Jeremiah 9:17ff

Introduction

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Major Ideas

Jeremiah 9:17–22 NASB95

17 Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for the wailing women, that they may come! 18 “Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may shed tears And our eyelids flow with water. 19 “For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion, ‘How are we ruined! We are put to great shame, For we have left the land, Because they have cast down our dwellings.’ ” 20 Now hear the word of the Lord, O you women, And let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a dirge. 21 For death has come up through our windows; It has entered our palaces To cut off the children from the streets, The young men from the town squares. 22 Speak, “Thus says the Lord, ‘The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field, And like the sheaf after the reaper, But no one will gather them.’ ”

Themes repeat in this passage.

There is a call for wailing in vv. 17-18 and gives the reason in v. 19.

There is also a call for wailing in v. 20 and gives the reason in v. 21.

Then in v. 22 God puts an exclamation point on the disaster that befalls Judah.

Q: Why do you think God begins with the command to “consider” before calling for the mourning women? What is it that the people are to consider?

Their sin and the destruction it has invited.

Q: Why call for mourning, wailing, and tears when when the disaster is already at hand?

Grief is appropriate even though the opportunity to repent is too late.

Grief is appropriate because of the reality of vv. 19, 21, and 22.

Grief is appropriate because God has been betrayed by His people, because they have broken their covenant with Him, because they have exhausted His patience, stirred up His wrath, and now pay the price.

Grief is appropriate and should be reflected in their wails and tears even if its not felt in their hearts.

Q: What do we do when we don’t feel the grief we should feel over our sin, the sin of the church, the sin of our city, state, or nation?

I’m not sure we should manufacture grief we don’t actually feel, but we should examine why we don’t feel grief as we should.

Then we should pray for tender hearts that truly break in response to rebellion against God.

Conclusion

Luke 19:41–44 NASB95

41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

The grief Jesus felt in this moment wasn’t for show but showed how broken hearted He was for the Jerusalem and the people of God who had rejected Him as Messiah.

Because of their rejection there was no more opportunity to accept Him.

Because of their rejection there was only the promise of destruction, which happened in AD 70.

Let us not reject Jesus but accept Him.

Let us mourn for those who do reject Him.

Let us warn them of the destruction that awaits if they do not trust in Him.