Jeremiah 5:1 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Run ye to and fro, &c. In this chapter, which seems to be a continuation of the preceding discourse, God justifies the severity of the judgments denounced in the foregoing chapter. The expressions are strong, but not to be taken strictly in the letter, signifying only the extreme degeneracy of the times, and the great want of justice and piety in Jerusalem. And see now and know, &c. Search here and there, and in every part of the city. The words, saith the Lord, should be supplied; for it is plain that the first and second verses are the words of God. In Jer 5:3 the prophet speaks, and goes on to Jeremiah 5:7, where God speaks again. And seek in the broad places thereof The word רחבותיה, thus rendered, means, no doubt, the market-places, and other spacious areas, where citizens used to meet to do business with each other. If ye can find a man Namely, a man fearing God, and working righteousness. If there be any that executeth judgment That in the magistracy rightly administers justice. That seeketh the truth Any one among the commonality that deals faithfully and uprightly. The universal corruption of manners was such, that a man might walk the streets of Jerusalem long enough before he could meet with any one that was truly religious. And I will pardon it Namely, the city of Jerusalem. The strong expressions of this verse, if they were taken strictly, would imply that Jerusalem was now worse than Sodom, in the days of Lot: for, in offering pardon to Sodom and Gomorrah, God came no lower than ten, but, according to the literal meaning of these expressions, he promises to pardon Jerusalem if there should be one righteous man found. But it seems evident that, as we have intimated above, they are not to be taken in so strict a sense as if, in so great a city, there was not one good man; for certainly the prophet could not be reckoned among the number of the wicked, and there were besides, Baruch his disciple, and Ebed-melech, and, without doubt, some others that were truly pious. So that the meaning can be no more than that there were very few good men compared with the number of the wicked.