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Jeremiah 4:3-22 open_in_new
Judah Are Called To Repentance As Well As Israel For They Are Still In Their Land, And, If They Will Only Truly Turn To Him With Genuinely Changed Hearts, Can Still Look Forward To The Future In Hope. The Truth, However, Is That They Will Not Do So With The Result That Destruction Will Come Upon Them Also (Jeremiah 4:3-22).
YHWH now turns His attention to Judah. Their position was better than Israel's because they were still in their land, and so He calls them to true repentance and a true change of heart, warning them that if they do not repent He will bring sudden and certain judgment upon them. And that judgment is then called for and portrayed in the most vivid terms (the boiling cauldron is open from the north - Jeremiah 1:13-14), stirring Jeremiah to upbraid Him for having given His people a wrong impression with His words of peace (this may have in mind the peace that false prophets had promised, seen as with YHWH's permission, compare 1 Kings 22:23, or it may be because Jeremiah himself had been misled by the prophecy of peace in Jeremiah 3:14-19 and had failed to recognise its long term nature). But nothing can defer the judgment that is coming. It is already determined and the destroyer is on his way. And their world will return to being as empty as it was at the beginning, before God had shaped and formed it. The passage then ends with vivid metaphors of what will come.
A Call To Repent And Have Changed Hearts.
“For thus says YHWH to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.' ”
YHWH now turns His attention to Judah and Jerusalem, and calls on their inhabitants to ‘break up their fallow ground and not to sow among thorns.' These words were possibly inspired by YHWH's words in Hosea, ‘Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground', and if so we can remember that their climax was, ‘then I will come and rain righteousness on you' (Hosea 10:12), an idea never far away when YHWH calls men to repentance. ‘Fallow ground' is ground suitable for sowing grain on but not yet ploughed, and it needed to be broken up so that it would receive the seeds, and also so that thorns could be removed from it. But this injunction was not intended as farming advice. The idea was clearly that they must remove the weeds and thorns from their lives and break up the hardness of their hearts so that the word of YHWH might be sown into receptive ground. This spiritual application rather than a literal one is emphasised by the next verse which speaks of spiritual circumcision. YHWH is calling for a deep shake up and softening in their hearts, minds and wills so that they will be receptive to Him. It may well be that Jesus had these words in mind when He preached by means of the parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-9).
“Circumcise yourselves to YHWH,
And take away the foreskins of your heart,
You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Lest my wrath go forth like fire,
And burn so that none can quench it,
Because of the evil of your doings.”
YHWH then tells them that they needed to ‘circumcise themselves to Him' by removing ‘the foreskin of their hearts'. This may signify:
1. That they needed to establish His covenant in their hearts by cutting away the barrier which prevented its work within them, dealing with the stubbornness which was in their hearts (compare Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6).
2. That they were to cut away the flap of sin and unbelief which prevented YHWH's light from shining in their hearts (compare Deuteronomy 30:6; Romans 2:29).
3. That they were to cut away the sin and corruption that was in their lives (Romans 2:29).
And He warns them that if they do not do so His wrath will go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, as a judgment on them because of the evil of their doings, in other words, because of the wrongness of their daily behaviour. The idea behind unquenchable fire is both of its general and total destructiveness, and of the literal fires that would burn up their lands and cities during the invasion that was coming.
Warning Of The Coming Invasion.
“Declare you in Judah,
And publish in Jerusalem,
And say, “Blow you the ram's horn in the land,”
Cry aloud and say, “Assemble yourselves,
And let us go into the fortified cities.
Set up a standard (or ‘signal') towards Zion,
Flee for safety,
Stay not,
For I will bring evil from the north,
And a great destruction.”
Because He knows that they will not do what He has commanded He now sets the wheels of His judgment in motion. He calls on Jeremiah to warn the people in Judah and Jerusalem to blow the ram's horn in their land, that is, the war horn which is the signal of approaching danger, and then to send out the call for the people to assemble themselves and seek shelter in the fortified cities. The idea behind this call was that the enemy were approaching so that anyone left out in the open could expect to be killed. That was the reason for having fortified cities, so that all could seek refuge in them when an enemy approached. Note the way that the staccato phrases, ‘Flee for safety', ‘stay not', increase the sense of urgency
The call was also to set up a standard (military flag) towards Zion, that is, towards Jerusalem, with the aim of fleeing there for safety behind their standards, or to light signal fires warning people to flee to the shelter of the walls of Jerusalem, the strongest city in the area. Nor were they to hesitate, for YHWH was bringing evil from the north in the shape of Babylonian or Scythian armies, or both (as a result of our sparsity of knowledge about those days opinion is divided), who would cause great destruction in their land.
