Jeremiah 4 Gods Northern Judgement & Jeremiahs Lament

Today’s passage is broken up into two primary sections. The first is the Judgement that Adonai predicts and the second is the heart-felt cry of Jeremiah when he hears of this coming doom. Let us begin in Jer. 4:5-31

Jeremiah 4:5–31 TLV

Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, saying: “Blow the shofar in the land!” Cry aloud and say, “Assemble yourselves! Let us go into the fortified cities.” “Raise a banner toward Zion! Take refuge! Do not delay! For I bring calamity from the north, even terrible destruction. A lion has come up from his thicket— a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to make your land a wasteland. Your cities will lie in ruins, without inhabitant. Therefore, put on sackcloth— lament and wail! For the fierce anger of Adonai has not turned away from us.” “It will happen in that day” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “that the king’s heart will fail, as will the heart of the princes. The kohanim will be appalled, and the prophets will be stunned.” Then I said, “Alas, Adonai Elohim! How completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem saying, ‘You will have shalom,’ until the sword touches the soul!” At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the barren hills in the wilderness blows toward My people, but not to winnow or to sift— a wind too strong for these things will come from Me. Now even I will pronounce judgments against them.” See, he comes up like clouds, and his chariots like whirlwinds. His horses are swifter than eagles— “Oy! We are ruined!” O Jerusalem, purify your heart from wickedness, so that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you? A voice announces from Dan and proclaims calamity from the hills of Ephraim, “Remind the nations, proclaim over Jerusalem! Besiegers are soon coming from a far country, raising their voice against the cities of Judah. Like keepers of a field they surround her, because she has been rebellious against Me.” It is a declaration of Adonai. Your conduct and your deeds have brought these things on you. This is your calamity! How bitter it is! How it smites your heart! My stomach, my stomach! I writhe in anguish! The pain of my heart! My heart is pounding within me! I cannot keep silent because I have heard, O my soul, the sound of the shofar, the battle-cry of war. Disaster on disaster is reported. So the whole land is ruined. My tents are suddenly ravaged, my curtains in an instant. How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the shofar? “For My people are foolish. They do not know Me. They are senseless children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they do not know.” I looked at the earth and behold, it was deserted and desolate, and at the heavens and they had no light. I looked at the mountains— behold, they were shaking and all the hills swaying to and fro. I looked and behold, no people! All the birds of the sky had fled. I looked and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness and all of its cities were in ruins before Adonai, before His fierce anger. For thus says Adonai, “The whole land will be wasteland, yet I will not totally destroy it. Therefore, the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow black. For I have spoken, I have purposed, nor will I relent, nor turn from it. At the sound of horsemen and archers the whole city flees. They go into the thickets and climb up on the rocks. The whole city is deserted— no one dwells in it. And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Though you dress in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold ornaments though you enlarge your eyes with paint—in vain you make yourself beautiful— your lovers despise you, they seek your life. For I heard a cry like one in labor, the anguish of one giving birth to her first child— the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands saying, “Oy, now to me! For my soul faints before murderers.”

Imminent Invasion from the North

Adonai begins this prophesy by warning of a day of battle, a time of calamity that will come. Jeremiah is emphasizing the emergency with words like, “Blow the shofar”, “Cry aloud”, “Assemble yourselves”, “Raise a banner”, “Take Refuge”, “Do not delay.”

So while the nation had superficially repented under King Josiah, Jeremiah is see that God’s judgement is still determined, and will come from the North. This nation that is coming will be like a Lion, and one who destroys nations.

The Destruction that will comes will cause the cities to “lie in ruins, without inhabitant.” This would occur when Nebuchadnezzar would bring his army twice to destroy Jerusalem.

Michael Brown quotes W.F. Albright in explaining the archaeological evidence of this.

Many towns were destroyed at the beginning of the sixth century BC and never again occupied; others were destroyed at that time and partly reoccupied at some later date; still others were destroyed and reoccupied after a long period of abandonment, marked by a sharp change of stratum and by intervening indications of use for non-urban purposes. There is not a single known case where a town of Judah proper was continuously occupied through the exilic period.

While the call for the nation is to truly repent in sackcloth, Jeremiah sees that the judgement is still coming.

Jeremiah’s Question

In verse 10, Jeremiah cries out to the Lord, “Alas! How you have deceived this people saying, ‘You shall have shalom.’” But is it that Adonai has actually deceived the people? We see from the previous verse, that that priests and the prophets will be taken by surprise, and later on in we will see more reference to these false prophets.

