Jeremiah 6:1-15. More destruction.  This must have gotten pretty old; listening to Jeremiah speak about destruction all the time, and we are only in chapter 6.  I need to remember that the book of Jeremiah includes messages from a period of about forty years.  But then  I’m pretty sure that we don’t have all of the messages that Jeremiah spoke, only a sample of them.  And it does seem that this particular message was given early on, certainly before the sieges of Jerusalem during the last half of Jeremiah’s ministry (that word means service and talks about how a servant of God, like a prophet, served the people by communicating to them for God).  Josiah died in a battle with Egypt in 609 BC and there was political turmoil before that with Babylon taking power from the Assyrians (major victories by Babylon in 614 BC and 612 BC).  It may have been around this time that the false prophets in Jerusalem were saying “peace, peace”, or sometime earlier; they may have been motivated by this political turmoil or by Jeremiah’s never ending message to “turn back to God or suffer the consequences”.

The Nation of Israel was made up of the descendants of twelve brothers, sons of Jacob (Israel, see “What’s in a Name”).   The groups of descendants are often referred to as tribes.  After the reign of Solomon the nation was divided into kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom, usually called Israel, included ten of the tribes.  The Southern Kingdom, usually called Judah, was made up of two of the tribes; Benjamin and Judah.  Jerusalem was the capital of the original nation and also of the Southern Kingdom after the split.

When I was a kid there were a lot of programs on TV about the “Old West”; stories about cowboys and indians.  Sometimes in the stories Indians would need to communicate with each other over a long distance and in the shows they would sometimes use “smoke signals”; smoke from a camp fire would be manipulated to send a message.  In American history Paul Revere stood watch for a signal from the Old North Church in Boston.  The signal would indicate to Paul where the invasion by the British army was coming from so troops could be sent there.  Israel seems to have had some sort of similar system to help them prepare for a coming invasion.  Various cities had places where signal fires could be built to signal a coming invasion.  Beth-haccerem was one such town about 4-1/2 miles west of Jerusalem.  Tekoa was a city about 6 miles south of Jerusalem.  When Jeremiah tells them to set up the signal in Beth-haccerem and blow a Trumpet in Tekoa we can understand two things, war is coming and Jerusalem is being surrounded.  No wonder Jeremiah told the people to flee Jerusalem.  The invader is coming form the north, but he will surround Jerusalem and take all of the territory of Judah.  It will be a time of great destruction and even the most refined inhabitants of Jerusalem will suffer (reminds me of “Gone with the Wind” where Tara tries to stay all proper and refined while the world is being destroyed around her).  The destruction of Jerusalem will be so complete that shepherds will use the area to graze their flocks and people will be living in tents instead of houses.

IN verses 4-5 we see the enemy preparing to do battle.  The first word of verses 4 is usually translated “prepare” but it is the Hebrew (the language that the Old Testament was written in) word “qadash”.  The word means to “sanctify” or “set apart”, it is very similar to the idea of “holy”, we might say “dedicate”.  In ancient times war was as much about God or gods as anything.  God or gods were an important part of war; wars were a part of duty toward a god and help for God or a god was usually asked for before a battle.  The invaders in verse 4 are dedicating the battle to their god.

Battles were usually begun in the morning before the day got too hot (and maybe while the opponent was not quite ready).  In the battle predicted here by Jeremiah the enemy (Babylon) decides to attack at noon and keep up the battle into the night.  We also see the invading army cutting down trees in the area to put against the walls of Jerusalem as a way of getting in.  A siege is an attack against a fort or fortified city and usually involved building some sort of ramp or ladder to reach the top of the wall.  These ramps, ladders, or other means were called siege works.  In one very famous battle Alexander the Great besieged Tyre, a city on the coast in the northern part of the Israelite territory.  There was an island ½ mile of the coast where the mainland dwellers would flee when attacked.  Alexander the Great spent seven months throwing rocks into the sea to create a road out to the island to attack it.

Beginning in the end of verse 6 we see the reason for the coming attack on Jerusalem, the city was filled with oppression, that means unfairness; people treating each other badly. Jerusalem is also compared to a well that is constantly being filled from underground streams and reservoirs with fresh water.  It’s not good clean water that flows into and fills Jerusalem though it is evil actions by the people of the city.  According to Jeremiah the violence and destruction, sickness and wounds that are coming with the battle are familiar sounds in Jerusalem because here streets already are a battle ground between the citizens of the city.  I’m sure the battle in the city that Jeremiah was referring to was a spiritual and moral battle and not so much a physical one, remember the woman in verse 2 was beautiful and living peacefully in the city.  Verse 8 ends the complaint with a warning from God.  Although Jeremiah doesn’t invite the people to stop being bad to each other that is implied in the idea of a warning.

Verse 9 is probably referring to the coming invasion.  The invaders will be like people who glean in a vineyard.  As field workers pass through a field the miss some of the fruit.  In ancient Israel the farmer was not allowed to send workers through the field a second time.  The second time through the poor and needy in the land were supposed to be allowed into the field.  They would get the leftovers, the practice of going through the field a second time is called gleaning.  In the case of the invasion though the invading army is going to go through Jerusalem twice it’s self and “pick the city clean”.  In verse 10 God wants to warn Jerusalem but their ears are closed, they don’t like what they are hearing from Jeremiah and God so they aren’t listening.

Verses 11-12 tell us that no one will escape the disaster that is coming.  Although it will be the Babylonian army that invades God is using it to deal with his unfaithful people.  From the greatest to the poorest they are all greedy and selfish.  Both the prophets and the priests are lying to the people.  The prophets were telling the people there was “no problem” when there was and God was going to deal with it.  And the priests clearly were not telling the people about God’s standards (like the Ten Commandments).  The leaders themselves weren’t even ashamed of their lives and actions.  So the leaders would fall with the rest of the people.  And they could be sure because it was god talking to them (verse 15).

Sure Jeremiah’s message keeps repeating it’s self.  That could be because he was talking to another group or another generation or it could just be because the people weren’t listening (which according to verse 10 they weren’t).   What is completely awesome about this repetition is that God cares enough to keep after us.  If it was to people who hadn’t heard yet that is awesome because God cares about all of us, if it was to those who had already heard that is awesome too, because God cared enough o not give up on us.  Even the judgment is awesome because it shows that god is willing to cause us pain here and now to hopefully save us pain in eternity.  In 1 Corinthians 5:1-6 Paul is getting on the believers in a town called Corinth because one of the church members is physically involved with his step-mother, and no one is saying any thing.  In verse 5 Paul tells them that he is willing to hand the guy over to Satan (a word that means adversary or enemy) to allow the guys to suffer physically.  Wow!  That is pretty brutal.  What Paul was hoping ws that the people of the group would cut the guy off, put him back in the realm of Satan or the world and that whatever physical consequences there might be might be enough to make the guy submit his life back to God.  At the extreme he was willing to let the guy die physically in hope that his sold would be saved in eternity.  That is the same idea of the punishment in Jeremiah 6.  God doesn’t destroy just to destroy he wants us to see the break between us and him and change our lives so the break can be healed.  Otherwise when we die the break will become permanent and we will spend eternity on the outside.  It’s tough love but it’s love none the less; love that has our best interest in it, and God ultimately paid the greater price, “for God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”  That is truly awesome.

God thank you for caring enough to use tough means to get our attention.  We don’t want to be saying “peace, peace” when there is no peace between us and you.  Thank you for the reminders of the consequences of our rebellion and disrespect of you.  help us listen to your message and respond to it by accepting your gift of eternal life.  And help us listen even after that so our lives bring you honor, cause you happiness, and help other find you.