5:1 The Lord said, “Go up and down through the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and see for yourselves. Search through its public squares. See if any of you can find a single person who deals honestly and tries to be truthful. If you can, then I will not punish this city.
Jehovah offered a challenge to Jeremiah. He asked Jeremiah to walk up and down the city streets of Jerusalem and see if he could find one righteous man. If Jeremiah could find one righteous man, then Jehovah would postpone His destruction to a later date.
It is interesting to note that King Josiah was righteous, but he was dead. Daniel and his three friends were righteous, but they were taken to Babylon during the first deportation. No one else in Jerusallem was righteous.
Israel was a fig tree who produced rotten figs. Jehovah wanted Jeremiah to understand the reason for His prophecies of destruction.
5:2 These people make promises in the name of the Lord. But the fact is, what they swear to is really a lie.”
Israel made many external promises to God, but she never kept them.
5:3 Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected. They have become as hardheaded as a rock. They refuse to change their ways.
Jeremiah had finally recognized that Jehovah’s discipline upon Judah did not help her at all. The more revelation that Judah received, the more it hardened her. The Word of God did not make her softer, but harder. The Word of God will soften a believer, but it will harden the unbeliever. Therefore, when liberals reject the Word of God, they become more and more foolish. Yet, they think they are wise.
5:4 I thought, “Surely it is only the ignorant poor who act this way. They act like fools because they do not know what the Lord demands. They do not know what their God requires of them.
Jeremiah’s human opinion was that the poor did not apply God’s word, because their poverty caused them to lack biblical education.
5:5 I will go to the leaders and speak with them. Surely they know what the Lord demands. Surely they know what their God requires of them.” Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority and refuse to submit to him.
The leaders possessed more biblical education, so he looked for a righteous man among the wealthy leadership. However, they had all rejected the authority of God and refused to submit to God. This is similar to all of the college professors who are educated in secular humanism, but not in Bible doctrine. Education and wealth simply brings a more harsher judgment from God.
5:6 So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them. Like a wolf from the desert they will destroy them. Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. For they have rebelled so much and done so many unfaithful things.
In Daniel, the Gentile nations would be described as beasts who desired to devour Israel. The Gentile nations would be like lions, wolves, and leopards who waited outside of Jewish cities desiring to devour her as sheep. God would allow these Gentile nations to wait outside of Jewish cities, because Israel was unfaithful to God.
5:7 The Lord asked, “How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes.
If God is just, then He must punish adultery. The penalty for adultery was capital punishment. God would have no choice but to judge Judah.
Since many modern nations today will not pass capital punishment laws for adultery or bisexual fornication, then it is interesting to note that sexual diseases often visit those who indulge in these sins.
5:8 They are like lusty, well-fed stallions. Each of them lusts after his neighbor’s wife.
The spiritual adultery of Israel led to physical adultery.
5:9 I will surely punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord. “I will surely bring retribution on such a nation as this!”
The Hebrew word for “punish” is פָּקַד (pakad), meaning to visit with the intent to judge and punish. Israel had committed spiritual adultery, so God planned on visiting them, judging them, and punishing them.
The Hebrew word for “nation” is גּוֺיִם (goyim), meaning Gentiles. Jeremiah was calling the Jewish nation גּוֺיִם (goyim), meaning that the chosen people had sank to the level of pagan-worshiping Gentiles.
5:10 The Lord commanded the enemy, “March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them. But do not destroy them completely. Strip off their branches for these people do not belong to the Lord.
Jehovah would make a call to Babylon. He would ask them to march through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and destroy her. However, Israel and Judah were not to be destroyed completely. God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to bless Israel forever. Therefore, Israel can never be completely destroyed as a nation. The Abrahamic Covenant protects Israel from an eternal genocide. Many nations have tried to exterminate Israel, but Israel is still here and those other nations have been destroyed. Many of these nations are extinct. The others exist as third world nations.
5:11 For the nations of Israel and Judah have been very unfaithful to me,” says the Lord.
Both Judah and Israel had been unfaithful to Jehovah.
5:12 “These people have denied what the Lord says. They have said, ‘That is not so! No harm will come to us. We will not experience war and famine.
Since Israel and Judah worshiped other demonic gods, then they did not believe the words of Jehovah. Therefore, they did not think that they would experience war and famine.
5:13 The prophets will prove to be full of wind. The Lord has not spoken through them. So, let what they say happen to them.’ ”
Judah believed that the prophets (Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel) were a bunch of windbags who were not speaking the Word of God.
5:14 Because of that, the Lord, the God who rules over all, said to me, “Because these people have spoken like this, I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire. And I will make this people like wood which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up.”
Jehovah is sovereign over all things, including historical events of the future. Since the people of Judah had called God’s prophets windbags who were speaking hot air, then God would turn His words into literal fire. The people of Judah would be like wood. The Word of God would burn the people of Judah like fire. The people would feel the burning effects of the Word of God, so they would no longer call God’s Word a bunch of hot air.