There are several thoughts here. It could be the same as with King Ahab of Israel in 1 Kings 22:19-23

1 Kings 22:19–23 TLV

Micaiah then continued, “Therefore hear the word of Adonai. I saw Adonai sitting on His throne, with all the hosts of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left. Then Adonai said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ One suggested this and another that, until a certain spirit came forward and stood before Adonai and said, ‘I will entice him.’ So Adonai asked him, ‘How?’ And he said: ‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said: ‘You shall entice him and shall prevail also—go and do so.’ Now therefore, behold, Adonai has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and Adonai has decreed evil upon you.”

Or it could simply be that because the Lord delayed the judgement, the prophets simply said what the kings wanted to hear.

Either way, the people preferred to listen to the lies rather than listen to the truth that Jeremiah spoke. These people had “traded the truth of God for a lie.”

Adonai Continues

Adonai is not done. The Judgement is coming like a fierce scorching wind that will not benefit, but will tear through the countryside and besiege Jerusalem. This is exactly what happened through Nebuchadnezzar as described in 2 Kings 25:1-3

2 Kings 25:1–3 TLV

Now it came to pass in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his entire army advanced against Jerusalem, set up camp by it, and built a siege wall all around it. So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine became so severe in the city that there was no bread for the common people.

And in all of this, Adonai declares that Jer. 4:18

Jeremiah 4:18 TLV

Your conduct and your deeds have brought these things on you. This is your calamity! How bitter it is! How it smites your heart!

Jeremiah’s Lament

Verses 19 through 26, we see the heart of Jeremiah breaking for his people. There are many passages throughout this book, where it is difficult to see where the words of Adonai end and the words of the prophet begin. But this is because Jeremiah has the heart of the Lord. He longs for his people to repent.

Heschel comments on this passage, that:

Indeed, this was a part of the complexity of the prophet’s inner existence. He was a person overwhelmed by sympathy for God and sympathy for man. Standing before the people he pleaded for God; standing before God he pleaded for his people. The prediction of doom was contrary to his own feelings.

Jeremiah is at a loss for words. The pain he is experiencing is causing him to writhe in anguish. He sees that the whole land is ruined and cries out, “MY tents” and “MY curtains.” There is a sense of ownership and possession. and Verse 22 continues to say, “MY people are foolish, they do not know ME.”

Here again, it is hard to distinguish the anguish of the prophet from the anguish of Adonai. Whose children are these people? Are they Jeremiah’s people, or are they Adonai’s people? Maybe it is both.

Jeremiah’s heart is broken over the judgement that is coming because of the sin of the people, and Adonai’s heart is broken over the sin of the people and the consequential judgement that must come.

We have mentioned 2 Peter 3:9 many times, but we must remember that it breaks God’s heart when people refuse to humbly repent. He does not want “anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.”

Reverse Creation

Jeremiah now looks and sees the reverse of creation. Instead of the “formless and void” being filled with life, Jeremiah now sees the earth "deserted and desolate.” Instead of the world being filled with light, the prophet now sees the heaven without light; instead of stability and order, now even the mountains are shaking to and fro. There are no people; the are no birds; there are no fruitful field.

Romans 8:22–23 TLV

For we know that the whole creation groans together and suffers birth pains until now— and not only creation, but even ourselves. We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Ruach, groan inwardly as we eagerly wait for adoption—the redemption of our body.

Why is creation groaning? Because of the fierceness of Adonai’s anger!

Two Witnesses

Adonai states in Jer. 4:28 that, “the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow black.” Why does he say this? Because Jeremiah is watching the enactment of the Mosaic Covenant in all it fullness.

Moses tells Beni Yisrael three different times in Deuteronomy, that Heaven and Earth are two witnesses of the covenant between them and Adonai. The second time at the conclusion of the Blessings and the Curses, blessings for obedience, and curses for disobedience. Deut. 30:15-20

Deuteronomy 30:15–20 TLV

“See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil. What I am commanding you today is to love Adonai your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His mitzvot, statutes and ordinances. Then you will live and multiply, and Adonai your God will bless you in the land you are going in to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away and bow down to other gods and worship them, I tell you today that you will certainly perish! You will not prolong your days on the land, where you are about to cross over the Jordan to go in to possess. “I call the heavens and the earth to witness about you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live, by loving Adonai your God, listening to His voice, and clinging to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell on the land that Adonai swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob—to give them.

What Jeremiah is seeing, is the fulfillment of the curses due to the disobedience of the people of Judah.

