By Eugene Garner

JEREMIAH - CHAPTER 15

THE PROPHET WRESTLES WITH GOD

    A crisis is reached in this chapter. Jeremiah has endeavored to be true to God, while his heart yearned for the spiritual recovery of his people. Rebuked for his prayer in their behalf, and commissioned to tell them that they are divinely abandoned to death, sword, starvation and captivity, his heart is crushed! Persecuted, mocked, ostracized by his brethren and powerless with his God, Jeremiah considers himself an utter failure - attempting to resign his prophetic office. But God recommissions him, and assures the ultimate vindication of his faith.

    Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. 2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. 3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy. 4 And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

    1. Moses and Samuel were the only prophets whose fervency of intercession in behalf of the covenant people had approached that of Jeremiah; God had frequently been moved by their appeals, (comp. Ex. 32:11-14, 30; Num. 14:13-19; lSam. 7:8; 12:19-23).
      a. But His response to Jeremiah is a firm, unyielding, "NO!"
      b. Even if his plea were seconded by Moses and Samuel, God could not be induced to suspend judgment against this unrepentant people any longer!
      c. Jeremiah is to send them forth from the Lord's presence, and to LET them go!
    2. If they ask Jeremiah WHERE they are to go, he must tell them that they will go to the divinely appointed destiny: to death (pestilence), the sword, starvation or captivity, (vs. 2; 14:12; 24:10; 43:11; Ezek. 5:1, 12).
    3. God is, further, appointing four destroyers to deal with them: the sword to slay; dogs to tear; the fowls of heaven and beasts of the field to devour and destroy, (vs. 3; Lev. 26:16, 22, 25).
    4. The seed from which their ruin has came was sown by Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, and what He did in Jerusalem, (vs. 4; 2 Kings 21:1-18; 23:26-27).
      a. This man was the worst king ever to sit on the throne in Jerusalem, (2 Kings 21:9, 11).
      b. His sin was such as could never be forgiven - because its spread assured the ruin of the nation, (2 Kings 24:3-4).
      c. He encouraged the worship of Baal, built altars for astral deities in the very temple of God, offered his own son on the altar of Molech and practiced witchcraft and divination, (2 Kings 21:1-18).
      d. But Judah was not suffering solely for the sins of Manasseh; they were still practicing what he set in motion; every soul is personally responsible to God! (31:29-30; Ezek. 18:2-4).

    5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest? 6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting. 7 And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways. 8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city. 9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.

    1. Because Jerusalem has so persistently rejected Jehovah, He is weary of grieving over her, and stretches forth His hand in judgment, (vs. 5-6).
      a. Who will then pity her? or mourn the calamity that has befallen her? (13:14; 21:7; 16:5; comp. Isa. 51:19).
      b. Will any ever turn aside to inquire of her welfare?
    2. Judah will be shaken as with a winnowing fork, that her chaff may be blown away: but, the heart of the nation being unchanged, the broken-hearted Lord brings a destructive end to her pride, (vs. 7).
    3. Her young men devastated in battle, the widows of Judah are likened, in number, to the sands of the sea, (vs. 8; comp. 2 Chron. 28:6).
    4. Jerusalem, the fruitful mother-city of Judah, collapses in shock for the shame and disgrace that has befallen her, and the tragedy that awaits her sons before the sword of the enemy, (vs. 9; 6:4; Amos 8:9-10; Jer. 21:7).

    10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me. 11 The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? 13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. 14 And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.

    1. Perplexed by the seeming impossibility of his task, Jeremiah laments the day of his birth. (vs. 10; comp. 20:14; Job 3.3; 20:8-9).
      a. He has not made a loan, or taken one; yet, everyone curses him!
      b. His is a position of legal strife and contention with the whole land!
    2. There will come a time, however, when his enemies will come seeking his intercession on their behalf, (vs. 11; comp. 21:1-6; 37:3; 42:1-6).
    3. Jeremiah will be amply vindicated for his faithful warnings; the armaments of Judah will be shamefully inadequate to repel the might of Babylon, (vs. 12; 28:14).
    4. The land is about to be despoiled of its wealth because of God's wrath against Judah's sin - a faithful warning that is still ignored! (vs. 13-14; 17:3; 20:5; Isa. 52:3-5; Deut. 28:36, 64-65; Jer. 16:13; 17:4).

    15 O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. 16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. 17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation. 18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?

    1. Jeremiah's lament is poured out to Jehovah who knows ALL! (vs. 15; comp. 12:3; Psa. 139:1-4).
      a. Thus, he calls on the Lord to remember, visit and avenge him of his adversaries.
      b. Since he has suffered reproach for the Lord's name sake (20:8; Psa. 44:22; 69:7-9), surely the Lord will not permit them to take his life!
    2. Remembering his initial call to the prophetic office, he recalls the joy and gladness following his wholehearted acceptance of God's word, (vs. 16; comp. Ezek. 2:8-33; Rev. 10:9-10).
    3. Because of the Lord's hand upon him, Jeremiah has sat, indignant and alone, in the midst of those who - ignoring the calamity that was about to befall them - made merry, (vs. 17, comp. 16:8; 13:17; Lam. 3:28; Ezek. 3:24-25; Jer. 6:11-12; 2 Cor. 6:17).
    4. Life has become, for him, a perpetual pain - an incurable wound that will not be healed! (vs. 18a; 30:12, 15; Micah 1:8-9; Job 34:6).
    5. Will the Lord, like the waters of a deceitful brook (that flow profusely in the Winter, but offer no refreshment in the hot Summer), fail him in the hour of his deepest need? (vs. 18b; 14:3; comp. Job 6:15).
    6. So deep is the utter loneliness and despair of the prophet, whose own relatives have turned against him, that he seems ready to resign his prophetic office!

    19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. 20 And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD. 21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

    1. Verse 19 is nothing short of a rebuke of Jeremiah's distrust and despair.
      a. If he would know the blessedness, assurance and holy boldness that he once enjoyed, he must repent - turn from his wavering distrust, and cast himself wholly and confidently upon the Lord! (4:1).
      b. If he is to be the Lord's spokesman he must separate the pure and divine from that which is rooted only in earthly passion, (comp. 6:29; Ezek. 22:26; 44:15, 23).
      c. Then the people (his present enemies) will turn to him for counsel; only he must not attempt to vindicate them in their rebellion against the Lord.
      d. Man is free to accept or reject God's call; but, when it is accepted, he is expected to obey - even when the going gets rough, (Lk. 9:62; 14:26-35).
    2. In verse 20 there is dearly a renewal of the prophetic commission.
      a. God will make Jeremiah as a fortified wall of bronze, (comp. 1:18-19 Ezek. 3:9).
      b. Judah will, indeed, continue to fight against him, but his enemies will not prevail, for the Lord is with him as his Divine Protector, (1:8; comp. Psa. 46:7; Isa. 41:10).
    3. Jehovah Himself will deliver Jeremiah from the hand of the wicked, (vs. 21; 20:13; comp. Gen. 48:16), and redeem him from the grip of tyrants; though Jeremiah was ultimately led into Egypt against his will (and by his own brethren), he was never under the power of the Chaldean army, (39:11-12).