Jeremiah 8:13 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, God threatens to destroy a sinful people. He had been patient with them for a long time, but they kept provoking him more and more. So their ruin is now settled: “I will surely consume them” (Jeremiah 8:13). The phrase means more than that their judgment is certain. It means it will be complete, with one judgment following another until they are fully destroyed, as in the “consumption determined” in Isaiah 10:23.

They will be stripped of all their comforts. “There shall be no grapes on the vine” (Jeremiah 8:13). Some take this to mean God found no fruit in them, no response to his care, as in Isaiah 5:2 and Luke 13:6. They were even barren like the fig tree that had no leaves in Matthew 21:19. But it is more likely speaking of God’s judgments on them. The enemy would seize the crops, take the grapes and figs for themselves, and leave the people with nothing to rejoice in. The meaning is summed up in the next line, “The things that I have given them shall pass away from them.” God’s gifts are given on condition, and when people do not meet that condition, he may take them back. Abused mercies are forfeited, and God is just to reclaim what was misused.

They will also be attacked by every kind of trouble and surrounded by disasters (Jeremiah 8:17). God says, “I will send serpents among you.” This points to the Chaldean army, the Babylonian invaders, who would be like fiery, flying serpents, biting with deadly venom. They would not be charmed, like some snakes sometimes were with music, because these enemies could not be softened or turned aside. They were as fixed in their cruel purpose as a deaf adder that refuses to listen to the charmer. There would be no peace with God, and therefore no peace with these enemies either.

The people then sink into despair under the weight of these troubles. Earlier, when danger seemed far off, they had been fearless and defiant. Now that judgment is pressing in, they lose heart and do not know how to face it (Jeremiah 8:14). They no longer feel safe in the open villages, so they say, “Why do we sit still here? Let us gather and go into the fortified cities.” They know they will still be cut off in the end, but they hope it will come later there than in the countryside. So they decide to go and be silent there, meaning not a humble silence, but a hopeless one. In trouble, people who were cheerful in prosperity often become most depressed.

What drives them into this despair? First, they feel that God is angry with them. They say, “The Lord our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink” (compare Psalm 60:3). That is, he has struck them with astonishment and given them something bitter and upsetting to drink. They add, “Because we have sinned against the Lord.” These words may show their anger at God, as if he had treated them too harshly. But it is better to understand them as the start of real conviction. At last they begin to see God’s hand in their misery and admit that they have provoked him. Sooner or later, God brings even the stubborn to confess both his rule and his justice in their troubles.

Second, they see that the enemy is stronger than they are (Jeremiah 8:16). They quickly understand that resisting such a powerful force is useless. Their courage and the courage of the whole people fail them, and when a nation loses heart, its numbers do not help much. The snorting of the horses is heard from Dan, the northern border town, meaning news of the enemy’s cavalry spreads through the land in fear. The sound of their horses terrifies everyone, because they have devoured the land and all that is in the city. Town and country are laid waste, and both the wealth and the people are destroyed. When God is against us, everything that is against us looks overwhelming. But if God is for us, everything else looks small and weak, as Romans 8:31 says.

Third, they are crushed because the relief they hoped for never comes. They had been surprised when trouble arrived, and now they are also disappointed because deliverance keeps being delayed. The trouble came when they least expected it (Jeremiah 8:15). They had looked for peace, for things to stay as they were, but no good came. They had hoped for health and prosperity, but instead they saw war and danger. Their false prophets had kept crying, “Peace, peace,” so the sudden appearance of war made the disaster even more awful. This same complaint appears again in Jeremiah 14:19.

Deliverance also did not come when they had long hoped for it (Jeremiah 8:20). “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” A great deal of time has passed, like a whole season or even many seasons. Year after year and campaign after campaign have gone by, but their situation has not improved at all. Worse, valuable time has been lost. The proper season for action is gone, and a cold, sad winter has come after it. The salvation of God’s church and people often moves slowly, because God has wise and holy reasons for the delay. At times, people also block their own relief and are not saved because they are not ready for salvation.

They were deceived by the very things they trusted in for safety and peace (Jeremiah 8:19). The daughter of my people cries out because of those who come from a distant land, because of the foreign enemy who invades and takes possession of what was theirs. That is what drives the cry. Their cry is, “Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her?”

