Jeremiah (1-31) 5:6 Commentary and Bible Study

‘Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them.’ We remember the lions placed at gates of the palace of Nimrod, the great symbol of Chaldean might. The lion out of the forest will be Babylon that will be there in almost no time, and attacking. The Chaldean invaders will come, and Nebuchadnezzar will destroy the city of Jerusalem. ‘And a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them.’ Wolves tend to wait until the evening to attack, when their approach cannot be seen and when it is hardest to defend against them. The citizens of Jerusalem won't be able to defend themselves. ‘A leopard shall watch over their cities.’ That is very telling. A single creature can keep down and terrify a whole city. There will be a siege, and they will be watched. ‘Every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.’ Once again, we remember that in this Book of Jeremiah, whenever our translators have chosen the word ‘backslidings’, it actually translates the term which means apostate, people who have abandoned altogether the true faith. This is serious apostasy, not simply temporary backsliding as you could imagine from the more delicate word.