Jeremiah 8 · The Lantern

Judah’s Sin and Punishment

At that time, says the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:

And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.

And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places where I have driven them, says the LORD of hosts.

Moreover you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?

And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men; for there is hope of the repentance, that they may attain to God. For "cannot he that falls arise again, and he that goes astray return?" Permit them, then, to be instructed by you. Be ye therefore the ministers of God, and the mouth of Christ.

God is indeed good to everyone, but he shows his patient endurance especially to those who sin. If you want to hear a paradoxical statement—paradoxical because it is not customary but true for the great piety it reveals—listen. God always seems to be severe to the righteous. But he seems good to sinners and quick to clemency.

It is worth our while observing, in what way his sin was forgiven, and how he put away his fault. The event may prove of no slight benefit to us. He did not then defer his repentance. Nor was he careless about it, for as rapid as was his decent into sin, so quick were his tears because of it. Nor did he merely weep, but he wept bitterly.

Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

They have all abandoned him. There is no one who speaks well and does penance for his sins. They follow their own wills like a horse ready for battle. They bend their tongue as a bow. They invent everything, and there is no truth in them.

Those then who perish, perish against his will. This he testifies against each one of them day by day: "Turn from your evil ways. Why will you die, O house of Israel?" And again: "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not." And: "Why has this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn revolting?

Just as there is no illness that is incurable for our physician, so the heavenly medicine cannot be powerless in any wound or for any length of time. Therefore, the physician testifies that he is always able to restore health to the one converted.

I listened and heard, but they spoke not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle.

Jeremiah also says, in like manner: "The turtle and the swallow have known her time, and the sparrows of the field have observed the times of their coming, but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord. How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? The meting out is in vain. The scribes are deceived and confounded.

Wherefore it were meet exceedingly to admire the consideration of our Lawgiver, in that, when He might bring forward His illustration from among men, and when He might have spoken of Moses and Elias and John, and others like them, who took no thought; that He might touch them more to the quick, He made mention of the irrational beings.

(Verse 6.) I listened and heard: no one speaks what is good. There is no one who repents for his sin, saying: what have I done? All have turned to their own course, like a horse rushing into battle.

Yes, the stork in the heaven knows her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.

How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Look, certainly in vain he made it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.

The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: look, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?

Therefore will I give their wives to others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even to the priest every one deals falsely.

For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

The arranged time comes to our people; there is peace in the world; and, at the same time, ruin is weighing us down from the enticement of the world, (the destruction) of the reckless people whom you have rent into schism. Either obey the law of the city, or depart from it. You behold the mote sticking in our eyes, and will not see the beam in your own.

Do not believe the false prophets who say, "Peace, peace, and there is no peace"; who are always repeating, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." "Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish things; they have not laid bare your iniquity that they might call you to repentance—those who devour God's people like bread have not called on God." Jeremiah announced t…

Such, then, should Christ's apostles be preachers of the gospel and not ones who greet on the road. That is, not ones who look for something else, but those who proclaim the gospel out of genuine brotherly love. Let them come to the house and say, "Peace be to this house." They do not only say it with their lips, but they pour out what they are full of.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the LORD.

I will surely consume them, says the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.

The People Respond

Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and look trouble!

The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.

For, look, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the LORD.

Jeremiah Weeps for His People

When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.

Look the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images, and with strange vanities?

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment has taken hold on me.

Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Let no one, then, run down the law, as if, on account of the penalty, it were not beautiful and good. Shouldn't he who drives away bodily disease appear as a benefactor? Shouldn't he who attempts to deliver the soul from iniquity even more appear as a friend since the soul is a more precious thing than the body?

"Shall not he that falls rise again, and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again?" Why, then, is the virgin "turned away with a stubborn revolting," even though she heard Christ, her spouse, saying through Jeremiah: "And when she had committed all these fornications, I said: Return to me, and she did not return?" "Is there no balm in Gilead?

(Ver. 22.) Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? Not only in this place, but also in many other passages of the Scriptures, we find the balm of Gilead being used as a symbol of repentance and healing.

Jeremiah8

Judah’s Sin and Punishment

The People Respond

Jeremiah Weeps for His People