Sermon Tone Analysis

Adonai begins by asking Jeremiah to search Jerusalem to see if he can find 1 righteous man, after this He shows how justified His judgement is.

Let us begin in Jer. 5

One Righteous Person

Adonai begins with a direction, a command to Jeremiah, roam, look around, consider, search for one righteous person.

Adonai is looking for a person who does justice and who seeks truth.

While this may be hyperbole, we see a similar discussion with Abraham and Adonai in Gen. 18:20-21

Abraham then interceded with Adonai to spare Sodom and the surrounding towns.

In the end Adonai agreed with Abraham: Gen 18:32

Jeremiah Searches

So, Jeremiah goes and look, and what he finds is not encouraging.

He finds that the commoners refuse correction even after the discipline of Adonai.

They have made their faces harder than stone and they refuse to repent and return to God.

But, Jeremiah thinks that this is simply because the poor people are foolish and don’t know the word of God nor the way of Adonai.

So he decides to go to the “great men” or distinguished peoples, because surely they will know better.

Unfortunately The prominent people had also broken the yoke of Adonai off of their shoulders and had refused to serve the Lord.

This “breaking the yoke” and “tearing off the bonds” is an interesting point.

It actually links us back to Psalm 2, where the psalmist is writing to the surrounding ungodly nations and warning them to humble themselves before the Messianic King, the Son of David.

Ps. 2:1-6

Now Adonai is now speaking to His own people in the same way.

The people of Jerusalem have thrown off the yoke and bonds of Adonai, so instead they will get the chains and burden of a foreign nation.

Adonai’s Indictment

I remember being told when I was younger, that if you ever see the word “therefore”, you need to find out what it is there for.

Adonai now goes into the judgement that is resulting because the people refuse to listen and obey His voice.

Adonai declares that wild beasts will now fill the land to tear them into pieces because their rebellion is great and their backslidings are frequent.

This is a fulfillment of the covenant made with Beni Yisrael under Moses in Lev.

26:21-22.

This is part of the curses for disobedience.

Earlier in Jeremiah, Adonai told the people that He had struck them in discipline, Jer.

2:30

Now Adonai is stating that lions will strike (attack) them violently.

Earlier we were told that Adonai would watch over his word to perform it: Jer.

1:12

Now Adonai tells the people that leopards will “watch over” their cities to tear in pieces anyone who ventures out.

This fulfills what Adonai said through Moses, that the roads would become deserted.

Why Should God Forgive?

Adonai then asks three pointed questions.

The first is, “Why should I forgive you?”

There is no doubt that Adonai is merciful and forgiving, but the people had a false assumption that there was no need to humbly repent in order to receive that forgiveness.

Adonai had provided their every need and watched over them for protection, and yet the men had repaid God’s goodness by “thronging to the prostitution houses.”

In Jer.

2:23-25 Adonai had compared Israel to a female donkey in heat, now he compares the men to well-fed lustful stallions, each going after his neighbour’s wife.

The people had been well-fed by the blessing of the Lord, and instead of honouring Him, the people of Judah had used God’s provision to satisfy their own lusts.

Father, forgive us.

So Adonai asks two more questions, Jer.

5:9 “For such, should I not punish them?”

It is a declaration of Adonai.

“On such a nation as this should I not avenge Myself?”

Wilful Denial

The people of Judah lived in a state of wilful denial.

They had convinced themselves that Adonai would not bring judgement.

“A God of love wouldn’t bring judgement, would He?” “Surely no harm will come to us, no famine or war.”

“The preacher’s are all just hot air!”

But Adonai says to Jeremiah, “Your words will be like fire and the people will be like wood.”

Regardless of the denial of the people of Jerusalem, judgement is coming in the form of war and famine, the two things that the people denied.

The judgement will affect the food, the people, and the cities in which they trusted.

Mercy in the Midst of Judgement

Three times in this section, (Jer.

5:18, 4:27, 5:10) we see that Adonai promises, “Yet even in those days,” declares Adonai, “I will not completely destroy you.”

Why does Adonai promise judgement in the form of war, and then promise that the destruction will not be complete?

Michael Brown point out two reasons:

God remains mindful of his covenantal commitment to his people, still feeling tenderness even in the midst of stern rebuke.

Second, there is an element of judgement in the promise as well.

Because Israel is called to be a witness nation, testifying to the acts of the Lord, Israel under judgement also testifies, providing indisputable evidence that God deals with his people in what the rabbinic sages called “measure for measure” thereby declaring his righteous ways.

More Questions

Adonai now asks the people, Jer.

5:22 “‘Do you not fear Me?’ says Adonai.

‘Do you not tremble in My presence?’”

The people had eyes, but they could not see; ears, but they could not hear; a stubborn and rebellious heart that had turned aside and gone away.

The people refused to give thanks to Adonai for His provision of rain and for the harvest.

And so, the wicked were allowed to prosper because sin was rampant throughout the land, and Adonai asks, Jer.

5:29 “Should I not punish them?” says Adonai.

“On such a nation should I not avenge Myself?”

The Root of the Problem

Adonai now reveals to Jeremiah the root of the problem.

Jer.

5:30-31 “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land.

The prophets prophesy falsely, the kohanim rule by their own authority, and My people love it this way!

But what will you do in the end?””

The reason why sin was so rampant, the reason why there was no repentance, the reason why the judgement was coming, is because those who should have been telling the truth and declaring God’s Word, the prophets, were lying and telling the people only what the people wanted to hear.

And from those lies, the kohanim, the ministers were ruling.

And the people liked it that way....

Application

So how do we apply this passage to our lives today?

Be the Righteous Remnant

Yeshua called us to be Salt and Light.

In Matt.

5:13-16

We are called to be a light to our world around us.

Salt has been used as a preservative and an antiseptic for thousands of years.

We are called to point out sin and bring cleansing to the dying world around us.

We are not supposed to hide our light such that the culture can not see it, but we are supposed to act like Yeshua acted.

Yeshua was gracious with the humble and contrite, and he was direct with the proud and unrepentant.

He was loved by people who knew they were sinners, and he was hated by people who thought they were good.

This is the natural result of following Yeshua, we will become like Him.

Acts 4:13

In Everything, Give Thanks

Regardless of what the situation is, we need to be reminded to be thankful.

Rav.

Sha’ul (the Apostle Paul) says this to the congregation in Ephesus: Eph.

5: 15-20

I want to point out that we are told to give thanks to God the Father for everything in spite of the days being evil.

We need to remember that He has still provided all of our needs according to His riches in glory.

We are called to rejoice in the Lord, in spite of the circumstances.

This can get extremely hard at times.

But I remember the story of Betsie Ten Boom (Corrie’s sister) thanking God for the fleas.