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

‘Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?’ It is reasoning which draws attention to the unnatural response of Israel in failing to heed the Lord’s correction, and recover themselves from their backsliding. In the natural world, if someone trips and falls, they pick themselves up again; and if they turn out of the right way, they take steps to get back onto the right path again. But Israel has just gone on doing the same evil things, and seems incapable of learning anything from God’s reproof.‘Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?’ Why do they do these things? There is no mental satisfaction in atheism, unbelief, or false gods. There is no spiritual satisfaction, no emotional satisfaction. Why persist in it, when unbelief is so unreasonable?‘I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.’ What an illustration! Sinful man embarks on a life of unbelief and sin, all of us did that. We burn our fingers? Do we learn from it? No, we turn straight back to the same course with even more vigour and energy, like a horse rushing into the battle with its blinkers on. That is a true description of unbelief. Illustrations just crowd together in this book. When we are evangelising, everybody we speak to has burned their fingers on something they have promptly gone straight back to. Our desire to have what we want overrides all sense of danger.