Jeremiah Calls On The People To Enter Their Fortified Cities Because The Invaders Are Coming And There Will Be No Peace Terms Accepted Or Healing Of Their Rebellion, For YHWH Is Sending Among Them Serpents Which Cannot Be Charmed, Adders Which Will Bite Them Without Ceasing (Jeremiah 8:14-17). .
In vivid terms Jeremiah calls on the people to barricade themselves inside their fortified cities. But it was not to be in hope of deliverance. Once there they were to be silent, because YHWH had put them to silence by the thought of what was coming on them. They would be given bitter water to drink, because they had sinned against Him. For this time there would be no peace terms and no healing of the rift. The invaders would not be coming in a merciful mood, but in order to obtain vengeance. They were like snakes which could not be charmed, which would bite them without stinting. And this was ‘the infallible word of YHWH'.
“Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves,
And let us enter into the fortified cities,
And let us be silent there,
For YHWH our God has put us to silence,
And given us water of gall to drink,
Because we have sinned against YHWH.”
Jeremiah now calls the people to action. It is not a time for sitting still but for assembling themselves and entering into their fortified cities because the enemy is almost upon them. But it should not be with the hope of deliverance. Rather, once there, they were to be in silence, knowing that YHWH their God had put them to silence and given them bitter and even poisonous water to drink, And this was because of the grievousness of their sin before Him.
It is tempting to see in the reference to ‘waters of gall' a parallel with the water drunk by a wife accused of adultery, which is called ‘the water of bitterness that brings the curse' (Numbers 5:18; Numbers 5:24), but there is no suggestion that that was waters of gall. Indeed it was holy water mingled with dust from the Tabernacle, and if that was meant why was it not called ‘waters of bitterness'? More likely is a reference to Deuteronomy 32:32-33, ‘For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah, their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter, their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps.' That makes it a mixture of bitterness and poison which will bring about their end because their sins paralleled those of Sodom and Gomorrah.
“We looked for peace,
But no good came,
For a time of healing,
And, behold, dismay!”
Their false prophets had promised peace and healing and well being, but it had not come. Furthermore all efforts at appeasing the enemy would fail. They would look in vain for peace, but no good would come. They would seek a time of healing, but instead they would face dismay, for they had offended both God and men. No peace terms would be offered. No mercy would be available. It was the end of the road.
“The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan,
At the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles,
For they are come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it,
The city and those who dwell in it.”
Prophetically Jeremiah hears the snorting of the invader's horses at Dan, on the borders of God's inheritance. The enemy are coming and even now, as it were, the sound of the snorting of their horses can be heard! It is as near as that. And at that sound of the neighing of the powerful horses of the enemy the whole land will tremble. In his foresight he sees the invading forces coming and devouring the land, and all that is in it. And they will devour the cities, in spite of their fortifications, and all who dwell in them. There will be no escape from the avenging forces of Babylon. It is already happening before his prophetic eyes.
“For, behold, I will send serpents,
Adders, among you,
Which will not be charmed,
And they will bite you,
The word of YHWH.”
For those who are coming are like serpents, like adders come among them. Once again, just as He had previously, God is visiting His people with a judgment of ‘serpents'. In mind here is almost certainly the incident when YHWH previously sent serpents among the people of Israel when they were rebellious, although in that case it had caused the people to repent (compare Numbers 21:6-9). No attempts at charming them will succeed. There will be no intervention by YHWH. The serpents will be deaf to all attempts to win them over (compare Psalms 58:4-5). Instead they will bite all the people of the land. And this is the unfailing ‘word of YHWH'.
The picture of the charmer, at first confident, and then desperately seeking to bring the serpents under control, only in the end to succumb to their bites, is a vivid one. It was an indication that all negotiations with their enemies would fail.