Finger of Accusation at Judah – Jeremiah 4-6

Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  This is Episode #225 and today we’ll read Jeremiah 4-6 together.   Jeremiah continues to point his finger of accusation at Judah.     

Welcome

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2!  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together.  We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament.  But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New.  So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work.  I’m really glad you’re here!

Jeremiah Chapter 4

Blessing or Curse

If you return, Israel —

this is the Lord’s declaration —

you will return to me,

if you remove your abhorrent idols

from my presence

and do not waver,

then you can swear, “As the Lord lives,”

in truth, justice, and righteousness,

and then the nations will be blessed by him

and will boast in him.

For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

Break up the unplowed ground;

do not sow among the thorns.

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;

remove the foreskin of your hearts,

men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.

Otherwise, my wrath will break out like fire

and burn with no one to extinguish it

because of your evil deeds.

Judgment from the North

Declare in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,

Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.

Cry out loudly and say,

“Assemble yourselves,

and let’s flee to the fortified cities.”

Lift up a signal flag toward Zion.

Run for cover! Don’t stand still!

For I am bringing disaster from the north —

a crushing blow.

A lion has gone up from his thicket;

a destroyer of nations has set out.

He has left his lair

to make your land a waste.

Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.

Because of this, put on sackcloth;

mourn and wail,

for the Lord’s burning anger

has not turned away from us.

“On that day” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be scared speechless.”

I said, “Oh no, Lord God, you have certainly deceived this people and Jerusalem, by announcing, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”

“At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A searing wind blows from the barren heights in the wilderness on the way to my dear people. It comes not to winnow or to sift; a wind too strong for this comes at my call. Now I will also pronounce judgments against them.’”

Punishment

Look, he advances like clouds;

his chariots are like a storm.

His horses are swifter than eagles.

Woe to us, for we are ruined!

Wash the evil from your heart, Jerusalem,

so that you will be delivered.

How long will you harbor

malicious thoughts?

For a voice announces from Dan,

proclaiming malice from Mount Ephraim.

Warn the nations: Look!

Proclaim to Jerusalem:

Those who besiege are coming

from a distant land;

they raise their voices

against the cities of Judah.

They have her surrounded

like those who guard a field,

because she has rebelled against me.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Your way and your actions

have brought this on you.

This is your punishment. It is very bitter,

because it has reached your heart!

Jeremiah’s Lament

My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in agony!

Oh, the pain in my heart!

My heart pounds;

I cannot be silent.

For you, my soul,

have heard the sound of the ram’s horn —

the shout of battle.

Disaster after disaster is reported

because the whole land is destroyed.

Suddenly my tents are destroyed,

my tent curtains, in a moment.

How long must I see the signal flag

and hear the sound of the ram’s horn?

“For my people are fools;

they do not know me.

They are foolish children,

without understanding.

They are skilled in doing what is evil,

but they do not know how to do what is good.”

I looked at the earth,

and it was formless and empty.

I looked to the heavens,

and their light was gone.

I looked at the mountains,

and they were quaking;

all the hills shook.

I looked, and there was no human being,

and all the birds of the sky had fled.

I looked, and the fertile field was a wilderness.

All its cities were torn down

because of the Lord

and his burning anger.

The Earth Will Mourn

For this is what the Lord says:

“The whole land will be a desolation,

but I will not finish it off.

Because of this, the earth will mourn;

the skies above will grow dark.

I have spoken; I have planned,

and I will not relent or turn back from it.”

Every city flees

at the sound of the horseman and the archer.

They enter the thickets

and climb among the rocks.

Every city is abandoned;

no inhabitant is left.

And you, devastated one, what are you doing

that you dress yourself in scarlet,

that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,

that you enhance your eyes with makeup?

You beautify yourself for nothing.

Your lovers reject you;

they intend to take your life.

I hear a cry like a woman in labor,

a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child.

The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,

stretching out her hands:

“Woe is me, for my life is weary

because of the murderers!”

