Jeremiah 14

to disobedient people is to let them have their own way and reap the sad, painful consequences of their sins.

The word backsliding literally means to “turn away” and describes the nation’s repeated apostasy. The book of Judges records at least seven occasions when Israel turned from the Lord and had to be chastened, and there were numerous other times during erately turned from the Lord. The word backslide is the period of the monarchy when the Israelites delibnot used in the New Testament, but the experience is described in other ways: falling from grace (Gal. 5:4), leaving your first love (Rev. 2:4), loving the world (1 John 2:15–17; 2 Tim. 4:10), and walking in darkness (1 John 1:5–10).

A stubborn animal (v. 20). Jeremiah often used animals to picture the behavior of people, and here he compared the Jews to an unruly animal that won’t wear the yoke. One of his recurring phrases is the stubbornness of their evil hearts (3:17; 7:24; 9:14; 11:8; 13:10; 16:12; 18:12; 23: niv). When people, made in the image of God, refuse to obey God, they become like animals (see Ps. 32:9; Prov. 7:21–23; Hos. 4:16).

A degenerate vine (v. 21). Israel as a vine is a familiar image in the Old Testament (Ps. 80:8–16; Isa. 5:1–7; Ezek. 17:1–10; Hos. 10:1–2). God planted His people in the good land He gave them, but they didn’t produce the harvest of righteousness He desired. “So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes” (Isa. 5: nkjv). Because they worshipped false gods, they became like their degenerate neighbors. How could dead idols ever produce living fruit in their nation?

A defiled body (v. 22). No amount of good works or religious ceremonies could wash away their sins, because the heart of the nation’s problem was the problem in their hearts. They had sinful hearts because they had stubborn hearts—hearts that refused to listen to God’s servant and obey God’s Word. Josiah’s reformation was only a cosmetic change in the kingdom of Judah; it never reached the hearts of the people so that they repented and sought forgiveness from the Lord.

Jeremiah is preeminently the prophet of the heart, for he used the word over sixty times. “O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved” (Jer. 4: niv). “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (17:9). Judah needed to return to the Lord with their whole heart, for only then could He bless them.

An animal in the desert (vv. 23–25). Even if the people denied that they were defiled, their actions proved otherwise, for they were like animals: a lost camel looking for an oasis; or a donkey in heat, running here and there looking for a mate. As the Jews pursued the false gods of the pagan nations, their shoes wore out and their throats became dry. How much better had they drunk the refreshing water from the river of God!

But they had given themselves so much to sin that they despaired of being saved. “It’s no use!” (2: niv) was their excuse. “It’s hopeless!” They sounded like confirmed alcoholics or compulsive gamblers who can’t break the habit, or like the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda who had been sick for so long that he’d given up hope (John 5:1–9). Jesus Christ, however, specializes in hopeless cases. “He breaks the power of canceled sin/He sets the prisoner free.”

A disgraced thief (vv. 26–28). A thief caught in the act may protest his or her innocence, but the evidence is there for all to see. Any visitor to the kingdom of Judah could see what God saw: people turning their backs on God and talking to deaf idols, but then turning desperately to Jehovah for help when they found themselves in trouble. They were caught red-handed!

Incorrigible children (vv. 29–35). God chastened them many times for their sins, but they refused to change their ways, and then they even blamed God! He brought charges against them (Jer. 2:9), but instead of confessing and repenting, they complained and brought charges against Him! None of His discipline seemed to do any good. “You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction” (5: niv; see 7:28; 17:23; 32:33; 35:13).

God reminded the people how richly He had blessed them. Yet they rebelled against Him (2:29), forgot Him (v. 32), and lied to Him (vv. 33–35), claiming to be innocent. One of the major themes of the book of Deuteronomy is that the nation should remember the Lord and what He had done for them. Yet the people took their blessings for granted and gave their allegiance to dumb idols. They were so skilled at their harlotry, worshipping false gods, that even the most wicked prostitute could learn new things from them! They exploited the poor and were stained by their blood, and yet they pleaded innocence (see Amos 2:6–8; 5:10–12).

Because the nation at that time was enjoying a measure of political and economic prosperity, they concluded that God’s blessing was proof of their innocence! They didn’t realize that God can bless the wicked (Ps. 37; 73; Matt. 5:45) and that the goodness of God should instead lead them to repentance (Luke 15:17–18; Rom. 2:4–5).

Prisoners of war (vv. 36–37). In its attempt to keep peace with its neighbors, Judah had flitted between Egypt and Assyria (Jer. 2:14–19), both of whom would ultimately disappoint Judah. The description in verse 37 is that of prisoners of war, their hands tied above their heads, being led away captive. Any decisions we make that are contrary to God’s plan will lead to bondage, because only the truth can set us free (John 8:32). The Babylonian army would eventually overrun the land, take Jerusalem and destroy it, and lead the people away into captivity.

Was there any way Judah could escape the coming wrath? Yes, and that was the theme of the next point in Jeremiah’s message.

Repentance: God Pleads for His People to Return

Our modern age is a pushover for the shallow and the shortcut. We want to change everything except the human heart. J. Wallace Hamilton

Preaching that costs nothing accomplishes nothing.” The famous British preacher John Henry

Jowett made that statement, and it certainly applies to the prophet Jeremiah. Pained by the sins of his people, declaring unpopular messages that majored on judgment, and perplexed by what the Lord was allowing him to suffer, Jeremiah paid a great price to be faithful to his divine calling. If ever an Old Testament servant had to “take up his cross” in order to follow the Lord, it was Jeremiah.

In these chapters, the prophet delivered four messages, and interspersed with these messages are his own prayers to the Lord and the answers he received. Jeremiah was bold before men but broken before God, and yet it was his brokenness that gave him his strength.

