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6. Jerusalem Under Siege

¹ “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin!
   Flee from Jerusalem!
Sound the trumpet in Tekoa!
   Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem!
For disaster looms out of the north,
   even terrible destruction.
² I will destroy Daughter Zion,
   so beautiful and delicate.
³ Shepherds with their flocks will come against her;
   they will pitch their tents around her,
   each tending his own portion.”

    ⁴ “Prepare for battle against her!
   Arise, let us attack at noon!
But, alas, the daylight is fading,
   and the shadows of evening grow long.
⁵ So arise, let us attack at night
   and destroy her fortresses!”

⁶ This is what the LORD Almighty says:

   “Cut down the trees
   and build siege ramps against Jerusalem.
This city must be punished;
   it is filled with oppression.
⁷ As a well pours out its water,
   so she pours out her wickedness.
Violence and destruction resound in her;
   her sickness and wounds are ever before me.
⁸ Take warning, Jerusalem,
   or I will turn away from you
and make your land desolate
   so no one can live in it.”

⁹ This is what the LORD Almighty says:

   “Let them glean the remnant of Israel
   as thoroughly as a vine;
pass your hand over the branches again,
   like one gathering grapes.”

    ¹⁰ To whom can I speak and give warning?
   Who will listen to me?
Their ears are closed Hebrew uncircumcised
   so they cannot hear.
The word of the LORD is offensive to them;
   they find no pleasure in it.
¹¹ But I am full of the wrath of the LORD,
   and I cannot hold it in.

   “Pour it out on the children in the street
   and on the young men gathered together;
both husband and wife will be caught in it,
   and the old, those weighed down with years.
¹² Their houses will be turned over to others,
   together with their fields and their wives,
when I stretch out my hand
   against those who live in the land,” declares the LORD.
¹³ “From the least to the greatest,
   all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
   all practice deceit.
¹⁴ They dress the wound of my people
   as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
   when there is no peace.
¹⁵ Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
   No, they have no shame at all;
   they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
   they will be brought down when I punish them,” says the LORD.

¹⁶ This is what the LORD says:

   “Stand at the crossroads and look;
   ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
   and you will find rest for your souls.
   But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
¹⁷ I appointed watchmen over you and said,
   ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
   But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
¹⁸ Therefore hear, you nations;
   you who are witnesses,
   observe what will happen to them.
¹⁹ Hear, you earth:
   I am bringing disaster on this people,
   the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not listened to my words
   and have rejected my law.
²⁰ What do I care about incense from Sheba
   or sweet calamus from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable;
   your sacrifices do not please me.”

²¹ Therefore this is what the LORD says:

   “I will put obstacles before this people.
   Parents and children alike will stumble over them;
   neighbors and friends will perish.”

²² This is what the LORD says:

   “Look, an army is coming
   from the land of the north;
a great nation is being stirred up
   from the ends of the earth.
²³ They are armed with bow and spear;
   they are cruel and show no mercy.
They sound like the roaring sea
   as they ride on their horses;
they come like men in battle formation
   to attack you, Daughter Zion.”

    ²⁴ We have heard reports about them,
   and our hands hang limp.
Anguish has gripped us,
   pain like that of a woman in labor.
²⁵ Do not go out to the fields
   or walk on the roads,
for the enemy has a sword,
   and there is terror on every side.
²⁶ Put on sackcloth, my people,
   and roll in ashes;
mourn with bitter wailing
   as for an only son,
for suddenly the destroyer
   will come upon us.

    ²⁷ “I have made you a tester of metals
   and my people the ore,
that you may observe
   and test their ways.
²⁸ They are all hardened rebels,
   going about to slander.
They are bronze and iron;
   they all act corruptly.
²⁹ The bellows blow fiercely
   to burn away the lead with fire,
but the refining goes on in vain;
   the wicked are not purged out.
³⁰ They are called rejected silver,
   because the LORD has rejected them.”

