Grim words from the Lord as the description of the end continues.
So...I'm not going to be able to do justice to this horrific scene. I'm just going to quote it.
At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs.
And they shall be spread before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. And they shall not be gathered or buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground.
Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts. Jeremiah 8: 1-3, ESV, biblegateway.com
The Lord let's Jeremiah know of His prophesy for the end. I think this is probably the end of Judah and then the end of everything in the end times.
The phrase, "at that time", refers to the end of chapter 7, since the chapter and verse numbers were added long after the books were written. Sadly, chapter 7 ends with large numbers of people dead and stacked in the valley where the people of Judah were performing child sacrifices.
When the Babylonians arrive and start carrying off the wealth, it occurs to them that there is probably lots of wealth buried with the wealthy and prominent- so they dig into the tombs--casting the bones aside. It was also part of warfare to demoralize the people and humiliate them by disrespecting their ancestors.
And since there is no profit in the bones, they just leave them to decay in the dessert sun- under the moon and sun and stars that many of them idolatrously worshiped in life.
Even more grim, in verse 3 we learn that those who still live in this time and who are evil will wish they were dead. I mentioned yesterday that some of these phrases remind me of Revelations, and this is also one of those. I think one of the curses is a bug sting that hurts so bad they will want to die but will not be able to.
It's too late for those people from Judah; but the end times is still ahead of us. Not too late for those who want to avoid the full earth version of what Judah experienced.
Verse 4 begins a long prophesy from the Lord to Judah.
- Why is this group of people failing to repent? (v. 4-5)
- Everyone stays on the wrong course. (v. 6)
- They don't know they should be doing, even though even the birds know what they should do. (v. 7)
Verse 8 is interesting. The Ryrie Study Bible footnote mentions that this is the first reference to a scribe being a professional class. Sadly, it's not a complimentary mention. The people were counting on the law to save them instead of their hearts, much like using the name of Abraham or Moses, they wanted their salvation to be automatic and inherited, instead of authentically engaging with God through trust and obedience. But even beyond that, it sounds like the scribes start lying with their pen. That is truly horrible. And for it they are caught and dismayed and shamed (v. 9).
The second half of verse 9 points out that this lying with their pens is a rejection of the word of the Lord. There's our life lesson for the day. When we tinker with God's word because we'd really prefer if it didn't say this or that, we're rejecting Hid original. And I'm guessing we all do it more than we think. We may not physically mark out or change the words in a Bible, but our behaviors give us away that we just don't take certain parts very seriously.
Then He lays out consequences in verse 10. He's going to give away their wives and field. He points out that they're all greedy--even the priests and prophets.
They deceitfully call for peace and show no shame for their sins. But they will be brought low. He will ruin their crops, poison their water, and ignore them when they cry for help. Snakes from the North are on their way and they will bite!
Ooof. After all of that anger because of the betrayal of His people, He also let's us see a glimmer of why He's so angry:
My sorrow is beyond healing, My heart is faint within Me! Jeremiah 8:18, NASB 95
He is heartbroken by all of this. It's easy to forget that, being made in His image, He can hurt too, when betrayed. It makes me very sad to think about how many times I broke His heart- especially since He knew His beloved Son was going to be the one to pay the debt I was incurring.
His pain is mingled with the people crying out for deliverance- which He will not bring yet because they'll just go right back to their graven images.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored? Jeremiah 8:22, NASB 95
The balm of Gilead was a resin used as medicine and found a day's journey from Jerusalem in Gilead. The Ryrie footnote interprets this as God saying, "My help is near, why aren't you seeking Me?" However, I'm not sure about that take. The MacArthur Bible Commentary seems to infer that it's one more thing they lost, like their crops and the water- they won't have the balm of Gilead or a physician in their time of need. he Wiersbe commentary doesn't address it at all; but he does propose that the one with the broken heart was Jeremiah, not the Lord, which does make sense. Sometimes it's difficult to know who is speaking.
I went to gotquestions.com and looked it up and there was some really interesting info:
"Balm of Gilead" has three references in the Bible. In Genesis 37:25, as Joseph’s brothers contemplated how to kill him, a caravan of Ishmaelites passed by on their way to Egypt from Gilead. In their cargo were “spices, balm, and myrrh.” Jeremiah 8 records God’s warning to Judah of what Babylon would do to them. Upon hearing the news, Jeremiah laments, "Is there no balm in Gilead?" (verse 22). His question is a poetic search for hope—a plea for healing. Then, in Jeremiah 46:11, as God describes an impending judgment on Egypt, He taunts them: "Go up to Gilead and obtain balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain have you multiplied remedies; there is no healing for you!"
These scriptural references to the balm of Gilead have inspired many literary and cultural allusions, including references in “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe and movies such as The Spitfire Grill. Notably, "There Is a Balm in Gilead" is an African-American spiritual that compares the healing balm to the saving power of Jesus—the one true treatment that never fails to heal our spiritual wounds.