolish,

They do not know me,

They are mindless children,

And they have no understanding,

They are wise to do evil,

But to do good they have no knowledge.’

And we now have the full explanation of why all this has come upon them. It is because they have been foolish in not knowing YHWH (compare Psa 14:1) and have instead preferred no-gods, they have been mindless because they are lacking in true understanding. It is because they have not understood and received the truth that they are subtle when it comes to doing evil, and yet totally lacking in a knowledge of what is good and of doing it. And with such people what could God do?

We are reminded here of the words of Job, ‘The fear of YHWH, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil, that is understanding’ (Job 28:28). Note the importance of the fact that true understanding results in departure from evil. That is the difference between true faith based on true understanding, which is the faith that saves, and an academic faith based only on intellectual understanding, which does not save (see Joh 2:23-25; Jas 2:19-20).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

YHWH Warns Judah That If They Will Not Repent For Them Too Invasion By A Fierce Adversary Is Threatening And Will Undoubtedly Come Because Of Their Sins ( Jer 4:3-31 ).

If Judah will not respond to the example provided by Israel, and the glowing picture of hope for the future offered to them, they too will experience invasion and go through a similar experience. They are thus called on to repent accompanied with the warning of what will happen to them if they do not. They will suffer an invasion which will be so dreadful that it calls to mind the vision of a world returned to its original unformed condition. The picture thus drawn is then followed by that of a nation in anguish.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jer 4:3. Break up your fallow ground, &c. That is, “Purge and purify the field of your hearts by true repentance.” See Deu 10:16. Rom 2:29. Exo 6:12. Act 7:51. Col 2:11 and Houb.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 1036
REPENTANCE THE MEANS OF PREVENTING RUIN

Jer 4:3-4. Thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

THE language of the prophets is highly figurative, and therefore sometimes difficult to be understood; but, when judiciously explained, it will always be found highly instructive. Of course, it will not be right to press a metaphorical expression too far; nor should an idea that may seem indelicate, be so touched as to offend the nicest ear [Note: This hint should be very strictly attended to, in preaching on such a text as this.]: but, when the general import of the metaphor is seen, the subject contained in it may be prosecuted to great advantage. It is obvious that some very important instruction is conveyed in the passage before us: and it will be found no less applicable to ourselves than to the Jews of old, if we consider,

I.

The duties here enjoined

These are set forth under two different images; the one taken from breaking up fallow ground, and the other from the Jewish rite of circumcision. To ascertain the import of those images, we need only refer to a parallel passage in the Prophet Ezekiel, where the same duties are inculcated in plain and simple terms; Repent and turn from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin [Note: Eze 18:30.]. Two duties then are here enjoined;

1.

Repentance

[The heart of man by nature may justly be compared with uncultivated ground that is covered with thorns and briers; for it is obdurate, and altogether unfit for the reception of any good scud, till it has been broken up, and cleared of its noxious products. Let any one examine his own heart, and he will find this representation true. As to the outward acts of men, there certainly is a great difference, yea, and in their inward dispositions too; but in respect of love to God and delight in his service, all are on the same level; the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be [Note: Rom 8:7.]. It is full of earthly, sensual, devilish affections, which must be rooted up, before the graces of Gods Spirit can grow within it. But this cannot be done by a slight and superficial work: the plough must enter into the very soul, as it did on the day of Pentecost: we must be made to feel our desert and danger, and be brought to the condition of the poor repenting publican [Note: Luk 18:13.]. Let every child of man bear this in mind; for it is the broken and contrite heart alone, which God will not despise; and except ye thus repent, ye must all inevitably perish.]

2.

Amendment

[Circumcision was not only a seal on Gods part, marking Israel for his own peculiar people, but it was a sign also on the part of Israel, denoting their obligation to put off the body of the sins of the flesh [Note: Col 2:11.] and to love and serve God with all their hearts [Note: Deu 30:6.]. In this sense, though the rite itself is superseded by Baptism, the term may justly be applied to us. We must have our hearts circumcised unto the Lord: we must mortify our earthly members [Note: Col 3:5. Gal 5:24.], and put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts [Note: Eph 4:22.]. Whatever pain it may occasion us to part with our besetting sins, (for circumcision was a painful rite,) it must be submitted to, even as a man gladly parts with a diseased member for the preservation of his whole body. Our blessed Lord assures us, that if we wilfully retain one bosom lust, we must perish in that fire that never shall be quenched [Note: Mar 9:43-48.].]

This awful truth being so strongly marked in our text, we shall proceed to shew,

II.

The connexion between these duties and the Divine favour

In its primary sense, the threatening in our text maybe considered as denouncing temporal judgments on the Jewish nation: but it must also be understood in reference to those eternal judgments which we all have merited by our iniquities. For the averting of those judgments, repentance and amendment are indispensably necessary:

1.