Prideful & Unashamed

At the end of the chapter, Adonai asks a telling question, Jer. 4:30 “And you, O desolate one, what will you do?"

Instead of dressing in humble sackcloth, Judah dresses in scarlet; instead of throwing ashes in their hair, Judah adorns herself with gold and makeup; instead of humbling herself before her husband and king, Adonai, Judah is still attempting to beautify herself before false gods and foreign nations. There is no repentance.

Application

So how do we apply this passage to our lives? The response of Jeremiah has convicted me.

Empathise with God

The first thing we must do is to empathise with God. Empathy is to share in someone else’s experience or emotions. We need to see this world as God sees it. Adonai is the creator of all things. He is the ruler of all of creation. He is the only one worthy of worship, and to Him we all owe thanks and praise.

When we do not thank and praise God, we end up setting up other things in our lives that we esteem and exalt. This angers God, because He, as the only eternal living God, has been replaced in our lives with something that is temporary and empty. When we sin or transgress His commands, then because He is a just Judge, the penalty must be applied.

Ezekiel is told that the Seal of Adonai would be put on all the righteous people prior to judgement. Eze. 9:4

Ezekiel 9:4 TLV

Adonai said to him, “Go throughout the city, through the midst of Jerusalem. Make a mark on the foreheads of the people who sigh and moan over all the abominations that are committed in it.”

Do we sigh and moan over all the abominations that are committed in our nation of Australia? Does it break our heart that Pride is exalted? Does our heart break over the innocent blood of the unborn children that is spilt upon the ground?

I have found myself swinging between anger and sadness for the last few weeks, over all the sin that is going on in our nation, and Jeremiah felt this too.

Empathise with Man

The part that I actually found difficult, was the heart of Jeremiah for his own people. Jeremiah cried out that these were HIS people, HIS home, HIS curtains that were about to experience the judgement of God. Do we recognise that this nation of Australia, is OUR nation? Do I recognise that this is MY people who are about to experience the judgement of God?

Do I mourn simply because the nation is annoying me and making my life difficult? Or do I groan because I have a deep abiding love for the people of Australia. If I am honest, I can not say that my heart feels this way. I do not love this nation, the nation of my birth, with the same love that Adonai has. I do not pray for this nation as MY nation, nor the salvation of this people as MY people, and for that repent.

I am asking God for His forgiveness, because I have not loved my neighbor as myself. I have obeyed God out of obligation and duty, and this is right, but I am asking God to give me His love for this nation of Australia. For MY nation of Australia.

Other Lessons

There are many other lessons that we could apply because I firmly believe that judgement is coming on Australia for OUR sins. Judgement is coming, because we refuse to repent, or even acknowledge that we have done anything wrong. We are just like Judah, all dressed up in rich scarlet, decked out with gold and beautified with makeup, but we make ourselves beautiful in vain, because our lovers dispise us. And just like the Daughter of Zion, we will be crying out in anguish like a woman giving birth, we will be gasping for breath as our soul faints.

And why? Because of the fierceness of God’s anger.

So what should we do? We should pray, we should pray that our leaders repent. We should ask Adonai to delay the judgement for one more generation. Just as King Josiah did in 2 Kings 22:18-20

2 Kings 22:18–20 TLV

“But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of Adonai, thus will you say to him: ‘Thus says Adonai, God of Israel. As for the words that you have heard, because your heart was softened and you humbled yourself before Adonai when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants—that they should become a desolation and a curse—and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,’ declares Adonai. ‘Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers and you will be gathered to your grave in shalom. So your eyes will not see all the disaster I am bringing on this place.’ ” Then they brought back word to the king.

Declare the Good News

Finally, we must continue to declare the Good News of Yeshua the Messiah!

Mark 1:14–15 TLV

Now after John was put in jail, Yeshua came into the Galilee, proclaiming the Good News of God. “Now is the fullness of time,” He said, “and the kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins, and believe in the Good News!”

Because of Yeshua, there is forgiveness of sin; because of Yeshua the penalty of our transgressions has been paid; because of Yeshua we are offered eternal life and salvation.

Romans 3:21–26 TLV

But now God’s righteousness apart from the Torah has been revealed, to which the Torah and the Prophets bear witness— namely, the righteousness of God through putting trust in Messiah Yeshua, to all who keep on trusting. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are set right as a gift of His grace, through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua. God set forth Yeshua as an atonement, through faith in His blood, to show His righteousness in passing over sins already committed. Through God’s forbearance, He demonstrates His righteousness at the present time—that He Himself is just and also the justifier of the one who puts his trust in Yeshua.