YHWH Will Roar From Heaven And The Earth Will Face Its Judgment (Jeremiah 25:30-38).
What is coming on the world is pictured in terms of ‘universal' catastrophe, as so often in the prophets. The idea is that the world will be turned upside down. But the nations described, and the context of the prophecy, make clear that this is not intended as eschatological but as practical. It was the world of Jeremiah's own day that was to be affected. On the other hand it can also be seen as a reminder that man's sinfulness is always such that it can only bring on him God's future judgment from which none will be excluded. In that sense therefore it can be seen as eschatological. It is a principle of creation. ‘The soul who sins will die'. The significance of eschatological judgment lies in the fact that the hope of mankind is not be placed in the expectation of the world getting better, but awaits the coming of a Deliverer Who will restore all things, especially the hearts of men.
“Therefore prophesy you against them all these words, and say to them,
‘YHWH will roar from on high,
And utter his voice from his holy habitation,
He will mightily roar against his pasture,
He will give a shout, as those who tread (the grapes),
Against all the inhabitants of the earth.' ”
The initial picture is of YHWH roaring from ‘on High' and speaking from His holy habitation, which in parallel with ‘on High' must indicate Heaven. God is acting from above. The roaring is that of the Divine Lion as He comes to His pasture, here seen as the whole world, in order to attack the shepherds and seize the sheep (Jeremiah 25:34-36). For such roaring we can compare Joel 3:16; Amos 1:2. And like ‘the treaders' He will cry out in enthusiastic vigour as He treads the grapes (compare Jeremiah 48:33; Jeremiah 16:9-10). The treading of grapes represents His bringing judgment on the people, compare Isaiah 63:2-6; Revelation 14:14-15. And this will ‘on all the inhabitants of the (known) earth'. The whole area will be in turmoil.
“A noise will come even to the end of the earth,
For YHWH has a controversy with the nations,
He will enter into judgment with all flesh.
As for the wicked, he will give them to the sword,
The word of YHWH.”
The noise is the noise of approaching armies (Jeremiah 4:29; Jeremiah 11:16; Jeremiah 47:3; Jeremiah 50:46) and it comes from distant places, because YHWH is, as it were, bringing the nations to court to face up to His charges and there He will enter into judgment with all flesh, and will give the wicked to the sword. And this is the sure word of YHWH.
“Thus says YHWH of hosts,
Behold, evil will go forth from nation to nation,
And a great tempest will be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
And the slain of YHWH will be at that day
From one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth.
They will not be lamented, nor gathered, nor buried.
They will be dung on the face of the ground.”
The local judgment is seen in terms of the eschatological judgment, for the one merges into the other. Nation after nation will experience ‘evil' from YHWH as the enemy armies arrive, and those armies will be like a great tempest raised up from the furthest points on earth (as known at that time). And those who are slaughtered in battle or as a result of invading armies will in fact be ‘the slain of YHWH' for it is He Who is bringing their judgment on them. The slaughter will be so great that there will be none left to lament, none left to gather the bodies, none left to bury the dead (compare Jeremiah 8:2; Jeremiah 16:4; Ezekiel 39:12). They will simply lie like pats of cow dung on the face of the ground.
“Wail, you shepherds, and cry,
And wallow (in ashes), you principal of the flock,
For the days of your slaughter and of your scatterings are fully come,
And you will fall like a fine vessel.
And the shepherds will have no way to flee,
Nor the principal of the flock to escape.”
The picture turns back to the Divine Lion as He attacks the shepherds responsible for the flocks (the shepherds who have devastated His people - Jeremiah 12:10-11). The shepherds (rulers of the nations) are to wail and cry, and the king is to wallow in ashes in grief, because the day of slaughter has come on them and on the flock, and the day when they will be scattered has come. They will ‘fall like a fine, ornamental vessel'. We should compare here how Jehoiachin was seen as a broken vessel (Jeremiah 22:18) while Judah itself was also depicted in those terms, being broken in the Valley of Slaughter (Jeremiah 19:10). Nor will there be anywhere for the shepherds to flee, nor for their leader to escape. Death will be a certainty for all.
The alternative ‘choice rams' instead of ‘fine vessel' is not strictly correct as the word means ‘lambs'. In view of the relevance of a broken vessel to the wider context it is preferable to retain it.
‘A voice of the cry of the shepherds,
And the wailing of the principal of the flock!
For YHWH lays waste their pasture,
And the peaceable folds are brought to silence,
Because of the fierce anger of YHWH.'
He has left his covert, as the lion,
For their land is become an astonishment,
Because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword,
And because of his fierce anger.'
The cries and wailings of the rulers of the nations will be everywhere as YHWH the Divine Lion lays waste their pasture, slaughtering the sheep, resulting in an eerie silence from the folds which had previously been so at peace. And it would be because of the severe anger of YHWH. For like a lion on the hunt for prey He has left His covert, and by means of foreign armies is turning their lands into spectacles which astonish all who see them (compare Jeremiah 18:16), as a result of the fierceness of the oppressing sword, a consequence of the fierce anger of YHWH. The picture is of total war.
And so this Section in which the sins of Judah have been underlined and openly declared, and the certainty of judgment has been revealed, ends in a picture of universal catastrophe. Compare Jeremiah 4:23-28. Such is the consequence of rebellion against God.