Dublin, OH
Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
8:18-9:9 Judah Lives Deceitfully. Jeremiah mourns over his people (8:18-22) because they are deceitful and thus self-appointed for judgment by Judah's righteous God (9:1-9).
8:18-22 In these verses, the people's complaint is followed by God's response and then by another complaint (vv. 19b-20), with Jeremiah's own distress over what Judah faces serving as literary bookends to the section (vv. 18, 21-22; cf. 4:19-21). In the interchange between Judah and God, the Judeans assert that God has deserted them, but God notes their ongoing veneration of idols; they reply that they are not saved (and readers must infer that this is because they are not faithful). Jeremiah is wounded because of his people's wounds, or sins (8:11). This prophet cares deeply for his hearers. Their health has not been restored (v. 22) because they have consulted the wrong physicians (vv. 11-12). They prefer false prophets to God's written and revealed word.
9:1 Jeremiah is often called the "weeping prophet" based on this verse, but this nickname does not do justice to his preaching messages of repentance and judgment. He cares for Judah, but he does much more than weep.
9:2 Despite his compassion, Jeremiah understands they are all adulterers and treacherous men. They swear covenant fidelity and then sin against God and neighbor. He wishes to flee from them.
9:3 tongue like a bow. The Israelites use their tongues as weapons (vv. 5, 8). Their speech conveys their character. They proceed into ever greater victories in doing evil. not know me. They have no saving knowledge of God, which is a reproach for any of his people, who should in fact know him in this way (2:8; 4:22; 5:4; 8:7; 10:25; cf. Judg. 2:10; 1 Sam. 2:12; 3:7; Isa. 1:3; Hos. 4:1, 6; 5:4; John 1:10; 8:55; 14:17; 15:21; 16:3; 17:25; 1 John 2:3; 3:6; 4:8).
9:4-6 Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth. Deceit and slander dominate the Israelites' speech, so no one should trust friend or neighbor. Again, they refuse to know God and his will (v. 3). When God's own people turn away from him, and thus from his standards of truth, their everyday speech is increasingly filled with lies.
9:7 refine . . . and test. See 6:27-30. The Israelites leave a just, patient God with little recourse but to punish. He will purge them of their sin.