“A lion is gone up from his thicket,
And a destroyer of nations,
He is on his way,
He is gone forth from his place,
To make your land desolate,
That your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.”
This invader would be like a rampant lion who leaves his thicket in search of prey (compare Hosea 5:14; Joel 3:16; Amos 1:2; Amos 3:12), He would be a destroyer of nations, and what was more, in the intent of God he was already on his way (he had broken up is encampment). He has left his own place in order to desolate their land, and to lay waste their cities so that they would become uninhabited. The impending doom on Judah is being made very clear.
Nothing chilled the heart of the shepherd more than the lion that came out of its hiding place with its eyes fixed on the flock, or roaming round seeking what it may devour. But this lion was human, and his prey was Judah. He was ‘the destroyer of nations'.
A Call To Lamentation And Mourning.
“Gird you with sackcloth for this,
Lament and wail,
For the fierce anger of YHWH,
Is not turned back from us.”
In the face of this threat they are to put on sackcloth, a sign of deep mourning, and are to lament and wail like mourners at a funeral because YHWH's fierce anger is still directed at them and has not been turned back from them.
“And it will come about at that day,
The word of YHWH,
“That the heart of the king will perish,
And the heart of the princes,
And the priests will be astonished,
And the prophets will wonder.”
And in that day (made certain by ‘the word of YHWH') their leaders will perish, while their priests and prophets will be filled with wonder because events are not taking the course that they expected, and because of the awfulness of what they see coming on them. In other words their spiritual leaders, who were supposed to bring God's will to the people, will instead have been proved to have taught them wrongly, and will have brought great destruction on them.
Jeremiah Upbraids YHWH For Seemingly Having Deceived His People.
“Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord YHWH! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You will have peace, whereas the sword reaches unto the life.”
Jeremiah reacts in astonishment to YHWH's words. One moment YHWH had appeared to be telling Israel that they would have peace (Jeremiah 3:15-19), which surely boded well for Judah. Now He had revealed that the lives of the people of Judah would be exposed to the sword. He was concerned lest YHWH had deceived the people with His seemingly contradictory message. But of course what he was overlooking was that YHWH had stressed that even Josiah's piety had only obtained peace in his day (2 Kings 22:19-20), and that they could only have permanent peace once they truly repented, something which they patently had not done.
Alternately he may have had the false prophets in mind who proclaimed peace when there was no peace. All around him he saw prophets of YHWH proclaiming peace, with Temple backing. It must have at times been very puzzling. Then Jeremiah is seen as deploring the fact that YHWH has allowed these false prophets to deceive the people (false prophets in YHWH's eyes, but many would have been seen as legitimate ‘prophets of YHWH'). In that case he is expressing the same puzzlement as we have as we look at the world and wonder why God ‘does not do something about the situation', and why He allows seemingly sincere men to proclaim false ideas deceiving so many. Why, in other words, does He allow evil to have its way without interfering? We overlook the fact that God is working to a programme that we cannot even begin to understand because we do not know the end from the beginning, nor do we truly understand the complexities of the issues or the problems involved. Either way the words indicate the closeness of the relationship that Jeremiah had with God. He felt able to react towards Him as a friend. God has to be very real to you for you to grumble at Him like this. (Jeremiah' attitude was very different from that of grumbling atheists. He was concerned for YHWH's good Name).
YHWH Continues With His Words Of Judgment.
‘At that time will it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse, a full wind from these will come for me (i.e. ‘on my behalf'), now will I also utter judgments against them.”
YHWH continues with His words of judgment. The people will be informed of a harsh, burning wind (‘a clear wind') coming towards them from the bare heights in the wilderness, not a wind which will be beneficial, that is, will winnow (blow away the chaff from the wheat at the threshingfloor) or cleanse, but a wind of judgment, fulfilling His words of judgments against them. The east wind coming in from the desert was renowned for its burning heat and almost unbearable effects. Note that the burning wind comes from the very same ‘bare heights' where they had worshipped their idols (Jeremiah 3:2).
