seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Jeremiah 15:1 Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! 2 And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘Those destined for death, to death;
those for the sword, to the sword;
those for starvation, to starvation;
those for captivity, to captivity.’
those for the sword, to the sword;
those for starvation, to starvation;
those for captivity, to captivity.’
3 “I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” declares the Lord, “the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy. 4 I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
5 “Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem?
Who will mourn for you?
Who will stop to ask how you are?
6 You have rejected me,” declares the Lord.
“You keep on backsliding.
So I will reach out and destroy you;
I am tired of holding back.
7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people,
for they have not changed their ways.
8 I will make their widows more numerous
than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer
against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
anguish and terror.
9 The mother of seven will grow faint
and breathe her last.
Her sun will set while it is still day;
she will be disgraced and humiliated.
I will put the survivors to the sword
before their enemies,”
declares the Lord.
Who will mourn for you?
Who will stop to ask how you are?
6 You have rejected me,” declares the Lord.
“You keep on backsliding.
So I will reach out and destroy you;
I am tired of holding back.
7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people,
for they have not changed their ways.
8 I will make their widows more numerous
than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer
against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
anguish and terror.
9 The mother of seven will grow faint
and breathe her last.
Her sun will set while it is still day;
she will be disgraced and humiliated.
I will put the survivors to the sword
before their enemies,”
declares the Lord.
10 Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth,
a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!
I have neither lent nor borrowed,
yet everyone curses me.
a man with whom the whole land strives and contends!
I have neither lent nor borrowed,
yet everyone curses me.
11 The Lord said,
“Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose;
surely I will make your enemies plead with you
in times of disaster and times of distress.
surely I will make your enemies plead with you
in times of disaster and times of distress.
12 “Can a man break iron—
iron from the north—or bronze?
iron from the north—or bronze?
13 “Your wealth and your treasures
I will give as plunder, without charge,
because of all your sins
throughout your country.
14 I will enslave you to your enemies
in[a] a land you do not know,
for my anger will kindle a fire
that will burn against you.”
I will give as plunder, without charge,
because of all your sins
throughout your country.
14 I will enslave you to your enemies
in[a] a land you do not know,
for my anger will kindle a fire
that will burn against you.”
15 Lord, you understand;
remember me and care for me.
Avenge me on my persecutors.
You are long-suffering—do not take me away;
think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
16 When your words came, I ate them;
they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
Lord God Almighty.
17 I never sat in the company of revelers,
never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand was on me
and you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unending
and my wound grievous and incurable?
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
like a spring that fails.
remember me and care for me.
Avenge me on my persecutors.
You are long-suffering—do not take me away;
think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
16 When your words came, I ate them;
they were my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
Lord God Almighty.
17 I never sat in the company of revelers,
never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand was on me
and you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unending
and my wound grievous and incurable?
You are to me like a deceptive brook,
like a spring that fails.
19 Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
20 I will make you a wall to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,”
declares the Lord.
that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
20 I will make you a wall to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,”
declares the Lord.
21 “I will save you from the hands of the wicked
and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.”
a. Jeremiah 15:14 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac (see also 17:4); most Hebrew manuscripts I will cause your enemies to bring you / into
Verses 6 and 7 seem to be the heart of this chapter. IMHO... God is just plain tired of human excuses and broken promises.
This is from Bible-studys.org.
“I am weary with relenting”: God often withholds the judgment He threatens (Exodus 32:14; 1 Chron. 21:15), sparing men so that His patience might lead them to repentance.
God had heard their cry for help so many times and every time they repented, He had taken them back and blessed them instead of punishing them. This time will be different. They have gone too far. God will allow the punishment to happen.
Either of their own land, the land of Judea. And so the Septuagint version, "in the gates of my people"; alluding to the custom of winnowing corn in open places. And by fanning is meant the dispersion of the Jews, and their being carried captive out of their own land into other countries. Or of the land of the enemy, into their cities, as the Targum paraphrases it. Gates being put for them frequently. Whither they should be scattered by the fan of the Lord; for what was done by the enemy, as an instrument, is ascribed to him.