These were the two things they had long depended on. First, they believed they had God’s temple among them, with clear signs of his special presence. People kept saying, “Is not the Lord in Zion? What danger should we fear?” They clung to that even when trouble was already breaking in. They thought, “We will be fine, because God is with us.” But when the disaster became extreme, it only made their misery worse, because they had fooled themselves.

Second, they trusted that they had the throne of David’s house. They had not only a temple, but also a kingdom, established by divine right, that is, by God’s own authority. They reasoned, “Is not Zion’s king in her? Will not Zion’s God protect Zion’s king and his kingdom?” Surely he would have protected them, but why did he not? They cried as if Zion had neither God nor king to defend her and keep her from ruin.

But this cry also turned into a complaint against God, as if his power or promise had failed. So God answers at once: Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved idols? They blamed God as if he had abandoned them unfairly, but their idolatry had driven him away. They had broken their loyalty to him and cut themselves off from his protection. They were angry and cursed their king and their God (Isaiah 8:21), when it was their own sin that had separated them from God (Isaiah 59:2). They did not fear the Lord, and then what could a king do for them? (Hosea 10:3).

The prophet then mourns over the disaster and ruin of his people. Jeremiah had far more laments than the book called Lamentations alone records. He saw the destruction of his country with his own eyes, and he had already seen it in the Spirit before it came. Seeing it, and especially facing it, he cries, “My heart is faint within me” (Jeremiah 8:18). When he tried to comfort himself, it did not help. In fact, every effort to ease his grief only made it heavier.

It is wise and right, when hard things happen, to try to comfort ourselves with thoughts that can steady us and lessen the sorrow. But sometimes grief is so deep that the more we press it down, the more it pushes back. That can happen even to good people, as it did to this prophet. His soul refused comfort, and he fainted under the weight of it (Psalm 77:2-3).

He explains the reason in Jeremiah 8:21. “It is because of the hurt of the daughter of my people that I am hurt.” He was wounded by their wound, and grieved over their sin and the misery they had brought on themselves. That is why he was blackened with sorrow, as mourners were, and overwhelmed with shock and confusion, not knowing what to do or where to turn.

The troubles of our country should greatly grieve us. A godly heart will also be a public heart, a tender heart, and a mourning heart. We should pity the sufferings of other people, and much more feel the calamities of our own nation, especially the church of God, and grieve over Joseph’s affliction. Jeremiah had foretold Jerusalem’s destruction. Even when people doubted his warning, he did not rejoice when it proved true. He cared more for his country’s well-being than for his own reputation.

If Jerusalem had repented and been spared, he would not have been bitter about it, as Jonah was. Jeremiah had many enemies in Judah and Jerusalem who hated, mocked, and persecuted him. God later dealt with them for that and defended his prophet’s cause. Yet Jeremiah did not rejoice in their downfall. He truly forgave his enemies and wanted God to forgive them too.

Then he asks, “Is there no balm in Gilead, no medicine for a sick and dying nation? Is there no physician there?” He looks at the nation as beyond hope and past repair. There is no balm in Gilead that can cure the disease of sin, and no physician there who can restore a nation already overrun by the Chaldeans, the Babylonian army. The ruin they had brought on themselves seemed beyond fixing, and the disease had reached such a stage that nothing could stop it.

Or the verse may mean that the blame for their incurable state lies entirely with themselves. In that case, the answer would be, yes, there is balm in Gilead and a physician there. God was able to help and heal them. He was fully able to repair every wrong they had suffered. Gilead was nearby, within their own land. They had God’s law and his prophets among them, by which they could have been led to repentance and kept from ruin. They also had princes and priests, whose duty was to reform the nation and address its problems.

What more could have been done for them? So why was their health not restored? The fault was not with God. It was not because there was no balm or no physician. It was because they would not accept the treatment or submit to the way of healing. The physician and the medicine were both ready, but the patient was stubborn and out of control. He would not live by the rules and wanted only to be indulged.

If sinners die from their wounds, they have only themselves to blame. The blood of Christ is the balm in Gilead, and his Spirit is the physician there. Both are fully sufficient, more than sufficient. They could have been healed, but they would not.