Jeremiah 6:1-30, Impending Doom

Four voices are heard during this prophecy: Yahweh’s, the enemy’s, Jeremiah’s, and the false prophets’ voices. The whole is designed to arouse fear and hopefully to elicit repentance, though the expectation of that is zero.

^6:1 “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Flee from Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction. ² I will destroy Daughter Zion, so beautiful and delicate.  Shepherds with their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents around her, each tending his own portion.” ⁴ “Consecrate yourselves for battle against her! Arise, let us attack at noon! But, alas, the daylight is fading, and the shadows of evening grow long. ⁵ So arise, let us attack at night and destroy her fortresses!” ⁶ This is what Yahweh Almighty says: “Cut down the trees and build siege ramps against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; it is filled with oppression. ⁷ As a well pours out its water, so she pours out her wickedness. Violence and destruction resound in her; her sickness and wounds are ever before me. ⁸ Take warning, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so no one can live in it.”  ⁹ This is what Yahweh Almighty says: “Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine; pass your hand over the branches again, like one gathering grapes.”

The enemy is coming from the north, Babylon, and Benjamin (Jeremiah’s tribe) is first in line to take the blow. Jerusalem is not safe despite its walls, Tekoa and Beth Hakkerem to the south of Jerusalem are next. You can hear Yahweh’s anguish over His beautiful and delicate daughter being destroyed. Then the enemy speaks, showing their eagerness for battle, urging one another to spiritual consecration for war and near 24-hour siege. And then Yahweh encourages the enemy to engage in siege warfare because His people deserve judgment. The main bunches of grapes were gathered, Israel, the northern kingdom, and now Judah, the southern kingdom, will be the gleanings, the remnant of His people.

¹⁰ To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of Yahweh is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. ¹¹ But I am full of the wrath of Yahweh, and I cannot hold it in.

Jeremiah wants to warn his people but they won’t listen to him and won’t listen to Yahweh. In fact, his words are offensive to them. So he speaks the wrath of God that Israel deserves.

“Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years. ¹² Their houses will be turned over to others, together with their fields and their wives, when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land,” declares Yahweh. ¹³ “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. ¹⁴ They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. ¹⁵ Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them,” says Yahweh.

No one is exempt from this judgment. They are all greedy and deceitful, considering that only a superficial wound, with the false prophets even declaring that only peace awaits their people, when in fact their wound is deep with detestable and shameful conduct that must be punished.

¹⁶ This is what Yahweh says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ ¹⁷ I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But you said, ‘We will not listen.’ ¹⁸ Therefore hear, you nations; you who are witnesses, observe what will happen to them. ¹⁹ Hear, you earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law. ²⁰ What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me.”

No one wants to take the road, the ancient road, that God’s law followed, the road that leads to rest for the soul (Matthew 11:28-30). God’s watchmen, the prophets, have “blown the trumpet” at the attack of the enemy but no one wants to listen. So God calls on the nations to bear witness to Israel’s coming disaster, the consequence of not following her God. She may make superficial attempts to appease Yahweh, with sacrifices using precious incense, but God has no regard for them.

²¹ Therefore this is what Yahweh says: “I will put obstacles before this people. Parents and children alike will stumble over them; neighbors and friends will perish.” ²² This is what Yahweh says: “Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth. ²³ They are armed with bow and spear; they are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, Daughter Zion.” ²⁴ We have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor. ²⁵ Do not go out to the fields or walk on the roads, for the enemy has a sword, and there is terror on every side. ²⁶ Put on sackcloth, my people, and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

The enemy will be the obstacle to all of God’s people, causing them to perish. The cruelty and mercilessness of this powerful people will take the spirit out of everyone. If they are going to flee it should not be in the fields or along the roads, because the invaders are everywhere. Only bitter anguish is left to the people.

²⁷ “I have made you a tester of metals and my people the ore, that you may observe and test their ways. ²⁸ They are all hardened rebels, going about to slander. They are bronze and iron; they all act corruptly. ²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely to burn away the lead with fire, but the refining goes on in vain; the wicked are not purged out. ³⁰ They are called rejected silver, because Yahweh has rejected them.”

Yahweh appoints Jeremiah to test the mettle of His people’s metal, to see if they are worthy of smelting and extracting precious metal, and they are not. There is so much impurity that they cannot be redeemed.

—

Discussion Questions:

1. What feeling do you come away with from this prophecy?
2. How do you evaluate Yahweh’s voice, what He says?
3. How do you evaluate Jeremiah’s voice?
4. Are we still called to choose the ancient path?