Jeremiah 8:4 - Meaning and Application

The prophet is told to put before the people the foolishness of their stubborn refusal to repent, which is what brought this disaster on them. They are pictured as the dullest people in the world, unwilling to learn from the many ways God, in his wisdom, tried to bring them to their senses and keep them from ruin.

First, they would not listen to plain common sense. In the things of the soul, they did not act with the same basic wisdom they used in ordinary life. Sinners would become saints if they would only act like sensible people, and religion would soon rule them if they would listen to reason. God says, “Come, and let us reason together” (Jeremiah 8:4, Jeremiah 8:5). If people fall down, do they not get up again? If a traveler misses the road, does he not turn back as soon as he sees his mistake? Of course he does. Yet Jerusalem had “slidden back by a perpetual backsliding.” They had not only fallen into sin, they kept on in it instead of rising by repentance. They had turned from the right way into a path that led to destruction, and unless almighty grace stopped them, they would keep sliding farther away. Sin is a deep deception. It not only tricks people into wrongdoing, it also holds them there. They cling to its lies, excuse themselves, and refuse to be corrected. Everyone who keeps choosing sin is holding on to some kind of falsehood that keeps him from returning to God.

Second, they would not listen to conscience, which is reason looking back at our own actions (Jeremiah 8:6). The prophet listened to see whether his preaching had affected them. God also listened, as one who does not want sinners to die, and he would gladly have heard any sign of repentance. He watches people after they have done wrong to see what they will do next. But they did not speak rightly. God could not get a good word from them, nothing that showed sorrow for sin or hope of change. No one said what a repentant person should say, “What have I done?” That is where true repentance begins, with honest and careful self-examination. Instead of turning back, each person went on in his chosen sinful path, like a horse rushing into battle. He mocked fear and would not be restrained. In the same way, bold sinners laugh at warnings from God’s word and rush toward their own ruin.

Third, they would not learn from God’s providence, his rule over events in life (Jeremiah 8:7). It is a sad mark of their stupidity that, even though they were God’s people, they did not understand his dealings with them. They did not know the judgment of the Lord, meaning they could not read what he was saying through mercy or trouble. They did not know how to respond when God sent prophets to warn them, or when his voice cried out through affliction. They did not recognize the signs of the times (Matthew 16:3), or understand what God was doing with them. This is made worse by the wisdom seen in the lower creatures. The stork knows when to come and go, and so do other birds like the turtle dove, crane, and swallow. By instinct they move with the seasons. Yet God’s people would not understand his ways.

Fourth, they would not listen to the written word. They said, “We are wise,” but how could they say that? (Jeremiah 8:8). How could they claim wisdom when they did not even know themselves as well as animals do? They thought they were wise because they had God’s law among them, and because others also saw them that way (Deuteronomy 4:6). But their claim was empty. It was as if God had given them Scripture for nothing, because they made so little use of it. No people ever had God’s word with so little benefit as they did.

They might as well have been without the law, unless they had made better use of it. God truly made the law able to make people wise for salvation, but for them it was useless, because they never became wiser from it. The scribes’ pen, meaning the work of those who first wrote the law and those who now explained it, was also wasted on them. Both God’s favor and the scribes’ labor were lost on them, because they received God’s grace in vain.

Many people have plenty of the means of grace, many Bibles and ministers, yet still get no benefit from them. They have them, but they do not use them for the purpose God gave them. Someone might object that at least some wise people among them were not wasting the law or the scribes’ work. Jeremiah answers this in (Jeremiah 8:9): the wise men are ashamed. They had reason to be ashamed, because they had not used their wisdom well or lived as they should have.

They are confounded and taken. All their wisdom did not keep them from the very paths that led to ruin. They fell into the same traps as their neighbors, who had never claimed such wisdom, and they were covered with the same shame. Those who know more than others, yet do no better for their own souls, have every reason to be ashamed. They boast of their wisdom, but they have rejected the word of the Lord. They would not let it guide them, would not follow its direction, and would not do what they knew was right. Then what wisdom is really in them? None that matters, none that will bring them honor on the last day, though it may feed their pride now.

The people who claimed, “We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us,” were the priests and false prophets, and the prophet speaks plainly to them. He first warns them of God’s judgment. Their families and estates will be ruined (Jeremiah 8:10). Their wives will be given to others when they are carried off as captives, and their fields will be taken by the enemy and given to new owners. Those new owners will not only take the land for a time, but settle it as their own and pass it on to their children.

In (Jeremiah 8:12), despite all their claims to wisdom and holiness, they will fall with the rest who fall. If blind people lead blind people, both fall into the ditch. When God comes to examine the land and uncover its sin, it will be clear that these leaders helped cause the ruin more than anyone else. For that reason, they will surely be brought down and driven out.

He also gives the reason for this judgment in (Jeremiah 8:10-12), the same charge already explained in (Jeremiah 6:13-15). They were greedy for worldly gain, which is bad enough in anyone, but far worse in priests and prophets, who should know better and care less for this world. From the least to the greatest, they were ruled by greed. The priests taught for pay, and the prophets guessed for money (Micah 3:11).

They also had no concern for speaking truth, even when they spoke as priests and prophets. Each one acted falsely, seeming one way and meaning another. There was no real honesty among them. They flattered people in their sins, and by doing that they led them toward destruction. They acted like doctors for the nation, but they did not know how to treat its worsening sickness. They healed only on the surface, like putting a bandage on a deadly wound. They quieted people’s fears and complaints by saying, “Peace, peace, all is well,” when God was actually dealing with them in judgment, and there could be no peace.

When their falsehood was exposed, they were not ashamed at all. In fact, they seemed proud of it (Jeremiah 8:12). They had lost all sense of shame and honor. Even when caught in clear lies, they defended what they had done and laughed at those they had deceived. People like this were fully ready for ruin.