Not, however, in a way of meritorious efficiency

[It is not possible for man to merit any thing at Gods hands. As transgressors of his law, we are justly exposed to his everlasting displeasure [Note: Rom 3:19.]: and, if we could perfectly obey his law in future, our obedience would no more cancel our obligation to punishment for past disobedience, than our future abstinence from incurring debts would discharge the debts already incurred. But the truth is, that every thing we do is imperfect, and needs forgiveness on account of its imperfection: and therefore to dream of meriting pardon by deeds which themselves stand in need of pardon, must be folly in the extreme. There is but one way of obtaining deliverance from the punishment of sin, and that is through the blood and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is his meritorious sacrifice which alone expiates the guilt of sin: and, if we look to any thing else, either in whole or in part, for pardon and acceptance, we effectually cut ourselves off from all hope of his salvation. However we may plough up the fallow ground, and sow in righteousness, we must reap in mercy, and in mercy alone [Note: Hos 10:12.]. Salvation is altogether of grace, through faith [Note: Eph 2:8-9.]: and in point of dependence, we must renounce our best actions as much as our vilest sins.]

2.

But in a way of suitable preparation

[Repentance and amendment are necessary both to an honourable exercise of mercy on Gods part, and to a becoming reception of mercy on our part.

If God were not to require humiliation in us, and a mortification of our sins, what evidence would there be that He is holy; and in what light would he appear as the Moral Governor of the Universe? Surely he would be thought indifferent about the honour of his law, and regardless of the moral character of his creatures. But he will not so dishonour his own perfections: and therefore, even when most anxious to display his mercy, he requires an acknowledgment of sin on our part [Note: Jer 3:12-13.], and declares, that, if we will not humble ourselves before him, he will proceed against us with deserved rigour [Note: Jer 2:35.].

But if we could conceive that God should pardon an un-repenting sinner, the sinner himself would not value a pardon so offered: he would rather think it an insult than a favour: for, whilst he is unconscious that he deserves the wrath of God, he would account it an injustice even to be supposed to merit it. Again, suppose the pardon actually conferred, what gratitude would he feel for the gift bestowed? or what endeavours would he make to glorify God in future? Would he not account sin a light matter? Would he not readily return to it, even as a dog to his vomit, or the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire? We may ask once more; supposing him forgiven, how could he join in the songs of the redeemed above? They are prostrating themselves with profoundest adoration before the throne of God, and singing praises incessantly to Him that loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood: but he has no heart for such exercises: instead of magnifying his God and Saviour for the greatness of his mercy towards him, he would be congratulating himself that he had never merited any other portion.

Here then the connexion between these duties and our forgiveness is manifest: it is founded, not in any vain ideas of merit, but in the immutable decrees of God: God cannot dishonour himself; nor can man be saved in any other way, than by confessing and forsaking his iniquities [Note: Pro 28:13.].]

Address
1.

Those who have never yet been awakened to a sense of their sins

[Alas! how many amongst us are yet uncircumcised in heart and ears? How many have never yet wept and mourned in secret for their sins, and never adopted the resolution of the Prodigal, I will arise and go to my father. But God forbid that they should continue any longer in such fatal security. Hear, every one of you, the command of God: Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness: humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up [Note: Jam 4:9-10.]. this, this is the great business of life: in comparison of this, every pursuit is light and vain. To flee from the wrath to come, and to lay hold on eternal life! O who can paint in sufficiently glowing colours the importance and excellency of such an employment?

Some may perhaps reply, that they cannot do these things. True, we cannot of ourselves; but will not God enable us to do them, if we seek the aid of his Holy Spirit? Has he not expressly told us, that his grace shall be sufficient for us? I say then, Plough up your fallow ground; make you a new heart, and a new spirit: and when you find your own insufficiency, then plead with God the promises he has made, and cry, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me [Note: Compare the command, Eze 18:31. with the promise, Eze 36:26 and the petition, Psa 51:10.] That prayer, if offered in faith, shall surely be answered; and you shall find to your joy, that you can do all things through Christ who strengthened you.]

2.

Those who make a profession of religion

[Do not imagine that it is sufficient to break up the fallow ground once: the husbandman ploughs his ground often, especially if it be a soil that is full of noxious plants. Thus then must you do: there is no soil so bad as the heart of a carnal man: weeds are growing up continually: and it must be the labour of your life to pluck them up. How many professors of religion have the good seed choked and rendered unfruitful, through their negligence in pulling up the thorns and briers that grow up with it [Note: Mat 13:7; Mat 13:22.]! It is an awful truth, that no people are farther from the kingdom of God than they; because they are of all persons the most difficult to be brought to a sense of their danger. But St. Paul marks in very striking terms the difference between such persons and the true Christian: against those he cautions us, Beware of dogs, beware of the concision: we are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh [Note: Php 3:2-3]. A profession of religion, however clear your knowledge of the Gospel may be, will not suffice: for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God [Note: Rom 2:25-29.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

