Practise Justice
Jeremiah 21:1–14
Help You? I’m Going to Attack You!
Big Idea
Those who spurn God and embrace a life characterized by injustice will come to know God as attacker rather than defender.
Key Themes
▪ It is not ethnic heritage but rather covenant relationship and covenant obedience that determine whether God delivers or judges.
▪ God reveals himself as furiously outraged and exploding with anger because of social injustice.
▪ Deliverance will come only for those who accept and submit to God’s plan.
▪ God holds leaders especially responsible for social justice.
Jeremiah 20 ends with Jeremiah the prophet feeling rather discouraged and overwhelmed by the opposition against him
Jeremiah 21 and the chapters that follow, however, are filled with judgment on those people who have persecuted Jeremiah; perhaps this judgment is God’s response.
This passage opens with Zedekiah asking Jeremiah to seek God’s deliverance for them from the Babylonians (21:1–2).
Jeremiah 21 and the chapters that follow, however, are filled with judgment on those people who have persecuted Jeremiah; perhaps this judgment is God’s response.
Furthermore, God continues (21:8–10), addressing the people of Jerusalem, their only hope of survival is to surrender to the Babylonians (since God is fighting on the side of the Babylonians).
Chronologically, the story introduced in Jeremiah 21 continues in Jeremiah 38 as a lead-in to the actual fall of Jerusalem
Interpretive Insights
21:1 Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah. This Pashhur is a different individual from the Pashhur who has Jeremiah beaten in 20:1–6. As mentioned above, this Pashhur (son of Malkijah) is the one who will accuse Jeremiah of treason and then throw him into a cistern.
Note the irony of this request. Jeremiah has been preaching the word of God to the people of Judah and Jerusalem for nearly forty years; now, with the Babylonians at the gates, they finally want to hear what God has to say.
Perhaps the LORD will perform wonders for us as in times past. The word translated as “wonders” means “to be extraordinary, surpassing, wonderful, marvelous.” It connotes actions that are beyond human ability, actions associated with the heavenly realm.
21:4 the Babylonians. The word used here is kasdim (“Chaldeans”). Technically, this word refers to those from a region in southern Babylonia, where the current ruling dynasty originated, but in Jeremiah this term is used interchangeably with “Babylonians” in reference to the larger country.
That is, his “hand” and his “arm” were the poetic instruments by which God crushed the Egyptians and delivered the Israelites (e.g., Exod. 3:20; 6:6; 7:5; 13:9–16; Deut. 4:34; 5:15; 6:21).
in furious anger and in great wrath. Three very strong and emotional Hebrew terms are used here in hammer-like repetitive stress, combining to express connotations of the most furious rage imaginable.
21:7 the plague, sword and famine. These three terms are used together repeatedly throughout Jeremiah to describe what will happen during the siege and fall of Jerusalem (14:12; 21:9; 27:8, 13; 32:24; 38:2).
he will show them no mercy or pity or compassion. Note the parallel repetition of triads in 21:6–7: anger, fury, and wrath; plague, sword, and famine; no mercy, no pity, and no compassion. This tripling of terms produces strong emphasis.
he will show them no mercy or pity or compassion. Note the parallel repetition of triads in 21:6–7: anger, fury, and wrath; plague, sword, and famine; no mercy, no pity, and no compassion. This tripling of terms produces strong emphasis.
In order to survive and live, one had to take the literal road out of Jerusalem. This was the “way” of life.
21:12 Administer justice every morning. The call for social justice, especially judicial justice from the king and other leaders of Judah, is foundational to the message of Jeremiah
Theological Insights
Here, as continually throughout Jeremiah, we see how crucially important justice is to God. In fact, justice is an integral part of God’s character, and when people oppress the weak and practice injustice, it seems to offend God’s basic nature.
That is, even though he is patient and loving, his love for justice and his care for the weak underclass cause him to become extremely angry when they are unjustly oppressed.
today, we sometimes encounter people who may have grown up in the church or around the church but who have never repented of their sin and committed to following Jesus. Instead, these people rebel against the truth that they know and ignore God’s call to follow him and to live in accordance with his commands. Can they trust in the faith of their parents or in the close proximity of the church, especially back in their childhood, and thus assume that they will be delivered by God and given eternal life? Absolutely not!
Likewise, in this passage once again we gain insight into the character of God in regard to sin. God is not neutral toward sin; neither is he flippant or dismissive. He gets angry when people spurn him and chase after other gods instead. But he gets equally angry when people ignore his call to enact justice in situations around them, choosing instead to live only for self, wielding whatever socioeconomic power they have to oppress the socioeconomically weak underclass and to gain profit for themselves. In particular he holds leaders accountable to care for those in the society who are weak and to establish social justice for them. Today is no different. God expects the leaders of his church to lead his people in standing against social injustice and to be defenders of those who are socioeconomically weak and vulnerable.