Jeremiah 4:5-31, The Certainty of Coming Judgment

Apparently the call to sincere repentance in 4:1-4 was not heeded. Judah did not really want to follow Yahweh, did not want to give up her gods, her Ba’als, her sexual rituals, nor her dependence on foreign nations for protection.

⁵ “Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say: ‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!’ Cry aloud and say: ‘Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities!’ ⁶ Raise a signal flag that tells people to go to Zion! Flee for safety without delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north that will cause terrible destruction.” ⁷ A lion has come out of his thicket; a destroyer of nations has set out from his home base. He has left his place to lay waste to your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without an inhabitant. ⁸ So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of Yahweh has not turned away from us. ⁹ “In that day,” declares Yahweh, “the king and the officials will lose heart, the priests will be horrified, and the prophets will be appalled.”

The enemy is coming! Time to flee the countryside and enter the fortified, walled, cities, because God’s “lion” (Babylon) is coming to destroy. Mourning is appropriate because Yahweh isn’t going to give in and not punish. Even Judah’s leaders will fall under this fear.

¹⁰ Then I said, “Alas, Sovereign Yahweh! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem, [their false prophets] saying, ‘You will have peace,’ when in fact the sword is already at our throats!” ¹¹ At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of my people, but not to winnow grain or blow away chaff; ¹² a wind too strong for that comes from Me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.”

Part of God’s judgment on His people is His moving them to embrace the deception that the false prophets have declared, that Judah will not be punished but will have peace. (See Ezekiel 14:1-11 and 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

¹³ Look! He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! We are ruined! ¹⁴ Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts? ¹⁵ A voice is announcing from Dan, proclaiming trouble from the hills of Ephraim. ¹⁶ “Warn the nations that he is coming, proclaim concerning Jerusalem: ‘A besieging army is coming from a distant land, raising a war cry against the cities of Judah. ¹⁷ They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against me,’” declares Yahweh. ¹⁸ “Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!”

The coming army is like clouds in its massiveness and a whirlwind in its destructiveness, and it is coming fast, being announced from Dan (the northernmost part of Israel) and then right away from the hills of Ephraim (just north of Jerusalem). Then they are surrounding the holy city like men guarding a field, only not to prevent enemies from getting in, but to prevent the inhabitants from getting out. It is Judah’s own fault that this is happening, but even now she is urged to cleanse her heart of idols and turn back to Yahweh.

¹⁹ Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry. ²⁰ Destruction follows destruction; the whole land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment. ²¹ How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?

Jeremiah feels the anguish, pictures his own tents in ruin, and cannot bear to keep hearing the warning trumpets.

²² “My people are fools; they do not know Me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they don’t know how to do good.”

Yahweh makes clear that it is the foolishness and senselessness of His people that has brought this on them. They have the wrong skills.

²³ I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; and at the heavens, and their light was gone. ²⁴ I looked at the mountains, and they were quaking; all the hills were swaying. ²⁵ I looked, and there were no people; every bird in the sky had flown away. ²⁶ I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert; all its towns lay in ruins before Yahweh, before his fierce anger.

Jeremiah sees his land as if it is the creation being undone.

 ²⁷ This is what Yahweh says: “The whole land will be ruined, though I will not make a full end of it. ²⁸ Therefore the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow dark, because I have spoken and will not relent, I have decided and will not turn back.” ²⁹ At the sound of horsemen and archers every town takes to flight. Some go into the thickets; some climb up among the rocks. All the towns are deserted; no one lives in them.

Though the destruction will be total, God will not exterminate His people. He is not going to turn back His judgment, but He will preserve a remnant of His people.

 ³⁰ What are you doing, you devastated one? Why dress yourself in scarlet and put on jewels of gold? Why highlight your eyes with makeup? You adorn yourself in vain. Your lovers despise you; they want to kill you. ³¹ I hear a cry as of a woman in labor, a groan as of one bearing her first child—the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands and saying, “Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers.” (Jeremiah 4:5-31)

Despite this certain judgment coming upon Judah, she still thinks she can entice her conquerors with her own beauty, the pathetic last gasps of a ruined prostitute. Jeremiah feels her pain, like that of a woman in labor and near to dying.

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Discussion Questions:

1. What has been your experience of an inevitable ‘destructiveness’ coming your way?
2. Why can’t God relent of this judgment?
3. What do you make of Jeremiah saying God has deceived His people through their false prophets?
4. What do you think keeps people from turning to God when their own resources for change are obviously expended?