Jeremiah 5b: Is there no Hope?

 Hope for the nation of Judah? No. God has made that clear. Unless there is mass repentance, that is, the leaders publicly confess their sins and bow only to YHWH and people abandon their idols, ideals, and the ideology of military domination over other nations (power), of the legitimacy of fleecing the lower classes (greed), and the practice of abusing others for their own pleasure (lust). Unless there is widespread repentance and prayers for forgiveness, there is no hope for the nation. The end of the period of grace has come for a nation that claims to follow God but acts in entirely ungodly ways. Do we have some nations like that today?

Jeremiah 5: 10-14. 

Go up through her vine rows and destroy,   

but do not make a full end;

strip away her branches,   

for they are not the LORD’S.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah   

have been utterly faithless to me,           

says the LORD.

They have spoken falsely of the LORD, and have said, 

"He will do nothing. No evil will come upon us,   

and we shall not see sword or famine.”

The prophets are nothing but wind,   

for the word is not in them.

Thus shall it be done to them!

Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of hosts:

Because you have spoken this word,

I am now making my words in your mouth a fire   

and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them.

Sounds bad. Wait! Did we miss it? Did you see that little glimmer of hope hidden in these dire prophecies? “Do not make a full end.” Still, there is no hope for the nation. There is only a little hope that there will be a few people left. This would be a remnant, a small number of people left so that God might begin again. But, for the majority and for the nation as an entity; here is the doom that awaits them. 

Jeremiah 5: 15-17.

I am going to bring upon you   

a nation from far away, O house of Israel,           

says the LORD.

It is an enduring nation;   

it is an ancient nation,

a nation whose language you do not know,   

nor can you understand what they say.

Their quiver is like an open tomb;   

all of them are mighty warriors.

They shall eat up your harvest and your food;   

they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;

they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;   

they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;

they shall destroy with the sword   

your fortified cities in which you trust.

 This is really the end. What God describes does not guarantee any security for the majority of the people. God does permit a ray of hope for a few non-deserving individuals. They have all sinned; the few who survive do so by God's grace alone.

Jeremiah 5: 18-19.  

But even in those days, says the LORD, 

I will not make a full end of you. 

And when your people say, 

“Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?” 

you shall say to them, 

“As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, 

so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.”

 Interesting twist of fate. The people of God who have been squeezed into the Promised Land so that they could demonstrate to others the good news about the One True God, YHWH, have been faithless. They were not satisfied with trusting their fortunes to YHWH alone. They felt they should have more power, more wealth, and more satisfaction, and so they added some other gods whose priests were only too happy to promise what they could not deliver. They even had temple prostitutes. YHWH God decided that if they wanted to worship the gods of other lands, perhaps they should be marched off to those other lands as captives who serve the people who worship those idols.

God asks, “Shall I not punish them for these things?” How would you answer God? Particularly if you suspect that your nation has abandoned God and is chasing after the idols, ideals, and ideology of power, wealth, and instant gratification.

Jeremiah 5: 20-31.

Declare this in the house of Jacob;   

proclaim it in Judah:

Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,   

who have eyes but do not see,   

who have ears but do not hear.

Do you not fear me? says the Lord;   

Do you not tremble before me?

I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,   

a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;

though the waves toss,

they cannot prevail;   

though they roar,

they cannot pass over it.

But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;   

they have turned aside and gone away.

They do not say in their hearts,   

“Let us fear the LORD our God,

who gives the rain in its season,   

the autumn rain and the spring rain,

and keeps for us   

the weeks appointed for the harvest."

Your iniquities have turned these away,   

and your sins have deprived you of good.

For the wicked are found among my people.   

They lie in wait like hunters;

destroyers, they catch humans.

Like a cage full of birds,   

their houses are full of treachery;

therefore, they have become great and rich;   

they have grown fat and sleek.

They know no limits in deeds of wickedness;   

they do not judge with justice the cause of the orphan,

to make it prosper,

and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

Shall I not punish them for these things? says the LORD,   

and shall I not bring retribution   

on a nation such as this?

An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:

the prophets prophesy falsely,   

and the priests rule as the prophets direct;

my people love to have it so,   

but what will you do when the end comes?

I know, it’s a long discourse, but God is talking, not me. Jeremiah asks: ‘Why is God threatening to destroy Judah?’ God replies, "My people are foolish; they do not know me." Because they do not know YHWH God, they do not know how to behave as God behaves. God acts with steadfast love, graciousness, and righteousness. The people of Judah have worshipped other gods in pursuit of other goals. In the process, they have become “skilled in doing evil” and they “do not know how to do good”’ (Jeremiah 4: 19-22).

A person becomes like the idols, ideals, and ideology that they pursue. This is a difficult lesson to learn, for all of us, not just the people of Israel and Judah. What is the main point? We'll see, next week.