The Prophet here opens his commission to the men of Judah and Jerusalem; and in the prospect of the Babylonish captivity, now hastening, admonisheth them to seek the Lord. The Prophet, like a faithful preacher, dwells upon the same subject, as the Lord preached to him, at his ordination. See Jer 1:14 to the end. The Lion from the thicket is a strong figure, to set forth the fury of the Enemy. And when the Lord gives the authority, what a roaring Lion indeed, is every foe. Precious Jesus! thou art the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and while thou art for us, more are they, than all that can be against us. Rev 5:5 ; 2Ki 6:15-17 . If the heart of all men fail in their own strength: those whom thou hast made kings and priests to God and the Father, will faint not, whilst thou art their strength and their portion forever. Rev 1:6 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jer 4:3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

Ver. 3. Break up your fallow ground. ] Novellate vobis novale. Tertullian rendereth it, Renovate vobis novamen novuum, put off the old man, and put on the new. See Hos 10:11 . See Trapp on “ Hos 10:11 “ By the practice of repentance, runcate, extirpate, root up and rid your hearts and lives of all vile lusts and vicious practices. The breaking up of sinful hearts may prevent the breaking down of a sinful nation.

Sow not among thorns, ] i.e., Cares and lusts of life, fitly called thorns, because (1.) They prick and gore the soul; (2.) Harbour the old serpent; (3.) Choke the word. There is no looking for a harvest in a hedge: stock them, and stub them up therefore; 1Pe 2:1 Jam 1:21 do not plough here, and make a trench there, &c.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 4:3-4

3For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,

Break up your fallow ground,

And do not sow among thorns.

4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD

And remove the foreskins of your heart,

Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,

Or else My wrath will go forth like fire

And burn with none to quench it,

Because of the evil of your deeds.

Jer 4:3-8 This strophe is a warning and call for repentance. Notice the commands.

1. Jer 4:3, break up – BDB 644, KB 697, Qal IMPERATIVE (metaphor for prepare your heart, cf. Hos 10:12)

2. Jer 4:3, sow – BDB 281, KB 282, Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense (negated, among the thorns metaphor for established idolatry)

3. Jer 4:4, circumcise yourselves – BDB 557, KB 555, Niphal IMPERATIVE (a metaphor for the heart, cf. Jer 9:25-26)

4. Jer 4:4, remove – BDB 693, KB 747, Hiphil IMPERATIVE (the literary parallel to circumcise)

In light of YHWH’s warning of judgment (Jer 4:4 -f), He calls for the proclamation of invasion and action (Jer 4:5-8).

1. Jer 4:5, declare – BDB 610, KB 665, Hiphil IMPERATIVE (first of six IMPERATIVES about communication)

2. Jer 4:5, proclaim – BDB 1033, KB 1570, Hiphil IMPERATIVE

3. Jer 4:5, say – BDB 55, KB 65, Qal IMPERATIVE

4. Jer 4:5, blow – BDB 1075, KB 1785, Qal IMPERATIVE

5.Jer 4:5, cry – BDB 894, KB 1128, Qal IMPERATIVE

6. Jer 4:5, aloud – BDB 569, KB 583, Piel IMPERATIVE

7. Jer 4:5, say – same as #3

The content of their commandment is, act now, judgment is coming (cf. Jer 4:6-7)

8. Jer 4:5, assemble – BDB 62, KB 74, Niphal IMPERATIVE , cf. Jer 8:14

9. Jer 4:5, let us go – BDB 97, KB 112, Qal COHORTATIVE, cf. Jer 8:14

10. Jer 4:6, lift up a standard – BDB 669, KB 724, Qal IMPERATIVE (i.e., a military signal)

11. Jer 4:6, seek refuge – BDB 731, KB 797, Hiphil IMPERATIVE

12. Jer 4:6, do not stand still – BDB 763, KB 840, Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense (i.e., do not wait!)

Finally, in light of the coming judgment, they are called on to grieve.

13. Jer 4:8, put on sackcloth – BDB 291, KB 291, Qal IMPERATIVE (see Special Topic: Grieving Rites )

14. Jer 4:8, lament – BDB 704, KB 763, Qal IMPERATIVE

15. Jer 4:8, wail – BDB 410, KB 413, Qal IMPERATIVE

Why? The fierce anger of the Lord is coming (cf. Jer 4:26; Jer 12:13; Jer 25:37-38; Jer 30:24; Jer 49:37; Jer 51:45) and He will not change His mind (cf. Jer 4:28).

Jer 4:3 to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem This shows the collective call to individual repentance, which characterizes Jeremiah and Ezekiel (i.e., Ezekiel 18). Biblical faith is corporate but it is entered into by individual choice.

Break up your fallow ground Jer 4:3 relates to the agricultural practice of preparing ground for seed. The rabbis use the illustration that our minds are like a plowed field, ready for seed and what one lets in through the eyes and ears falls on that prepared ground. What we think and then dwell on becomes who we are!

Repentance is plowed, good ground, ready for fellowship and obedience in a daily walk with God.

Jer 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD. . .remove the foreskin of your heart This shows that ritual alone was/is never effective, but a daily, internal faith attitude is essential (cf. Deu 10:12; Deu 30:6). Other examples of this metaphor are:

1. ears, Jer 6:10

2. lips, Exo 6:12; Exo 6:30

3. heart, Deu 10:16

4. flesh, Gen 17:14

My wrath go forth like fire This is a recurrent metaphor (cf. Jer 17:4; Jer 21:12).