"I will bereave them of children": Which shall die of famine, or pestilence, or by the sword, or in captivity. I will destroy my people; which must be when children are cut off. By which families, towns, cities, and kingdoms, are continued and kept up. And this he was resolved to do, though they were his people.
“Since they return not from their ways": Their evil ways, which they had gone into, forsaking the ways of God, and his worship.
"Yet they return not from their ways": Though fanned with the fan of affliction, bereaved of their children, and threatened with destruction. It expresses their obstinate continuance in their evil ways, and the reason of God's dealing with them as above.
Bereave in the Scripture above means miscarry or abortion. This just means that a woman with a child will miscarry that child because of the terrible hardships of war. When you fan a fire, you make it hotter. God causes this to become worse, because of their sin.
In the midst of judgment, the Lord promised protection for the obedient remnant in Judah (compare Mal. 3:16-17). The Babylonians permitted some to stay in the land when they departed. Jeremiah personally received kind treatment from the invader, and his enemies in Judah would later appeal to him. Ultimately, a band of renegade Judeans took Jeremiah to Egypt against God’s will.
Jeremiah was deserted, all alone, standing in the breach of a nation that was deteriorating, crying out what God had called him to preach. The Lord allows the prophet to vent his frustrations, but his charge to the Lord “wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar” brought a rebuke. Jeremiah had called the people to “return” from their sin but now it was Jeremiah who would need to “return” from the people and back to the Lord if he were to fulfill his commission.
This is from the easy English site.People would die in war and die from hunger. Some people would go away from their own country as prisoners. Nobody would bury their bodies. The animals would drag them away. The birds and the wild animals that ate dead bodies, would destroy them completely.
Manasseh, Hezekiah's son, was the most wicked king in Judah. He had encouraged people to worship all kinds of idols. That included the sacrifice of children (2 Kings 21:1-16). Josiah had tried to remove all those bad acts. But people continued to go against the very first commandment. The LORD ordered them to worship him only.
The LORD had not left the people in Judah, but the people had left him. They had continued to turn away from the LORD. So the time had come for the LORD to punish Judah. Nobody would pity them. The LORD would be like a farmer who throws grain into the air with a large fork. The wind blows away the outer part that had no use. The people in Judah were like the outer part. The LORD would scatter them in a foreign country, in the same way that wind blew the outer part away.
The LORD had promised Abraham that his descendants will be more than the grains of sand by the sea (Genesis 22:17). Now he was warning Judah that there would be more widows than the grains of sand. Women’s husbands and children would die. If a mother had many children, all of them would die. And they would die while they were still young. That meant that a person's family would end. There would be nobody left to remember them.
It was usual for an army to attack at dawn or in the night. But the enemy was very powerful. The enemy was bold enough to attack at noon. It was possible to destroy Judah during the brightest part of the day. Mothers would suffer so much when their children died. Then the mothers too would become ill and die. If people remained alive, they would die in the war.
I don't know what to say.... this all seems really clear to me. These humans were given everything.... they had a land so rich that it took two men and a pole to harvest a single cluster of grapes. Now.... they would die of starvation. According to the commentaries.... the reason was simple.... the people kept breaking the first commandment.... and on top of that..... they were killing babies!IMHO.... if the descendants of Jacob [Israel] had been following the first commandment.... they wouldn't have been worshiping idols or statues.... and they wouldn't have been led to murdering their babies.
God had had enough..... Jeremiah.... like Noah before him..... was pleading for the few humans in Judah that had been devoted to God. Jeremiah, I think, wanted to keep on looking for those who were faithful.... but God said "Stop". Actually, according to verse 6, God said, " I am tired of holding back. "
That, I think, is when Jeremiah reminded God that Jeremiah had been teaching people God was patient. Then, I think, God told Jeremiah that He had been patient with theses humans. He kept waiting for them... but enough is enough. Bad things happen to good people as a result of what bad people do.
