Jeremiah (1-31) 4:8 Commentary and Bible Study

‘For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl’ – it will be too late to ask for this judgment to be averted. ‘For the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us.’ It is God who is behind this. It is God who has allowed to Chaldeans to come and to invade, and to bring down Judah and Jerusalem. It is his punishing arm. Judah’s disobedience has done too far now. The only hope is for individuals to repent which is what Jeremiah has been urging.‘It shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish.’ He won't be bold and obstinate anymore. He will be so terrified that he won’t know what to do. He will be incapable of taking any initiative whatsoever. In fact we read that when it happens, all he wants to do is find a way out of the city and flee. He is not going to lead any defence. ‘The heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished.’ Which priests are these? They are the priests of the false gods. The land was given over to idolatry. ‘And the prophets [the prophets of the false gods] shall wonder.’ For ‘wonder’ you can read ‘be horrified and amazed’. They have assumed that the Lord’s protection will continue regardless of how they behave. Their worship of the Lord has become hollow, and they have given way to spiritual adultery, but they imagine that God does not see, or does not care. Now when the judgment comes (as it will when this prophecy is fulfilled), they are foolishly surprised. Why did they not take God at his word and expect that he would act.