Jeremiah (1-31) 6:2 Commentary and Bible Study

Abruptly, the picture changes: ‘I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.’ These two verses cannot be interpreted in a way that divorces them from the rest of the chapter. Following this are scenes of war and danger and destruction, and a call to repentance. So why is Jerusalem portrayed as a noble woman who seems to be living in a paradise where no possible harm can come to her? This clash of ideas is exactly the point of the illustration. It describes the ridiculous complacency of Jerusalem which contrasts so strongly with her true situation. The children of Jerusalem and Judah are highly vulnerable and yet they betray terrible naivety. Take a rich townswoman and put her unprotected in a tent in a region with savages all around. What is going to happen? This beautiful woman is arrayed in the finery of those times: satins and lace and jewellery. She is used to expensive things, and she lives a pampered life, so that she is completely unprepared for the hardships of life. She lives in luxury, with servants at hand who deal with all the unpleasant duties of life, so that she never has to come into contact with these things. As such, she can convince herself that life is very different to what it really is. She is blissfully unaware of her susceptibility and her danger. Verse 3 can be interpreted in two ways. Either it is an extension of the make-believe existence that she has created for herself. She imagines that the whole world is as utopian as she thinks her own existence is. Yes, there are shepherds out there, who live a different sort of life to her own; she knows that. But they are all really quite harmless, and if they come and camp around her dwelling place, they will surely pose no threat to her. They will keep their distance and remain in their place, and she can live side by side with them without anything to worry about. Alternatively, we can interpret these shepherds as already posing a danger to her. They are not living peaceably; they are a threat from the start. She has got scores of murderous, semi-primitive, nomadic tribes people pitching around her, and on she goes, powdering her nose, and arranging her hair, and sitting in her beautiful windows, as though there is no danger and nothing to fear. Verse 3 describes the complacency of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but the rest of the chapter will show the reality is quite different. This is Jeremiah’s serious urgent message, full of compassion. It is a message of warning (verse 10), but they are not listening. Outside the city is danger (verse 25), not friendly shepherds who are ready to behave honourably, and remain feeding themselves in their place. As the eleventh-hour prophet, the weeping prophet, he cannot understand their complacency. God has warned them so many times, and now their enemies are getting ready to attack. How can they go on comforting themselves with the notion that God will never allow their city to fall?