Jeremiah 14:13-18

C. The Prophet's Second Petition Rejected Jeremiah 14:13-18

TRANSLATION

(13) And I said, Ah Lord GOD, Behold, the prophets are saying to them, You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine; for I will give you peace in this place. (14) And the LORD said unto me: Falsehood the prophets are prophesying in My name. I did not send them nor did I command them, nor did I speak unto them. A lying vision and divination and a worthless thing and the deceit of their heart they prophesy to you. (15) Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name although I did not send them and they are saying, Sword and famine shall not come upon this land: By sword and famine those prophets shall be destroyed. (16) But the people to whom they prophesied shall be cast into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword and there will be none to bury them, neither they, nor their wives, nor their sons nor their daughters; and I shall pour out upon them their evil. (17) Now tell them this word: My eyes shall drip tears night and day and they shall not cease for the virgin daughter of my people is utterly shattered, a very grievous wound. (18) If I go out to the field then behold, the slain of the sword! And if I go to the city, then behold, those who are famished with famine. For both the prophet and priest will rove about in a land they do not know.

COMMENTS

In spite of God's refusal to hearken to his first petition Jeremiah prays again on behalf of his people. The words of the prayer itself are in the form of a complaint. He calls God's attention to the false prophets who are deceiving and misleading the people. These influential religious leaders were saying that God will never bring the sword and famine upon Judah as predicted over and over again by Jeremiah. In their view Judah was under the special protection of God. The Lord would see to it that His people had peace. Jeremiah was concerned about these prophets and the damaging message which they brought. But Jeremiah is not merely complaining to God; in reality he is again interceding. He is placing the responsibility for the condition of the nation squarely on the shoulders of the false prophets. The implied petition of Jeremiah 14:13 is for God to be merciful to the people as a whole in view of the fact that they have been misled by their leaders.

The Lord concurs with Jeremiah's evaluation. The false prophets are guilty of speaking falsehood to the nation in the name of the Lord. God did not send them, command them or speak to them. They are acting strictly on their own initiative. Their visions of peace and prosperity are spurious and utterly worthless. They themselves are deceived and consequently that which they prophesy is deception. The Lord likens what these prophets are saying to divination (Jeremiah 14:14). It may well be that some of these prophets were using the methods of pagan diviners to attempt to pry into the future. On the other hand the term divination may be used here as a means of showing the emptiness and futility of the message of these men.

The Lord assures his perplexed prophet that the false prophets will be punished for the role thy have played in misleading the nation. The punishment which they experience will be most appropriate, They have said that sword and famine will not come upon the land. Therefore they shall meet their death by sword and famine (Jeremiah 14:15). But judgment will also fall upon the people of the land. Though they have been misled they are not excused from their iniquity and their sin. Those who die defending Jerusalem and those who die of the famine brought on by the siege of that city will simply be cast in the streets. No one will have the courage, inclination or strength to bury their dead bodies. The divine Judge has rejected again the appeal of Jeremiah on behalf of the people of Judah. Their evil deeds demand the outpouring of divine wrath (Jeremiah 14:16).

In view of the fact that such a dire fate awaits both the leaders and the inhabitants of Jerusalem God instructs Jeremiah to go and speak a lamentation to them. The prophet is actually warning the people through this dirge. Jeremiah describes his uncontrollable weeping over the impending destruction of the virgin daughter of my people. It is generally thought that Jerusalem is called a virgin because hitherto no enemy had completely conquered her.[203] Shortly she would suffer a grievous wound from which she would not recover (Jeremiah 14:17). Projecting himself into the not too distant future Jeremiah describes the situation that will exist when the siege of Jerusalem begins. Outside the safety of the city walls the sword of Babylon has already done its deadly work. Inside Jerusalem people are starving to death. The prophet and priest and every other leader for that matter will be forced to rove about (literally, peddle their wares) in a foreign land (Jeremiah 14:18). Some commentators connect the verb translated here to rove about with a verb in Aramaic which means to go about like a beggar. If this be the meaning then these ex-nobles will go begging their way into the unknown land.[204]

[203] Freedman, op cit., pp. 103-104.

[204] Cheyne, op cit., I, 356.