Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 5

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2 
Jeremiah 3
Jeremiah 4
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1. Jeremiah's words of judgment toward Jerusalem continue. Again, his words are all the more striking because Josiah would seem to be ruling at the time. He tells his listeners to run through the streets of Jerusalem looking for even one person who seeks the truth and acts justly (5:1). You won't find anyone, he says.

You will find people putting up a show, though. They use words like "as Yahweh lives" in their language, but it is formal, not real. They have a show of Yahwism, but it isn't real. They don't listen to the actual rebuke of the Lord.

In 5:4, he responds to someone who might say, "You're only talking about the poor, who don't know the Law." Perhaps this echoes 2 Kings 22 where the high priest finds the Book of the Law, and it is clear that no one has looked at it in a long time. So Jeremiah thinks of the rich -- do they heed the Law? Apparently not.

These comments raise the question of Josiah again. There are several possibilities. First, Jeremiah could be talking before Josiah's reforms. That seems unlikely to me because of the echoes of the Law. Second, it could be after Josiah has passed. We can't eliminate this possibility, especially since there are strong echoes of coming destruction that may speak more to the time after Josiah. Or thirdly, perhaps Jeremiah did not think Josiah's reforms were genuine.

The second option has some strong possibilities. Perhaps, even after Josiah's strong efforts to turn Judah back to Yahweh, it didn't really stick. The poor didn't even know about the Law, and the rich didn't really take it to heart?

2. Much of the chapter gives varied images of coming destruction. A lion or a wolf or a leopard is going to kill you (Babylon. 5:6). 

False prophets are saying it's going to be ok (5:13). They're saying, "Yahweh isn't going to do anything. Nothing's going to happen" (5:12). Yahweh responds, "You are wood. God's word in your mouth is fire."

Still, God will not completely destroy them (5:18). This is the message of Jeremiah in a nutshell. I'm going to bring horrible judgment on you, but a remnant of Israel will survive.

In 5:21, we get another image that shows up in the New Testament. Judah has eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear. Jesus will use this image of Israel in his own day.

3. Clearly idolatry -- going after other gods -- has been the primary sin of Judah thus far that Jeremiah indicts. But there are other sins that go with it. We hear about them in the last part of the chapter. 

First, there are the violent, those who "lie in wait" to pounce on others (5:26). Then there is the frequent prophetic critique of the way the weak are treated -- the orphan, for example (5:28). They do not help the needy. 

"The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests do as the prophets direct" (5:31). Jeremiah 5 makes it clear: Judah is beyond self-repair. The corruption reaches from the poorest citizen to the highest official. Because they refuse to repent, judgment is inevitable.