Jeremiah 15:5

FURTHER PROPHECIES OF JUDAH'S RUIN

"For who will have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who will bemoan thee? or who will turn aside to ask of thy welfare? Thou hast rejected Jehovah, thou art gone backward: therefore have I stretched out my hand against thee, and destroyed thee; I am weary with repenting. And I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them of children, I have destroyed my people; they returned not from their ways. Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas; I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly. She that hath borne seven languisheth; she hath given up the ghost; her sun has gone down while it was yet day; she hath been put to shame and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith Jehovah."

The consistent use of the past tense in this paragraph should not be misunderstood. "The first few verbs here (Jeremiah 15:5) and the last verb (Jeremiah 15:9) are in the imperfect tense; and most of the rest are perfects. They portray that which has not yet happened as though it had already transpired, so certain is the prophet that it is going to come about."[7]

"Thou art gone backward ..." (Jeremiah 15:6). The whole nation had reverted to the gross paganism of the reign of Manasseh.

"I am weary of repenting ..." (Jeremiah 15:6). Judah was aware of the great truth that when they repented God would turn and bless them again, as fully expounded by Jeremiah a little later in this prophecy (Jeremiah 18:7-10); but this stresses another fact that Judah had either forgotten or had never even known, that being the fact that "there is a point of no return" in the persistent wickedness of any man or of any nation. It was evident in the classical account of Balaam, who set out on a rebellious course, contrary to God's instructions; and when the going became really rough, he said, "I will get me back again" (Numbers 22:34); but God commanded him, saying, "Go with the men" (Numbers 22:35). There always comes the time in the career of rebellion against God that an angel with a drawn sword stands in the way and says, "Go on in the way you have chosen; you have made your bed, now lie in it; you have preferred to rebel, now abide by the consequences!" Even the forgiveness metered out to the repentant sinner in many cases can never nullify the physical consequences of a sinful life.

"They returned not from their ways ..." (Jeremiah 15:7). "It was no different in the seventh century from what it was in the eighth (Amos 4:6-11)";[8] and from this is seen the fact that a full century of God's forbearance with the rebellious Israelites had made no significant difference whatever.

"The gates of the land ..." (Jeremiah 15:7). As Keil pointed out here, "`The gates of the land' is undoubtedly a reference to the land of Judah."[9]

"Mother of the young men" (Jeremiah 15:7) This is a metaphor in which Jerusalem, or Judah, is represented as seeing her sons sacrificed to the sword.