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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.”

The Prophet teaches us here that the fault of the people could not be extenuated as though they had sinned through ignorance; for they had been warned more than necessary by God. The same sentiment is found in Isaiah,

“This is your rest; but they would not hear.” (Isaiah 28:12.)

But our Prophet more at large condemns the Jews; for God had commanded them to stand in the ways, to look and to inquire respecting all the old paths. He uses a similitude: and we ought not to doubt respecting the way, since it has been shewn to us by the mouth of God. But the impiety of the people is exposed and reproved, because they did not so much as open their eyes, when God shewed them the way and allowed them a free choice: for he introduces God here, not strictly as one who commands, but as one who shews so much indulgence, that the people were free to choose the way they approved and thought best. When God deals so kindly with men, and so condescendingly sets before them what is useful and expedient, it is the basest ingratitude to reject such kindness on God’s part.

We now then understand the Prophet’s design in saying, that God had commanded them to stand in the ways and to consider what was best to be done. Consider, he says, and ye shall find rest, that is, that ye may find rest (for the copulative here denotes the end) to your souls ¹⁷⁷¹⁷⁷     Blayney renders the word for “rest,” מרגוע, “restoration;” but his long note is not satisfactory. It is rendered, strangely enough, by the Septuagint, “purification — ἁγνισμὸν;” but by the Vulgate, “refreshment — refrigerium;” and by the Syriac and Targum, “rest — requiem;” which seems to be its meaning, especially here, as it stands in contrast with the false peace promised by the false prophets.
   The representation is that of travelers, who, when doubtful as to the right road, are to stand, that is, to stop, to look, and also to inquire. There were several old paths before them, but they were to inquire which was the good way, and to walk in it. This was what Jehovah by his prophets had exhorted the people to do, who had false prophets among them; but they refused to do so. It is a relation of what God had done, —
   Thus has Jehovah said, — “Stand ye by the ways and look, And ask, as to the paths of old, Where that is, the good way; And walk ye in it, And ye shall find rest to your souls:” But they said, “We will not walk in it.”
   There were many paths of old, or of antiquity, as there are still; but there was one good way, the way of God’s word. That the way is old is no proof that it is good. Error’s ways are as old as the way of truth. — Ed. Here the Prophet means, that it remained only with the Jews to secure prosperity and a quiet state; for if they had obeyed the counsel of God, rest would have been provided for them: in short, he means, that they were miserable through their own willfulness; for God had set before them the prospect of a happy condition, but this favor had been despised by them, and wantonly despised, as these words intimate, And they said, We will not walk in it

We see that the people’s perverseness is here discovered; because they might have otherwise objected and said, that they had been deceived, and that if they had been in time warned, they would have obeyed good and wise counsels. In order to cut off this handle, Jeremiah says, that they from deliberate wickedness had rejected the rest offered them by God: they have said, We will not walk in it. This resolution deafly shews that they obstinately remained in their sins; so that the rest, which was within their reach, was not chosen by them.

This passage contains a valuable truth, — that faith ever brings us peace with God, and that not only because it leads us to acquiesce in God’s mercy, and thus, as Paul teaches us, (Romans 5:1,) produces this as its perpetual fruit; but because the will of God alone is sufficient to appease our minds. Whosoever then embraces from the heart the truth as coming from God, is at peace; for God never suffers his own people to fluctuate while they recumb on him, but shews to them how great stability belongs to his truth. If it was so under the Law and the Prophets, as we have seen from Isaiah, how much more shall we obtain rest under Christ, provided we submit, to his word; for he has himself promised it, “Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.” And ye shall find rest, he says here, to your souls. This passage then serves to commend this celestial truth, that it avails to pacify consciences, so that there is no perplexity nor doubt. It follows —