Up to the last minute (Jer 4:5-18)

My husband tells me of a fearful incident that happened to him a few years before we met. Driving on the motorway, he spotted some distance ahead a car that stopped right bang in the middle of his lane. There were cars coming behind him and a steady stream of traffic on either side of him, so he could not move into the other lanes. As the tense seconds ticked by, he was getting closer and closer to that stationary car. He kept looking for a break in the flow of vehicles, but there was no gap. Then almost at the last moment, there was an opening and he managed to slip into the neighbouring lane and pass the broken-down car without slamming into it. He admitted afterwards that he was not at all sure he would make it in that situation, yet by God’s grace he did.

Heading for disaster

This is the kind of scenario that Judah and its capital, Jerusalem, found themselves in heading for a full-on collision with a destructive military power from the north, not named here but known to us as Babylon. The prophecy is not dated, but the urgency of the call to sound the alarm and seek refuge in fortified cities, including Jerusalem (Jer 4:5-6), makes it probable that it is around the time of Babylon’s invasion of the country in 598 BC, though it is not necessary to pin down the exact date. Despite calls for repentance and the earlier reform of Josiah, there has not been lasting change in the people to avert disaster (Jer 4:8). The description of the devastation to come is terrifying. The enemy is compared to a lion in its ferocity (Jer 4:7) and to an eagle and a whirlwind in its speed (Jer 4:13). This is no gentle breeze that separates the grain from the chaff, a process that evokes cleansing in which the worthless is separated from that of value (Jer 4:11-12). God is not just chastising the people; this is full-on judgment, like the scorching wind coming from the desert, the sirocco that envelops with dust and sand and chokes the life out of all living things.

The purpose of the warning

At the same time, what is the point of such a prophecy – we might ask – if the judgement is entirely set in stone? Why warn the people and admonish them to hide, to seek safety (v.5)? I am reminded of the plagues in Egypt before Israel’s exodus. When the hail was about to come, Moses advised Pharaoh to bring the lifestock into safe shelter and some of Pharaoh’s servants believed him and acted on his warning while others didn’t and paid with their lives and stock for it (Exod 9:18-21). This internal logic is made explicit when Jerusalem is admonished to rid herself of evil that she may be delivered (Jer 4:14) and more implicitly earlier when called to lament and mourn for the coming devastation (Jer 4:8). The point is to recognise in the disaster God’s hand and righteous judgment. Perhaps even now, up to the last minute, there might be deliverance, or if not that, at least a salvaging of something from the disaster. We know, in fact, that Jeremiah urged the last king of Judah shortly before the end (587 BC) to surrender to the Babylonians (thereby submitting to God’s judgement) and save himself and his household, as well as the city from destruction (Jer 38:17-18). Sadly, Jeremiah foresees the paralysis of the leadership (Jer 4:9) and he seems to voice the complaint of the people who pin the blame on God for deceiving them with prophecies of peace (Jer 4:10).[1]

The possibility of a different future

Our passage is sobering and not one that we enjoy reading. Although the Lord brings the coming destruction (Jer 4:6), from another perspective, this is nothing more than the consequences that the people’s evil ways and deeds brought on themselves (Jer 4:18).[2] At the same time, the prophecy reveals a God who keeps deliverance, or at least the mitigation of judgment, open as long as He can. God’s kindness is not something to abuse, but even in the worst disaster, acting in faith, genuine repentance and turning away from sin opens the possibility of a different future.

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[1] The false prophets consistently said that no harm would come to God’s people, they prophesied ‘peace’ and so the people could argue that God deceived them. It is confusing that the statement is made by Jeremiah, but the likely explanation is that the prophet put himself into the people’s shoes who would have heard the conflicting prophecies from true and false prophets and believed the latter. The question of discerning prophecy will recur in the book later and it will become clear that people are responsible for what they choose to believe, though this issue is not tackled here.

[2] The Hebrew ra‘ah in Jer 4:6 can mean moral evil or simply disaster depending on the context; it literally means a ‘bad thing’. It is unhelpful that NASB translates it as God bringing ‘evil’, as if He were the source of evil or caused moral evil. Although God uses a military power to punish His people, Babylon is a responsible agent, not a puppet. They act on their own initiative and God will hold them accountable for it.

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