Jeremiah 10:23-25

D. A Prophetic Prayer Jeremiah 10:23-25

TRANSLATION

(23) I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not his own and that a man in walking cannot direct his step (24) Chastise me, O LORD, but in measure, not in Your wrath lest you cause me to become small. (25) Pour out Your wrath upon the nations which do not know You and upon tribes which have not called on Your name for they have consumed Jacob, they have consumed him and finished him and his habitation they have made desolate.

COMMENTS

The solemn description of the impending desolation of Judah (Jeremiah 10:22) sent the prophet of prayer to his knees in intercession for his people. He acknowledges man's weakness and waywardness and uses this as the grounds upon which to appeal for the mercy of God. A man's way is not his own; a man belongs to God. He is under the obligation to walk in the path which God has marked out for him in the word. If a man fails to acknowledge his relationship to God, fails to submit to divine direction, he denies the fundamental reason for his existence. One who walks the path of life is not able to give moral and spiritual guidance to his own steps. He will inevitably stray from the straight and narrow (Jeremiah 10:23). He therefore requires divine discipline and correction.

Jeremiah feels himself to be one with his people. The me of Jeremiah 10:24 is really us. The prophet knows that God must chastise or discipline His people; he only prays that God will be merciful. Let God punish His people, but not in the wrath they deserve lest the nation become small and dwindle into insignificance. Rather let God punish Judah in measure,[192] i.e., with enough punishment to bring about the reformation of Judah. Jeremiah is willing to endure all that God intends to do to Judah so long as the judgment stops short of absolute and total annihilation of the nation.

[192] The Hebrew word is usually translated justice or judgment. That it also means measured amounts is indicated by 1 Kings 4:28 where the same word is used,

Israel deserves punishment and Jeremiah admits it. But the nations by whom and through whom God would bring judgment upon Judah also deserve divine judgment. These nations had gone beyond the appointed bounds (Isaiah 10:6-7; Isaiah 47:6; Zechariah 1:15). God intended for these nations to punish Israel; instead they aimed at destroying the people of God. Quoting Psalms 79:6-7, Jeremiah calls upon God to pour out His wrath upon them as well as Israel.