Jeremiah (1-31) 15:2 Commentary and Bible Study

‘And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD;’ – and here we come into poetry – ‘Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.’ Here the people are, as it were, allocated to different judgments, though, strictly, all these things come out of war. It is because of the invasion, because of the fighting, because of the hostilities that there will be famine, and of course captivity; all the things do come directly from the invasion which is about to come. But over all the chaos of war is the Lord who works out his purposes of judgment so that none escape, for he assigns the detailed providences that overtake his enemies. Men may choose their sins, but God chooses their punishments.This continues in verse 3: ‘And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.’ The earth which was created to be a paradise for man, providing for all his needs, will be turned against him. This was what he started to see from the moment he fell into sin – ‘Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee’ (Genesis 3:18). If God be against us, who can be for us? But thanks be to God, that his people are loved by him.‘And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.’ King Manasseh was born into a believing family with all the advantages of a godly father, but he turned away from the Lord and led all of Jerusalem into great sin (2 Kings 21). At that time God had said, ‘Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: … And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies’ (2 Kings 21:11-14). Manasseh had personally been led away captive into Babylon (2 Chronicles 33:11). But there he had prayed to the Lord and humbled himself and repented. God had heard his cries and brought him again to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 33:13), where he worked to undo the evil he had previously done. So why here is it said that Judah will go into exile because the of what Manasseh did? Because it was not just his sin, but the sin of the people of Jerusalem also. God had not forgotten their idolatry, which had continued to Jeremiah’s day. They had never truly turned from their false worship, and they had taught their children to do the same. Each generation was punished for its own sin, but they learnt from their parents. All the more remarkable that Manasses was forgiven.