Chapter 4
Per MSB outline, Jeremiah's second message continues through chapter 6.
2022 - So...if I am "correct" about chapter 3 being about the return of the Northern Kingdom to God up to and during the Millennial, then that message - that subject - continues through 6:30, and I have never noticed before that it was about Israel. I always tried to make it about Judah. This is a significant change in the way I read these chapters. And think how important it is if Jeremiah spends 3 chapters on it!
First two verses...a little confusing for me. It's an if then, but I don't really get the "then" part. Capitalization in NKJV indicates that "in Him" is about God. But these pronouns are not capitalized in ESV. MSB has zero notes on these two verses. Says if Israel returns, as they should, then the nations will glory in Him, or in him. Reading this in 2020, I think the "hims" should be capitalized. I think they refer back to "the Lord" at the very beginning of verse 2, and the point is that if Israel will turn back to God, then all nations will turn to Him. In fact, this is what will happen during the Millennial reign. Here is the difficult verse:
2 and if you swear, 'As the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory." [Jer 4:2 ESV] There is no MSB comment needed in the NASB version because "Him" is capitalized there, making the meaning obvious. The ESV caused me confusion here.
vss 3, 4 are together. Jeremiah passes on the words of God to Judah and Jerusalem. A call to repentance. And to "remove the foreskin of your hearts". God is not overly concerned with physical circumcision, but with spiritual. Compliance physically is not an automated ticket machine for heaven. This agricultural reference is also interesting, because similar phrasing occurs elsewhere:
3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. [Jer 4:3 ESV]
Our fallow ground is the time we spend sitting on the couch flipping channels, watching games we don't really care about, and that sort of thing. We have a lot of time in our lives that are not really productive for God. Instead of YouTube, read a book that is spiritually stimulating. I think it is fine to read other books that we find interesting or just entertaining, but to sit and "kill time" browsing with no purpose at all in mind, is fallow ground, that could be used to produce a useful crop.
Did a quick search for the word "fallow". Appears four times in the ESV OT, none in the NT. Two of them don't really apply here, but this one does:
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. [Hos 10:12 ESV] I had this one memorized at one time. I think this reinforces the verse in Jeremiah.
2022 - Ummm...It looks to me like Jeremiah's words switch in vs 3 and he addresses Judah again. He leaves off discussing Israel, and turns to those for whom wrath is still future. Babylon is still a "maybe" at this point. Yes. The end of vs 4 warns of exactly that kind of catastrophe.
2022 - Just read straight through from here through 5.
vss 5-8 warn Judah and Jerusalem to abandon their homes and flee into the fortified cities, for God says "...I bring disaster from the north...". Also described as a lion, a destroyer of nations, who will make the land waste. Something really bad is coming. Why the command to flee to the fortified cities? Was there really any safety there? Was the Babylonian army already on the march when this was written? I don't think it was. So maybe this prophecy - if we assume it is a literal instruction to those who want to follow God's commands - was to prepare for evacuation to the cities once the invaders were getting close. Maybe this is about preparedness, not about immediate flight? If we read this book as chronological, then there are perhaps decades yet before Babylon comes...
vss 9-12 are sort of an aside between Jeremiah and God. God says "in that day" courage will fail kings and prophets, but Jeremiah asks, "...surely you have utterly deceived this people". False prophets and so on are saying that Jerusalem is safe, that nothing bad is going to happen. That is, the prevailing expectation of the people in Judah at this time is that everything will be all right...because that is what their prophets are telling them! (This is paraphrasing MSB note). Yet God has just told Jeremiah that the sword is about to strike. MSB says sometimes people mistake events as something God does when it is in fact something God allows. In this case, God sees how people - and the prophets that tell the people what they want to hear - willingly almost purposefully delude themselves - and He lets them do so - right up until "that day" arrives. This is a hard thing. How do we know? Today we have the Holy Spirit, each of us individually, and if we pray sincerely God is not going to let us be deceived. But back then, they didn't have this. They had only these false prophets.
vss 13-18, are a description of the coming invasion. Chariots like whirlwinds, swift horses - irresistible force. Then a call for repentance, and turning from wicked ways, so that Judah can be saved. Their deeds have brought this upon them. Turn from those deeds quickly.
vss 19-21, Jeremiah (I think) is anguished over what is coming. Like Habakkuk when he is told the Chaldeans are coming. For one thing, this is a surprise, because even Jeremiah thought all these false prophets preaching peace were accurate. Jeremiah's own sense of security was shattered in vss 5-8, and now the details of the invasion have scared the daylights out of him. Meaning it is ok for us to be afraid when we look at what is happening in this country! His heart speeds up in panic as he envisions the coming disaster. He refers to the suddenness of the disaster when it comes.
vs 22...let it never be said of the US...:
22 "For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are 'wise'--in doing evil! But how to do good they know not." [Jer 4:22 ESV]
vss 23-26, A "vision" if you will of a devastated country, laid bare by the invaders. Then vs 27 says this:
27 For thus says the LORD, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. [Jer 4:27 ESV]
God will preserve some of Judah, because through Judah Christ will come, fulfilling promises to David, to Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. God preserves his own promises. This statement also anchors us in the time of Jeremiah, rather than in the still future time of Tribulation, when much will also be laid bare and desolate
vss 28-31, Very long verses! God says this disaster cannot be averted. It will come. Cities will be abandoned before the invader. People will hide in thickets and rocks. Wealth will be meaningless. Vs 30 seems to say that some will try to appease the oncoming horde, to "offer themselves" to the invaders, to help and serve them. Traitors, so afraid for themselves that they will betray anything and everything. Verse 31 is a "visible" description of the time to come:
31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor, anguish as of one giving birth to her first child, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, "Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers." [Jer 4:31 ESV] We get this description of coming doom, though in vs 1 of this chapter there was an if/then saying it was possible to avert it. God seems always to be this way. He is telling them what is coming, and only He can avert it. It is God's mind that much change to avert this disaster, and He will only change if the people sincerely turn from their evil and look to God for their help. Political intrigue, tribute payments, and military force are all going to be useless when this horde invades. They will utterly overwhelm the nation. But despite their lopsided capabilities, a return to God will make Israel the winner. It is never too late to turn back to God - as an individual or a nation - because these things only happen as just punishment, but a merciful God can and will delay that punishment all the way to the end of time.