The tribe of Benjamin resided in the Southern Kingdom with Judah. The Lord warns them to flee from Jerusalem because disaster, the Babylonian army, is coming from the north.
I have likened the daughter of Zion to a lovely and delicate woman.” Jeremiah 6:2
In other words, she was no match for the most powerful military on earth. The daughter of Zion was neither ready, nor fit to meet the challenges that her enemies would bring against her.
“The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her. They shall pitch their tents against her all around. Each one shall pasture in his own place.” Jeremiah 6:3
The shepherds are the Babylonians. They shall pitch their tents around Jerusalem before they attack it.
Babylon invaded Jerusalem during the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign. 2 Kings 24:10 says, “At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.” According to 2 Kings 24:6 and Jeremiah 22:18-19, King Jehoiakim of Judah died and was buried with the burial of an ass.
“Prepare war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are lengthening. Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces. For thus has the Lord of hosts said: cut down trees and build a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished. She is full of oppression in her midst.” Jeremiah 6:4-6
The Jeremiah 6:4-6 prophecy occurred when according to 2 Chronicles 36:19, the Babylonian army “burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles.”
“As a wells up with water, so she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds.” Jeremiah 6:7
Proverbs 25:26 says, “A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.”
Jerusalem was a cesspool of filth. Her odor was foul. She was covered in blasphemy. She was raised up for God’s glory but brought Him shame. She killed His prophets. Rather than redeem the lost, she oppressed them. Rather than comfort hurting souls, she exasperated them. Her abuse was overflowing wastewater. Unpleasant to deal control.
Isaiah 57:20 says, “The wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud.”
Proverbs 13:14 says, “The law of the wise is a fountain of LIFE, to turn one away from the snares of DEATH.”
“Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited.” Jeremiah 6:8
Professionals coached by others become outstanding. Jerusalem’s people rejected the coaching of His prophets.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: they shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel; as a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches.” Jeremiah 6:9
“They” refers to the armies of Babylon that God sent against the remnant of Israel to carry them away into exile. They gleaned Jerusalem of its inhabitants.
Babylon’s gleaning of Jerusalem’s “grapes” in the days of Jeremiah relates to the grape harvest recorded in Revelation 14:6-11, 14-20. Before the grape harvest in Revelation, an angel preaches the Gospel and that judgment is coming. Another angel predicts Babylon’s demise. A third angel warns of torment on beast worshippers. Next comes two grape harvests. One by the Son of Man! The second by an angel!
The first grape harvest is the rapture, and the second grape harvest is the second coming of Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, “The Lord… will descend from heaven… we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord.” The second grape harvest ends with the grapes cast into the winepress of God’s wrath, and with blood as deep as a horse’s bridles and for a space of 184 miles.
“To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Indeed, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold, the Word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.” Jeremiah 6:10
In Acts 7:56-59, Stephen saw the heavens opened and Jesus standing with God. He told people about it who cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and stoned him.
In John 7:7, Jesus said to His brothers, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.”
In Colossians 1:28, Paul wrote, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”
“Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord. I am weary of holding it in. I will pour it out on the children outside, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband shall be taken with the wife, the aged with him who is full of days.” Jeremiah 6:11
By God’s grace and Spirit, negative responses did not quench Jeremiah’s zeal to rescue his listeners. God’s love for them poured through him.
In Acts 4:20, the apostles also experienced the fury of the Lord. They said to their persecutors, “We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
“And their houses shall be turned over to others, fields and wives together; for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 6:12
The Lord’s Word to Judah is an eviction notice. They are going to lose their homes.
Previously, God told Jeremiah that if he found one righteous person, He would forgive the people. So, Jeremah searched. His hunger and thirst for righteousness drove him to make a comprehensive quest, but, alas, there was none righteous, no not one.
“From the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace.” Jeremiah 6:13-14
In Luke 16:13-14, Jesus confronted a similar attitude among the religious leaders in His day. After Jesus stated, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him.”
