Jeremiah 4:19-31--Anguish over Judah's Desolation

Jeremiah 4:19-31
English Standard Version

Anguish over Judah's Desolation
19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
    Oh the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
    I cannot keep silent,
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
    the alarm of war.
20 Crash follows hard on crash;
    the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are laid waste,
    my curtains in a moment.
21 How long must I see the standard
    and hear the sound of the trumpet?

22 “For my people are foolish;
    they know me not;
they are stupid children;
    they have no understanding.
They are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
    But how to do good they know not.”

23 I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void;
    and to the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
    and all the hills moved to and fro.
25 I looked, and behold, there was no man,
    and all the birds of the air had fled.
26 I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert,
    and all its cities were laid in ruins
    before the LORD, before his fierce anger.

27 For thus says the LORD, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

28 “For this the earth shall mourn,
    and the heavens above be dark;
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
    I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”

29 At the noise of horseman and archer
    every city takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
    all the cities are forsaken,
    and no man dwells in them.
30 And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
    that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
    that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
    Your lovers despise you;
    they seek your life.
31 For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,
    anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
    stretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”

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Jeremiah writes God's words about how He feels about having to punish the people of Judah, destroy their cities, including Jerusalem and to let the Temple be destroyed.  It pains Him to have to do this, and He wishes it wasn't necessary, but He knows it must happen.  They have heard the prophets and they have seen the other warning signs of wars and rumors of wars, but they have not heeded the warnings.

God calls them stupid and rebellious children who only know how to do what is wrong and will never know how to do what is right.  They are wise in their own eyes, but their "wisdom" is foolishness.  Everything they thought was certain and secure will be disrupted so that they will have no foundation to build on but the LORD.  Yet, it was this judgment that they deserved that was poured out on Jesus--look at how it talks about the earth reacting quaking and the sky becoming black at midday.  All that happened at the crucifixion.  We don't know that it happened at any other time before or since like it happened on that day.  The Son drank of the cup of the wrath of God to the bitter dregs so that we didn't have to.

Judgment is coming, and the people are still flaunting their sin.  They are dressed in scarlet and adorned in golden jewelry (like the women who walk the street looking to pick up men).  The people are proud of their sin and advertise it.  They will try to take cover behind the rocks, but they will jump into thorn bushes (they will not escape punishment).  The LORD is in some ways sorry that He "gave birth" to this people, to this nation, but He knows that salvation for them and all the people of the world is coming.  The people just need to not be completely destroyed before then.  God will make sure that His plan moves forward despite the people that call themselves the people of God doing everything they can to torpedo that plan.  If only they had listened to God's call to be His people and be a light to the Gentile nations.  Now it is said of them, "If the light in them is darkness, how great is that darkness."  Yet, God does use this people to take the gospel to the whole world and to be the authors of both the Old Testament and New Testament books, and certainly, God is not finished with His people Israel yet as we read in the Prophets, but also in the Gospels, in Acts, and in the Epistles, and in the book of Revelation.  God certainly has a plan for Israel to be His witnesses and to be evangelists to take His gospel message to the whole world.