Jeremiah 9 Weeping Over Jerusalem

Review of Jeremiah

Last week we looked at the backsliding of Judah, their refusal to repent, and then we looked at Jeremiah’s weeping over Jerusalem. We asked the question of whether it was Jeremiah or Adonai weeping. Today we continue that lament of Adonai crying through the prophet. I will start by reading the last verse of chapter 8.

Jeremiah 8:23–9:25 TLV

If only my head were water and my eyes a fountain of tears, then I would weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! If only I had a travelers’ lodging place in the wilderness, then I might leave my people and get away from them! For they are all adulterers, a bunch of traitors. They bend their tongue like a bow. Lies, not faithfulness, prevail in the land. “For they go from evil to evil and do not know Me,” says Adonai. Beware, everyone, of your neighbor! Don’t even trust a brother. For every brother grabs like Jacob and every neighbor spreads slander. Everyone deceives his neighbor and does not speak the truth. They taught their tongue to speak lies. They wear themselves out doing wrong. “You dwell in the midst of deceit. In deceit they refuse to know Me.” It is a declaration of Adonai. Therefore thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “I am about to refine them and test them. For what else can I do for the daughter of My people? Their tongue is a deadly arrow, speaking deceit. With his mouth each says shalom to his neighbor, while inwardly setting a trap for him. For such things shall I not punish them?” It is a declaration of Adonai. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing, a lament for the desert pastures. For they are so scorched that no one passes through— the lowing of cattle is not heard. The birds of the air have fled and the animals are gone. “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair for jackals. I will make the cities of Judah a wasteland without inhabitant. Who is the one wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of Adonai spoken that he may explain it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?” Adonai said “It is because they have forsaken My Torah that I set before them. They have neither obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baalim that their fathers taught them. Therefore, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, “look, I will make this people eat wormwood and drink poisoned water. I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will pursue them with the sword, until I have finished with them.” Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Pay attention! Call the dirge-singers and let them come. Send for the most skillful wailers and let them come!” “Let them come quickly and lift up a wailing over us so our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush with water.” For a wailing voice is heard from Zion: “How we are ruined! We are utterly ashamed— we have forsaken the land, for they tore down our dwellings.” Now, hear the word of Adonai, O women, let your ear receive the word of His mouth. Teach your daughters wailing and everyone her neighbor a dirge. For death has climbed through our windows. It has entered into our palaces to cut off children from the street and young men from the squares.” “Say this,” declares Adonai. “The carcasses of men will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one gathering them.” Thus says Adonai: “Let not the wise boast in his wisdom nor the mighty boast in his might nor the rich glory in his riches. But let one who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows Me. For I am Adonai who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth. For in these things I delight.” It is a declaration of Adonai. “Days are soon coming,” declares Adonai, “when I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— Egypt, Judah, Edom and Ammon’s children and Moab, and all that have cut the corners of their hair—that dwell in the wilderness. For all the nations are uncircumcised but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.

Can I run from the pain?

Have you ever tried to run away from emotional pain? I know I have. It is one of the first steps in Recovery is learning to face the emotional pain that we have gone through. But as I read this passage, I see Jeremiah crying out to run into the wilderness and hide from the wickedness he sees. Or is it Adonai wishing that there was a way to hide from the people who “go from evil to evil and do not know Me”? The words of the prophet are interwoven with the heart cry of Adonai. We can not truly tell where one ends and the other begins.

Is it Jeremiah whose heart is overwhelmed by the word of Adonai, or is it Adonai speaking through the broken heart of Jeremiah? It is probably Jeremiah based upon editorial issues, but I don’t think it actually matters.

Sin of Deceit

Either way, Adonai acknowledges that there is no where to run, but states in Vs.6 that He is about to refine and test the people. For what else can He do? Shall I not punish them? Adonai asks. Should I not avenge Myself on a nation such as this? To this point, Adonai has been waiting for hundreds of years for the nation of Judah to repent. But now there is no more time. It is within the next 2-3 years that Daniel and the first captives would be taken to Babylon.

Adonai focuses in on the sin of lying and deception. Friend deceives friend and no one speaks the truth. How can anyone trust anyone else, when lying is the norm. David, after his sin with Bathsheba, writes Ps. 51:8,

Psalm 51:8 TLV

Surely You desire truth in the inner being. Make me know wisdom inwardly.

He recognized that his deception was just as much a part of his sin as his adultery and murder. But the people of Jerusalem and Judah did not value truth, and Adonai asks Jeremiah how he should deal with a people like this.

