Jeremiah (1-31) 23:33 Commentary and Bible Study

In the last part of the chapter God responds to the mockery of his word. This is coming from either the common people, or the corrupt religious leaders, the priests and the false prophets. They are all agreed in what they say here. The passage uses the word ‘burden’ frequently. That word is used in Scripture to as a term for prophecy (Isaiah 15:1; 17:1 etc. Nahum 1:1; Habakkuk 1:1) because of the weighty nature of God’s word – the word comes from the Hebrew to lift. But it seems that those who opposed the true prophets used the word in a derisive manner and made a pun out of it: ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’, what heavy thing has the Lord got to say to us now? This was how they referred to the solemn warnings that came through Jeremiah of imminent judgment on the nation. So we should understand these things to be said with a mocking tone, and not as serious enquiries, and this is evident to all who hear what they say. The response that Jeremiah is instructed to give is to say ‘What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.’ This is understood as a further pun on the word ‘burden’ which repeats in the answer what was said in the mocking question. ‘You people who make this enquiry are the burden, and I have cast you off, so what burden? The burden is gone. I am relieved of you.’ God takes very seriously derisive taunts aimed at his word. They make his word the enemy, but it is the kindest thing that God can do: to speak to us. His word is always instructive, and although the warnings in Jeremiah are indeed solemn, yet there are amazing offers of mercy even at this eleventh hour. What we need to fear most is that God stops speaking to us, and that is what these mockers hear in response. God notes every one who those who speak in these terms, and he has a punishment ready for them, for them and their household. ‘Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?’ The word of God should be spoken of with the greatest possible reverence, not in mocking terms. The Lord here says how people should speak if they want to make genuine enquiries about what he has said. ‘And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.’ These words threaten the ones who persist in doing what God has forbidden, and continue to use the phrase ‘the burden of the Lord’. ‘The judgment of God is contained in the words, ‘every man's word shall be his burden.’ That is not something good or pleasant. This is a punishment for what they have done: they ‘have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.’ In what way will a man’s word be his burden? In that every derisive word he has spoken against the word of God will be visited upon him. God will remember all their mocking speeches and punish them for them. It is another twist on the word burden, which highlights that, as ever, the judgement of God is fitted to the sin being punished.Here then is the specific judgment: ‘Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: ⁴⁰ And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ As Gill comments, this seems to go beyond the seventy-year exile in Babylon, for the Lord speak of a perpetual or everlasting reproach. For that generation we can say that there will be no recovery. They will be hardened in unbelief, and grace will be withheld from them. Commentators draw attention to a word-play in the use of the word translated ‘forget’ which is similar to the word for ‘burden’. This is the worst possible outcome for these mockers: God will forget them, no longer deal with, no longer treat them as his children or even warn them. He will just be silent towards them. The word which that have derided as a burden will be heard no more.