Jeremiah 14:1-10

The Lesson of The Great Droughts (Jeremiah 14:1).

As a preliminary warning of what is coming YHWH sends a great drought on Judah with the result that the cisterns are empty, the springs are dry, the pastures are bare and the ground is parched and cracked. Of course according to their then current theology it was Baal who should have ensured the supplies of rain as a result of their ritual antics before him, for he was the god of rain and storm, but they recognise that he had failed them, and that in such circumstances there was only one final port of call and that was to YHWH. So recognising it for what it was, a judgment from YHWH because of their sins (compare Leviticus 26:19 ff; Deuteronomy 11:17; Deuteronomy 28:23), the people cry to Him in a well rehearsed ritual only to discover that this time He has no intention of responding because He is sick of their wandering. In view of His past mercies it is an unexpected warning shot across their bows. Like so many they had always been confident that in the last analysis they would be able to persuade YHWH to help them even if they had rather neglected the covenant. Had He not done so in the past time and again? Now was the time for them to be pulled up short and to learn that even YHWH's patience had its limits.

The passage divides up into three parts, the first revealing the depths of the droughts (Jeremiah 14:1), the second reflecting their response in supposed penitence (Jeremiah 14:7), and the third indicating YHWH's negative counter-response (Jeremiah 14:10).