DBG - August 15 - Jeremiah 4-6

In this chapter the coming judgment against Judah is foretold.

vs. 1-4 – The repentance that the Lord desired is described.  It is a complete change of heart, which is the meaning of vs. 4.  This type of repentance was the only thing that could turn away the coming judgment.

vs. 5-18 – The coming Babylonian invasion, about 40 years in the future, is foretold.  Judah is told to prepare for the war that is coming, but their resistance will be futile.  If they would not humble themselves before God, God would humble them in judgment.  His tool would be the Gentile nations that would assemble and besiege the fortified cities of Judah until they fell.

vs. 19-22 – The heartbreak of both Jeremiah and God at what is coming.  Divine judgment is not meted out without the heart of God being grieved. 

vs. 23-31 – The desolation after the coming judgment is pictured.  This is poetic, artistic language used to describe the severity of what was coming.  The mourning of the surviving remnant is seen in vs. 31.

In this chapter the reason for the coming judgment is revealed.

vs. 1-9 – The sad condition of Judah.  Even though they claimed to serve God, there was no proof in their actions to back up that claim.  From the least to the greatest, society was thoroughly corrupt and judgment was required.

vs. 10-18 – This section begins and ends with a promise that God would not fully destroy Israel in the judgment.  The people, however, had refused to heed His warnings.  They had called the truth of God a lie.  The Babylonians would come as judgment against this people.

vs. 19-29 – The people were so deluded that they could not understand why God would judge them, so God tells them exactly why.  Their sins had brought judgment against them.  They utter corruption and rejection of the truth forced God to act.

vs. 30-31 – The prophets lied and the nation’s leaders conspired with them, yet the people were happy in their sinful condition. 

In this chapter the coming judgment is against seen.

vs. 1-8 – The faithful in Jerusalem, represented by a faithful remnant from Benjamin, are warned to flee the doomed city.  The Babylonians would invade from the north, so they are told to flee southward to Tekoa (“pitching of tents”, see II Samuel 14 and Amos 1:1), about 12 miles away, and Bethhaccerem (“house of the vineyard”), about 6 miles away.  The siege of Jerusalem is then described.

vs. 9-21 – Judah is called to repent, but they are too far gone to heed the warning.  They kept going down the path that led to destruction.  The famous phrase quoted by Patrick Henry, among others, is in vs. 14: “Peace, peace, when there is no peace”.  Also, vs. 16 is a favorite of many who try to call others to return to the “old paths” that too many have forsaken.

vs. 22-26 – A vivid description of the danger that was coming with the Babylonian advance.

vs. 27-30 – Jeremiah is encouraged in his sad duty to proclaim the downfall of Judah.  The people are compared to metals.  Silver was the most common precious metal used in trade (modern coinage had not quite caught on yet in this area).  The silver of the people was worthless as it was imperfect, alloyed with lesser metals that make it of no value or use.  It is a sad picture because the true value of the nation was wasted because they refused to serve God purely.

I want to highlight Jeremiah’s call to seek the “old paths” in Jeremiah 6:16.  “Old” does not instantly make anything better, but neither does “new”.  The emphasis here is on the people returning to the better ways of their forefathers when they faithfully served God.  They had drifted off that course, just as our nation today has.  I feel Jeremiah’s pain as he calls people to walk in the old paths, because they reject them as readily today as they did in his day.  It is not just the world, as many branches of Christianity have given in to the idea that anything old just will not work in our modern day.  They have jettisoned our heritage of hymns, vocabulary, and practice.  They mock those that hold those dear.  I fear that, just like in Jeremiah’s day, the new paths are leading many astray without them even realizing it.

Our hymn today is “O God, Who Metest In Thine Hand”, written in Richard Frederick Littledale.  Its few appearances in hymnals are usually in groupings of hymns “For Those At Sea”.  The opening verse is clearly based on Jeremiah 5:22.

O God, who metest in Thine hand
The waters of the mighty sea,
And barrest ocean with the sand
By Thy perpetual decree:

What time the floods lift up their voice
And break in anger on the shore,
When deep to deep calls with the noise
Of waterspouts and billows’ roar;

When they who to the sea go down,
And in the waters ply their toil,
Are lifted on the surge’s crown,
And plunged where seething eddies boil;

Rule then, O Lord, the ocean’s wrath,
And bind the tempest with Thy will;
Tread, as of old, the water’s path
And speak Thy bidding, Peace, be still.

So with Thy mercies ever new
Thy servants set from peril free,
And bring them, Pilot wise and true,
Within the port where they would be.