Unlike the land of Egypt, whose food supply depended on irrigation from the Nile River, the land of Canaan depended on the rains God sent from heaven (Deut. 11:10–12). If His people obeyed His law, God would send the rains and give them bumper crops (Lev. 26:3–5), but if they disobeyed, the heaven would become like iron and the earth like bronze (Lev. 26:18–20; Deut. 11:13–17; 28:22–24). Over the years, Judah’s sins had brought a series of droughts to the land (see Jer. 3:3; 5:24; 12:4; 23:10), and Jeremiah used this painful but timely topic as the basis for a sermon to the people.

The plight of the land (vv. 1–6). Whether in the cities (14:1–3), the farms (v. 4), or the open country (vv. 5–6), no matter where you looked throughout Judah, you found suffering and privation. The land was in mourning and its citizens were lamenting, like people at a funeral. Because of the sins of the people, God was withholding the life-giving rains and thus keeping His covenant promise to Israel. It made no difference how rich you were, there wasn’t any water to be found. The rivers were dry, the cisterns were empty, and both the servants in the cities and the farmers in the country covered their heads like people in a funeral procession. Even the animals were suffering because of the sins of the people. The doe, usually faithful to her young, abandoned her newborn fawn to starve to death, and the wild donkeys, their eyes glazed, could only stand on the barren heights and pant hopelessly for water.

It’s a serious thing to enter into a covenant relationship with God, because He will always keep His word, either to bless or to chasten. If we are the recipients of His love, then we can expect to be the recipients of His chastening if we disobey Him (Prov. 3:11–12). God is always faithful.

The plea of the people (vv. 7–12). As people usually do when they’re in trouble, the Jews turned to God and prayed, but their prayers were insincere and not linked with repentance. Jeremiah had already confronted these pious hypocrites with their sins when he asked, “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?” (Jer. 7:9–10 nkjv).

Because they couldn’t plead for help on the basis of their repentance and God’s covenant promise (Deut. 30:1–10; 2 Chron. 7:12–15), the people of Judah asked God to help them for His own name’s sake. “After all,” they argued, “it’s Your reputation that’s at stake, because we’re called by Your name.” The Hope and Savior of Israel was like a tourist in the land, unconcerned about either its present condition or its future destruction. The Lord was like a person shocked into paralysis or a warrior completely without strength.

When God disciplines us, it isn’t enough that we pray and ask for His help; anybody in trouble can do that. We must repent of our sins, judge and confess them, and sincerely seek the face of God. To weep because of the sufferings that sin causes is to show remorse but not repentance. “Rend your heart and not your garments” (Joel 2:13) was the prophet Joel’s counsel to the Jews during another time of great calamity; and David, when he sought God’s forgiveness, said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Ps. 51:17).

God responded to the people’s words, not by sending rain, but by announcing judgment (Jer. 14:10)! For the third time, He told His servant Jeremiah not to pray for the people (v. 11; see 7:16; 11:14). His longsuffering had run out, and He was determined to punish them for their sins. They could fast, pray, and bring sacrifices, but nothing would change His mind. The nation was destined for the sword, famine, and pestilence (14:12). The Babylonian army would bring the sword, and the results of its devastating invasion would be famine and pestilence.

The protest of the prophet (vv. 13–16). “But is it really the fault of the people?” Jeremiah asked. “Aren’t the people being led astray by the false prophets who are promising them deliverance and peace? They are the real culprits” (see 5:12; 6:14; 8:11). God agreed that the prophets were leading the people astray through their false visions and lies, and He assured Jeremiah that these people would suffer for what they had done. The day would come when they and their families would be slain, and nobody would bury their corpses—one of the most humiliating things that could happen to a Jew.

The people, however, were responsible for their actions because they should have known that the Lord had not sent these prophets. There were two tests of a true prophet or prophetess in Israel: (1) their predictions were 100 percent accurate (Deut. 18:20–22), and (2) their messages agreed with the law of God (13:1–18). Any prophet who permitted the worship of idols, contrary to God’s law, was a false prophet. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20). Even if a professed prophet performed miracles, he or she was a counterfeit if God’s revealed truth in the Word did not support the message. Miracles are no guarantee of a divine call (2 Thess. 2:7–12).

The pain and prayer of the prophet (vv. 17–22). How did Jeremiah feel about his people? The same way God felt: he wept for them (Jer. 9:18; 13:17) the way a father would weep for a virgin daughter who had been violated, beaten, and left to die. In prophetic vision, the prophet saw the land ravaged and the people taken captive to Babylon (14:18), and this led him to turn to God in prayer.

Since Jeremiah had been commanded not to pray for the nation (14:11), he identified himself with the people and used the pronouns “we” and “us,” not “they” and “them” (see Neh. 1:4–10; Ezra 9; Dan. 9; Rom. 9:1–3). In praying for himself, he was praying for them, and he asked God to honor His own name and keep His covenant by sending healing to the land. Although God was certainly willing to keep His part of the covenant, the people weren’t willing to keep their part. Therefore, the prophet’s prayer went unanswered. A faithful God cannot violate His own word.

Sometimes God permits disasters to occur to bring nations, churches, and individuals to their knees in repentance. The plagues of Egypt should have made Pharaoh a contrite man, but he only hardened his heart even more against the Lord (Ex. 7—12). Israel’s treatment of the nations in Canaan was God’s judgment because these nations refused to turn from their sins (Gen. 15:16; see Dan. 8:23; Matt. 23:32–35). While we shouldn’t interpret every calamity as an expression of divine wrath, we must be sensitive to God and be willing to search our hearts and confess our sins.