The Book of Jeremiah
Lesson 5
Jeremiah 9 – 10
Introduction
Judah/Jerusalem believed that God would not destroy them; the prophets proclaimed peace, the city itself is named peace, and the believed God would not destroy God’s own house. However, because the people committed abominations, they defiled God’s house by coming to the temple to make offerings without repentance. Because they refused to repent, Jeremiah mourned for the people. They have provoked God to anger, and Jeremiah mourns as he watches the city/nation being destroyed.
I. What becomes of a nation full of lies?
a) We have seen the many abominations/sins that Judah committed; however today we’ll discuss the sin of lying. This is another commandment: do not bear false witness (Ex. 20:16). “They bend their tongues like bows; they have grown strong in the land for falsehood, and not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the LORD (9:3).” To bend their tongues is an interesting metaphor; today we might say that they twist their tongues. It means that the people bend or twist their tongues to say anything at any time; they will tell any lie to their advantage. Last week we talked about the “propaganda machine” that the leaders built to reinforce the false sense of security; well, that propaganda was built upon lies.
b) All of the lies created a nation of mistrust. “Beware of your neighbors, and put no trust in any of your kin; for all your kin are supplanters, and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer (9:4).” My commentary says this: “No one is the community can be trusted. They pretend to care about each other and are superficially nice, but behind people’s backs, they spread all sorts of gossip and slanderous talk.” “They all deceive their neighbors, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongues to speak lies; they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent. Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit! They refuse to know me, says the LORD (9:5-6).”
c) We have seen that the people refuse to repent. It is impossible to live in a nation that is built on lies and one cannot trust another; but this is also an afront to God. “Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD; and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this (9:9)? We saw last week that no one sin is greater or lesser than another. Certainly idolatry (whoring) is a great sin but so is lying. God is punishing both equally by destroying the nation (vs. 17-26).
II. What is the danger of idols?
a) We have seen how the people chased after idols; they “played the whore” on every hill and under every green tree (2:20); but Jeremiah gives a description of the idol. A tree is cut down and worked with the ax of an artisan; then “people deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move (10:4).” Idols are human-made and have no power of their own; so why would the people chase after them?
b) The peoples of ancient times believed that their lives were controlled by heavenly forces (sun, rain, wind/storms, etc.) and they ascribed a “god” to these forces. They believed that by appeasing or worshipping these forces they could bring control and order to their lives. While they worshipped idols, everyone is stupid without knowledge (10:14). “When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and he brings out the wind from his storehouses (10:13).” “But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King (10:10).” “It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens (10:12).”
c) To worship an idol is not to trust the God who created and controls the heavens and the earth. Walter Brueggemann says, “Idolatry is the seduction of trusting in imagined forces that cannot deliver. So we may notice that among us the idols that tempt us include nationalism, racism, beauty, youth, or technology in its many forms. None of these is a giver of life that will be safe, joyous, or generative. Such idols have no such gifts to give, even though we continue to trust in them.
III. What will be the punishment of Judah?
a) As stated, Judah would be punished for her abominations. We saw last week that the people from the north had already begun their invasion of the city. As Jeremiah weeps for the city/nation, “Hear, O women, the word of the LORD, and let your ears receive the word of his mouth; teach to your daughters a dirge, and each to her neighbor a lament. Death has come up into our windows, it has entered our palaces, to cut off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares. Human corpses shall fall like dung upon the open field, like sheaves behind the reaper, and no one shall gather them (9:20-22).”
b) Yet, in the midst of such destruction and death, God says, “I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known; and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them (9:16).” Also, “Gather up your bundle from the ground, O you who live under siege! For thus says the LORD: I am going to sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will bring distress on them, so that they shall feel it (10:17-8).” To scatter the nations and to fling them out of the land, God is telling the people that they will be driven into exile.
c) The question of hope was asked and here it is, not everyone will be destroyed. As we get further into the book Jeremiah will talk about the remnant. Out of the destruction of Judah and Israel, a remnant will be taken into exile and there they will live until their punishment is over and they are able to return to the land.
Next Week: Jeremiah 11 – 12
Questions for the week:
1. What is the conspiracy among the people?
2. Why does the way of the guilty prosper?
3. Why will God pluck up the people?