Jeremiah (1-31) 4:14 Commentary and Bible Study

Then, even in the middle of this, Jeremiah issues an appeal: ‘Oh Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.’ You have got to wash. They have returned to their sin again and again. They have pushed past conscience. They have found ways to excuse their sin, or to mitigate it, but these are all false. The Lord has seen it all, and he is not deceived in the least. Jerusalem must wash itself, in acknowledgment that it is unclean and unfit to stand before the Lord. It must wash in the fountain of forgiveness provided by the Lord, through the atonement of sin, prefigured by the Old Testament sacrifices and provided in truth by the death of Christ on Calvary. No substitute of our own can suffice, and the conscience cannot be satisfied with a fabricated peace offering to God.‘How long shall thy vain [futile] thoughts lodge within thee?’ God sees all those thoughts, though men hope to hide from him. How many and varied, but how deceitful are the thoughts of the human heart when it comes to cover over sin! ‘Sin is not so serious; it does not really lead to death. God does not see, or if he sees he does not remember. My sin is not so bad; I have not gone as far as I could have. I will do it just this one time. I will reform next week. I will do some good things to make up for it. Others have done worse than me. Conscience is just social conditioning; I can reprogram it. They say God is merciful; I can take advantage of his mercy and repent later.’ ‘For a voice declareth from Dan’ – Dan was right at the very top of Judaea, so naturally Dan would fall first. That would be the region that would be invaded first, because invasion would come from the north. ‘A voice declareth from Dan’ – they appeal for help – ‘and publisheth affliction from Mount Ephraim’ – das the enemy comes down through the centre of the land. ‘Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem,’ – the nations again; the tribes of Israel before the nations of the world – ‘that watchers come from a far country.’ The scouts are in; the scouts have been seen around Jerusalem, Chaldean scouts, little parties of them, deciding which route the main forces will take. ‘And give out their voice against the cities of Judah.’ The scouts of those days didn't come in secret. They came armed. If anybody came across them, they would immediately say, ‘The troops are behind us. We are going to destroy you all’, because their task was not only reconnaissance, but demoralisation.‘As keepers of a field,’ watchman of pastureland – they are everywhere roundabout watching, keeping an eye on every movement – ‘are they against her round about; because she [Judah and Jerusalem] hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.’ ‘Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.’ It's not just the terrible things that the people do; it’s what they want. Their sin has reached into their heart. It's what they desire: a godless lifestyle. There is not possibility that they can easily recover from this. Therefore Jeremiah's personal lamentation follows. Some people think that this is Jerusalem in sorrow, but no, it's Jeremiah.