Jeremiah 6:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is the judgment threatened against Judah and Jerusalem. At this time, the city and the countryside felt safe. They saw no sign of danger, no storm clouds gathering, and everything seemed calm. But the prophet says a foreign army will soon come from the north, and it will bring ruin. The result will be not only fear, but complete destruction.

The warning is meant to sound loud and alarming. The people of Benjamin, the tribe that included part of Jerusalem, are told to flee to the countryside for safety. At first, the city seemed like the best place to run (Jeremiah 4:5-6), but soon it would become too dangerous even for them. In public panic, people often think any other place is safer than where they are. Those in the city rush to the country, and those in the country rush into the city, but all such effort is useless when evil follows sinners by God’s command.

They are told to raise the alarm in the country and do what they can to protect themselves. “Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,” a town about twelve miles north of Jerusalem. “Set up a signal fire in Beth-haccerem,” the house of the vineyard, which stood on a hill between Jerusalem and Tekoa. They are to prepare for strong resistance, because the danger is coming from the north. This may also be meant with a sharp, ironic edge: do your best to save yourselves, but it will still end in disaster, because no one can resist God’s judgments.

The attack will be bold and terrifying, and Judah will be far weaker than her enemies. The daughter of Zion, meaning Jerusalem, is pictured as a lovely and delicate woman, used to comfort and ease (Deuteronomy 28:56). She has not been trained for hardship, so she will be less able to fight back or endure suffering patiently. The more we spoil ourselves with comfort, the less fit we become for trouble.

The daughter of Babylon, the Chaldean army, is pictured as shepherds and their flocks. They come in large numbers and in good order, with soldiers following their leaders as sheep follow a shepherd. Some understand the daughter of Zion here as living securely at home, expecting love, but instead she is invaded with violence. Another reading suggests Judah is like a pleasant pasture land that invites shepherds to bring their flocks, and just as shepherds can easily take over open grazing land and strip it bare, so the Chaldeans will easily enter Judah, take what they want, and quickly consume everything.

God himself gives them this commission. He says, “Prepare war against her,” because he is the Lord of hosts, the God who commands all armies. He also says, “Cut down the trees and raise a siege mound against Jerusalem.” The Chaldeans may have great power against Judah and Jerusalem, but they have no power except what God allows. He has marked Jerusalem for destruction and set the time for her punishment. The day is coming when those who live carelessly in sin will surely be visited by God’s justice.

The enemy also strengthens one another in carrying out God’s purpose. Since God has decided against Jerusalem, and his purpose cannot be changed, even the councils of war among the enemy are made to fit his plan. When God says, “Prepare war against her,” their decisions serve his will. Even with the distance and difficulties involved, they quickly agree, “Let us go.” It is good to see how God’s purpose is carried out through the plans and actions of men, even when they do not know him (Isaiah 10:6-7).

In this campaign, they are eager to move quickly. As soon as they decide, they act. They will not wait until tomorrow for what can be done today. “Let us go up at noon,” they say, even in the heat of the day. Then, “Let us go up at night,” even in the dark. Nothing will stop them, and they are determined not to lose time. They are pictured as worried that the day is slipping away while they are still idle. If only we were as eager in our spiritual work and struggle, and as careful not to waste any chance to press toward God’s kingdom. It is foolish to delay when an eternal salvation must be worked out and its enemies must be fought.

They also expect to succeed. “Let us go up and destroy her palaces, and take the wealth in them.” They are not eager to carry out God’s purpose, but to fill their own treasuries. Yet even in that evil intent, God still serves his own holy plan.

The reason for this judgment is their wickedness. They have brought it on themselves, and they must bear both the punishment and the blame. They have oppressed others, so now they will be oppressed. They have treated one another harshly whenever they had the power to do so, and now an enemy will come and deal harshly with them all. This sin of oppression, violence, and wrong is charged against them as a national sin. Therefore the city is to be visited, and an inquiry made, because she is full of oppression throughout.

All ranks of people were oppressive to those under them, from the prince on the throne down to the lowest shopkeeper. Wherever you looked, there were fresh reasons for complaint.

The prophet also speaks of sin as something that had become natural to them, as Jeremiah 6:7 says. Jerusalem pours out wickedness in all kinds of malice and harm, just as a fountain sends out its waters. The stream is bitter and poisonous because the spring itself is corrupt. Water from a fountain will keep flowing, and it will find a way out even if someone tries to stop it. In the same way, the corrupt human heart, in its natural state, keeps producing evil thoughts and actions. It flows constantly, and yet it never runs dry.

Sin was also their fixed habit. Violence and destruction were heard in the city. The outcry over it had reached God, just as the outcry of Sodom once did. Before him there were always wounds and grief, the cries of people who had been wronged in body, in heart, in property, or in reputation. This reminds us that God, the common Father of all people, sees these wrongs, is offended by them, and will punish them in due time.

The warning now given to Jerusalem is meant to keep that judgment from coming. “Be instructed, O Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 6:8). Receive the teaching already given through God’s law and his prophets, and at last become wise for your own sake. They already knew what they had been taught to do. Nothing was left except obedience, for without that they could not truly be called instructed.

The reason for this warning is serious: “Lest my soul depart from you.” This shows how tenderly God had cared for them. His soul had been joined to them, and only sin could break that bond. The God of mercy is slow to leave even a stubborn people, and he pleads with them through repentance and reform before matters come to that point. But the person from whom God’s soul is separated is in a terrible condition. That means more than losing outward blessings. It means losing the comforts and favors that show God’s special love and presence. Compare this with the solemn words, “If he draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him” (Hebrews 10:38).

Those whom God leaves are certainly ruined. When God’s soul departed from Jerusalem, she soon became desolate and uninhabited (Matthew 23:38).