Jeremiah 14:1-12--Famine, Sword, and Pestilence

Jeremiah 14:1-12
English Standard Version

Famine, Sword, and Pestilence
14 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

2 “Judah mourns,
    and her gates languish;
her people lament on the ground,
    and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
3 Her nobles send their servants for water;
    they come to the cisterns;
they find no water;
    they return with their vessels empty;
they are ashamed and confounded
    and cover their heads.
4 Because of the ground that is dismayed,
    since there is no rain on the land,
the farmers are ashamed;
    they cover their heads.
5 Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn
    because there is no grass.
6 The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
    they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
    because there is no vegetation.

7 “Though our iniquities testify against us,
    act, O LORD, for your name's sake;
for our backslidings are many;
    we have sinned against you.
8 O you hope of Israel,
    its savior in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
    like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why should you be like a man confused,
    like a mighty warrior who cannot save?
Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us,
    and we are called by your name;
    do not leave us.”

10 Thus says the LORD concerning this people:
“They have loved to wander thus;
    they have not restrained their feet;
therefore the LORD does not accept them;
    now he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins.”

11 The LORD said to me: “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12 Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”

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Drought is one of the curses that the LORD would send on His people to let them know they are win sin and in need of repentance.  The drought would be an outward sign of the spiritual condition of their hearts--that without the Living Water that came from God Himself, they would be dry, thirsty, and fruitless.  They did not receive the message as was intended though, and this drought had gotten to the point of people dying from it.  The cisterns that were meant to collect rain water are empty.  The wells are running dry, and the people wonder where they will be able to go for water.  Farmers cannot water their crops, animals and people lack water to drink, and there is not even a cloud in the sky to provide shade.

God means for the people to see their sin and repent, but they do not.  The LORD wants the children of Israel to once again call out to Him for salvation, but they do not.  Instead, they lean more into the false gods that they worship instead of Him.  Even if they call on the LORD, they must forsake their sin and their idols.  The LORD will not bless them in their iniquity.  The people are unwilling to give up their paganism, so the LORD will make them suffer the consequences of that choice.  While some may have been crying out for salvation, they were only looking for an escape from the consequences so they could keep on sinning.  The LORD is not in the business of selling fire insurance.  He instead gives eternal and abundant life to all who die to their sins and are being made into the image and likeness of His Son (by the power of the Holy Spirit).

God's only conclusion is that they must love being sojourners and hate living in their own land, because they were promised that the Land would vomit them out if they continued in this sin and they would be a people without a land again, and it didn't seem to phase them.  Where the LORD typically overlooks and passes over the iniquity of His people when they make sacrifices to Him, He will no longer accept their sacrifices and chooses to remember their sins.  They will face the consequences.

Once again, the LORD instructs Jeremiah not to pray for the welfare of this people who have become so morally bankrupt (this people in this place at this time--this is not a statement about all the children of Israel in all places at all times).  Instead of consuming their sacrifices by His holy fire, the LORD will instead consume these people by the sword and bring famine and pestilence upon them--the kinds of plagues that were brought upon Egypt but not brought upon His people that lived in Goshen will now come upon those who call themselves His people but are not His people.  They will experience the judgment of the LORD.