Jeremiah 4
Introduction
In chapter one of the book of the Prophet, we learn of the call upon his life even before he was conceived. This gives us a glimpse of God’s plan. We see a similar display in the call of Moses and in that of others. In both these men, we also see their initial response when God’s call takes place in time. They object due to their inadequacy. God’s response is “Have no fear. I have called you, and I will equip you (1:4-10) (my paraphrase of God’s response) …. Now gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all I command you! (1:17).
Jeremiah’s first message is reminiscent of numerous previous passages in which a prophet (review the minor prophets) or a Psalm writer (105 and 78) calls to mind all that God has done for Israel despite their disobedience.
Chapter three is a message to the nation that reminds them of how often they have strayed from the Lord and returned. He compares them to a wife whom a husband has divorced for her unfaithfulness, who then continues to sin sexually, and who, after being disciplined, returns to her original husband. Yet, in the midst of this message, Jeremiah articulates a long-range hope of redemption for the nation in the eternal kingdom (3:14-22).
If You Have a Mind to Return (4:1-4)
In the message of this chapter, Jeremiah tells the nation, “If you will return, O Israel, then you should return.” What does this take? In New Testament language, it brings repentance and confession, with genuineness demonstrated by the fruits of repentance (4:1b-2a). And this return to the Lord will bless others around you (4:2b).
What does this return look like? “Break up your follow ground.” In New Testament words, “Put off the old man.” Circumcise your heart (“be renewed in the spirit of your mind” and “put on the new man” (4:4a; Eph 4:22-24). These four verses sound much like the message of Ephesians
• God chose you
• Walk in truth (speak the truth in love (4:15).
• Walk in justice (Treat others as you would be treated. Put aside bitterness, forgive as you have been forgiven (4:31-32)
• Walk in righteousness (Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love. Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (4:1-3)
And, If You Do Not Have a Mind to Return, Judgment (4b-20)
If you don’t choose to repent, prepare for judgment. Through verse 20, Jeremiah oscillatesbetween judgment on the horizon and pleas for repentance. One of the pleas comes in the form of a reminder, “Your ways and your deeds have brought these things to you. This is your evil. How bitter! Hos, it has touched your heart!”
Reading this reminder brings echoes of many counselees. One such counselee recently sighed and said, “I foolishly divorced my husband. He is not happy with his new wife, and I suffer loneliness as a single parent.” I have a friend who is a missionary to the street people in a major southern city. Often in his prayer letters, he introduces “streeties” who have lost everything to their persistent drug or alcohol habit. This is their evil.
God’s View of the Persistent Sinner (4:21-22)
My people are foolish! Why does God make this observation? He gives two reasons. First, “they do not know me.” How sad. How many folks profess faith in Christ yet do not invest in getting to know their God? Even the Apostle Peter, writing to his dispersed congregation, urges them to humble themselves “under the mighty hand of God.” In less than a year, he writes to them again to remind them that all the resources they need to manage living through the multiple crises and trauma of persecution and a burned city are found in the Lord. Therefore, he encourages them to diligently get to know their “God with the mighty hand” so they can develop the ability to live successfully through the circumstances of life.
Second, though adults, they are stupid children. The Hebrew word translated “stupid” is one of several words sometimes translated “fool”. This word is better rendered in English as “stupid,” as it conveys the idea of being obtuse and prone to decisions that seem unintelligent. That is, the lack of common sense acquired by learning the general principles of life that come from knowing God intimately.
Third, they have no understanding. As noted in the foregoing discussion, being stupid leaves them lacking understanding of the basic principles that God has built into His world.
Fourth, the result of the above is that they become smart at practicing evil; they are ignorant of doing good.
Hope Is Found in God Being in Charge (4:23-31)
Various commentators have different perspectives on this section. It appears that the most straightforward perspective is to see these verses as a broad brush of the coming history of Israel,culminating in a scene that foreshadows Revelation 12. The woman giving birth represents Israel, the nation giving birth to the Messiah, described as clothed in the sun, moon under her feet, and a crown of 12 stars (representing Israel’s twelve tribes). She’s in labor to birth the male child (Jesus) who will rule, while a great red dragon (Satan) tries to devour the child, symbolizing his attempts to destroy Christ (like Herod) and God’s protection of the Messiah (ascension to God’s throne) and Israel (fleeing to the wilderness).
This is intended to project prophetic hope in the same manner that Paul projects prophetic hope of resurrection (2 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15), and the coming judgement (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10), and he ties it all up with a glorious bow, the blessed hope (Titus 2:13).
Conclusion
Jeremiah is known as the “weeping prophet” (8:18-9:2). Having spent my career in ministry in the counseling office, I can appreciate this moniker. How many times have counselees insisted on being and remaining stupid? They have ranged from the youth who was determined to run away from home, the missionary wife who jeopardized their ministry by her choice to dwell in anxiety, to the brilliant your mathematician who sacrificed his dream job to indulge his foolish habit of “smoking wee”, to the mom who threw away her marriage for fling while traveling for her job, to the pastor who sacrifice his ministry for his porn habit. As the counselor, you weep with those who mourn as they get caught up in the vortex of their family member, and for the stupid (as God calls Israel in this text), the individual who sacrifices the glory of God in their lives by joining Israel in idol worship.
The problems today are the same in the kingdom of heaven on earth as they were in Israel. Settling for naming God but lacking knowledge of God and hence spiraling into idolatrous worship seeking to find form in earthly things, which only God can supply (2 Peter 1:3-10).
Implementation
A quick search for verses on repentance in the New Testament yielded the following:
Matthew 3:2, 4:17; Luke 5:32, 13:3, 13:5, 15:7; Acts 2:38, 3:19, 17:30; 2 Cor 7:10; I John 1:9; James 4:8. Let us land on James 4:8 where we are exhorted, “Draw near to God (get to know Him), and He will draw near to your (turning your stupidity into wisdom). Cleanse your hands,you sinners (put off the worship of your idols), purify your hearts, you double minded (set your affections on things above, that is not on things on the earth. This is parallel to the numerous times Jeremiah calls on Israel to set aside their idols (Colossians 3:2 KJV). Hence, we are to choose to focus minds, desires, and priorities on heavenly and thereby become spirituallyinformed over against worldly, earthly concerns and temptations. Cultivate a heavenly perspective of being dependent upon “the God with the mighty hand” and not upon the idols that make us stupid. Live driven by the “blessed hope.”