Jeremiah Chapter 5

The Depravity of Jerusalem

Roam through the streets of Jerusalem.

Investigate;

search in her squares.

If you find one person,

any who acts justly,

who pursues faithfulness,

then I will forgive her.

When they say, “As the Lord lives,”

they are swearing falsely.

Lord, don’t your eyes look for faithfulness?

You have struck them, but they felt no pain.

You finished them off,

but they refused to accept discipline.

They made their faces harder than rock,

and they refused to return.

Then I thought:

They are just the poor;

they have been foolish.

For they don’t understand the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.

I will go to the powerful

and speak to them.

Surely they know the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.

However, these also had broken the yoke

and torn off the chains.

Numerous Unfaithful Deeds

Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down.

A wolf from arid plains will ravage them.

A leopard stalks their cities.

Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces

because their rebellious acts are many,

their unfaithful deeds numerous.

Why should I forgive you?

Your children have abandoned me

and sworn by those who are not gods.

I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery;

they gashed themselves at the prostitute’s house.

They are well-fed, eager stallions,

each neighing after someone else’s wife.

Should I not punish them for these things?

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Should I not avenge myself

on such a nation as this?

Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them,

but do not finish them off.

Prune away her shoots,

for they do not belong to the Lord.

They, the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

have dealt very treacherously with me.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

They have contradicted the Lord

and insisted, “It won’t happen.

Harm won’t come to us;

we won’t see sword or famine.”

The prophets become only wind,

for the Lord’s word is not in them.

This will in fact happen to them.

Coming Judgment

Therefore, this is what the Lord God of Armies says:

Because you have spoken this word,

I am going to make my words

become fire in your mouth.

These people are the wood,

and the fire will consume them.

I am about to bring a nation

from far away against you,

house of Israel.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

It is an established nation,

an ancient nation,

a nation whose language you do not know

and whose speech you do not understand.

Their quiver is like an open grave;

they are all warriors.

They will consume your harvest and your food.

They will consume your sons and your daughters.

They will consume your flocks and your herds.

They will consume your vines and your fig trees.

With the sword they will destroy

your fortified cities in which you trust.

“But even in those days” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “I will not finish you off. When people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us? ’ You will respond to them, ‘Just as you abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ 

Foolish and Senseless People

“Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying:

Hear this,

you foolish and senseless people.

They have eyes, but they don’t see.

They have ears, but they don’t hear.

Do you not fear me?

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Do you not tremble before me,

the one who set the sand as the boundary of the sea,

an enduring barrier that it cannot cross?

The waves surge, but they cannot prevail.

They roar but cannot pass over it.

But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.

They have turned aside and have gone away.

They have not said to themselves,

‘Let’s fear the Lord our God,

who gives the seasonal rains, both autumn and spring,

who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’

Your guilty acts have diverted these things from you.

Your sins have withheld my bounty from you,

for wicked men live among my people.

They watch like hunters lying in wait.

They set a trap;

they catch men.

Like a cage full of birds,

so their houses are full of deceit.

Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.

They have become fat and sleek.

They have also excelled in evil matters.

They have not taken up cases,

such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper,

and they have not defended the rights of the needy.

Should I not punish them for these things?

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Should I not avenge myself

on such a nation as this?

“An appalling, horrible thing

has taken place in the land.

The prophets prophesy falsely,

and the priests rule by their own authority.

My people love it like this.

But what will you do at the end of it?

Jeremiah Chapter 6

Threatened Siege of Jerusalem

“Run for cover

out of Jerusalem, Benjaminites.

Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa;

raise a smoke signal over Beth-haccherem,

for disaster threatens from the north,

even a crushing blow.

Though she is beautiful and delicate,

I will destroy Daughter Zion.

Shepherds and their flocks will come against her;

they will pitch their tents all around her.

Each will pasture his own portion.

Set them apart for war against her;

rise up, let’s attack at noon.

Woe to us, for the day is passing;

the evening shadows grow long.

