Jeremiah 14:17 - Meaning and Application

The sad state of Judah and Jerusalem becomes the prophet’s grief here, and it also leads him to pray for them (Jeremiah 14:17, Jeremiah 14:18, Jeremiah 14:19). I am inclined to think this prayer, as well as the lament, was given by God’s direction. If so, the words, “Thus you shall say to them,” may refer to both his mourning and his intercession. In that case, it would be a kind of lifting of the earlier warning not to pray for them in Jeremiah 14:11. Still, the prayers in these verses show that Jeremiah did not take that earlier word as a full ban, only as a strong warning, like the thought in 1 John 5:16.

First, the prophet weeps over the ruins of his country. God tells him to do this so that, by showing real sorrow, he might move the people to feel the danger coming upon them. Jeremiah must say this, not only to himself, but to them as well: “Let my eyes run down with tears” (Jeremiah 14:17). He is showing them that he clearly sees the sword coming, along with another famine, even worse than the one they already suffer. This first famine is in the countryside because there has been no rain, but the other will come inside the city because of the siege.

He speaks as though he already sees the misery that will come with the Chaldeans, that is, the Babylonians, when they attack. “The virgin daughter of my people,” dear to him like a daughter to her father, “is broken with a great breach,” a terrible blow, far worse than anything she has yet faced. In the field, many lie dead from the sword, and in the city many are dying from hunger (Jeremiah 14:18). It is a heartbreaking sight. “The prophets and priests,” that is, the false prophets who fed the people lies and the wicked priests who opposed the true prophets, are driven out of the land. They go either as prisoners wherever their conquerors lead them, or as fugitives who wander from place to place, looking for shelter in a land they do not know. Some understand this of the true prophets, Ezekiel and Daniel, who were also carried to Babylon with the rest.

Jeremiah’s eyes must run with tears day and night as he thinks on this, so that the people may understand two things. First, this dreadful day will surely come, and it will be truly dreadful. Second, he is not hoping for it or wishing it on them. He would rather have brought them messages of peace, like their false prophets did, if God had authorized him to do so. Since God himself does not delight in the death of sinners, it is fitting that his ministers, even when they must speak judgment in his name, should grieve over it.

Second, Jeremiah stands up to plead with God for them, for who knows whether God may yet turn back and show mercy. As long as there is life, there is hope, and there is still room for prayer. Even if many among the people did not pray themselves and did not care for the prophet’s prayers, some were better minded and would join him in them. They would say Amen to what he brought before God.

He first speaks plainly to God about how desperate their condition is (Jeremiah 14:19). It was very sad because their hope in God seemed to have failed. They had thought he had chosen Judah as his own, but now it appeared that he had completely rejected it and cast it off. They had thought Zion was the loved place of his rest forever, but now his soul seemed to hate Zion, even the worship there, because of the sins committed there. Then it is no surprise that all their other hopes had failed too. They had been struck again and again, with wounds added to wounds, and there was no healing for them. They had looked for peace, since calm often follows a storm, but no good came. Things only grew worse. They hoped for a time of healing, but could not even find a brief relief. “Trouble is at the door,” as it were, where they had hoped peace would enter. Still, the prayer ends in hope: “Have you really rejected Judah? You could justly do so. Has your soul really loathed Zion? We deserve that. But will you not, at last, remember mercy in your anger?”

Then he confesses their sin openly, speaking for the people, though few of them were saying it (Jeremiah 14:20). “We acknowledge our wickedness,” he says, meaning the great sin of the land and the sins of their fathers, which they have copied and for which they now suffer. “We know and admit that we have sinned against you, and so you are right in all that has come upon us.” Yet he also trusts that confession opens the door to mercy: because they confess their sins, they may still hope that God, who is faithful and just, will forgive.

He also asks God not to turn against them in displeasure, and he appeals to God’s honor and promise (Jeremiah 14:21). His plea is, “Do not hate us, even if you afflict us. Do not let your heart turn from us, even if your hand is against us.” They admit that God would be just to reject them, since they had made themselves hateful in his sight. But when they pray, “Do not abhor us,” they mean, “Take us back into favor. Do not let your soul loathe Zion. Do not let our worship become disgusting to you.”

He appeals first to God’s honor, especially the honor of his word, by which he has made himself known, and which he has exalted above all his name. “Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake,” he says, meaning the name they bear and call upon. He also appeals to the honor of the sanctuary. “Lord, do not abhor us, for that would bring shame on the throne of your glory,” meaning the temple, called a glorious high throne from the beginning (Jeremiah 17:12). Let the place that has been the joy of the whole earth not become a mockery and a horror. They deserve disgrace, but not in a way that brings dishonor on God himself. They do not want the ruined temple to give the nations a chance to mock the God who was once worshiped there, as if he could not or would not defend it, or as if the gods of the Chaldeans were stronger than he was.

This is a powerful prayer. Good people care deeply about the honor of religion and its public witness, often even more than their own private concerns. Pleas drawn from that honor are strong in prayer and steady the heart in faith. We can be sure that God will not let the throne of his glory on earth suffer lasting shame. He may allow it to be lowered for a time, but he will soon make its glory shine again, and often more brightly than before. God will not lose in honor in the end.

He also appeals to God’s promise. “Remember your covenant with us, and do not break it.” This does not mean they doubted God’s faithfulness or thought he needed reminding. Rather, they take what God has said and plead it back to him. What he has spoken, they are bold to lay before him in prayer.

Then they will remember God’s covenant promise, as in (Leviticus 26:42). They also depend on God for the mercy of rain, which they now need badly, as in (Jeremiah 14:22). Even if they have lost their right to him as their covenant God, they still will not let go of him as the God who rules all nature.

They will not turn to the idols of the nations, because that would be foolish and useless. Are any of the empty idols of the Gentiles able to bring rain? No. In a time of severe drought in Israel, Baal, even when all Israel prayed to him in Ahab’s day, could not help them. The God who answered by fire is the same God who can answer by water too.

They will also not stop at natural causes or look only to the heavens themselves for help. Can the skies give showers on their own? No, not unless the God of heaven commands it. He holds the key to the clouds, opens the windows of heaven, and waters the earth from his storehouses. So all their hope rests in him, and their confidence is in him alone.

They can say, “Are you not the Lord our God, the one from whom we should expect help and to whom we must go? Are you not the one who causes rain and gives showers? You made all these things. You gave them their being, so you also set their order and keep them under your command. You made that moisture in nature that keeps moving in a constant cycle to serve your wise purpose, and you direct it and use it as you choose. So we will wait for you, and for you alone. We will ask the Lord for rain, as in (Zechariah 10:1). We will trust him to give it in his time, and we will be willing to wait.” It is right that we should wait, and we will not wait in vain.

God’s rule over all things should lead us to depend on him, and his complete sufficiency should encourage us to keep looking to him at all times.