There is an ominous finality about these words. The day for chastisement is over, the day of winnowing and cleansing has gone, now only final judgment awaits.
‘Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! for we are ruined.'
Jeremiah picks up on YHWH's words, recognising that they spell doom. ‘Behold,' he says, ‘he will come as clouds, and his chariots as a whirlwind, and with his horses swifter than eagles.' The ‘he' may be referring to YHWH as the bringer of the judgments, or alternatively to the one who will command those forces on YHWH's behalf. The clouds express the huge size of his forces, the whirlwind the speed and destructive capacity of his chariots, and the horses, descending like eagles, emphasise the rapidity with which it will all happen (compare here Deuteronomy 28:49 and 2 Samuel 1:23). But the final words reveal the effect of these ideas on Jeremiah, for he cries out, ‘woe to us for we are ruined!' He recognises that there was no hope. We can compare here the similar cry of Isaiah, ‘Woe is me, for I am undone', when faced up with the awful holiness of YHWH (Isaiah 6:5).
A Further Call To Repent And Be Saved.
‘O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you?'
YHWH now renews His call to Jerusalem to repent. There could still be hope if only they would repent. And He calls on them to remove the iniquity from their hearts in order that they might be saved from the coming judgments, asking them how long they will allow their evil thoughts to lodge within them. Note that it was the fact that their evil thoughts did not just come to them, for all at times experience such evil thoughts, but also were allowed to lodge within them that lay at the root of the problem. Continuing sin is unforgivable sin.
For the idea of washing the heart as indicating turning from sin compare Isaiah 1:16, ‘wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek justice, correct oppression, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.' In other words it indicated turning to Him and obeying His covenant.
The Time Of The Invasion Approaches.
‘For a voice declares from Dan,
And publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim,'
Dan was on the far northern borders of what had been Israel. The hills of Ephraim bordered on Judah. And from these border posts came the voice of warning to Jerusalem to prepare itself, no doubt via swift horsemen. Note the increasing tension, first ‘declares' and then ‘proclaims, publishes'. There is here, therefore, a pointer to judgment slowly approaching from the north, first affecting Dan, and then, as it advanced, reaching the hills of Ephraim. God's judgment is seen as advancing on Jerusalem. It is almost there.
The word for ‘evil, affliction, emptiness' is that same as that for ‘vanity, worship of what is vain'. Awen will come on them come because of their awen. The country will be made empty because of the emptiness of their worship. The prophets had altered the name of Bethel (house of God) to Beth-awen (house of emptiness and of what was vain) for the same reason
‘Make you mention to the nations,
Behold, publish against Jerusalem,
Watchers come from a far country,
And give out their voice against the cities of Judah.'
As we have already seen all nations were intended to enjoy the blessing of YHWH because of the testimony of the people of Israel/Judah (compare Jeremiah 3:17). Such nations are therefore here seen as very interested in anything that concerns Judah. But Judah has been revealed to be faithless, and therefore the nations will make their declaration against them, they are exhorted to (if we parallel with ‘give out their voice against the cities of Judah') ‘publish against Jerusalem'. Instead of exalting her they are to hold her up to shame because she has failed to be obedient to YHWH. Alternately ‘publish against Jerusalem' may parallel the first line ‘make you mention to the nations', indicating a parallel action. And even those who come from a far country will give out their voices against the cities of Judah, declaring them worthy of the judgments that are coming on them. The ‘watchers' here may be Babylonian scouts surveying ahead for the prospective invasion, or they may be spies who constantly reported back to Nebuchadnezzar what was happening in Palestine, or they may indicate the watching of the besiegers of the cities as they wait for the cities to fall (such watching was enough to chill the heart). Or the term may simply indicate those who watch as the nations were watching, waiting to see what would happen next, their coming from a far country indicating the deep interest of all nations concerning what is happening in Jerusalem. But whichever they are their verdict is against Judah.
“As keepers of a field are they against her round about,
Because she has been rebellious against me,” says YHWH.'