Rise up, let’s attack by night.

Let’s destroy her fortresses.”

For this is what the Lord of Armies says:

Cut down the trees;

raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem.

This city must be punished.

There is nothing but oppression within her.

As a well gushes out its water,

so she pours out her evil.

Violence and destruction resound in her.

Sickness and wounds keep coming to my attention.

Be warned, Jerusalem,

or I will turn away from you;

I will make you a desolation,

a land without inhabitants.

Wrath on Israel

This is what the Lord of Armies says:

Glean the remnant of Israel

as thoroughly as a vine.

Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer

over the branches.

Who can I speak to and give such a warning

that they will listen?

Look, their ear is uncircumcised,

so they cannot pay attention.

See, the word of the Lord has become contemptible to them —

they find no pleasure in it.

But I am full of the Lord’s wrath;

I am tired of holding it back.

Pour it out on the children in the street,

on the gathering of young men as well.

For both husband and wife will be captured,

the old with the very old.

Their houses will be turned over to others,

their fields and wives as well,

for I will stretch out my hand

against the inhabitants of the land.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

For from the least to the greatest of them,

everyone is making profit dishonestly.

From prophet to priest,

everyone deals falsely.

They have treated my people’s brokenness superficially,

claiming, “Peace, peace,”

when there is no peace.

Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably?

They weren’t at all ashamed.

They can no longer feel humiliation.

Therefore, they will fall among the fallen.

When I punish them, they will collapse,

says the Lord.

Disaster because of Disobedience

This is what the Lord says:

Stand by the roadways and look.

Ask about the ancient paths,

“Which is the way to what is good?”

Then take it

and find rest for yourselves.

But they protested, “We won’t!”

I appointed watchmen over you

and said, “Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.”

But they protested, “We won’t listen!”

Therefore listen, you nations

and you witnesses,

learn what the charge is against them.

Listen, earth!

I am about to bring disaster on these people,

the fruit of their own plotting,

for they have paid no attention to my words.

They have rejected my instruction.

What use to me is frankincense from Sheba

or sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;

your sacrifices do not please me.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

I am going to place stumbling blocks before these people;

fathers and sons together will stumble over them;

friends and neighbors will also perish.

A Cruel Nation from the North

This is what the Lord says:

Look, an army is coming from a northern land;

a great nation will be stirred up

from the remote regions of the earth.

They grasp bow and javelin.

They are cruel and show no mercy.

Their voice roars like the sea,

and they ride on horses,

lined up like men in battle formation

against you, Daughter Zion.

We have heard about it,

and our hands have become weak.

Distress has seized us —

pain, like a woman in labor.

Don’t go out to the fields;

don’t walk on the road.

For the enemy has a sword;

terror is on every side.

My dear people, dress yourselves in sackcloth

and roll in the dust.

Mourn as you would for an only son,

a bitter lament,

for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.

Jeremiah Appointed as an Examiner

I have appointed you to be an assayer among my people —

a refiner —

so you may know and assay their way of life.

All are stubborn rebels

spreading slander.

They are bronze and iron;

all of them are corrupt.

The bellows blow,

blasting the lead with fire.

The refining is completely in vain;

the evil ones are not separated out.

They are called rejected silver,

for the Lord has rejected them.

Close

Did you see how the text bounces back and forth between Jeremiah’s lament and God’s words of judgement?  I usually need headings to keep me straight on who’s talking, but in Jeremiah 4, it’s pretty clear.  

I am full of emotion when I read these chapters.  To be straight up blunt, people are rejecting God today just like Israel did in the days of the prophets.  The difference is Jesus’ atoning work on the cross.  It’s the only fix.  He’s our only hope.  But in spite of that, some will reject Him.  It literally breaks my heart that some will not receive His Grace.  No wonder Jeremiah was called that weeping prophet…it doesn’t take long to get there.

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Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will be changed.  Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions.  And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there.  If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you tomorrow!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.