SPECIAL TOPIC: FIRE

with none to quench it See Isa 1:31; Isa 66:24; Amo 5:6; Mat 3:12; Mar 9:43; Mar 9:48.

See the word study gehenna in the following Special Topic.

SPECIAL TOPIC: Where Are the Dead?

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

and Jerusalem. Some codices, with Aramaean, Septuagint, and Syriac, read “and the inhabitants of Jerusalem”, as in Jer 4:4.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Break: Gen 3:18, Hos 10:12, Mat 13:7, Mat 13:22, Mar 4:7, Mar 4:18, Mar 4:19, Luk 8:7, Luk 8:14, Gal 6:7, Gal 6:8

Reciprocal: 1Sa 7:3 – prepare Job 36:10 – commandeth Pro 24:31 – it Isa 28:24 – break Isa 66:15 – with his

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jer 4:3. Men of Judah and Jerusalem is said because that city was the capital of the kingdom of the two tribes, the ten having been In exile more than a century. The verse is still an exhortation on the principle of the note referred to in verse 1. Break means to cultivate and fallow ground means ground that is ploughed and gleaming with richness. The clause denotes the wisdom of using the good sotl for their seed and not waste it by sowing it among thorns. Of course it iB figurative and means they should sow their lives to the true God and not to idols. (See Gal 6:7-8.)

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jer 4:3-4. For thus saith the Lord The prophet now addresses himself to the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, and exhorts them to repentance and reformation in metaphorical language. Break up your fallow ground, &c. That is, purge and purify the field of your hearts, by godly sorrow for your sins, and hatred to them; prepare your hearts for receiving the seed of the divine word, by making them soft, tender, and pliable, fit to believe and obey it. And sow not among thorns Eradicate the lusts and vices, the corrupt principles and dispositions, habits, and practices, which, unless rooted out, will effectually choke the good seed of truth and grace, and prevent the growth of piety and virtue in your souls. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord Put away your corruptions; mortify your vicious inclinations and passions: the same thing with the former, expressed in other words. Take away the foreskin of your heart Let your repentance and renovation be inward in your soul and spirit, and not merely outward in your flesh; lest my fury come forth like fire Which it is now ready to do, as that fire which came forth from the Lord, and consumed the sacrifices; and burn that none can quench it Which wrath is not only fierce and consuming like fire, but unquenchable; because of the evil of your doings Which is the thing that kindles the fire of Gods wrath against us. Observe, reader, that which is to be dreaded by us more than any thing else, in time or eternity, is the wrath of God kindled against us by the evil of our doings, for it is the spring and bitterness of all present miseries, and will be the quintessence and perfection of everlasting misery. And the consideration of the imminent danger we are in of falling and perishing under this wrath, should awaken us with all possible care to sanctify ourselves to Gods glory, and to see to it that we be sanctified by his grace.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

4:3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up {c} your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

(c) He wills them to pluck up the impiety and wicked affection and worldly respects out of their heart, that the true seed of God’s word may be sown in it, Hos 10:12 and this is the true circumcision of the heart, De 10:16, Rom 2:29, Col 2:11 .

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

This message closes with a call from the Lord to each of Jeremiah’s original Jerusalemite and Judean hearers. Yahweh appealed to them with two agricultural metaphors. They needed to plow up the previously unplowed soil that symbolized their hearts (cf. Hos 10:12; Mar 4:1-9). They needed to cultivate soft hearts that would welcome the Lord’s words. Negatively, they needed to stop investing in counterproductive ventures such as idolatry.

"Just as a farmer does not sow his seed on unplowed ground, so God does not sow His blessings in unrepentant hearts." [Note: Dyer, in The Old . . ., p. 595.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

; Jer 5:1-31; Jer 6:1-30

CHAPTER IV

THE SCYTHIANS AS THE SCOURGE OF GOD

Jer 4:3 – Jer 6:30

IF we would understand what is written here and elsewhere in the pages of prophecy, two things would seem to be requisite. We must prepare ourselves with some knowledge of the circumstances of the time, and we must form some general conception of the ideas and aims of the inspired writer, both in themselves, and in their relation to passing events. Of the former, a partial and fragmentary knowledge may suffice, provided it be true so far as it goes; minuteness of detail is not necessary to general accuracy. Of the latter, a very full and complete conception may be gathered from a careful study of the prophetic discourses.

The chapters before us were obviously composed in the presence of a grave national danger; and what that danger was is not left uncertain, as the discourse proceeds. An invasion of the country appeared to be imminent; the rumour of approaching war had already made itself heard in the capital; and all classes were terror stricken at the tidings.