5:15 The Lord says, “Listen, nation of Israel! I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you. It will be a nation that was founded long ago and has lasted for a long time. It will be a nation whose language you will not know. Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.
Jeremiah had not yet mentioned the name of this northern nation. He did give Israel some clues about this future nation who would destroy Judah. It would be a nation from far away. It would be a nation which was founded a long time ago (during the time of Nimrod). This nation would speak Aramaic, but not Hebrew (although the two languages were similar). Judah would not be able to understand the foreign language of this invading nation.
5:16 All of its soldiers are strong and mighty. Their arrows will send you to your grave.
This army would bring expert bowmen and experienced soldiers.
5:17 They will eat up your crops and your food. They will kill off your sons and your daughters. They will eat up your sheep and your cattle. They will destroy your vines and your fig trees. Their weapons will batter down the fortified cities you trust in.
This nations would eat the crops of Judah. They would kill the children of Judah. They would eat the livestock of Judah. They would destroy their agricultural developments. Their weapons would destroy the fortified cities in which the people trusted.
5:18 Yet even then I will not completely destroy you,” says the Lord.
Israel would be protected from genocide by the Abrahamic Covenant.
5:19 “So then, Jeremiah, when your people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ tell them, ‘It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So you must serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you.’
Jehovah would forsake Judah for two reasons. First, Judah rejected God. Second, Judah worshiped demons.
5:20 “Proclaim this message among the descendants of Jacob. Make it known throughout Judah.
Jehovah gave Jeremiah a new prophecy to spread throughout the nation of Judah.
5:21 Tell them: ‘Hear this, you foolish people who have no understanding, who have eyes but do not discern, who have ears but do not perceive:
Judah possessed spiritual blindness and spiritual deafness. Jesus addressed the Pharisees and Sadducees with this same warning.
5:22 “You should fear me!” says the Lord. “You should tremble in awe before me! I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea, a permanent barrier that it can never cross. Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail. They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary.”
Judah’s Bible doctrine was so weak that she had no fear of God. She did not recognize that she should tremble in front of God, because He alone decides how much revelation that a person would receive. Jehovah was the one who made every grain of sand so that the grains of sand would become a boundary for the sea.
5:23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone their own way.
Judah possessed a stubborn and rebellious personality against God, She was interested in worshiping and serving demons, but she was acting against God.
5:24 They do not say to themselves, “Let us revere the Lord our God. It is he who gives us the autumn rains and the spring rains at the proper time. It is he who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.”
Judah did not recognize that it was Jehovah who was providing to her the fall and spring rains. It was Jehovah who brought them either prosperity or famine to Judah.
5:25 Your misdeeds have stopped these things from coming. Your sins have deprived you of my bounty.’
Judah’s sins caused blessings to be withheld. These promises were true for ancient Israel underneath the Mosaic Law, but they are not true for the modern church. The modern church is called to suffer, not prosper.
5:26 “Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people. They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. They set deadly traps to catch people.
The rich were corrupt. They were like bird catchers who were setting deadly traps for the poor.
5:27 Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful.
The Judah aristocrats became wealthy by deceiving, swindling, and persecuting others.
5:28 That is how they have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to the evil things they do. They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it. They do not defend the rights of the poor.
Judah grew materially prosperous by deceit. If she would have kept the Mosaic Law, then she could have grown even more prosperous by being righteous.
5:29 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the Lord. “I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this!
Jehovah would visit Judah in judgment.
5:30 “Something horrible and shocking is going on in the land of Judah:
Jeremiah was about to reveal some terrible and shocking information about Judah.
5:31 The prophets prophesy lies. The priests exercise power by their own authority. And my people love to have it this way. But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes!
The false prophets lied. The Levitical priesthood was responsible for teaching the people and protecting them from theological error. However, the Levites allowed these false prophets to give out false information to the people. The terrible and shocking thing was that Israel enjoyed the false prophets. They enjoyed having their ears tickled. They wanted to hear more.
It is important to note that this attitude has spread throughout the modern church today. Those who attend the modern church are not interested in hearing the entire counsel of the Word of God being taught at the deepest level. They do not possess the Hebrew and Greek skills to become Bereans and check out the teachings of their pastors. They have not even read or studied their own doctrinal statements of their local church. They are more interested in getting their ears tickled. They enjoy music concerts, skits, plays, and cute little sermonette. They are not at all interested in studying the Word of God at the deepest level. If you have been a Christian for more than one year and have not studied the entire counsel of the Word of God at the deepest level from a gifted pastor-teacher, then you are most likely a carnal Christian who is sitting in the wrong church and performing human good works which aid the satanic world system. The solution is to feed yourselves the entire counsel of the Word of God daily from a gifted-pastor teacher so that you will not be deceived by the ideas and philosophies of the satanic world system. The YEBC Study Bible, Bible Knowledge Commentary, and Thru the Bible are all excellent resources for home study.