Jeremiah 9:2-8

II. NATIONAL CORRUPTION Jeremiah 9:2-26

Jeremiah does not allow himself to be overcome by his personal feelings regarding the gloomy future of his people. The destruction of Judah is a punishment well deserved. The prevailing corruption (Jeremiah 9:2-8) has brought into prospect the impending destruction (Jeremiah 9:9-21).

A. Prevailing Corruption Jeremiah 9:2-8

TRANSLATION

(2) Oh that I were in the wilderness in a travelers-' inn, that I might leave my people and depart from them because all of them are adulterers, and an assembly of treacherous men. (3) They bend their tongue, their bow, for deceit; they are mighty in the land but not for truth; for from evil to evil they proceed and they do not know Me (oracle of the LORD). (4) Be on guard each man from his friend and do not trust any brother; for every brother is very crooked and every friend is a slanderer. (5) Every man deceives his neighbor; they do not speak truth; their tongues have learned to speak lies. With iniquity they weary themselves. (6) Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; in deceit they refuse the knowledge of Me (oracle of the LORD). (7) Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold! I am about to refine them by fire and test them; for how else shall I do in view of the fact that she is the daughter of My people. (8) Their tongue is a sharp arrow, it speaks deceit; with his mouth he continues to speak peaceably with his friends; but in his heart he plans treachery.

COMMENTS

It is always nauseating for a righteous man to continue in daily contact with filthy and corrupt company. Jeremiah longs to leave the city with all its vices and take up residence in one of the desolate and dreary wayside shelters which dotted the major highways of antiquity. All of the people of Judah participate in spiritual and literal adultery at the Canaanite shrines. Even when gathered in their religious assemblies these men are treacherous, hypocritical and untrustworthy. The tender and sensitive Jeremiah would rather live the life of a monastic, sit in an isolated shack and meditate and bemoan the fate of his people. But God had called him to preach to that godless generation, and preach he must!

Jeremiah's description of the corruption of Judah is truly remarkable. The tongue of the men of Judah is a bow which hurls falsehood and deceit. These mighty warriors do not contend for truth but for its opposite, lawlessness and injustice. Their starting point is evil and their ultimate goal is evil. This deplorable situation has developed because they do not know or have regard for the living God (Jeremiah 9:3). A willful ignorance of God and His word was at the root of their national corruption. No one could be trusted, not even the members of one's own immediate family. Every brother was very crooked. The Hebrew phrase here means literally, to follow at the heel, assail insidiously, trip someone up. Everyone was out to defraud and cheat his brother. Friends went about carrying slanderous tales about friends (Jeremiah 9:4). Self-protection demanded that everyone be viewed with suspicion. These people had learned i.e., they had accustomed themselves, to speaking lies and falsehood. They actually weary themselves in sinning (Jeremiah 9:5). The sinner may have his wild fling but in the end he winds up exhausted, a physical, mental and moral wreck. The more abundant life is that of faithful and loving obedience to the divine will.

In Jeremiah 9:6 God addresses Jeremiah. He tells the prophet what he already knows viz., that he should trust no one since he is surrounded by deceit. Hypocritical men have no desire to really know God and so they deliberately, purposely shut the Lord out of their lives (Jeremiah 9:6). Only the knowledge of God will cure them of their hypocrisy; yet they refuse to know God because of their hypocrisy. The only alternative is a judgment which will serve to purify and refine the nation. God is about to purify His people in the fires of judgment even as silver is purified from dross by smelting. He will then test them to see if all the impurities have indeed been removed. How otherwise could God act? He has no other choice. God could not leave His people in their sin for they were intended to be a holy people. On the other hand because they are His people He cannot utterly destroy them. The only solution is to purge them through tribulation such as they had not hitherto experienced (Jeremiah 9:7). Such people who use their tongue as in arrow to smite their neighbors, who speak peace but plot treachery (lit., set an ambush) are the dross which must be removed through the judgment process (Jeremiah 9:8).