Jeremiah 16:1-13--Famine, Sword, and Death

Jeremiah 16:1-13
English Standard Version

Famine, Sword, and Death
16 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. 3 For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: 4 They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

5 “For thus says the LORD: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the LORD. 6 Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them. 7 No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. 8 You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink. 9 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

10 “And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’ 11 then you shall say to them: ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the LORD, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, 12 and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. 13 Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

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The LORD tells Jeremiah to tell the people of Judah to stop trying to have children until they are taken captive.  The LORD says that anyone who tries to disobey Him with respect to this and tries to have children while in the Land will have the children along with the mothers and fathers who tried to bear them die of deadly diseases.  No one will remain to lament or bury them because their friends and family will be taken into exile.  They will be like dung that is left on the ground.  Whether they die by the sword or by famine or by pestilence, they will become food for the unclean birds and scavenger beasts.

Should someone die during this short period that they are still in the Land before they are captured and taken into exile, no one is to gather for a funeral to mourn the death of friends or family.  Why?  Because the LORD has removed His peace and blessing from the people and the Land.  Young and old alike will die, and no one is to bury them or lament or grieve their deaths.  No one is to have a meal for those who mourn the death of one who died or try to comfort those who survive.  God does not want the people to try to make each other feel better.  He wants them to experience the full weight of His discipline and judgment.  Judah is to be a place of silence with neither the joy and laughter heard from a wedding or the wailing and crying heard from a funeral.

​The people will play dumb and act innocent.  They will say that the LORD is doing great evil against them because they can think of nothing that they have done deserving of such a severe punishment.  Jeremiah is to remind them that they and their fathers alike have whored after other gods and served and worshiped them in violation of the first and second commandments.  This generation is even worse than that of their fathers and grandfathers because not only have they gone after other gods, but they refuse to listen to the Scriptures or the prophets.  So, the LORD is going to cause the Land to vomit them out like they have "gone bad" and give it food poisoning.  The LORD will show them no favor (grace or mercy) if they whore after other gods.  He will send them away out of the Land and give it time to heal.