The ‘keepers of the field' were the local watchmen who watched over the unfenced fields and vineyards, partly in order to prevent theft, and partly in order to keep an eye on the depredations of wild beasts. So these ‘watchers of Jerusalem' were similarly watching Jerusalem, and have given a verdict against her, because they are witnesses to the fact that she has been rebellious against YHWH, because she bears no fruit. And this is ‘the word of YHWH' (neum YHWH).
Alternately the ‘keepers of the field' may be indicating the siege battalions that are to gather round Jerusalem, watching and waiting until her downfall becomes a reality.
The Reason For The Coming Judgment.
‘Your way and your doings,
Have procured these things to you,
This is your wickedness, for it is bitter,
For it reaches to your heart.'
And all this was true of Judah and Jerusalem because of their evil ways and doings. It was their evil ways and doings which had bought for her the attention of the nations, and even the nations were appalled at what they saw. For their ways and doings were epitomes of wickedness, a wickedness that was bitter and reached to their very heart.
Jeremiah's Anguish At The Situation.
‘My anguish, my anguish!
I am pained at my very heart,
My heart is disquieted in me,
I cannot hold my peace,
Because you have heard,
O my soul,
The sound of the ram's horn,
The alarm of war.'
At what he has seen and at the sound of the ram's horn declaring war on Judah and Jerusalem Jeremiah is cut to the heart. His tender heart can hardly bear what it means. He is filled with anguish, and pained right to his heart (literally ‘at the walls of my heart'). His heart is disquieted, and he cannot keep silent, because he knows exactly what the war horn is going to mean, destruction upon his people.
‘My anguish, my anguish.' Literally, ‘my bowels (intestines), my bowels' in the same way as we speak of being affected by distress in the pit of our stomachs.
‘ “Destruction upon destruction” is cried,
For the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
My curtains in a moment.
How long will I see the standard,
And hear the sound of the ram's horn?'
The dire situation is vividly brought out here. The cry is, ‘destruction upon destruction' (‘breaking up upon breaking up, crash upon crash'), because the whole land is laid waste. And the end will come suddenly. Their homes will be destroyed (‘tents' being a metaphor for homes, as often, although many possibly still lived in tents), and their curtains (the curtains of their tents and those acting as dividers in their homes) will be torn down ‘in a moment' as the invaders loot their houses and tents. And the final two lines indicate the sad cry that makes clear that the end is near. How much longer will their standard keep flying to hearten the defenders, how long will the sound of the ram's horn organising the defence still be heard? For when the standard ceases flying, and the ram's horn ceases sounding, it will be the indication that all is over.
It is worth comparing Jeremiah 4:19 line by line with Jeremiah 4:20-21, on the one hand the anguish of the prophet (‘my anguish, my anguish'), on the other the certainty of the destruction (‘destruction upon destruction'). Note also the repetition of ‘the sound of the ram's horn', first causing anguish and then indicating the end.
YHWH's Charge Against His People.
‘For my people are foolish,
They do not know me,
They are mindless children,
And they have no understanding,
They are wise to do evil,
But to do good they have no knowledge.'
And we now have the full explanation of why all this has come upon them. It is because they have been foolish in not knowing YHWH (compare Psalms 14:1) and have instead preferred no-gods, they have been mindless because they are lacking in true understanding. It is because they have not understood and received the truth that they are subtle when it comes to doing evil, and yet totally lacking in a knowledge of what is good and of doing it. And with such people what could God do?
We are reminded here of the words of Job, ‘The fear of YHWH, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil, that is understanding' (Job 28:28). Note the importance of the fact that true understanding results in departure from evil. That is the difference between true faith based on true understanding, which is the faith that saves, and an academic faith based only on intellectual understanding, which does not save (see John 2:23-25; James 2:19-20).
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Jeremiah 4:3-31 open_in_new
YHWH Warns Judah That If They Will Not Repent For Them Too Invasion By A Fierce Adversary Is Threatening And Will Undoubtedly Come Because Of Their Sins (Jeremiah 4:3-31).
If Judah will not respond to the example provided by Israel, and the glowing picture of hope for the future offered to them, they too will experience invasion and go through a similar experience. They are thus called on to repent accompanied with the warning of what will happen to them if they do not. They will suffer an invasion which will be so dreadful that it calls to mind the vision of a world returned to its original unformed condition. The picture thus drawn is then followed by that of a nation in anguish.