Adonai’s Response

Adonai now declares that he will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, but again it seems that Jeremiah asks why. Concerning this passage, Michael Brown writes:

As in 8:21-9:3, there is again a merging of prophetic and divine speech. Is it the prophet who will weep and lament as he envisions the coming of total destruction? If so, then his “I” in v.10 merges with Yahweh’s “I” in v.11 …However, this could be another example of the weeping God who wails here over the intensity of the coming destruction but then, in the next breath, declares that he will bring that destruction to pass.

So what is Adonai’s reasoning? Why is He destroying Judah, her towns and even the wasteland?

Jer. 9:12-13 “It is because they have forsaken My Torah that I set before them. They have neither obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baalim that their fathers taught them.”

Oh, how great that fall will be! There will not be enough people to weep and wail over all the dead. Jer. 9:21 “The carcasses of men will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one gathering them.”

Boast in Adonai

In the middle of these laments and painful descriptions of judgement, there is a quick change in perspective. This next section could be in response to Jeremiah’s question in Jer. 9:11 “Who is the one wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of Adonai spoken that he may explain it?”

Adonai explicitly declares to us that we should not brag about our wisdom, our strength or our wealth. rather we should only boast in knowing and understanding Adonai. Our focus, what we value, should be the experiential knowledge of Adonai!

Here in the middle of declaring the punishment over Judah, Adonai declares that He is the one who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth (not just in heaven)!

The focus then goes to the future, when Adonai will bring judgement not just on circumcised Israel who are uncircumcised in heart, but also upon the uncircumcised gentile nations.

Application

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

Running from Pain

We have often talked about the pain we feel over our beloved family members who do not follow the Lord. It is an area of pain that most of us, at times, would rather run away from. We would rather not think about it, and there might be times that we too wish that we could hide out in a cabin in the middle of nowhere to get away from it all. I know that I have.

But there is also a time to weep for them, and a time to refrain from weeping just as Solomon wrote in Ecc. 3:4 “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance;”

But one thing that we need to remember is that Adonai also weeps over the our family members. Time after time, Yeshua was moved with compassion for the people who were lost. Matt. 9:36

Matthew 9:36 TLV

When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Mark 1:41 TLV

Moved with compassion, Yeshua stretched out His hand and touched him. He said, “I am willing. Be cleansed.”

Luke 7:13 TLV

When the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her and said, “Don’t cry.”

God understands the pain that we experience. None of Yeshua’s siblings believed in him until after his resurrection. The author of Hebrews puts it this way: Heb. 4:14-16

Hebrews 4:14–16 TLV

Therefore, since we have a great Kohen Gadol who has passed through the heavens, Yeshua Ben-Elohim, let us hold firmly to our confessed allegiance. For we do not have a kohen gadol who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all the same ways—yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near to the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need.

Adonai’s Judgement is Just

The Lord is completely fair in all of his judgements. It is true that He is merciful, but Adonai’s mercy does not come at the expense of justice. Rather God’s mercy comes through Yeshua paying the penalty that we deserve to pay.

Adonai is completely fair and will judge all people based upon His righteous standard. Unfortunately a quick reading of Romans 1 through 3 show that none of us measure up to God’s standard of perfection, Jews or Gentiles.

But God out of His love provided a way for us to be made righteous. Rom. 3:21-26

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.

Boast in Adonai

For this reason, none of us can brag about how well we are doing. Paul writes to the congregation in Corinth and discusses the passage we read in Jeremiah

1 Corinthians 1:18–31 TLV

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the intelligent.” Where is the wise one? Where is the Torah scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For seeing that—in God’s wisdom—the world through its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased—through the foolishness of the message proclaimed—to save those who believe. For Jewish people ask for signs and Greek people seek after wisdom, but we proclaim Messiah crucified—a stumbling block to Jewish people and foolishness to Gentile people, but to those who are called (both Jewish and Greek people), Messiah, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brothers and sisters, that not many are wise according to human standards, not many are powerful, and not many are born well. Yet God chose the foolish things of the world so He might put to shame the wise; and God chose the weak things of the world so He might put to shame the strong; and God chose the lowly and despised things of the world, the things that are as nothing, so He might bring to nothing the things that are— so that no human might boast before God. But because of Him you are in Messiah Yeshua, who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and holiness and redemption— so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in Adonai.”

God deliberately chose to work through the substitutionary atonement of Yeshua on the Cross. The worldly mind cannot comprehend or understand this.

He chose to do it this way, to level the playing field, and make eternal life completely accessible to anyone who wants. It is not based upon our good deeds, it is not based on understanding complex ideas. God’s forgiveness comes by us simply trusting in Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah.

We are simply called to humble ourselves before God, repent and put our trust in His provision. God’s way is not hard to understand, but sometimes simply hard to put into practice, because of the humility it requires.