Jeremiah 5:10-18

3. Treacherous unbelief (Jeremiah 5:10-18)

TRANSLATION

(10) Go up against her rows and destroy, but do not make a full end; Remove her shoots for they do not belong to the LORD. (11) For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been thoroughly treacherous with me (oracle of the LORD). (12) They have lied against the LORD and have said, lie is not and the calamity shall not come against us. We shall not see sword and famine. (13) And the prophets are windbags and the word is not in them. Thus let it be done to them. (14) Therefore thus says the LORD God of Hosts: because you have said this thing, behold, I am about to place My words in your mouth as fire and this people as wood and it shall consume them. (15) Behold, I am about to bring against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel (oracle of the LORD), a powerful nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose tongue you do not know nor can you understand what they say. (16) Their quiver is like a open grave; all of them are mighty men. (17) They shall eat your harvest and your bread, they shall eat up your sheep and your cattle, they shall eat your vines and your fig trees, they shall batter with the sword your fortified cities in which you are trusting. (18) But even in those days (oracle of the LORD) I will not make a full end of you.

COMMENTS

Frequently in prophetic literature the Lord through his prophet will exhort the enemy to get busy with the work of judgment against Israel. In verse ten Judah is compared to a vineyard or perhaps an olive orchard. The enemy is instructed to go up against the rows[167] of vines and begin a ruthless pruning operation. The degenerate and dead shoots,[168] the apostate people who no longer render allegiance to the Lord, are to be removed. But the enemy is not to completely destroy the vine. Through the process of their pruning the degenerate members of the nation will be removed and the believing kernel of the nation will be left (Jeremiah 5:10). Here again is the idea of the remnant which plays such an important role in the Old Testament (cf. Jeremiah 4:27).

[167] The American Standard and King James versions have rendered this Hebrew word as walls. While this translation has the support of some of the ancient versions the translation rows is equally possible and fits better the imagery of the verse.
[168] The rendering of the American Standard, branches, is much to be preferred over the King James battlements.

But why must any judgment against Judah take place? The house of Israel and the house of Judah, both kingdoms, have been treacherous with the Lord (Jeremiah 5:11). The word treacherous in the Old Testament carries the idea of violating the most sacred relationships as, for example, marriage vows (Malachi 2:11). Furthermore, the people of Judah have lied against the Lord (Jeremiah 5:12). They were saying, No calamity of any kind shall befall us for His is not (lit., not He!). Were they denying the very existence of God? This is not likely. Were they saying, God has nothing to do with either our well-being or our misfortune? In view of the prevailing religious attitudes of that day this again seems unlikely. Were they saying, It is not He who is speaking through prophets like Jeremiah? This seems to be reading too much into the text. In the view of the present writer the people were saying,

God will not turn against us, He will not bring calamity upon us. The notion that God could not destroy Judah because of the covenant with them was deeply rooted in the popular theology of that time. Whatever it was that they were saying God regarded it as a lie concerning Himself.

Not only were the people lying against God, they were ridiculing the prophets of God. They regarded the prophets who claimed to be men of the Spirit as nothing but windbags.[169] The word of God is not in them (lit., He who speaks is not in them). Let these prophecies of doom fall upon those who utter them, sneered the people (Jeremiah 5:13). But God will not let the slanderous words of the people go unchallenged. He acknowledges Jeremiah as His spokesman and affirms that He, the Almighty, has placed those words upon the lips of the prophet. The judgment words spoken by Jeremiah will eventually consume the people as fire consumes dead timber (Jeremiah 5:14). The title Lord God of Hosts appears in Jeremiah 5:14 for the first time in the book. This title, frequent in Isaiah, became even more popular in the period of the exile and restoration. The identity of the hosts is uncertain. Is He Lord of the hosts of angels, the hosts (armies) of Israel or the hosts of the nations? God is Lord of all hosts; He is sovereign over all men and angels.

[169] The same Hebrew word can be rendered spirit or wind.

The threat of divine judgment so repugnant to the people of Judah is repeated in Jeremiah 5:15-18. God is about to bring a powerful and ancient nation against the house of Israel. The house of Israel is here the kingdom of Judah, for after the destruction of Samaria in 722 B.C. Judah became the sole representative of the people of Israel. The attacking nation is powerful. The word used here is one used primarily of rivers which flow the year around. The enemies have inexhaustible resources and therefore do not fail in the purpose which they undertake. The nation is ancient, dating back to the very dawn of history. They speak a language which the men of Judah cannot comprehend (Jeremiah 5:15). Here Jeremiah seems to borrow the terminology used earlier by Isaiah to describe the Assyrians (Isaiah 28:11; Isaiah 33:19). Every man in the enemy army is a mighty of valor. The arrows of their archers are deadly (Jeremiah 5:16). The armies of the enemy sweep over the land and devour the crops and the cattle. The phrase, they shall eat up your sons and your daughters, is metaphorical, meaning they shall eat the food which the children would normally eat. This would mean, of course, that the children would then die of starvation. With the sword, i.e., with their weapons of war, they will batter down the walls of the cities in which the men of Judah placed their confidence (Jeremiah 5:17). Yet as terrible as this judgment is, the nation will not be utterly destroyed. A remnant will survive (cf. Jeremiah 4:27; Jeremiah 5:10).