The drought and God’s message
14
📚The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:2 📚“Judah mourns, and its gates languish;
they mourn from the ground,
and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.
3 📚And their nobles have sent
their servants for water;
they came to the cisterns and found
no water;
they returned with their vessels empty;
they were ashamed and dismayed,
and covered their heads,
4 📚because the ground was parched,
for there was no rain on the earth.
The plowmen were disappointed;
they covered their heads.
5 📚Yes, the deer also gave birth
in the field, and left it,
because there was no grass.
6 📚And the wild donkeys stood on the
high places;
they sniffed the wind like jackals;
their eyes failed, because there was
no grass”.
14:1-6 Jer 3:3; 12:4; 23:10. This was a punishment for their sins (Lev 26:19-20). They could escape from this trouble only by repentance and turning to the true and living God.⚜
7 📚O LORD, though our evil deeds
testify against us,
act for your name’s sake;
for our backslidings are many.
We have sinned against you.
8 📚O the hope of Israel, its saviour in time
of trouble, why should you be like
a stranger 📖 in the land,
and like a traveller who turns aside
to stay for a night?
9 📚Why should you be like a man astonished,
like a mighty man who cannot save?
For you, O LORD, are in our midst,
and we are called by your name.
Do not leave us.
14:9 Jeremiah felt that God was still among them but inactive. He was not behaving like their “Saviour in times of trouble” – v 8.⚜
14:7-9 Jeremiah speaks on behalf of the people. He knows very well the reason for their trouble.⚜
10 📚Thus says the LORD to this people:
“Thus they have loved to wander.
They have not restrained their feet;
therefore the LORD does not accept them.
He will now remember their wickedness,
and punish their sins”.
14:10 Again and again God had to give the reason for the punishment He sent on the people. He was not lacking in ability to save them, but in His justice determined that He should not.⚜
11 📚Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for this people for their good.
14:11 Evidently Jeremiah forgot God’s instruction to him in Jer 7:16 when he made the prayer of vs 7-9.⚜
12 📚When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they sacrifice burnt offerings and offerings, I will not accept them, but I will consume them by sword and by famine and by plague”.
14:12 We see again that God will not accept some kinds of worship (Jer 6:20; 7:21). Compare John 4:23-24. The three words “sword”, “famine”, and “plague” are repeated over and over in Jeremiah. They were the three chief instruments God used in the destruction of Israel (and often no doubt other peoples when He decides to destroy them). See Lev 26:25-26; Deut 28:20-26.⚜
13 📚Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! See, the prophets say to them, ‘You will not see the sword, nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ”
14:13 Jeremiah tries to find some excuse for the people. Does he wish to remove from them some of the responsibility for their behavior? But see Jer 5:31.⚜
14 📚Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I did not send them 📖, and I have not given commands to them or spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false vision 📖 and divination, and a worthless thing 📖, and the deceit of their heart 📖.
14:14 Jer 23:16, 25; 27:14; Ezek 13:2; Matt 7:15; 24:11, 24; 2 Pet 2:1; 1 John 4:1. Notes on prophets at Jer 28:1-17.⚜
15 📚Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name though I did not send them and who say, ‘There will be no sword and famine in this land’; by sword and famine those prophets will come to an end.
14:15 False prophets will get what they deserve, will experience the exact outworking of justice.⚜
16 📚And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and will have no one to bury them, neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters; for I will pour their wickedness on them.
14:16 People who willingly, gladly listen to false prophets (Jer 5:31) are also guilty and will be punished. Their punishment too will fit their crime.⚜
17 📚“Therefore you shall speak this word to them:
‘Let my eyes run down with tears night
and day, and let them not cease,
for the virgin daughter of my people has been
broken with a great stroke,
with a very grievous blow.
18 📚If I go out into the field, then, see,
those slain by the sword!
And if I enter the city, then, see,
those who are sick from the famine!
Yes, both the prophet and the priest
go away into a land that they
do not know 📖.’ ”
14:17-18 Jer 8:21; 9:1; 13:17. God told Jeremiah to speak these words because they express the pain in His own heart as well as that of Jeremiah’s (note on Jer 4:19-26).⚜
19 📚Have you utterly rejected Judah?
Has your soul loathed Zion?
Why have you struck us,
and there is no healing for us?
We looked for peace,
but no good has come;
and for the time of healing,
but see trouble.
20 📚We acknowledge, O LORD,
our wickedness, and
the guilt of our fathers,
for we have sinned against you.
14:20 Jeremiah is speaking for the people, but they themselves had not yet come to this place of confession.⚜
21 📚Do not abhor us,
for your name’s sake do not disgrace
your glorious throne.
Remember, do not break your covenant
with us.
14:21 Notice “your” name, “your” throne, “your” covenant. Jeremiah is concerned with God’s honor. Compare Ex 32:11-13.⚜
22 📚Are there any among
the worthless idols of the Gentiles
that can cause rain?
Or can the skies give showers?
Are you not the one,
O LORD our God?
Therefore we will wait for you,
for you have made all these things.
14:19-22 God had twice told Jeremiah not to pray for the people. But they are in his heart and he cannot refrain from praying. How different from some people who will not pray no matter how much the Word of God urges them to do so!⚜