Jeremiah 5:19-24

4. Religious apostasy (Jeremiah 5:19-24)

TRANSLATION

(19) And it shall come to pass when you shall say, For what reason did the LORD our God do all these things to us? Then you shall say unto them, Just as you have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, thus you shall serve strangers in a land not your own. (20) Declare this in the house of Jacob and make it known in Judah, saying, (21) Hear now this: O foolish people who are without understanding, who have eyes and see not, who have ears and do not hear. (22) Do you not fear Me (oracle of the LORD)? Do you not tremble from before My face who placed the sand as a border to the sea, an eternal statute and it shall not cross over it. (23) But this people has a revolting and rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone. (24) They did not say in their heart, Let us fear now the LORD our God who gives us the rain in season, even showers of autumn and spring, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

COMMENTS

Once the divine calamity begins to fall upon Judah men will inquire of the prophet as to why their nation is suffering so. His answer is to be honest and uncompromising: you willingly forsook God and served strange gods in your own land. As your punishment you must serve strange people in a foreign land (Jeremiah 5:19). The divine punishment corresponds to the crime which the people have committed against God. On at least four occasions, possibly more, Nebuchadnezzar led away captives from Jerusalem, in 605, 597, 587 and 582 B.C.

In order to impress once again the seriousness of the national apostasy upon the people Jeremiah is commissioned to deliver another oracle to the house of Jacob, i.e., Judah (Jeremiah 5:20). The people of Judah are foolish, without understanding. They have eyes and ears but they do not see and hear (Jeremiah 5:21). This same terminology is used in Psalms 115:5 f. where it refers to idols. Perhaps by applying this familiar terminology to the people of Judah Jeremiah is suggesting that people become like the object of their worship (cf. Ezekiel 12:2). These people are blind to the omnipotence of God revealed in nature. In the Hebrew Me and My presence are placed in an emphatic position as if to stress how incomprehensible it is that people cannot recognize the might and majesty of the Creator. As but one example of His handiwork Jeremiah mentions how the creator has placed the sand as an impassable barrier to the sea. This is an eternal statute or perpetual decree, a law of nature (Jeremiah 5:22). But while inanimate nature is submissive to the divine will, Israel has a rebellious heart or will. They have actually defied and opposed their God and gone away from His will (Jeremiah 5:23). They, were utterly blind to their dependence upon God for their sustenance. God had faithfully given to His people the autumn and spring rains upon which the agricultural prosperity of Palestine depends. Year in and year out God kept the weeks of the harvest for the benefit of His people. This expression may simply mean that God granted to His people an annual harvest in late April or early May. On the other hand, God may have kept the harvest in the sense of preserving the harvest period from rain until the crops were gathered. In other words, God gave them rain when they needed it and restrained the rain when it would have been harmful to them. Yet in blind ingratitude they never thought of rendering to God the fear and reverence due to Him (Jeremiah 5:24).