Jeremiah 5:1-6

Jeremiah 5:1. Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

It was a very wonderful offer, on the part of God, to forgive the inhabitants of the whole city of Jerusalem for the sake of one man; and it was all the more remarkable because he gave them time to make a thorough search to see whether such a person could be found: «if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth.» Into what a horrible state of guilt must the Jewish capital have fallen when there was not one man, even among the magistrates or the priests, who cared for that which was just and true. May God prevent London and England from becoming like Jerusalem and Judah! May truth and righteousness flourish in our land!

Jeremiah 5:2. And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.

Even those who assumed an appearance of being religious, and who said, «Jehovah liveth,» even they were false swearers. To what a terribly sad state had the age come when its very religion was a lie, and its professedly holy things were thoroughly rotten!

Jeremiah 5:3. O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth?

If there be any truthful man anywhere, God sees him. His eyes are upon him, he regards him with attentive delight, and he will take care of him with the utmost vigilance. But what was the real character of these people?

Listen.

Jeremiah 5:3. Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Nothing could make them act rightly; whatever God did with them, they still persisted in their iniquity.

Jeremiah 5:4. Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God:

But he found no improvement among them; they were even worse than the poor and ignorant, for he goes on to say,

Jeremiah 5:5. But these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings, are increased.

Now let us continue our reading at verse 10 , where we shall see that both the house of Israel and the house of Judah had turned aside from the Lord their God.

This exposition consisted of readings from Jeremiah 5:1; Jeremiah 5:10; and Revelation 22:1.