Jeremiah 6:9-15

3. The success of the foe (Jeremiah 6:9-15)

TRANSLATION

(9) Thus says the LORD of hosts: They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel; turn again your hand like a grape gatherer over the basket. (10) To whom may I speak and give warning that they may hear. Behold, their ear is uncircumcised; they are not able to pay attention. Behold, the word of the LORD has become a reproach to them, they do not delight in it. (11) Therefore with the wrath of the LORD am I filled; I weary myself containing it! Pour it out upon the child in the street and upon the gathering of young men. For a husband along with his wife shall be taken captive, the old man with the one full of days. (12) And their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and their wives together. For I shall stretch out My hand over the inhabitants of the land (oracle of the LORD). (13) For from their least to their greatest everyone is greedy for gain, from the prophet even unto the priest everyone practices deception. (14) They have healed the wound of My people with platitudes, saying, Peace! peace! when there is no peace. (15) They shall be put to shame because they have committed abomination; they neither are ashamed nor do they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who are falling. At the time that I punish them they shall be thrown to the ground said the LORD.

COMMENTS

Once again comparing Israel to a vineyard Jeremiah paints the picture of a complete and thorough judgment. Only a remnant of once powerful Israel remained after the ten northern tribes were ravished and deported by the Assyrians. Yet now even this remnant, i.e., Judah, is to undergo a severe sifting process. The enemy will thoroughly spoil sinful Judah as a grape gatherer who leaves nothing but leaves behind. The hand of the grape gatherer moves incessantly back and forth from the vine to the basket until the final grapes are picked (Jeremiah 6:9). Here is a picture of the repeated calamities, deportations, and attacks which Judah experienced in the twenty years following the Battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C. So was the remnant of Israel, Judah, itself made a remnant.

Jeremiah's prophetic discouragement comes out in Jeremiah 6:10. No one will listen to him as he sounds the warning of impending judgment. The word of the Lord is treated with derision. The ear of the people seems to be uncircumcised, covered as it were with a foreskin which prevents the prophetic word from penetrating their mind (cf. Acts 7:51). Discouraged though he is, Jeremiah cannot refrain from preaching the word of judgment. He is filled with the message of divine wrath; it burns within him. He tries very hard to hold it back but only succeeds in making himself weary. In the last part of Jeremiah 6:11 the problem arises as to who is speaking and to whom. Some think God is talking to Jeremiah urging him to pour out his message of doom upon the population. Others think Jeremiah is talking to God urging Him to hasten the day of judgment. The best view seems to be that Jeremiah is talking to himself. These are words of self-exhortation. He calls upon himself to announce the terrible day of God's wrath. Whether or not the people listen he must sound the alarm. He must pour out his message to all segments of the population, from the very youngest to the very oldest, for all will ultimately be involved in the outpouring of divine judgment (Jeremiah 6:11). Their houses, and fields, and wives will be turned over to the invading soldiers; for the hand of the Lord, once stretched out against the enemies of Israel (Exodus 3:20; Deuteronomy 7:19) is now stretched out against them (Jeremiah 6:12).

The judgment described in Jeremiah 6:12 is appropriate to the root sin of the men of Judah, covetousness. Everyone in the nation, from the least to the greatest, was greedy for illicit gain. Even the prophets and priests practice deception and fraud to curry favor with the populace and thereby secure their good will and their gifts (Jeremiah 6:13). For the love of filthy lucre they would offer flattering pictures of the future prospects of the nation (cf. Micah 3:5). All is well, they would say. Peace! Peace! These soft-soaping, self-seeking clergymen completely failed to come to grips with the serious ailment of the nation. The pious platitudes of these leaders would no more cure the wound of Judah than mercurochrome could heal a skin cancer. These leaders feel no shame at present, they have no conscience, they do not know how to blush. But the leaders will eventually share the fate of those they had misguided. They shall fall among those who are slain in battle; they shall disrespectfully be thrown to the ground by the ruthless conqueror (Jeremiah 6:15).