Geremia 5:9 Commento

Reproof for sin and threatenings of judgment are intermixed in this chapter, and are set the one over against the other: judgments are threatened, that the reproofs of sin might be the more effectual to bring them to repentance; sin is discovered, that God might be justified in the judgments threatened. I. The sins they are charged with are very great: - Injustice (Jer 5:1), hypocrisy in religion (Jer 5:2), incorrigibleness (Jer 5:3), the corruption and debauchery of both poor and rich (Jer 5:4, Jer 5:5), idolatry and adultery (Jer 5:7, Jer 5:8), treacherous departures from God (Jer 5:11), and impudent defiance of him (Jer 5:12, Jer 5:13), and, that which is at the bottom of all this, want of the fear of God, notwithstanding the frequent calls given them to fear him (Jer 5:20-24). In the close of the chapter they are charged with violence and oppression (Jer 5:26-28), and a combination of those to debauch the nation who should have been active to reform it (Jer 5:30, Jer 5:31). II. The judgments they are threatened with are very terrible. In general, they shall be reckoned with (Jer 5:9, Jer 5:29). A foreign enemy shall be brought in upon them (Jer 5:15-17), shall set guards upon them (Jer 5:6), shall destroy their fortification (Jer 5:10), shall carry them away into captivity (Jer 5:19), and keep all good things from them (Jer 5:25). Herein the words of God's prophets shall be fulfilled (Jer 5:14). But, III. Here is an intimation twice given that God would in the midst of wrath remember mercy, and not utterly destroy them (Jer 5:10, Jer 5:18). This was the scope and purport of Jeremiah's preaching in the latter end of Josiah's reign and the beginning of Jehoiakim's; but the success of it did not answer expectation.

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 5 This chapter contains a further account of the destruction of the Jews by the Chaldeans, and the causes of it, the sins of the people, as want of justice and truth; being so corrupt, that a just and faithful man was not to be found among them; could there, the city would have been pardoned for his sake, Jer 5:1, their swearing falsely by the name of the Lord, Jer 5:2, their incorrigibleness by chastisements, which was the case not only of the lower, but higher rank of people, Jer 5:3, wherefore the enemy, who for his cruelty is compared to a lion, a wolf, and a leopard, is threatened to be let in among them, Jer 5:6, then other sins are mentioned as the cause of it, as idolatry and adultery, Jer 5:7 hence the enemy has a commission to scale their walls, take away their battlements, though not to make a full end, the Lord disowning them for his, Jer 5:10, because of their perfidy against him, their belying of him, contradicting what he had said, and despising the word sent by his prophets, Jer 5:11, wherefore it is threatened, that his word like fire should devour them; and that a distant, mighty, and ancient nation, of a foreign speech, should invade them; who, like an open sepulchre, would devour them, and eat up the increase of their fields, vineyards, flocks, and herds, and impoverish their cities, yet not make a full end of them, Jer 5:14, and in just retaliation should they serve strangers in a foreign country, who had served strange gods in their own, Jer 5:19 then a declaration is published, and an expostulation is made with them, who are represented as foolish, ignorant, and blind, that they would fear the Lord; which is pressed by arguments taken from the power of God, in restraining the sea, which had no effect upon them; and from the goodness of God, in giving the former and latter rain, and the appointed weeks of the harvest, which their sins turned away and withheld from them, Jer 5:20, and then other sins are mentioned as the cause of God's visiting them in a way of vengeance, as the defrauding of men in trade, and the oppression of the fatherless and the poor in judgment; and false prophesying, to the advantage of the priests, and the king of the people, Jer 5:26.

Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord,.... For such adulteries and lasciviousness, and that in a way of punishment. The Targum adds, "to bring evil upon them;'' the evil of punishment for the evil of sin: and shall not my soul be avenged upon such a nation as this? which cannot delight in sin, but hates it; and therefore must punish for it; vindictive and punitive justice is essential to God; as sin is contrary to his nature, it is agreeable to it to punish for it; he cannot but do it; and he does avenge all sin, either on the sinner himself, or on his surety.

(Vers. 9) Will I not visit them for these things, says the Lord? Will my soul not avenge itself on such a nation? When you do these things, he says, are you not worthy of punishment? And note that here visitation is used as punishment and torment, according to what is written: I will visit their iniquities with a rod. And in such a nation my soul will not be avenged (Psalm 88:33)? After it is bound by sins, it is not called the people of God, but a nation from which the soul of God has departed, according to what is written: My soul hates your new moons, your Sabbaths and your festivals (Isaiah 1:13). But what is said in the Old Testament for emotion, is written in the New Testament for truth: With the Savior saying: I have the power to lay down my life, and I have the power to take it up again (John 10:18).

THE CAUSE OF THE JUDGMENTS TO BE INFLICTED IS THE UNIVERSAL CORRUPTION OF THE PEOPLE. (Jer. 5:1-31) a man--As the pious Josiah, Baruch, and Zephaniah lived in Jerusalem at that time, Jeremiah must here mean the mass of the people, the king, his counsellors, the false prophets, and the priests, as distinguished from the faithful few, whom God had openly separated from the reprobate people; among the latter not even one just person was to be found (Isa 9:16) [CALVIN]; the godly, moreover, were forbidden to intercede for them (Jer 7:16; compare Gen 18:23, &c.; Psa 12:1; Eze 22:30). see . . . know--look . . . ascertain. judgment--justice, righteousness. pardon it--rather, her.

(Jer 5:29; Jer 9:9; Jer 44:22).