Chapter 5
vs 1 is reminiscent of the impending doom of Sodom and Gomorrah, as Abraham sought to spare the city:
1 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. [Jer 5:1 ESV]
As in the case of Sodom, I think this means literally a single, just man. He did not exist in Jerusalem. I cannot imagine a place so evil that not one good man lives there. Strange as it may seem, here, I find hope for America. I go to church with several good men. We are not lost yet!
In Jerusalem, the problem is that the inside is not like the outside. They act "good", but they are insincere. A country full of hypocrites.
vss 4, 5, are interesting. Jeremiah tells God that these are only the poor and stupid who behave this way. Jeremiah says he'll go to the rich, to the leaders. But he finds them no better.
vs 6 is very long, and has lions, wolves and leopards lying in wait for Judah.
vss 7-9 indict Judah for their sins. For their ungratefulness to God. For their seeking after sin. For not knowing that their affluence is from God, who can also take it away in an instant.
vss 10-13, God says both Israel and Judah have treated Him treacherously (I've seen this word a lot already in Jeremiah. Did a word search. Treacherous is used 8 times in Jeremiah, ESV.) and that His forbearance is about to end. He lists their sins, and declares their punishment.
In vs 14, God tells Jeremiah that the words he is giving Jeremiah are fire to Judah's wood. I think he means the gloves are off, and there will be no further delay about what is happening and what is coming. I expect this would not make Jeremiah popular when he begins to deliver the message. vs 15 talks about the invaders speaking a language that Israel does not know. (As when the converts spoke in tongues on Pentecost). The invader is coming.
vs 18...when the disaster is done, and the survivors ask why, here is the answer from God, in advance:
19 And when your people say, 'Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.'" [Jer 5:19 ESV]
Does this not seem like justice?
22 Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. [Jer 5:22 ESV]
Another passage where God says He created it all. Jeremiah is another who claims it.
And in vs 24, God makes clear that He didn't just create and walk away. He takes care of the seasons, the rains, and everything else that happens on earth:
24 They do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.' [Jer 5:24 ESV] Judah is taking all this for granted. They no longer credit God with how nature works, they find other explanations for why the sea stops at the beach and never overrides it, they don't see that their crops depend on God's benevolence. People cannot make it rain. People cannot make it cooler. And it is not just a crap shoot from Mother Nature. Further, we can't make the whole planet hotter. God takes cares of these things. Surely today we also give God no credit even for the creation of man, much less for making a world that would suit him and preserve him. We are getting ourselves into a lot of trouble here with our self-serving science, our "brilliance", and so on. Verse 25 tells them why their crops fail, why it is too hot in summer, why the rain doesn't come:
25 Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. [Jer 5:25 ESV] When the climate goes crazy, it is not about global warming. It is about our sins offending God, and God chastising us with nature.
The section - vss 20-29, which is a further listing of the people's arrogance toward God, are summed up this way in 29:
29 Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?" [Jer 5:29 ESV]
2025 - Chapters 3-5 are very depressing. The nation was about to fall. They were going to be taken away as slaves. All they lived for, hoped for, all they had built as a nation was just going to go away, desecrated by a people who cared not one whit for their principles. They didn't care how open minded they'd become or how enlightened they were about trans- and gender studies...The invaders did not care. And they correctly identified these things as societal cultural weakness I Judah and Jerusalem. You can advance all you want in philosophy and understanding, but the enemy will not care.
2025 - One could make a good case that we are seeing exactly this same sort of cultural arrogance in Europe and it is coming quickly on the US. Islam does not care if you think people ought to be able to change their gender. Islam cares that you have disarmed yourself and opened the doors of your country, and will even pay for their room and board while they dismantle your foundations one by one.
2025 - When Jeremiah said all this, no one was even afraid. No one heeded the warning. God wouldn't do that here, so we don't have to worry about "Crazy Jerry". We are the same. And we will be surprised when the US is no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave but is instead the land of the conquered and the home of the invaders.
2025 - They're already doing it. We have let so many in and allowed them to concentrate their population so much that they can elect people who's language we do not understand and who's culture is incompatible with our into the highest elected positions in the country. There, they ignore our constitution, our values, our rights, and our great philosophical "advances" and vote in direct contradiction to the government. When there are enough of them, they will do what they want and who can challenge them? They will hold all the power!