Jeremiah 6 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Jeremiah 6

Impending Disaster for Jerusalem

6:1   Flee for safety, O people of Benjamin,
    from the midst of Jerusalem!
  Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
    and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem,
  for disaster looms out of the north,
    and great destruction.
2   The lovely and delicately bred I will destroy,
    the daughter of Zion.¹
3   Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her;
    they shall pitch their tents around her;
    they shall pasture, each in his place.
4   “Prepare war against her;
    arise, and let us attack at noon!
  Woe to us, for the day declines,
    for the shadows of evening lengthen!
5   Arise, and let us attack by night
    and destroy her palaces!”
6   For thus says the LORD of hosts:
  “Cut down her trees;
    cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
  This is the city that must be punished;
    there is nothing but oppression within her.
7   As a well keeps its water fresh,
    so she keeps fresh her evil;
  violence and destruction are heard within her;
    sickness and wounds are ever before me.
8   Be warned, O Jerusalem,
    lest I turn from you in disgust,
  lest I make you a desolation,
    an uninhabited land.”
9   Thus says the LORD of hosts:
  “They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
    the remnant of Israel;
  like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
    over its branches.”
10   To whom shall I speak and give warning,
    that they may hear?
  Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
    they cannot listen;
  behold, the word of the LORD is to them an object of scorn;
    they take no pleasure in it.
11   Therefore I am full of the wrath of the LORD;
    I am weary of holding it in.
  “Pour it out upon the children in the street,
    and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
  both husband and wife shall be taken,
    the elderly and the very aged.
12   Their houses shall be turned over to others,
    their fields and wives together,
  for I will stretch out my hand
    against the inhabitants of the land,”
      declares the LORD.
13   “For from the least to the greatest of them,
    everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
  and from prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
14   They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
    when there is no peace.
15   Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
  Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
    at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
      says the LORD.
16   Thus says the LORD:
  “Stand by the roads, and look,
    and ask for the ancient paths,
  where the good way is; and walk in it,
    and find rest for your souls.
  But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17   I set watchmen over you, saying,
    ‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’
  But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’
18   Therefore hear, O nations,
    and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19   Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
    the fruit of their devices,
  because they have not paid attention to my words;
    and as for my law, they have rejected it.
20   What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba,
    or sweet cane from a distant land?
  Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
    nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
21   Therefore thus says the LORD:
  ‘Behold, I will lay before this people
    stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
  fathers and sons together,
    neighbor and friend shall perish.’”
22   Thus says the LORD:
  “Behold, a people is coming from the north country,
    a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
23   They lay hold on bow and javelin;
    they are cruel and have no mercy;
    the sound of them is like the roaring sea;
  they ride on horses,
    set in array as a man for battle,
    against you, O daughter of Zion!”
24   We have heard the report of it;
    our hands fall helpless;
  anguish has taken hold of us,
    pain as of a woman in labor.
25   Go not out into the field,
    nor walk on the road,
  for the enemy has a sword;
    terror is on every side.
26   O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth,
    and roll in ashes;
  make mourning as for an only son,
    most bitter lamentation,
  for suddenly the destroyer
    will come upon us.
27   “I have made you a tester of metals among my people,
    that you may know and test their ways.
28   They are all stubbornly rebellious,
    going about with slanders;
  they are bronze and iron;
    all of them act corruptly.
29   The bellows blow fiercely;
    the lead is consumed by the fire;
  in vain the refining goes on,
    for the wicked are not removed.
30   Rejected silver they are called,
    for the LORD has rejected them.”

Footnotes

[1] 6:2 Or I have likened the daughter of Zion to the loveliest pasture

Commentary

v1: The new message; Watch out! Flee! Disaster and great destruction was on the way. A mighty army was coming from the north, see v22-23. These words are addressed directly to Jerusalem and Benjamin, in whose territory Jerusalem lay.

v2-3: The delightful Zion, which God had intended should enjoy peace and security, was to be surrounded by enemy armies.

v4-5: The Gentile nations joined together to attack Jerusalem. They attacked by day and night.

v6-7: The nations were effectively instructed by God to attack Jerusalem. The reasons were made clear; oppression, wickedness, violence, destruction (or plundering). She is described as sick and wounded, see Is 1.5-6.

v8: The opportunity to repent. Jeremiah was the eleventh hour prophet, for the nation was on the very verge of judgment.

v9: Judah to be thoroughly gleaned, leaving nothing behind. The land would be left desolate.

v10: There was no delight in the word of the Lord. No one took to heart the messages from God.

v11-12: The fury of the Lord, "I cannot hold it in," or restrain it. Judgment was inevitable, and would fall very soon. Families and houses and land would all fall before the invading army.

v13: People characterised by covetousness, and by falsehood.

v14: The false prophets, telling the people what they wanted to hear, not what they needed to hear.

Their false message was of peace; they taught that the city would be delivered from Babylon's attacks, see 23.17.

Jeremiah's truth may have been uncomfortable, and less popular, but it was necessary that it was proclaimed.

v15: There was no shame, even at their serious sins.

v16: The prophets told the people to think back to better times. Their strong verbal tradition ensured that the good times were accurately remembered. They could re-enter those good paths only by going God's way; in that was rest for their souls.

v17: Jeremiah was not the only prophet; God had appointed a number of watchmen. But the people's reaction had been consistent, "We will not listen."

v18-19: Gentile nations would realise that God's judgment had fallen on His people.

v20: Sacrifices continued, even to the importing of incense, but these were futile without teal devotion. Formality is useless without obedience.

v21: God put obstacle before them, which they would stumble over.

v22-23: The Babylonian army, see Hab 1.5-10. This army was approaching from the north, as in 1.13-14.

v24-26: Even before the army arrived the people grew faint and fearful.

v27: Jeremiah the assayer, testing the people's heart. This was part of his calling, to test their heart and motive.

v28: The bad metal of Judah, bronze and iron; they needed to be refined, for they were rebels, slanderers, corrupters, useless alloy mixed with the precious.

v29: The bellows blow fiercely, as God's word was delivered. The lead, the impurity, was burned. But this was in vain, as the wicked were not drawn off; they remained unwilling to be purged by God.

v30: As a result they are rejected by God, as impure silver. The necessary cleansing was not achieved except by the 70 years suffering in captivity.