Jeremiah 8:4-17--Sin and Treachery

Jeremiah 8:4-17
English Standard Version

Sin and Treachery
4 “You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD:
When men fall, do they not rise again?
    If one turns away, does he not return?
5 Why then has this people turned away
    in perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit;
    they refuse to return.
6 I have paid attention and listened,
    but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
    saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
    like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
7 Even the stork in the heavens
    knows her times,
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane
    keep the time of their coming,
but my people know not
    the rules of the LORD.

8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise,
    and the law of the LORD is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
    has made it into a lie.
9 The wise men shall be put to shame;
    they shall be dismayed and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD,
    so what wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore I will give their wives to others
    and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
    everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
11 They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
    when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among the fallen;
    when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,
says the LORD.
13 When I would gather them, declares the LORD,
    there are no grapes on the vine,
    nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
    and what I gave them has passed away from them.”

14 Why do we sit still?
Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities
    and perish there,
for the LORD our God has doomed us to perish
    and has given us poisoned water to drink,
    because we have sinned against the LORD.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came;
    for a time of healing, but behold, terror.

16 “The snorting of their horses is heard from Dan;
    at the sound of the neighing of their stallions
    the whole land quakes.
They come and devour the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who dwell in it.
17 For behold, I am sending among you serpents,
    adders that cannot be charmed,
    and they shall bite you,”
declares the LORD.

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God asks the people why they refuse to learn from their failures and repent and return to Him.  The natural order is for man to fall and then to get back up, yet these people have fallen and liked staying down and refuse to get up.  He then lists a litany of sins that they are living in--a formal indictment of sorts.  The people seem to have lost their "common sense" and instinct/nature that even animals have.

They imagine themselves wise because they have the Law of the LORD, but they refuse to read it, meditate on it, obey it or apply it.  This makes them fools.  Those who profess to be wise but would try to undo the Word of God with their writings, teachings, and lifestyles would be brought to shame by the LORD.  They will lose their wealth and land that they love more than the LORD who gave both to them.

The prophets and priest are also indicted for trying to heal the external wounds that come from breaking the Law without addressing the heart issue of the people being Lawbreakers.  The priests and prophets failed to deliver the Word of the LORD effectively because they were afraid of the people and they wanted people to like them.  They loved the money that came when they spoke the message that the people wanted to hear.  They were in it for themselves and they loved money and power.  They were not ashamed by the abomination of idols and altars to idols being set up in the LORD's Temple, because they never cared about the LORD or the worship that was due to Him.  

The people will try to hide in fortified cities, but they will not save the people from the LORD's discipline and correction.  They look for peace where there is none.  The Land will be devoured and the people will be exiled.  Others will dwell in the Land and presume it belongs to them.  The LORD is doing all this to those who call themselves His people with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him.