Jeremiah 5 · The Lantern

No One Is Just

Run you back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its broad places, if you can find a man, if there be any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.

And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely.

O LORD, are not your eyes upon the truth? you have stricken them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.

Truly, slander humiliates a person, and slander troubles the poor person. The evil of slander is so great that it brings down both the perfect person … from his height, and the poor person, that is, the one who lacks great learning, as it seems to the prophet, who says, "Perhaps they are poor … therefore they will not hear.

(Vers. 4, 5.) But I said: Perhaps they are poor and foolish (or they were unable) and ignorant of the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. Therefore, I will go to the noble ones, and I will speak to them: for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.

"Well-off" refers to the priests and the teachers of the law; "poor" refers to the rest, insofar as they did not possess the wealth of divine knowledge. Yet he accuses both of lawlessness, proceeding in this way, "They all alike broke the yoke, they snapped the bonds." It was not without purpose the prophet said this.

I will get me to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall plunder them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.

How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the prostitutes’ houses.

They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.

Those who do indeed reject the Spirit's counsel, and are the slaves of fleshly lusts, and lead lives contrary to reason, and who, without restraint, plunge headlong into their own desires, having no longing after the Divine Spirit, do live after the manner of swine and of dogs; these men does the apostle very properly term "carnal," because they have no thought of anything else…

The neighing horse depicts the recklessness of young men.

Murder is rare among slaves because of their dread and terror of capital punishment, but it is common among the rich because of their hope and trust in impunity. Perhaps we are wrong in putting in the category of sins what the rich people do, because, when they kill their slaves, they think that it is legal and not a crime.

Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Go you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’s.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.

They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them.

Judgment Proclaimed

Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, Because you speak this word, look, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Look, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you know not, neither understand what they say.

Their quiver is as an open tomb, they are all mighty men.

And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish your fortified cities, in which you trusted, with the sword.

Nevertheless in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.

And it shall happen, when you shall say, Why does the LORD our God all these things to us? then shall you answer them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:

One who does not carefully weigh every word of the opinions uttered cannot rightly discover the value of the assertion. For someone like this, who only possesses skill in disputation and ornaments of speech, cannot penetrate to the very heart of Scripture and the mysteries of its spiritual meanings. True knowledge is acquired only by true worshipers of God.

Not understanding him who had been anointed and sent and who was the author of such wonderful works, they returned to their usual ways and talked about him in a foolish and vain way. For although they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded out of his mouth, yet their wish was to treat them as valueless.

That it is the height of folly not to fear, the Lord says in Jeremiah: "Hear, O foolish people, who have no heart: who having eyes, see not, and ears, and hear not. Will you then not fear me, and will you not be grieved at my presence? I who have set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an everlasting decree, which it shall not pass beyond." Do you not fear me?

Fear not me? says the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though its waves toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

Through all the story of waters be mindful of that first word, "Let the waters be gathered." It was necessary for them to flow that they might reach their own place. Then, being in the places appointed, they were to remain by themselves and not to advance further.

The vessel was severely tossed by the violence of the tempest and the breaking of the waves. And along with the ship, the faith of the disciples also was tossed, so to speak, by similar agitations. But Christ, whose authority extends over all, immediately arose.

But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.

For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and grown rich.

They are grown fat, they shine: yes, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in its end?

Jeremiah5

No One Is Just

Judgment Proclaimed