Jeremiah (1-31) 5:18 Commentary and Bible Study

‘I will not make a full end with you.’ God’s judgments achieve exactly what he intends. For some they are an end to all further opportunity to reform their ways; for others they are a timely warning which will bring about a change in their thinking. A remnant shall be saved, and as we know, after the captivity there was a return and a re-establishment in the land, but only a tiny minority of the people came back. Now back to the rebels. ‘And it shall come to pass, when ye [plural] shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou [singular] answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’ The Babylonian assault on the nation will at least bring the people to the point where they are ready to ask why God has allowed such oppression of the nation, but the majority will not repent. Jeremiah is to answer them and tell them what they already know. They have served strange gods in their land, the gods they have adopted from the pagan nations around them. What games people play with their consciences! How dishonest they can be!. They are given an answer which they do not really need. It should have been obvious to them why this had happened, if they only consulted their own consciences. But God spells it out to them and reinforces his judgment of them. Yes, they are going into exile. They have worshipped other gods, and now they are going to suffer exile from the land which the true God has given them.