(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)
Jeremiah despairs at the onrushing misery, at his people's obstinance and ignorance and the pain that this brings.
Jeremiah 9:1-2, Weep all day
Oh, that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for the slain of my people.
Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers,
so that I might leave my people
and go away from them;
for they are all adulterers,
a crowd of unfaithful people.
Jeremiah weeps for his people and also wishes he could run away.
Jeremiah 9:3-6, Tongues shoot lies
"They make ready their tongue like a bow,
to shoot lies;
it is not by truth that they triumph in the land.
They go from one sin to another;
they do not acknowledge me,"
declares the LORD.
"Beware of your friends;
do not trust your brothers.
For every brother is a deceiver,
and every friend a slanderer.
Friend deceives friend,
and no one speaks the truth.
They have taught their tongues to lie;
they weary themselves with sinning.
You live in the midst of deception;
in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,"
declares the LORD.
The people shoot out lies as if arrows from a bow. Even within families people are liars and deceivers.
Jeremiah 9:7-9, Liars to be tested
Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says:
"See, I will refine and test them,
for what else can I do because of the sin of my people?
Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
it speaks with deceit.
With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbor,
but in his heart he sets a trap for him.
Should I not punish them for this?"
declares the LORD.
"Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?"
YHWH is aware of the lies and plans justice to avenge the lies.
Jeremiah 9:10-11, Heap of ruins
I will weep and wail for the mountains
and take up a lament concerning the desert pastures.
They are desolate and untraveled,
and the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds of the air have fled
and the animals are gone.
"I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
a haunt of jackals;
and I will lay waste the towns of Judah
so no one can live there."
In the coming devastation, the pastures will be empty and Jerusalem the haunto jackals. No one will be living in the ruins of Judean villages.
Jeremiah 9:12-14, Why has this happened
What man is wise enough to understand this? Who has been instructed by the LORD and can explain it? Why has the land been ruined and laid waste like a desert that no one can cross?
The LORD said, "It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them."
A question is raised and answered: Why does this happen? It is because Israel has turned away from God's law.
Jeremiah 9:15-16, Scattered
Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
"See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.
I will scatter them among nations
that neither they nor their fathers have known,
and I will pursue them with the sword
until I have destroyed them."
The people will be scattered among the nations.
Jeremiah 9:17-19, Call for the wailing women
This is what the LORD Almighty says:
"Consider now!
Call for the wailing women to come;
send for the most skillful of them.
Let them come quickly
and wail over us till our eyes overflow with tears
and water streams from our eyelids.
The sound of wailing is heard from Zion:
`How ruined we are!
How great is our shame!
We must leave our land
because our houses are in ruins.'"
The professional wailing women are called to wail and cry over Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 9:20-21, Death climbs in
Now, O women, hear the word of the LORD;
open your ears to the words of his mouth.
Teach your daughters how to wail;
teach one another a lament.
Death has climbed in through our windows
and has entered our fortresses;
it has cut off the children from the streets
and the young men from the public squares.
Women are to teach their daughters to wail, for there will be many opportunities to perform those cries, as Death approaches and climbs in the fortress and eventually into windows of the homes. There will be many opportunities for funerals.
Jeremiah 9:22, Bodies in the open field
Say, "This is what the LORD declares:
"`The dead bodies of men will lie like refuse on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
with no one to gather them.'"
The bodies of soldiers will lie unburied in the open fields.
Jeremiah 9:23-24, Boast in the knowledge of YHWH
This is what the LORD says:
"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD,
who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,"
declares the LORD.
Jeremiah then inserts a proverb on Wisdom and the importance of the knowledge of God and his views on justice and righteousness.
Jeremiah 9:25-26, Circumcised only in the flesh
"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh-- Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."
It is not enough to be physically circumcised. Israel's heart is "uncircumcised."
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