Jeremiah: Why has the Lord done this to us?

 Perhaps you have heard about the Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic. He lit a lantern during daylight hours and walked around town. When people asked him what he was doing, he said: “I am looking for an honest man.” Actually, according to the reports of other philosophers, he said he was tired of brutes and animals, so he was looking for a human. Of course, the ‘brutes and animals’ were human beings of little worth, and he could not find a human of any worth. Diogenes lived around 400 BC, but earlier around 615 BC God sent Jeremiah on a similar mission. 

Jeremiah 5: 1-2.  

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,   

look around and take note!

Search its squares and see 

if you can find

one person who acts justly   

and seeks truth—

so that I may pardon Jerusalem.

Although they say, "As the LORD lives,”   

yet they swear falsely.

 God knows that Jeremiah’s mission will be a fool’s errand. Every time God thinks he might have found a truly godly person, it turns out to be all show and no go. For example, the phrase “As the LORD lives” is an attempt to verify the truth of a statement, something like “So help me God.” However, people use it to justify lies, over and over again. 

Jeremiah 5: 3. 

O LORD, do your eyes not look for truth?

You have struck them,   

but they felt no anguish;

you have consumed them,   

but they refused to take correction.

They have made their faces harder than rock;   

they have refused to turn back.

Jeremiah comes back with his report. He did not find a man, or a person, who acted justly and sought the truth. Even when God tried to correct them with prophetic words, with war, and with famine, they did not get the point. They are hard-headed and they refuse to do the obvious, that is, to turn back to God.

 ‘Who me? Repent and be renewed? Repent? What for? I haven’t done anything wrong, and my poll numbers are the highest they have ever been’. Totally clueless, so Jeremiah tries another tactic.

Jeremiah 5: 4-5.  

Then I said, “These are only the poor;   

they have no sense,

for they do not know the way of the LORD,   

the law of their God.

Let me go to the rich (and powerful)   

and speak to them;

surely they know the way of the LORD,   

the law of their God.

”But they all alike had broken the yoke;   

they had burst the bonds.

 A common mistake; to think that the elite ought to have more sense than the poor and outcasts. Perhaps they have not read Scripture, especially Proverbs and Psalms that are full of compassion for the poor and condemnation of the rich. Why would we think the rich and powerful would be morally superior? Nonsense. They have their destiny mapped out for them by God. 

Jeremiah 5:6. 

Therefore a lion from the forest shall kill them;   

a wolf from the desert shall destroy them.

A leopard is watching against their cities;   

everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,

because their transgressions are many;   

their faithlessness is great.

 Why has the Lord done this to us? Pretty clear. The end of the rich and powerful will be worse than their beginning, if they do not repent and use their riches and power to help the downtrodden, the poor, the hungry, the sick, and the homeless. If they do not, then they effectively block the possibility of forgiveness.

Jeremiah 5: 7-9.  

How can I pardon you?   

Your children have forsaken me   

and have sworn by those who are no gods.

When I fed them to the full,   

they committed adultery   

and trooped to the houses of prostitutes.

They were well-fed lusty stallions,   

each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.

Shall I not punish them for these things?           

says the LORD,   

and shall I not bring retribution   

on a nation such as this?

 Wow! The rich and famous think that God is not real or not looking while they sin by abusing young girls, by pursuing power by any means, and by squeezing wealth out of the poor. I'm glad that's not the case anymore; is it?

These are their idols, their ideals, and their ideology. Their sins condemn the nation where there is no justice for the widow, the orphan, and the alien. These “Well-fed lusty stallions each neighing for their neighbor’s wife,” are destined for the glue factory.