As usual in such times of peril, the country people were already abandoning the unwalled towns and villages, to seek refuge in the strong places of the land, and, above all, in Jerusalem, which was at once the capital and the principal fortress of the kingdom. The evil news had spread far and near; the trumpet signal of alarm was heard everywhere; the cry was, “Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fenced cities!” {Jer 4:5}

The ground of this universal terror is thus declared: “The lion is gone up from his thicket, and the destroyer of nations is on his way, is gone forth from his place; to make thy land a desolation, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant” (Jer 4:7). “A hot blast over the bare hills in the wilderness, on the road to the daughter of my people, not for winnowing, nor for cleansing; a full blast from those hills cometh at My beck” (Jer 4:11). “Lo, like clouds he cometh up, and, like the whirlwind, his chariots; swifter than vultures are his horses. Woe unto us! We are verily destroyed” (Jer 4:13). “Besiegers” {lit. “watchmen,” Isa 1:8} “are coming from the remotest land, and they utter their cry against the cities of Judah. Like keepers of a field become they against her on every side” (Jer 4:16-17). At the same time, the invasion is still only a matter of report; the blow has not yet fallen upon the trembling people. “Behold, I am about to bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, saith Iahvah; an inexhaustible nation it is, a nation of old time it is, a nation whose tongue thou knowest not, nor understandest (lit. hearest) what it speaketh. Its quiver is like an opened grave; they all are heroes. And it will eat up thine harvest and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat; it will eat up thy flock and thine herd; it will eat up thy vine and thy fig tree; it will shatter thine embattled cities, wherein thou art trusting, with the sword.” {Jer 5:15-17} “Thus hath Iahvah said: Lo, a people cometh from a northern land, and a great nation is awaking from the uttermost parts of earth. Bow and lance they hold; savage it is, and pitiless; the sound of them is like the sea, when it roareth; and on horses they ride; he is arrayed as a man for battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion. We have heard the report of him; our hands droop; anguish hath taken hold of us, throes, like hers that travaileth”. {Jer 6:22 sq.} With the graphic force of a keen observer, who is also a poet, the priest of Anathoth has thus depicted for all time the collapse of terror which befell his contemporaries, on the rumoured approach of the Scythians in the reign of Josiah. And his lyric fervour carries him beyond this; it enables him to see with the utmost distinctness the havoc wrought by these hordes of savages; the surprise of cities, the looting of houses, the flight of citizens to the woods and the hills at the approach of the enemy; the desertion of the country towns, the devastation of fields and vineyards, confusion and desolation everywhere, as though primeval chaos had returned; and he tells it all with the passion and intensity of one who is relating an actual personal experience. “In my vitals, my vitals, I quake, in the walls of my heart! My heart is murmuring to me; I cannot hold my peace; for my soul is listening to the trumpet blast, the alarm of war! Ruin on ruin is cried, for all the land is ravaged; suddenly are my tents ravaged, my pavilions in a moment! How long must I see the standards, must I listen to the trumpet blast?” {Jer 4:19-21} “I look at the earth, and lo, tis chaos: at the heavens, and their light is no more. I look at the mountains, and lo, they rock, and all the hills sway to and fro. I look, and lo, man is no more, and the birds of the air are gone. I look, and 1o, the fruitful soil is wilderness, and all the cities of it are overthrown”. {Jer 4:23-26} “At the noise of horseman and archer all the city is in flight! They are gone into the thickets, and up the rocks they have clomb: all the city is deserted” (Jer 4:29). His eye follows the course of devastation until it reaches Jerusalem: Jerusalem, the proud, luxurious capital, now isolated on her hills, bereft of all her daughter cities, abandoned, even betrayed, by her foreign allies. “And thou, that art doomed to destruction, what canst thou do? Though thou clothe thee in scarlet, though thou deck thee with decking of gold, though thou broaden thine eyes with henna, in vain dost thou make thyself fair; the lovers have scorned thee, thy life are they seeking.” The “lovers”-the false foreigners-have turned against her in the time of her need; and the strange gods, with whom she dallied in the days of prosperity, can bring her no help. And now, while she witnesses, but cannot avert the slaughter of her children, her shrieks ring in the prophets ear: “A cry, as of one in travail, do I hear; pangs as of her that beareth her firstborn; the cry of the daughter of Zion, that panteth, that. spreadeth out her hands: Woes me! my soul swooneth for the slayers!” (Jer 4:30-31)

Even the strong walls of Jerusalem are no sure defence; there is no safety but in flight. “Remove your goods, ye sons of Benjamin, from within Jerusalem! And in Tekoah” (as if Blaston or Blowick or Trumpington) “blow a trumpet blast and upon Bethhakkerem raise a signal (or beacon)! for evil hath looked forth from the north, and mighty ruin”. {Jer 6:1-2} The two towns mark the route of the fugitives, making for the wilderness of the south; and the trumpet call, and the beacon light, muster the scattered companies at these rallying points or halting places. “The beautiful and the pampered one will I destroy-the daughter of Sion.” (Perhaps: “The beautiful and the pampered woman art thou like, O daughter of Sion!” 3d fem. sing. in i.) “To her come the shepherds and their flocks; they pitch the tents upon her round about; they graze each at his own side” (i.e., on the ground nearest him). The figure changes, with lyric abruptness, from the fair woman, enervated by luxury (Jer 6:2) to the fair pasture land, on which the nomad shepherds encamp, whose flocks soon eat the herbage down, and leave the soil stripped bare (Jer 6:3); and then, again, to an army beleaguering the fated city, whose cries of mutual cheer, and of impatience at all delay, the poet-prophet hears and rehearses. “Hallow ye war against her! Arise ye, let us go up” (to the assault) “at noontide! Unhappy we! the day hath turned; the shadows of eventide begin to lengthen! Arise ye, and let us go up in the night, to destroy her palaces!” (Jer 6:4-5).

