Sermon - AudioJeremiah 4-6 - Audio
Jeremiah 4-6 - Reading
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Chapter 4 – With many vivid images of destruction, Jeremiah prophesized the overthrow of Jerusalem by an enemy from the north (Babylon). Although this poem is a prophecy, it is presented as an eyewitness account, which gives the whole scene an intense immediacy. We can almost see the siege of the city and her the sounds of its devastation. Beginning in v. 10, Jeremiah’s emotional response to this prophecy is anguish. As the prophet makes his lament, he is doing something more than telling us what will happen to Jerusalem, he is showing us what it feels like for sinners to fall into the hands of an angry God.
v. 4 – The picture of a circumcised heart is the picture of a person whose will (the heart represents the will) is under God’s control. This is a preview of the new covenant that we find in Jeremiah 31: 33-34
v. 5 – “Sound the trumpet”…the trumpet/rams’ horn/shofar is the warning system in Israel that the enemy is on the way. Those in the countryside would flee to fortified cities (Judah had 46 of them) in hopes that they would be safe there.
v. 9 – “in that day” is a phrase used by the prophets to describe the day when God brings justice. The people of Israel and Judah often longed for that day, but God continually warned them that this “day” would come and bring destruction because of their sin.
v. 10 – There was a belief in Judah that while the rest of the land could be destroyed, God would never allow the defeat and destruction of Jerusalem which was God’s city. The history of Judah to this point had seen such a belief to be true. Even when much of Judah had been devastated, Jerusalem was spared (2 Chron. 20 and 32).
v. 11-12 – The wind that comes will be like the hot and powerful desert wind that makes it impossible to winnow wheat because the wind carries away both the chaff and the wheat. God says that both the righteous and the unrighteous will be caught up in the Babylonian invasion.
v. 15 – The city of Dan is in the far north and would be the first to sound the warning of the Babylonian invasion.
v. 18 – The defeat will be so bitter it will touch Israel’s heart, the very place God has tried to touch with His love.
v. 23-28 – In these verses Jeremiah looks back to creation when the earth was formless and empty (Gen. 1:1). God’s wrath brings the land back to chaos. At the same time the words give us a picture of the end of time as we see in Rev. 6. God masterfully gives us a picture of both the beginning and the end of time and in doing so points out the horror of not belonging to Him.
v. 31 – Judah can not believe that she has been abandoned by the very ones she thought would rescue her. She is like queen Jezebel who tries to seduce Jehu (2 Kings 9) and queen Athaliah who cries out treason when in fact it is she who had committed treason (2 Chron. 23). Both of these queens thought they were righteous and believed their “friends” would save them, but at their moment of need their “friends” turned on them.
Chapter 5 – This chapter is presented as a quest, Jeremiah goes through the city, neighborhood by neighborhood looking for one righteous man. But all have sinned, and as a result all will fall under the judgment of God. In addition to imagery of spiritual adultery and further prophecies of judgment from the north, this passage includes themes that will become prominent elements in Jeremiah’s critique: lying prophets, greedy priests, and all the people who follow their lead.
v. 9 – In the first of two lists of sins of the people of Judah, God tells why these are people who are to be punished. Here God speaks of infidelity to both God and to their marriage partners. God views all adultery as a big deal.
v. 10 – This verse is a picture of the delicate balance of God’s attributes. He must punish and at the same time He must preserve for His plan of salvation to go forward.
v. 15 – Babylon is nation with a 2000 year history at this time. The fact that they speak a language that the average Israelite could not understand has irony to it since Babylon is the place of the tower of Babel.
v. 18 – This is the 2nd time God has promised that He will not completely destroy Israel.
v. 19 – Jeremiah wants people who hear his message and read his book to fully understand why Judah falls.
v. 26 – The wicked set traps to destroy the innocent. They have become the foolish that Solomon warns his sons to stay away from (Prov. 1). God’s land is now filled with fools rather than with the wise.
v. 28 – “fat and sleek” reflects those who are self-focused and self-absorbed both in how they get their wealth and how they use it. Those with wealth and power should use their power to assure justice for the weak.
v. 31 – The entire religious system is corrupt and the people like it that way.
Chapter 6 – Having rejected God, the people now find that He has rejected them. Hundreds of years of disobedience will be addressed. Now Judah must prepare for invasion and defeat, since she has rejected God’s word and refused to walk in God’s ways.
v. 4 – Soldiers would attack during the day and sleep at night. They lament that fact that night is falling so that they are unable to sustain the attack on Jerusalem. They are eager for its destruction
v. 5 – They want to destroy the city so badly that they give up sleep and go against usual battlefield procedures to keep the attack going. “Arise” is the usual language for going to worship. This is viewed as a holy war – thus the intensity of the desire to fight. But the holy war is not that of the gods of Babylon against Yahweh, rather it is God’s holy war against His own people.
v. 16 – The “ancient paths” are the paths of the Torah given by Moses. This is the good way, the people need to follow it to find rest for their souls. Jesus takes on this picture in Matt. 11. He is saying that his teaching is not only in line with the ancient paths, but that his teaching rightly explains the ancient paths so if people follow them, they can find rest for their souls. This is just like Yahweh promised through Jeremiah.
v. 20 – The people of Israel believe if they just bring great sacrifices (very expensive ones) that they can ignore how God calls them to live.
v. 21 – Jesus eventually becomes the obstacle that people will stumble over. (I Peter 2:6-8)
v. 27 – Jeremiah’s task is to test how much impurity remains in a people called to be pure. Their rebellion marks them as bronze and iron rather than pure silver.
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