Can we trust God’s verdict? (Jeremiah 5)
Jer 5:1-31
A friend who had young children shared how her sister always criticised her parenting, forever preaching about the need to be consistent with them. Of course, there are no better parents than people without children – at least in their own eyes! Standing apart, they can map out a steady course objectively. The truth is though that actual parents are emotionally involved with their children and loving relationships can never be conducted following a rigid arithmetic. As we continue in Jeremiah, we see something of how God deals with His children and the reasons for Judah’s punishment. For later readers who looked back to pre-exilic days, the question may have been, ‘Did the exile really need to happen? Could not God have given us another chance?’ For those who struggle with God’s justice today, who wonder about their loved ones that do not know God, this question of God’s character is important. Can we trust His verdict and dealings with people?
Market research – is there a seeker of truth?
Our chapter reveals something of the dynamics of a relationship with Him. It opens with a call in the plural to do ‘market research’, to look for people who do the right thing, who live and act in truthful ways (Jer 5:1). In other words, it exhorts people to ascertain God’s verdict, to recognise its truth. The force of finding at least ‘one’ person is rhetorical and should not be taken literally (in the Hebrew it is not emphatic but reads, ‘if there is a doer of justice, a seeker of truth’). Surely there were some like that (e.g. Jeremiah, his servant, Baruch – Jer 36:4, Ahikam who supported the prophet – Jer 26:24, and Ebed-Melech, who saved Jeremiah’s life later – Jer 38:7-13; 39:15-18), but it was not sufficient to change the overall attitude of the city.
The picture the chapter paints of God’s people is dismal. There is religious talk referring to God and commitments are made in His name, but it is all a self-serving lie (sheqer; NASB ‘swear falsely’ Jer 5:2). There is a fundamental stubbornness and resistance to God’s repeated corrections and not only among the poor, who may not have been taught God’s will, but also among the leaders, who rebel against God’s ways and service (Jer 5:3-5). They abuse God’s goodness and forsake Him for other gods when the Lord gives them abundance (Jer 5:7) and there is an essential dishonesty in their dealings with Him in that they encourage themselves that God will protect them from all harm (Jer 5:11-12). The people have lost all discernment of the spiritual realities; they are blind and deaf (Jer 5:21), which hints at the consequence of their idolatry (Ps 115:4-8). They no longer recognise God’s power as Creator who upholds the created order and provides the fertility of the land through rain (Jer 5:22-24). There are some whose wickedness extends to the exploitation of the vulnerable, who bend justice and get rich at others’ expense (Jer 5:26-28).
God’s response
Given all this, God asks in frustration, ‘Should I forgive? Should I not punish?’ (Jer 5:7, 9, 29).[1] There is a time when patience and kindness are exhausted, when there is an impasse that needs to be broken so the relationship may be renewed. Although judgment is proclaimed more than once (Jer 5:6, 14-17), it is not imposed willy-nilly by God but is intrinsically connected to people’s actions. Thus, the prophets were like wind (i.e. windbags) and they will reap the wind (Jer 5:13; 4:11), the people served foreign gods and will serve foreigners in a land not their own (Jer 5:19). What they experience is the consequence of their sin (Jer 5:25). Yet, even now God does not break the relationship with His people, there will be the possibility of a new start on the other side of judgement, once the vine has been pruned and the dead branches cut away (Jer 5:10, 18). Despite the gloom of this chapter, it should give us hope that God does not revel in punishment, is reluctant to bring judgment, but considers options and looks for another chance where possible. Although we cannot know the spiritual realities in people we know and love, we can trust that the God we serve seeks out every opportunity to save and not destroy.
[1] The phrase ‘avenge Myself’ (Jer 5:9, 29) may be troubling for us because we connect vengeance with personal revenge. Hebrew uses the same word whether the issue is about bringing justice or about retaliation fuelled by hatred. The latter is unacceptable and forbidden (Lev 19:18) and God Himself does not act out of a personal affront, but out of a concern for justice.
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