As a fine example of poetical expression, the discourse obviously has its own intrinsic value. The authors power to sketch with a few bold strokes the magical effect of a disquieting rumour; the vivid force with which he realises the possibilities of ravage and ruin which are wrapped up in those vague, uncertain tidings; the pathos and passion of his lament over his stricken country, stricken as yet to his perception only; the tenderness of feeling; the subtle sweetness of language; the variety of metaphor; the light of imagination illuminating the whole with its indefinable charm; all these characteristics indicate the presence and power of a master singer. But with Jeremiah, as with his predecessors, the poetic expression of feeling is far from being an end in itself. He writes with a purpose to which all the endowments of his gifted nature are freely and resolutely subordinated. He values his powers as a poet and orator solely as instruments which conduce to an efficient utterance of the will of Iahvah. He is hardly conscious of these gifts as such. He exists to. “declare in the house of Jacob and to publish in Judah” the word of the Lord.

It is in this capacity that he now comes forward, and addresses his terrified countrymen, in terms not calculated to allay their fears with soothing suggestions of comfort and reassurance, but rather deliberately chosen with a view to heightening those fears, and deepening them to a sense of approaching judgment. For, after all, it is not the rumoured coming of the Scythian hordes that impels him to break silence. It is his consuming sense of the moral degeneracy, the spiritual degradation of his countrymen, which flames forth into burning utterance. “Whom shall I address and adjure, that they may hear? Lo, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken; lo, the word of Iahvah hath become to them a reproach; they delight not therein. And of the fury of Iahvah I am full; I am weary of holding it in.” Then the other voice in his heart answers: “Pour thou it forth upon the child in the street, and upon the company of young men together!”. {Jer 6:10-11} It is the righteous indignation of an offended God that wells up from his heart, and overflows at his lips, and cries woe, irremediable woe, upon the land he loves better than his own life.

He begins with encouragement and persuasion, but his tone soon changes to denunciation and despair. {Jer 4:3 sq.} “Thus hath Iahvah said to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break you up the fallows, and sow not into thorns! Circumcise yourselves to Iahvah, and remove the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem! lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your doings.” Clothed with the Spirit, as Semitic speech might express it, his whole soul enveloped in a garment of heavenly light-a magical garment whose virtues impart new force as well as new light-the prophet sees straight to the heart of things, and estimates with God-given certainty the real state of his people, and the moral worth of their seeming repentance. The first measures of Josiahs reforming zeal have been inaugurated; at least within the limits of the capital, idolatry in its coarser and more repellent forms has been suppressed; there is a show of return to the God of Israel. But the popular heart is still wedded to the old sanctuaries, and the old sensuous rites of Canaan; and, worse than this, the priests and prophets, whose centre of influence was the one great sanctuary of the Book of the Law, the temple at Jerusalem, have simply taken advantage of the religious reformation for their own purposes of selfish aggrandisement. “From the youngest to the oldest of them, they all ply the trade of greed; and from prophet to priest, they all practise lying. And they have repaired the ruin of (the daughter) of my people in light fashion, saying, It is well, it is well! though it be not well”. {Jer 6:13-14} The doctrine of the one legitimate sanctuary, taught with disinterested earnestness by the disciples of Isaiah, and enforced by that logic of events which had demonstrated the feebleness of the local holy places before the Assyrian destroyers, had now come to be recognised as a convenient buttress of the private gains of the Jerusalem priesthood and the venal prophets who supported their authority. The strong current of national reform had been utilised for the driving of their private machinery; and the sole outcome of the self-denying efforts and sufferings of the past appeared to be the enrichment of these grasping and unscrupulous worldlings who sat, like an incubus, upon the heart of the national church. So long as money flowed steadily into their coffers, they were eager enough to reassure the doubting, and to dispel all misgivings by their deceitful oracle that all was well. So long as trading in things Divine, to the utter neglect of the higher obligations of the moral law, was simply appalling to the sensitive conscience of the true prophet of that degenerate age. “A strange and a startling thing it is, that is come to pass in the land. The prophets, they have prophesied in the Lie, and the priests, they tyrannise under their direction; and My people, they love it thus; and what will ye do for the issue thereof?”. {Jer 5:30-31} For such facts must have an issue; and the present moral and spiritual ruin of the nation points with certainty to impending ruin in the material and political sphere. The two things go together; you cannot have a decline of faith, a decay of true religion, and permanent outward prosperity; that issue is incompatible with the eternal laws which regulate the life and progress of humanity. One sits in the heavens, over all things from the beginning, to whom all stated worship is a hideous offence when accompanied by hypocrisy and impurity and fraud and violence in the ordinary relations of life. “What good to me is incense that cometh from Sheba, and the choice calamus from a far country? your burnt offerings” (holocausts) “are not acceptable, and your sacrifices are not sweet unto Me.” Instead of purchasing safety, they will ensure perdition: “Therefore thus hath Iahvah said: Lo, I am about to lay for this people stumbling blocks, and they shall stumble upon them, fathers and sons together, a neighbour and his friend; and they shall perish.” {Jer 6:20 sq.}

