Jeremiah 6:1-5

D. Approach of Judgment Jeremiah 6:1-30

Chapter 6 contains a dramatic description of the advance of the foe against Jerusalem (Jeremiah 6:1-5) and the subsequent siege of that city (Jeremiah 6:6-8). The enemy will be completely successful in destroying the city (Jeremiah 6:9-15). At this point in. the chapter Jeremiah offers to the people a prescription of deliverance from impending judgment (Jeremiah 6:16-21). Then he reverts to a description of the coming conqueror (Jeremiah 6:22-26). The chapter concludes with an indication of the hopeless task of the prophet of God (Jeremiah 6:27-30).

1. The advance of the foe (Jeremiah 6:1-5)

TRANSLATION

(1) Seek refuge, O children of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem and in Tekoa blow a trumpet! At Beth-Hakkerem rise up a signpost! for calamity peers down from the north, great destruction. (2) The beautiful and dainty one, the daughter of Zion, I will cut off. (3) Unto her shall come shepherds with their flocks; they shall pitch against her tents round about; they shall graze each man what is at his hand. (4) Sanctify against her war. Rise up! Let us go up at noontime. Woe to us when the day turns for the shadows of evening are stretching out. (5) Rise up that we may go up by night, that we may destroy her palaces.

COMMENTS

Projecting himself mentally into the future Jeremiah describes the scene as the foe from the north sweeps toward Jerusalem. In Jeremiah 4:6 the people of the countryside are exhorted to flee to Jerusalem. But the capital now no longer appears to be safe and the prophet can see refugees streaming southward from her gates. Being himself a Benjaminite, Jeremiah calls for his fellow tribesmen to get out of the midst of Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem was actually located on the border between Judah and Benjamin and hence many Benjaminites made that city their home. In Tekoa, twelve miles south of Jerusalem, a trumpet is sounded to assemble the people in their flight to the wilderness of southwestern Judah. At BethHakkerem, thought to be a hill east of Bethlehem, a sign post or fiery beacon is set up to give further guidance to fugitives. This flight is wise and necessary because the ugly monster of calamity is peering down (lit., bending forward) from the north (Jeremiah 6:1). By means of the ruthless armies of Nebuchadnezzar God will cut off or destroy the beautiful and dainty daughter of Zion, i.e., the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 6:2). Zion was the hill chosen by the Lord as His earthly abode and was part of the city of Jerusalem. No longer will the delicate lady, the bride of God and daughter of Jerusalem, receive the loving and tender treatment of the past. Instead, foreign commanders with their armies will come up against Jerusalem like shepherds with their flocks. Each shepherd will allow his flock to graze that part of Judah which is at his hand i.e., which has been assigned to his jurisdiction. As sheep graze a pasture land until nothing but bare soil remains so will these shepherds and their flocks utterly depasture and devastate the land of Judah (Jeremiah 6:3). Jeremiah 6:4 opens with an exhortation addressed to the invading force. Sanctify against her war! War in antiquity was a sacred undertaking. Sacrifices were frequently offered before battle (e.g., 1 Samuel 7:9; 1 Samuel 13:9) and inspirational addresses were given (e.g., Judges 7:18). Following the exhortation which he addresses to the enemy, Jeremiah takes his audience into the very camp of the enemy. The enemy is planning a surprise attack at noontime, a time when usually both sides in a conflict rested. As the shadows of evening lengthen the enemy forces lament the fact that they have not been able to complete their work of destruction (Jeremiah 6:4). Rather than retire to the camp for rest and refreshment the enemy commanders urge their men forward in a daring and decisive night attack designed to bring them within the walls of Jerusalem. They will not wait till morning for the final assault (Jeremiah 6:5).