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Jeremiah 4:23-31 open_in_new
Jeremiah's Vision Of The Aftermath Of The Invasion (Jeremiah 4:23-31).
In chilling tones Jeremiah now pictures the land after its destruction, as he, as it were, looks around and sees all the devastation wrought by it. It would be as though the whole of the heavens and earth were affected, the earth waste and void (tohu wa bohu) as it had been before God worked on it after the initial creation (Genesis 1:2), the heavens devoid of light. It would be as though God's fashioning of the world after creation had never happened. The mountains and hills would be unstable, the land would be devoid of human life, and even the birds would sing there no more. There would just be empty silence. What had once been fruitful land would now be a desert, and all the cities would be ghost towns, crumbling, empty reminders of what had been. And all this ‘at the presence of YHWH and before His fierce anger'.
And it would be YHWH Who would have done it because of His antipathy to their sin. Nevertheless it was not really to be the end of all things, for it was not YHWH's intention to make a full end. The indication is that one day the land would rise again. But before that happened the invasion must take place and there would be the blackness of deep mourning, experienced even by the earth and the heavens themselves. Before the advancing armies the people would flee, hiding in thickets and in the mountains and deserting their cities, and there would be no avoiding it. All attempts to tart themselves up and make themselves presentable once this had happened would fail. Their anguish would be like that of a woman bearing her first child who, gasping for breath, discovers that she has to endure unbelievable pain. And as they endured they would cry, ‘Woe is me now, for my soul faints before the murderers.' They would be looking death in the eyes.
In order to gain the full impact, before commenting on the detail we present the poem as a whole:
‘I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void,
And the heavens, and they had no light.'
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled,
And all the hills moved to and fro.
I beheld, and, lo, there was no man,
And all the birds of the heavens were fled.
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness,
And all its cities thereof were ruins,
At the presence of YHWH,
And before his fierce anger.
‘I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void,
And the heavens, and they had no light.'
The picture is of creation in Genesis 1:2 before God had brought it into shape. There ‘waste and void' (tohu wa bohu) had indicated total formlessness and emptiness, and it would be the same again. And just as then there had been no light, so it would be again. It is not, of course, to be taken literally, but as indicating how the land would have been emptied of all that gave it shape, remaining like an empty mass bathed in total darkness with no light at all penetrating through.
‘I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled,
And all the hills moved to and fro.'
The thought here is that even the mountains and hills, those permanent reminders of the solidity of the earth, would instead of being solid, be shaking and moving. An earthquake may be partly in mind, but the idea is more basic than that. It is an indication that the very foundations of creation would be being shaken.
‘I beheld, and, lo, there was no man,
And all the birds of the heavens were fled.
The land is pictured as devoid of all life, as it had indeed been at the beginning before the birds were created and man had come on the scene. Now also the landscape would be deserted, harbouring neither man nor bird. There would be the unearthly stillness of total lifelessness.
‘I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness,
And all its cities were broken down (were empty ruins),'
What had once been a fruitful land which had delighted the eye of man, would now be an empty desert, devoid of cultivation. And what had once been proud cities filled with life, would have become empty ruins, their crumbling stones testifying both to what had been, and to what was now because of man's sinfulness.
‘At the presence of YHWH, and before his fierce anger.'
And all this would be because the One Whom they had despised and forsaken would have come there and demonstrated His presence, and His antipathy against sin. Speaking of God's ‘fierce anger' is, of course anthropomorphic language. It is seeing God in man's terms. What is really in mind is His antipathy against sin, the fact that He, as it were, recoils in horror before it because He knows it for what it really is, and will necessarily deal with it accordingly. It is only we who treat sin lightly. But when we do we would do well to consider the picture just described which brings out the consequences of sin and the reality of God's hatred of it.
‘For thus says YHWH, “The whole land will be a desolation, yet will I not make a full end.”
Yet even in the midst of the picture of desolation YHWH offers hope. He promises that He will not make a full end. Out of the devastation and the ruins Israel would rise again, and, even though Jeremiah did not at the time know it, one day on that very ground would walk the Son of God Himself bringing salvation to all who trust in Him.