In the early days of reform, indeed, Jeremiah himself appears to have shared in the sanguine views associated with a revival of suspended orthodoxy. The tidings of imminent danger were a surprise to him, as to the zealous worshippers who thronged the courts of the temple. So then, after all, “the burning anger of Iahvah was not turned away” by the outward tokens of penitence, by the lavish gifts of devotion; this unexpected and terrifying rumour was a call for the resumption of the garb of mourning and for the renewal of those public fasts which had marked the initial stages of reformation. {Jer 4:8} The astonishment and the disappointment of the man assert themselves against the inspiration of the prophet, when, contemplating the helpless bewilderment of kings and princes, and the stupefaction of priests and prophets in face of the national calamities, he breaks out into remonstrances with God. “And I said, Alas, O Lord Iahvah! of a truth, Thou hast utterly beguiled this people and Jerusalem, saying, It shall be well with you; whereas the sword will reach to the life.” The allusion is to the promises contained in the Book of the Law, the reading of which had so powerfully conduced to the movement for reform. That book had been the text of the prophet preachers, who were most active in that work; and the influence of its ideas and language upon Jeremiah himself is apparent in all his early discourses.

The prophets faith, however, was too deeply rooted to be more than momentarily shaken; and it soon told him that the evil tidings were evidence not of unfaithfulness or caprice in Iahvah, but of the hypocrisy and corruption of Israel. With this conviction upon him he implores the populace of the capital to substitute an inward and real for an outward and delusive purification. “Break up the fallows!” Do not dream that any adequate reformation can be superinduced upon the mere surface of life: “Sow not among thorns!” Do not for one moment believe that the word of God can take root and bear fruit in the hard soil of a heart that desires only to be secured in the possession of present enjoyments, in immunity for self indulgence, covetousness, and oppression of the poor. “Wash thine heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem! that thou mayst be saved. How long shall the schemings of thy folly lodge within thee? For hark! one declareth from Dan, and proclaimeth folly from the hills of Ephraim”. {Jer 4:14 sq.} The “folly” (awen) is the foolish hankering after the gods which are nothing in the world but a reflection of the diseased fancy of their worshippers; for it is always true that man makes his god in his own image, when he does make him, and does not receive the knowledge of him by revelation. It was a folly inveterate and, as it would seem, hereditary in Israel, going back to the times of the Judges, . and recalling the story of Micah the Ephraimite and the Danites who stole his images. That ancient sin still cried to heaven for vengeance; for the apostatising tendency, which it exemplified, was still active in the heart of Israel. The nation had “rebelled against” the Lord, for it was foolish and had never really known Him; the people were silly children, and lacked insight; skilled only in doing wrong, and ignorant of the way to do right. {Jer 4:22} Like the things they worshipped, they had eyes, but saw not; they had ears, but heard not. Enslaved to the empty terrors of their own imaginations, they, who cowered before dumb idols, stood untrembling in the awful presence of Him whose laws restrained the ocean within due limits, and upon whose sovereign will the fall of the rain and increase of the field depended. {Jer 5:21-24} The popular blindness to the claims of the true religion, to the inalienable rights of the God of Israel, involved a corresponding and ever-increasing blindness to the claims of universal morality, to the rights of man. Competent observers have often called attention to the remarkable influence exercised by the lower forms of heathenism in blunting the moral sense; and this influence was fully illustrated in the case of Jeremiahs contemporaries. So complete, so universal was the national decline that it seemed impossible to find one good man within the bounds of the capital. Every aim in life found illustration in those gay, crowded streets, in the bazaars, in the palaces, in the places by the gate where law was administered, except the aim of just and righteous and merciful dealing with ones neighbour. God was ignored or misconceived of, and therefore man was wronged and oppressed. Perjury, even in the Name of the God of Israel, whose eyes regard faithfulness and sincerity, and whose favour is not to be won by professions and presents; a self-hardening against both Divine chastisement and prophetic admonition; a fatal inclination to the seductions of Canaanite worship and the violations of the moral law, which that worship permitted and even encouraged as pleasing to the gods; these vices characterised the entire population of Jerusalem in that dark period. “Run ye to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek ye in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if indeed there be one that doeth justice, that seeketh sincerity; that I may pardon her. And if they say, By the life of Iahvah! Even so they swear falsely. Iahvah, are not thine eyes toward sincerity? Thou smotest them, and they trembled not; Thou consumedst them, they refused to receive instruction; they made their faces harder than a rock, they refused to repent. And for me, I said” (me thought), “These are but poor folk; they behave foolishly, because they know not the way of Iahvah, the justice” (Jer 5:1) “of their God: let me betake myself to the great, and speak with them; for they at least know the way of Iahvah, the justice of their God: but these with one consent had broken the yoke, had burst the bonds in sunder”. {Jer 5:1-5}

