1 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “You must not marry and have sons or daughters in this place.” 3 For this is what the LORD says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers: 4 “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like dung lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”
5 For this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people,” declares the LORD. 6 “Both high and low will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, and no one will cut themselves or shave their head for the dead. 7 No one will offer food to comfort those who mourn for the dead - not even for a father or a mother - nor will anyone give them a drink to console them.
8 “And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink. 9 For this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in this place.
10 “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?’ 11 then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshipped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. 12 But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me. 13 So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’
14 “However, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ 15 but it will be said, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors.
16 “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. 17 My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes. 18 I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.”
19 LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress,
to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good.
20 Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!”
to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good.
20 Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!”
21 “Therefore I will teach them - this time I will teach them my power and might.
Then they will know that my name is the LORD.
Then they will know that my name is the LORD.
TODAY IN THE WORD
In recent surveys conducted among young professionals about what they wanted most in life, near the top of the list was always the desire for a fulfilling relationship or a long, happy marriage. Assuming that Jeremiah was like the people in these polls, we can imagine how difficult God’s word was for Jeremiah to hear (v 2).
In Jeremiah’s day, staying unmarried was nearly unheard of. His celibacy indicated symbolically the cessation of normal life and served as an object lesson for the nation. Additionally, being single increased Jeremiah’s understanding of the desolation that would soon characterize the nation.
Not being married, however, was also God’s grace to Jeremiah, because it lessened his personal grief in the coming destruction. The horrifying spectre of corpses left unburied (v 4) is exactly what was outlined in Deuteronomy 28:26 for those who rejected God’s covenant and refused to repent.
Still, being single wasn’t easy. To add to this, the Lord also commanded Jeremiah not to seek normal gatherings, such as those after a funeral (v 5). Why would the Lord do this? Because He had chosen His servant Jeremiah to portray what was in store for the nation. During the coming invasion, individuals couldn’t be mourned, because the entire nation would be the object of lament. There wouldn’t be anyone to perform funerals or to bury the dead. Note that cutting oneself or shaving one’s head were pagan mourning practices that were forbidden, though they were still widely practiced in Jeremiah’s time (v 6; cf Lev 19:28; Deut 14:1). Even weddings and celebratory feasts would be no more. Normal life would cease.
APPLY THE WORD
With so much emphasis on judgment, today’s passage also includes great encouragement! Drawing upon the Exodus from slavery in Egypt, the Lord promised those in Jeremiah’s day that there would be an even greater exodus from exile in Babylon (vv 14–15). For the Israelites, there was no greater assurance of God’s faithfulness than the Exodus. And for believers today, there is no greater assurance of God’s faithfulness than our own exodus from the bondage of sin that has been accomplished by Jesus’ blood on the cross!
