Jeremiah (1-31) 10:17 Commentary and Bible Study

‘Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.’ This is spoken by God to the Jews in their false sense of security, and is mocking language. It is advice given on how they can deliver themselves, and yet all these means will fail. Go and gather up all that is of value to you, and bring it for safekeeping into places of safety, into Jerusalem which you regard as a fortress. Yet it will do you no good. Why not? Because the Lord is determined to punish the nation. With great force he will show his displeasure, and cast them out of the land which he had previously given to them. He will do this in spite of their thinking it would never happen, so that they are compelled to admit it has really happened – ‘they may find it so’.‘Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.’ Jeremiah is speaking. He is deeply wounded at what has come upon his people, and he feels anguish for them, and yet he knows it is just. He cannot complain about it, or ask the Lord to change his mind; there have been enough warnings, and Judah must now suffer for her sins. The Chaldeans are coming and nothing will stop that. That is why Jeremiah says that he simply has to bear this. He is called to a very difficult ministry. ‘My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.’ Gill explains this as Jeremiah speaking on behalf of Jerusalem at the loss of her children, because that have been carried away captive out of the land. There is none to setup her tent, a metaphor for what is necessary to continue occupation of the land. Only a tiny remnant of the poor remained behind after the last of Nebuchadnezzar’s final invasion.‘For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD.’ This is the explanation, and an explanation is certainly required for such devastation of those who God once called his own people. The pastors and teachers of the people have served themselves, and become brutish. This word which has been used twice before in the chapter, again refers not to violence, but to their dullness and stupidity. They have no knowledge of God’s word themselves, so how can they teach the people? They have not sought God’s face, or his guidance, or his forgiveness. They are strangers to the Lord. Therefore the people, who are guilty in their own right, will be scattered at the hands of the Babylonians. ‘Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country.’ Babylon will approach from the north, and the bruit (an archaic word for report or rumour) will reach Judah as panic spreads through the nation. Jeremiah is once more making the description as realistic as he can to try to persuade the people that this is really going to happen. God uses fear to wake people up to their need to seek his salvation. Fear alone will not bring them into the kingdom of heaven, but it may begin the process. Only an understanding of the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ save men and women.