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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 14:10 - 14:18
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The Lord Refuses Jeremiah's Request
v. 10. Thus saith the Lord unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, like the wild beasts whose behavior had been described in the previous section, they have not refrained their feet, not restraining them from the ways of idolatry, therefore the Lord doth not accept them, He confirms them in their idolatrous practices; He will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins. Cf Hos_8:13.
v. 11. Then said the Lord unto me, Pray not for this people for their good, so that any kind of benefit is given them.
v. 12. When they fast, with a show of devotion toward Jehovah which they were far from feeling, I will not hear their cry, pay no attention to their appeals, and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, professing adherence to the God of Israel, I will not accept them, because their service was thoroughly hypocritical; but I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence, the three great scourges of ancient times.
v. 13. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets, namely, the false prophets who were influencing the people for evil, say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place, literally, "peace of truth or faithfulness," that is, a sure and lasting peace. By such vain promises the false prophets tried to maintain their leadership among the people and to lead them astray.
v. 14. Then the Lord, brushing aside this excuse offered on behalf of the people of Judah, said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in My name, insisting that they were proclaiming their messages by authority of Jehovah; I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them, thus stating most emphatically that they were not engaged by authority from Him; they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination and a thing of naught, literally, "nothingness," to set forth the utter emptiness of their message, and the deceit of their heart, evil plans which they had laid in order to work mischief.
v. 15. Therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in My name and I sent them not, who were acting entirely without authority in bringing people a message of their own invention, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall these prophets be consumed, perishing by the very punishments whose existence they had denied.
v. 16. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, suffering a shameful death, because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, thus being deprived of even the last honor usually accorded to men, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters, all of these being in the same guilt and therefore in the same condemnation; for I will pour their wickedness upon them, so that us consequences will submerge them.
v. 17. Therefore thou shall say this word unto them, Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day and let them not cease, nothing but weeping being left for the prophet; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a wound which is very dangerous, with a very grievous blow, a fact which stirs the love of the prophet to its very depths.
v. 18. If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! no matter where he turns, the prophet's eyes encounter the ravages of war. Yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not, the destruction having rendered the country strange in their eyes, as familiar as they were formerly with every feature of the landscape on account of their frequent journeys. Thus had the Lord fulfilled the words of His threats and rebukes upon Judah.