CHAPTER 8

(600 B.C.)

JUDGMENT ON JUDAH

¹At that time, says the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his Princes, and the bones of the Priests, and the bones of the Prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves (At that time, refers to the sack of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. The repetition of the word bones is important. Not only are the objects of their idolatrous worship designated, but also the fact that every class of society had apostatized from Jehovah.

Out of their graves, refers to the sack of all the tombs, with the Babylonians looking, no doubt, for valuable objects):

²And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, not be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the Earth. (And they shall spread them..., refers to the Babylonians leaving the bones on the ground before the planetary bodies which Israel had worshipped. They shall be for dung on the face of the Earth, portrays Gods Thoughts and Actions concerning the bones of these unhappy idol worshippers! While their souls were in Hell, their remains were desecrated, and by fellow idol worshippers, at that!)

³And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them who remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places where I have driven them, says the LORD of Hosts. (So great would be the misery of the living in their captivity that they would prefer to die.)

SINS OF JUDAH

⁴Moreover you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall He turn away, and not return? (In this prophetic utterance, the anguish of the speaker reveals the love of God to rebellious man; and the rejection of the Message proves the hatred of rebellious man to God.)

⁵Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. (The words, perpetual backsliding, refer to a continuous backsliding, ever going deeper into sin. There was no halting of their spiritual decline. Not once did they make an attempt to turn toward God.)

⁶I hearkened and heard, but they spoke not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle. (The words, They spoke not aright, refer to their expression of repentance not being sincere, for no man questioned the character of his actions, but continued to rush toward evil.)

⁷Yes, the stork in the heaven knows her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but My People know not the Judgment of the LORD. (Migratory birds have more intelligence than unconverted men. They obey the migratory instinct, and so escape famine and death. Man disobeys his conscience and the Word of God, and so he perishes.)

⁸How do you say, We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the Scribes is in vain. (The question posed by Jeremiah, How do you say, We are wise?, is directed toward the Priests and the Prophets, whom he so constantly described as among the chief causes of Judahs ruin, as such is the ruin of the modern Church. As these individuals in Isaiahs day regarded it as an unwarrantable assumption on the part of that Prophet to pretend to instruct them in their duty [Isa. 28:9], likewise, Jeremiah was looked at with ridicule.

The answer of these Priests and Prophets was: The Law of the LORD is with us. In giving this answer, they bade him keep his exhortations to himself, seeing that they themselves were wise and the divinely appointed teachers of the people.)

⁹The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the Word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them? (The wise men are ashamed, actually looks forward to the coming calamity and says, the wise men will be ashamed.)

JUDGMENT COMING

¹⁰Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them who shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the Prophet even unto the Priest every one deals falsely. (Verses 10 through 12 show that the Prophet Jeremiah, like the Prophet of Nazareth, was not ashamed to repeat the words given him by God. The Holy Spirit through Jeremiah is saying that if Jerusalem follows these wise men, terrible things will happen. Them who shall inherit them, actually means to them who shall take possession of them by violence.)

¹¹For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My People slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. (The Holy Spirit says, There is no peace, and yet they choose to believe liars and their lies rather than the Holy Spirit and His Truth.)

¹²Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? no, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them who fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the LORD. (Israel had had a time of visitation of Righteousness under Josiah, but had rejected it. Now they will have a time of visitation of Judgment.)

¹³I will surely consume them, sa ys the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. (Israel in the Scriptures is presented as a vine, as a fig tree, and as an olive tree. These express Divine relationships. Judah is compared to a vine with bad grapes [2:21]; here the vine does not even pretend to bear fruit.

The words, And the things that I have given them shall pass away from them, refer to their possession and inheritance of the Land of Israel, plus the prosperity and Blessings. All of these Blessings, plus the land, would be taken from them by the Babylonians.

They gave idols credit for their Blessings and prosperity; therefore, the Lord would give their Blessings and prosperity to idol worshippers, i.e., the Babylonians.)

BABYLONIAN INVASION OF JUDAH FORETOLD

¹⁴Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. (For the LORD our God has put us to silence, refers to being decreed to utter destruction. The word silent means that there is no defense! And give us water of gall to drink, is a symbolism of Judgment. It is bitter water, extremely bitter, and they by no means desire to drink it, but have no choice!

Because we have sinned against the LORD, presents the cause of all trouble and calamity on Earth.)

¹⁵We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble! (The Prophet enters into the minds of the people, expressing their thoughts when this time of terror comes! We looked for peace, but no good came, refers back to Verse 11, when these wise men, in contradiction to Jeremiahs Prophecies, said, Peace, peace. Instead, they find the opposite, which is war! They were told by the false prophets that good times were coming, but instead no good came.)

¹⁶The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those who dwell therein. (This Scripture pictures the coming invasion of the Babylonians, which also symbolizes the yet future Antichrist, who will come from the same direction, and who will devour the land in the same manner!)

¹⁷For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the LORD. (The Chaldeans will be so terrible that they are compared to serpents and adders, and so fierce that to placate them would be impossible.)

JEREMIAHS SORROW

¹⁸When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. (The obvious consternation of Jeremiah is expressed in this Passage!)

¹⁹Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of My People, because of them who dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities? (Almost as if in answer to Jeremiahs great sorrow, the Voice of the Lord explains His Own sadness. The expression, The daughter of My People, applied to this nation of idolaters, liars, and oppressors, strikingly exhibits the amazing love and pity of God, and proclaims His willingness to forgive the greatest sinners, if they will but turn to Him.)

²⁰The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. (This statement is projected into the future, at the time of the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and presents the cry, or rather the forlorn expression, of the people. The summer is ended, spoke of late summer and the fall of the year, just before the winter rains set it. They were expecting the Egyptian army to come to their rescue, but the time for armies to march is now ended. Winter is coming on and we are not saved.)

²¹For the hurt of the daughter of My People am I hurt; I am black; astonishment has taken hold on Me. (I am black, refers to mourning in sackcloth and ashes, and does not mean the color of his skin. Astonishment has taken hold on me, refers to the horror that is even greater than he had previously anticipated.)

²²Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of My People recovered? (The questions asked by the Lord are meant to receive a negative answer. No earthly physician could recover the health of the people of Judah. Just as no earthly mortal can recover the health of hurting, dying humanity; however, the Physician would ultimately come to Gilead, and He would be the Lord Jesus Christ.)