Though the Prophet had spoken as though there was no remedy for the evils of Jerusalem, he yet exhorts it to seek peace with God, and addresses men past remedy in his name. It is then the same as though God was stopping in the middle course of his wrath, and saying, “What is to be done? Shall I destroy the city which I have chosen?” He then attributes here to God a paternal feeling, as we also find in several other places: God appeared as unwilling to proceed to extreme rigor in punishing his people.

“Alas! I will now take vengeance on mine enemies,”
he says by Isaiah. (Isaiah 1:24)

He called them enemies, and justly too; for as it was said before, they ceased not to carry on war against him; but he spoke with grief: “Alas! must I take vengeance on mine enemies; I would, however, willingly spare them, were it possible.” God is not indeed subject to grief or to repentance; but his ineffable goodness cannot be otherwise expressed to us but by such mode of speaking. So also, in this place, we see that God as it were restrains himself; for he had previously commanded the enemies to ascend quickly the walls, to overturn the towers, and to destroy the whole city; but now, as though he had repented, he says, Be instructed, ¹⁶⁸¹⁶⁸ Or, “Be warned,“ or, “Be reformed.” The verb in Niphal is found in four other places, Leviticus 26:23; Psalm 2:10; Proverbs 29:19; Jeremiah 31:18, and rendered reformed, instructed, corrected, and chastised. It is the same as to receive correction and to become reformed. — Ed. Jerusalem; that is, “Can we not yet be reconciled?” It is like the conduct of an offended father, who intends to punish his son, and yet desires to moderate his displeasure, and to blend some indulgence with rigor. Be then instructed; that is, “There is yet room for reconciliation, if thou wishest; provided thou shewest thyself willing to relinquish that perverseness by which thou hast hitherto provoked me, I will in return prove myself to be a father.”

There is no doubt but the object of the threatenings of the prophets was to lead the people to know their sins, and suppliantly to seek pardon; for why were the unbelieving threatened, except that God thereby proved whether they were healable? It is indeed true that the reprobate are known by God, and that God does not try or seek to find what is in their hearts, as though he did not know their obstinacy; but as I have already said, God speaks here after the manner of men: and he also shews what is the end of teaching, which is to lead men to repentance; and this cannot be done without giving them the hope of pardon and reconciliation. The Prophet thus briefly shews here for what purpose he had hitherto so dreadfully threatened the Jews, even to lead them at length to repentance.

Lest torn shall be my soul from thee ¹⁶⁹¹⁶⁹ Or, “Lest forced shall be my soul from thee.” The verb means to drive, to thrust, to force. To “depart,“ as rendered by the ancient versions, and by our version, is too weak, and is not the idea; and still worse is “alienated,“ as rendered by Blayney. It intimates God’s unwillingness, as it were, to give up his chosen people, according to what Calvin observes. — Ed. Here God more clearly shews that he was as yet restrained by love. He alludes no doubt to a similitude which we have observed in another place; for God sustains the character of a spouse to his Church; and hence he shews, that he had not yet divested himself of that love which a husband has towards his wife. For a husband, when grievously offended at his wife, cannot immediately throw aside his conjugal affection; some feeling of this kind will ever remain. And we have seen in the fourth chapter, that God surpasses all husbands in kindness; for he says there, “When a repudiated wife has found another husband, will the former receive her again? Return to me, thou harlot, return to me, thou strumpet and adulteress, and I am ready to pardon thee.” It is the same course that God pursues here, “Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul wholly depart from thee;” as though he had said, “Even though I am now angry, and have resolved severely to punish thy perfidy and rebellion, I shall yet be reconciled to thee, provided thou returnest.” And it is added, Lest I make thee a desolate land, a land uninhabited

The Prophet in short shews in this verse, that however grievously offended God was with his people, there was yet a hope of pardon; for he would be propitious to the people, if they turned and humbly confessed their sins, and sought to return into favor with him. It follows —