“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall; at the time I punish them, they shall be cast down,” says the Lord.” Jeremiah 6:15
In Philippians 3:19, Paul wrote of those, “Whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”
According to Deuteronomy 6:7, the exile could have been avoided if they had taught God’s commands diligently to their children, talked of them when they sat in their house, when they walked by the way, when they lied down, and when they woke up.
“Thus says the Lord: stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” Jeremiah 6:16
Colossians 2:6 says, “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.”
“Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people—the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words nor My law but rejected it.” Jeremiah 6:17-19
In Ezekiel 3:17, the Lord calls those who walk with Him to look out for those who are not. The Lord said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a Word from My mouth, warn them from Me.”
We need to heed those who watch over our souls. Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”
“For what purpose to Me comes frankincense from Sheba, and sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.” Jeremiah 6:20
The people of Jerusalem wanted God on their own terms. They burned imported sweet cane to Him. They assumed He liked sugar. Insubordination, however, is not sweet to God.
They should have been like, “No sugar please. ”Justice is sweet to God. Mercy is sweet to God. Humility is sweet to God. As Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
“Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.” Jeremiah 6:21
The stumbling blocks that God laid before the idolators in Judah was war, pestilence and famine. In Romans 11:3, 9, Paul wrote that the righteous prayed, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution to them.” God bore patiently their crimes but finally answered the prayers of the righteous.
“Thus says the Lord: behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth. They will lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, as men of war set in array against you, oh daughter of Zion.” Jeremiah 6:22-23
Throughout this chapter, the Lord repeats that the conquerors are coming. They are cruel. They should not expect any mercy from them.
“We have heard the report of it; our hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor. Do not go out into the field, nor walk by the way. Because of the sword of the enemy, fear is on every side.” Jeremiah 6:24-25
Anguish! Pain as of a woman in labor! Birth pangs proceed new birth. Judah will experience severe pain (Babylonian captivity) but not long after that, Messiah will come. Messiah will baptize God’s people with fire. The Holy Spirit will empower them to light up the world for God.
“O daughter of my people, dress in sackcloth and roll about in ashes! Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the plunderer will suddenly come upon us.” Jeremiah 6:26
According Psalm 2:10, the Son that they would morn for one day is the one they pierced... Jesus Christ. We need to cry out for God’s Son. He is the One who delivers us from the one who plunders our souls
“I have set you as an assayer and a fortress among My people, that you may know and test their way.” Jeremiah 6:27
Would Jeremiah find any precious metal among them?
An assayer takes raw ore and smelts it in fire and in additives to extract the precious metal from the dross. John Wesley Notes says, “I have set you as assayer to test their ways” — as refiners do metals. Hereby he is encouraged to reprove them more freely. God will give him [Jeremiah] prudence to see what is amiss, and undauntedness to oppose it.”
“I have set you as a fortress among My people, that you may know and test their way.” John Wesley Notes says, “Here God speaks by way of encouragement to the prophet, and tells him, He had made him a fortified tower, that he might be safe, notwithstanding all the attempts against him.”
The Holy Spirit convicts people of their sins through His prophets. Ezekiel 22:2 says, “You, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.”
“They are all stubborn rebels, walking as slanderers. They are bronze and iron, they are all corrupters.” Jeremiah 6:28
In Ezekiel 22:18-22, the Lord said, “Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. ... As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in the midst thereof; and you shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you.”
“The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; the smelter refines in vain, for the wicked are not drawn off.” Jeremiah 6:29
1 Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.”
“People will call them rejected silver because the Lord has rejected them.” Jeremiah 6:30
In John 15:2, Jesus said, “Every branch in Me that bears not fruit He takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”
Hosea 9:17 says, “My God will cast them away because they have not listened to Him. They will be wanderers among the nations.”
Psalm 66:10-12 says, “You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; you laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but You brought us out to rich fulfillment.”
After the tribulation of 70 years in Babylon, the people came back to their homeland with a heart for God. The Books of Nehemiah and Ezra bear witness to this miracle. It was as though Judah had died and resurrected.
According to Revelation 8:3-6, God turns the prayers of His saints into fire and bring judgment down on the spirit of harlotry that will be in the earth. Then, after seven years of tribulation, the Lord returns...
In 2 Peter 3:13, Peter wrote “According to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
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