Jeremiah 9:23 - Meaning and Application

The prophet had been trying to fill this people with a holy fear of God and his judgments, to convince them of both sin and wrath. But they kept finding some weak excuse to hide behind, so they would not feel convicted or turn from their stubbornness and carelessness. He now works to drive them out of these false shelters and show that they cannot hold.

When they were warned that judgment was coming and could not be avoided, they relied on their politics and power. They also trusted their wealth and treasure, thinking these made Jerusalem impossible to conquer. In reply, the prophet shows how foolish it is to brag about such things when they have no covenant God to depend on. In a day of trouble, a wise person should not boast in wisdom, as if cleverness could always outthink the enemy or find a way out at the last moment. Human wisdom can fail exactly when it is needed most, and a person can be trapped by his own plans, as Ahithophel was. Counselors are often carried off in defeat.

If a person’s plans fail, he might still think strength will save him. But the strong man should not boast in his strength, because battle does not always go to the strong. David, the young shepherd, was stronger in God than Goliath, the giant. Human power means nothing without God, and against God it is worse than nothing. Nor should the rich man boast in his wealth. Money may answer many things, but it cannot keep danger away. Wealth can even expose a person and make him a better target. So neither a nation nor an individual should trust in wise men, strong men, or rich men as if these alone could hold off disaster. All of them are empty hopes for safety.

What can we depend on in trouble? First, the comfort we can have is that we have done our duty. Those who refused to know God (Jeremiah 9:6) will boast in vain of wisdom and riches. But those who truly know God, who understand that he is the Lord, and who keep that truth in mind, may find real reason to rejoice in hard times. Second, if by grace we have done our duty in some measure, our confidence is that God will be all we need. We may glory in this, that we know and belong to a God who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth. He is just to every creature and will do no wrong, and he is kind to his children and will protect and provide for them. “For in these things I delight.” God delights to show kindness and to carry out justice, and he is pleased when his people follow him in these ways as beloved children. Those who are changed into God’s likeness and share in his holiness find this their true glory. The God they are being shaped after is the one they may trust most fully in their deepest trouble.

The prophet hints, though, that most of the people did not care about this. Their hope and joy were in their wisdom, their strength, and their wealth, and that would end in grief and despair. Still, the few among them who knew God could take comfort in that knowledge. It would serve them far better than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.

When they were warned how much their sins offended God, they tried another empty excuse, the covenant sign of circumcision. They were indeed God’s people. They had the temple of the Lord in their city, and they also carried the mark of his people in their flesh. They seemed to argue that the Chaldean army had destroyed other nations because those nations were uncircumcised and therefore outside the special protection that Israel enjoyed.

The prophet answers that the time of judgment was now near, when God would punish all wicked people without making a difference between circumcised and uncircumcised (Jeremiah 9:25, Jeremiah 9:26). By their sin, they had polluted the honor that set them apart, and they had lived much like the uncircumcised nations. So they had lost the benefit of that outward mark and should not expect it to help them. God will punish the circumcised together with the uncircumcised. The ignorance of the uncircumcised will not excuse their evil, and the privileges of the circumcised will not excuse theirs either. He will judge both alike according to their works.

This would be striking, because Judah is placed alongside Egypt and Edom, standing on the same level and under the same sentence (Jeremiah 9:26). Those nations had been kept from Israel’s privileges (Deuteronomy 23:3), but now Israel is told they will share their punishments. The people “in the farthest corners, who live in the wilderness” are likely the Kedarenes and those from the kingdoms of Hazor, as seen by comparing (Jeremiah 49:28-32). However the description is understood, they were uncircumcised in the flesh, and Judah is ranked with them as close to ruin because of sin.

For all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart, they have the sign, but not the thing the sign points to (Jeremiah 4:4). In heart they are like the heathen, strangers to God and hostile in mind through wicked works. Their hearts are bent toward idols, just as the hearts of uncircumcised Gentiles are. The lesson is clear: the outward mark of God’s covenant, though it gives honor and responsibility, will not save us unless our hearts and lives match the covenant. Only that is true circumcision, and only that is true baptism, which is of the heart, not just the body (Romans 2:28, Romans 2:29).