By Eugene Garner

JEREMIAH - CHAPTER 9

LAMENTATION OVER JUDAH'S SIN

    2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD. 4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. 5 And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD. 7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? 8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait. 9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

    1. Considering their incorrigible wickedness, Jeremiah longs to get away from his people, (vs. 2a; comp. Psa. 55:6-7; 120:5-6).
    2. He views them all as adulterous deceivers, (vs. 2b; 5:7-8; 23:10; 5:11; 12:1, 6).
      a. Instead of being valiant in faithfulness, their tongues are weapons of falsehood, (vs. 3a, 8; Psa. 64:2-4; Isa. 59:4) - having become major instruments of political strategy in the land.
      b. Proceeding from evil to evil, they do not even know the Lord, (vs. 3b; 4:22; 5:4-5; I Sam. 2:12; Hos. 4:1).
    3. They are warned to beware of both brother and neighbour, (vs. 4-5; Psa. 12:1-2; Prov. 26:24-25).
      a. Who can trust a brother that is as crafty as Jacob, the supplanter? (12:6; Gen. 27:35).
      b. Who can trust a neighbor whose tongue has been trained to lie, and to peddle slander? (6:28; comp. Psa. 15:3; Prov. 10:18; Mic. 6:12).
    4. Perverted, and too weak to change, injury feeds on injury, and deceit on deceit - because of which they refuse to know the Lord, (vs. 6; 8:5; 11:10; 13:10; Jn. 3:19-20).
    5. Thus, the Lord announces His intention to "refine" them by severe discipline (6:27; Isa. 1:25; Mal. 3:3) - purging away their dross, (vs. 7).
      a. The Lord despises such deception as permits one to speak peace to his neighbor, while devising an ambush for him within his heart, (vs. 8; Psa. 28:3; 55:21; 62:4).
      b. His very holiness requires that He punish such sin! (vs. 9a; 5:9, 29).
      c. On such a nation, therefore, He will surely avenge Himself! (vs. 9b: Isa. 1:24; 59:18).

    10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone. 11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. 12 Who is the wise man that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through? 13 And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; 14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.

    1. Whoever the speaker may be in verses 10-11, the lamentation over the ruin and desolation of Judah expresses the heart of both Jeremiah and his Lord, (4:25; 12:4, 10; Ezek. 14:4-5).
    2. Was there anyone in the land wise enough to discern the cause of Judah's calamity? (vs. 12; Psa. 107:43; Hos. 14:9; comp. Jer. 23:16).
    3. The Lord will leave no room for misunderstanding, (vs. 13-14).
      a. It is because they have forsaken the law of the Lord - refusing to obey His voice, and to walk in the way He has appointed, (vs. 13; 5:19; 2 Chron. 7:19-20).
      b. Rather, they have walked according to the stubbornness of their own hearts - following after Baalim as their fathers had taught them, (vs. 14; 7:24; 11:8; 2:8, 23; comp. Rom. 1:21-25).
    4. Thus, the Lord of hosts, and God of Israel, declares that He will feed them with wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink! (vs. 15; 8:14; 23:15; comp. Deut. 29:18-21).
    5. He will, further, disperse them among strange nations (comp. Deut. 28:64) - following them with the sword, until He has consumed them, (vs. 16; 44:27).

    17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come: 18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. 19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. 20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation. 21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. 22 Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.

    1. Here is a call for professional mourners to take up a lamentation of wailing until it is joined by the whole land, (vs. 17-18).
    2. A mournful song is heard in Zion - of ruin, confusion, abandonment and exile, (vs. 19; 14:17; Isa. 22:4; comp Amos 5:16-17).
    3. Jeremiah pictures death as a thief - climbing into the windows of houses and palaces to cut off the people in the very prime of life, (vs. 21; 15:7-9).
    4. The dead will fall as manure upon the field, and like grain left behind by the reapers; there will be no one left to bury them! (vs. 22; 16:4; 25:33; Isa. 5:25).

    23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

    A number of principles are set forth in this passage which contrasts dramatically with the content of the prophetic burden in which it appears; they need careful consideration.
    1. First, there is a warning against a false sense of security, (vs. 23).
      a. The "wise man" must not glory, take pride in, or place his confidence in human wisdom; being incomplete, it is not trustworthy, (comp. Isa. 47:10; Ezek. 28:3-7).
      b. Nor should the "mighty man" trust in his might; material force is effective only in relationship to MATERIAL things; it is helpless before moral ideals and spiritual truth, (Isa. 10:8-12).
      c. And the "rich man" must not glory, or place his confidence in his wealth; there are too many things that material wealth cannot purchase or ensure, (Job 31:25-25, 28; Psa. 49:6-9).
    2. Second, there is a setting forth of the true elements of security (vs. 24b) - the things which the Lord practices, and in which He takes delight, (comp. Psa. 36:5-7; Mic. 7:18).
      a. Loving-kindness (the Hebrew "hesed") - the only proper response to divine grace - involving unquestioning and unwavering loyalty to the Lord, and obedience to His will and word, (Ex. 34:6-7; Psa. 51:1).
      b. Justice - the administration of affairs in strict equity, and according to truth, so that all relationships are adjusted in such a way as is equitable and right - thus, securing the best possible conditions for human life and happiness, (Isa. 61:8; 5:16-17; 30:18).
      c. Righteousness - straightness, uprightness -involving such conformity to the divine will as links all things to Him; it strengthens the whole of life and defies all wickedness.
    2. The secret of true greatness is found in knowing God - the all-wise, all-mighty and all-sufficient One! (comp. Jn. 17:3; Matt. 6:33).

    25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; 26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.

    1. Jeremiah has already stressed the necessity of a "circumcised heart," (4:4).
    2. Here is a warning that flesh-circumcision (the mere observation of a legalistic ritual) will not exempt one from punishment, (comp. Gal. 5:6; 6:15); Judah is listed, along with Egypt, Edom, Ammon and Moab, as being ripe for judgment - even though physically circumcised, (Lev. 26:41; etc.).
    3. Judah is no different from the Gentiles (in the eyes of God) so long as she is "uncircumcised in heart"; the cutting of the flesh means nothing to Him if the heart is not loyal to His covenant!