This promise that He would not make a full end will be repeated again in one way or another (e.g. Jeremiah 5:1; Jeremiah 5:18; Jeremiah 30:11; Jeremiah 46:28; compare Leviticus 26:44; Amos 9:8; Isaiah 6:13; Isaiah 10:21), and it firmly emphasises hope for the future once the severe chastisement is over in accordance with Leviticus 26:44-45; Deuteronomy 30:1-10. It is an assurance that while His judgment will be severe it will not be terminal.
“For this will the earth mourn,
And the heavens above be black,
Because I have spoken it,
I have purposed it,
And I have not repented,
Neither will I turn back from it.
But let them not therefore be in doubt of God's intentions, or think that He would be slack concerning them. All that He had warned of would come about, so that even the earth and the heavens themselves would be steeped in mourning. The earth would mourn at what was to happen, and the heavens would be black, like the black worn by mourners, because YHWH had declared that it would happen, and because He had purposed it. Thus it was sure and certain. Nor would He change His mind or turn back from it. It is a reminder that the purposes of God, both good and bad, are sure, so that nothing will prevent their occurrence, and that while there are times when men wish it were otherwise, in the end it is for the good of His people.
The blackness of the heavens may have in mind its being covered with a shroud of clouds in the midst of a severe storm, compare 1 Kings 19:45, thus making the earth dark even while it was still day, but the main thought behind these words is of the deep mourning of the earth and the heavens at the awfulness of what was to happen.
‘Every city flees,
For the noise of the horsemen and bowmen,
They go into the thickets,
And clamber up on the rocks,
Every city is forsaken,
And not a man dwells in them.'
Jeremiah now takes over the commentary, declaring what will happen in more prosaic terms. At the sound of the approaching horsemen and bowmen the people in the cities will flee (such horsemen and bowmen were regularly depicted on inscriptions). They will seek to hide in the thickets, they will clamber desperately up the rocks seeking for hiding places (compare 1 Samuel 13:6, ‘the people hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in holds, and in pits'). Every city will be forsaken. Not a man will dwell in them. This will not be just an invasion by an invading army seeking tribute. It has in mind a full end for the time being because of Judah's treachery (even though God will not finally allow it to be so).
‘And you, when you are made desolate,
What will you do?
Though you clothe yourself with scarlet,
Though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold,
Though you enlarge your eyes with antimony,
In vain do you make yourself fair,
Your lovers despise you,
They seek your life.'
He then asks them to consider the true position. He pictures Judah and Jerusalem as seeking to make themselves acceptable to their ‘lovers', those whom they had ‘courted' among the nations. In the wreck of what has happened to them they are seen as seeking desperately to beautify themselves with gorgeous clothing (possibly to be seen as that of expensive prostitutes, but compare 2 Samuel 1:24), and covering themselves with their cosmetics and jewellery and make up, in a fervent attempt to make themselves ‘loved', but it is an attempt which will fail because their lovers no longer want them, they only seek their lives. All their political manoeuvrings will have proved to have been in vain. All attempts to ingratiate themselves will have failed.
Even today the world will go to all kinds of desperate measures in order to make themselves acceptable, but in the end it is all a sham and in vain. They need to recognise that there is only one love that is worth seeking, and can be relied on, and that is the sure and certain love of God, and that there is only one way to come to Him, and that is with total openness of heart, trusting in the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation.
The blackening or enlarging of the eyes with antimony has been a feature of many centuries and is still practised in the Middle East today.
‘For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labour,
The anguish as of her who brings forth her first child,
The voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath,
Who spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now!
For my soul faints before the murderers.
Jeremiah closes this description of God's judgment by picturing Jerusalem (the daughter of Zion) as being like a woman in labour who is producing her first child, with the knowledge that it will be murdered as soon as it is born. The emphasis is thus not on the gladness of the event, but on the suffering that she has to endure (only ever appreciated by women who have endured it), and her desperation in view of the situation lying ahead. She is seen as gasping for breath, and desperately stretching out her hands in a plea for help while crying ‘woe is me', because in spite of all that she has had to endure she knows that it has all been in vain. And her soul is fainting within her because her murderers, and the murderers of her child, are approaching whilst she herself, though wracked with pain, spreads out her hands in despair but can do nothing about it. It is a picture of Jerusalem's hopelessness and suffering in the face of what is to come.