Then, as now, the debasement of the standard of life among the ruling classes was a far more threatening symptom of danger to the commonwealth than laxity of principle among the masses, who had never enjoyed the higher knowledge and more thorough training which wealth and rank, as a matter of course, confer. If the crew turn drunken and mutinous, the ship is in unquestionable peril; but if they who have the guidance of the vessel in their hands follow the vices of those whom they should command and control, wreck and ruin are assured.

The profligacy allowed by heathenism, against which the prophets cried in vain, is forcibly depicted in the words: “Why should I pardon thee? Thy sons have forsaken Me, and have sworn by them that are no gods: though I had bound them” (to Me) “by oath, they committed” (spiritual) “adultery, and into the house of the Fornicatress” (the idols temple, where the harlot priestess sat for hire) “they would flock. Stallions roaming at large were they; neighing each to his neighbours wife. Shall I not punish such offences, saith Iahvah; and shall not My soul avenge herself on such a nation as this?” The cynical contempt of justice, the fraud and violence of those who were in haste to become rich, are set forth in the following: “Among My people are found godless men; one watcheth, as birdcatchers lurk; they have set the trap, they catch men. Like a cage filled with birds, so are their houses filled with fraud: therefore they are become great, and have amassed wealth. They are become fat, they are sleek; also they pass {Isa 40:27} cases {Exo 22:9; Exo 24:14; cf. also 1Sa 10:2} of wickedness-neglect to judge heinous crimes; the cause they judge not, the cause of the fatherless, to make it succeed; and the right of the needy they vindicate not”. {Jer 5:26-28}

“She is the city doomed to be punished! she is all oppression within. As a spring poureth forth its waters, so she poureth forth her wickedness; violence and oppression resound in her; before Me continually is sickness and wounds”. {Jer 6:6-7} There would seem to be no hope for such a people and such a city. The prophet, indeed, cannot forget the claims of kindred, the thousand ties of blood and feeling that bind him to this perverse and sinful nation. Thrice, even in this dark forecast of destruction, he mitigates severity with the promise, “yet will I not make a full end.” The door is still left open, on the chance that some at least may be won to penitence. But the chance was small. The difficulty was, and the prophets yearning tenderness towards his people could not blind him to the fact that all the lessons of Gods providence were lost upon this reprobate race: “They have belied the Lord, and said, it is not He; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword and famine.” The prophets, they insisted, were wrong both in the significance which they attributed to occasional calamities, and in the disasters which they announced as imminent: “The prophets will become wind, and the Word of God is not in them; so will it turn out with them.” It was, therefore, wholly futile to appeal to their better judgment against themselves: “Thus said Iahvah, Stop on the ways, and consider, and ask after the eternal paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and find rest for your soul: and they said, We will not walk therein. And I will set over you watchmen” (the prophets); “hearken ye to the call of the trumpet!” (the warning note of prophecy) “and they said We will not hearken.” For such wilful hardness and impenitence, disdaining correction and despising reproof, God appeals to the heathen themselves, and to the dumb earth, to attest the justice of His sentence of destruction against this people: “Therefore, hear, O ye nations, and know, and testify what is among them! Hear, O earth! Lo, I am about to bring evil upon this people, the fruit of their own devisings; for unto My words they have not hearkened, and as for Mine instruction, they have rejected it.” Their doom was inevitable, for it was the natural and necessary consequence of their own doings: “Thine own way and thine own deeds have brought about these evils for thee; this is thine own evil; verily, it is bitter, verily, it reacheth unto thine heart.” The discourse ends with a despairing glance at the moral reprobation of Israel. “An assayer did I make thee among My people, a refiner,” {reading mecaref, Mal 3:2-3} “that thou mightest know and assay their kind” (lit. way). Jeremiahs call had been to “sit as a refiner and purifier of silver” in the name of his God: in other words, to separate the good elements from the bad in Israel, and to gather around himself the nucleus of a people “prepared for Iahvah.” But his work had been vain. In vain had the prophetic fire burnt within him; in vain had the vehemency of the spirit fanned the flame; the Divine word-that solvent of hearts-had been expended in vain; no good metal could come of an ore so utterly base. “They are all the worst” {1Ki 20:43} “of rebels” (or, “deserters to the rebels”), “going about with slander; they are brass and iron; they all deal corruptly. The bellows blow; the lead” (used for fining the ore) “is consumed by the fire; in vain do they go on refining” (or, “does the refiner refine”); “and the wicked are not separated. Refuse silver are they called, for Iahvah hath refused them.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary