27 For this is what the Lord has said: All the land will become a waste; I will make destruction complete.
So I say, Has God put his people on one side? Let there be no such thought. For I am of Israel, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not put away the people of his selection. Or have you no knowledge of what is said about Elijah in the holy Writings? how he says words to God against Israel, Lord, they have put your prophets to death, and made waste your altars, and now I am the last, and they are searching for me to take away my life. But what answer does God make to him? I have still seven thousand men whose knees have not been bent to Baal. In the same way, there are at this present time some who are marked out by the selection of grace. But if it is of grace, then it is no longer of works: or grace would not be grace. What then? That which Israel was searching for he did not get, but those of the selection got it and the rest were made hard.
And Isaiah says about Israel, Even if the number of the children of Israel is as the sand of the sea, only a small part will get salvation: For the Lord will give effect to his word on the earth, putting an end to it and cutting it short. And, as Isaiah had said before, If the Lord of armies had not given us a seed, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.
See, the eyes of the Lord are on the evil kingdom, and I will put an end to it in all the earth; but I will not send complete destruction on Jacob, says the Lord. For see, I will give orders, and I will have Israel moved about among all the nations, as grain is moved about by the shaking of the tray, but not the smallest seed will be dropped on the earth.
They have made it waste; it is weeping to me, being wasted; all the land is made waste, because no man takes it to heart. Those who make waste have come on all the open hilltops in the waste land; for the sword of the Lord sends destruction from one end of the land to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace.
The earth will be completely waste and without men; for this is the word of the Lord. The earth is sorrowing and wasting away, the world is full of grief and wasting away, the high ones of the earth come to nothing. The earth has been made unclean by those living in it; because the laws have not been kept by them, the orders have been changed, and the eternal agreement has been broken. For this cause the earth is given up to the curse, and those in it are judged as sinners: for this cause those living on the earth are burned up, and the rest are small in number. The new wine is thin, the vine is feeble, and all the glad-hearted make sounds of grief. The pleasing sound of all instruments of music has come to an end, and the voices of those who are glad. There is no more drinking of wine with a song; strong drink will be bitter to those who take it. The town is waste and broken down: every house is shut up, so that no man may come in. There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; there is an end of all delight, the joy of the land is gone. In the town all is waste, and in the public place is destruction. For it will be in the heart of the earth among the peoples, like the shaking of an olive-tree, as the last of the grapes after the getting-in is done.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 4
Commentary on Jeremiah 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
It should seem that the first two verses of this chapter might better have been joined to the close of the foregoing chapter, for they are directed to Israel, the ten tribes, by way of reply to their compliance with God's call, directing and encouraging them to hold their resolution (v. 1, 2). The rest of the chapter concerns Judah and Jerusalem.
Jer 4:1-2
When God called to backsliding Israel to return (ch. 3:22) they immediately answered, Lord, we return; now God here takes notice of their answer, and, by way of reply to it,
Jer 4:3-4
The prophet here turns his speech, in God's name, to the men of the place where he lived. We have heard what words he proclaimed towards the north (ch. 3:12), for the comfort of those that were now in captivity and were humbled under the hand of God; let us now see what he says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, who were now in prosperity, for their conviction and awakening. In these two verses he exhorts them to repentance and reformation, as the only way left them to prevent the desolating judgments that were ready to break in upon them. Observe,
Jer 4:5-18
God's usual method is to warn before he wounds. In these verses, accordingly, God gives notice to the Jews of the general desolation that would shortly be brought upon them by a foreign invasion. This must be declared and published in all the cities of Judah and streets of Jerusalem, that all might hear and fear, and by this loud alarm be either brought to repentance or left inexcusable. The prediction of this calamity is here given very largely, and in lively expressions, which one would think should have awakened and affected the most stupid. Observe,
Jer 4:19-31
The prophet is here in an agony, and cries out like one upon the rack of pain with some acute distemper, or as a woman in travail. The expressions are very pathetic and moving, enough to melt a heart of stone into compassion: My bowels! my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; and yet well, and in health himself, and nothing ails him. Note, A good man, in such a bad world as this is, cannot but be a man of sorrows. My heart makes a noise in me, through the tumult of my spirits, and I cannot hold my peace. Note, The grievance and the grief sometimes may be such that the most prudent patient man cannot forbear complaining.
Now, what is the matter? What is it that puts the good man into such agitation? It is not for himself, or any affliction in his family that he grieves thus; but it is purely upon the public account, it is his people's case that he lays to heart thus.