14 August

Bible In 365 Days                                                        

Jeremiah 7-9

Jeremiah 7

With this section the second movement in commissioning the prophet commences. It deals first with the sins of worship. These are first denounced. At the gate of the Temple the prophet rebuked the people for putting their trust in external things, and told them that their true safety lay in amending their ways. He charged them with committing all manner of sin, and yet standing before God in His house, imagining that by this external act they would be delivered and set free to continue in abomination. He bade them take lesson from the history of Shiloh, and from what Jehovah had done with Israel.

So terrible was the condition that the prophet was charged at last not to pray for the people. Their sin was heinous and persistent, therefore all their sacrifices and offerings were refused. For this idolatry of formalism the sentence of judgment was again pronounced. They had defiled the Temple and built Topheth as a place of worship. This Topheth was to become "the valley of Slaughter," and all mirth was to end.

Jeremiah 8

Utter desolation would overtake them so that death would be chosen rather than life. This sin of idolatry had been aggravated by the people's terrible persistence therein. If men fall it is naturally expected that they will rise, if they wander that they will return. In the case of Jerusalem this had not been so, their backsliding had been perpetual. There was no sign of repentance. The people did not know the ordinance or judgment of the Lord.

Because of this perpetual backsliding the judgment was again pronounced, and with the same care the prophet declared the reason to be their complete corruption, the false healing of their wound by prophet and priest, and their lack of shame. Therefore the judgment was to be complete.

The prophet then voiced the cry of the people in answer to the doom. It was characterized, first, by rebellion against the action of Jehovah, and then by remorse. The message ends with a new declaration of the certainty and imminence of judgment.

The strain of the terrible message on the prophet now became evident as he poured out his soul in lamentation. His perplexity was great, and he was conscious of the offended King, and the unhealing physician, and in his anguish cried out, "Why have they provoked me to anger?"

Jeremiah 9

In answer to his own question, Jeremiah sighed for some adequate means of expressing the anguish of his heart, and then for escape to some lonely place in the wilderness. All this was in the nature of complaint against God, for he revealed most carefully how conscious he was of the sin of his people, describing it in terrible detail.

To this cry of His servant, Jehovah replied in a fivefold declaration. First, that He had no choice but to afflict because of their sin; He next affirmed His own sorrow also, but by a question reminded the prophet that there was a reason for the perishing of the land and the destruction of the city.

In the next place, He plainly stated what the reason was. Their persistent rebellion had made necessary His wrath. He then called the people to lament, but insisted that it should be for right causes. Finally, He proclaimed the true ground of glorifying for man, not in his own wisdom or riches, but in his understanding and knowledge of Jehovah.