Follow up conversation between the Lord and Jeremiah about being God's spokesman.
Following chapter 15's discussion, the Lord has more to say to Jeremiah:
- Jeremiah isn't to take a wife
- or have sons or daughters "in this place" (which seems like an interesting clause)
Then the Lord explains why Jeremiah will suffer this loss. Those born at that place and time will die of disease and by the sword and be left rotting, unburied, for the wildlife to eat.
Jeremiah is forbidden from public mourning for these deaths and from consoling these people because the Lord has removed His peace, lovingkindness, and compassion.
The Lord explains that many will die without burial or mourners or funerals.
Also as a precursor of what's to come. Jeremiah cannot attend social gatherings, such as weddings.
Jeremiah was supposed to be demonstrating to these people the world they had coming with the destruction of Judah and captivity in Babylon.
For this to have significance, people would need to notice an ask Jeremiah about it. That tells us something about Jeremiah. He must have been well-liked, well-respected, and expected to attend these type of events.
When they asked about these messages from God, they would want to know why the Lord would be predicting such calamity--what had they ever done?
Before I explain the answer given to Jeremiah for them by the Lord, let's reflect on the fact that they even have to ask. That tells us something about sin. It's so blatant, so egregious, so continual- with multiple prophets telling them about it- and still we deceive ourselves and think it's not that bad. Can't the Lord just overlook these teeny, tiny little things? (Although we more clearly see the sins of others.)
The Lord preloads Jeremiah with the response for them starting in verse 11.
- your forefathers have forsaken Me. (forefathers plural)
- idolatry
- failure to keep My law
- you, too, have done evil, even more than your forefathers
- everyone is following his own stubborn and evil heart
- without listening to the Lord
So the Lord will fling them out of their land and into a land where they can worship someone else's god full time because God will grant them no favor.
Verse 14-15 explain that it used to be said that the Lord was the One who brought them out of Egypt; but in the future He wold be known for bringing them out of Babylon and bringing them back from around the world where they had been banished.
“Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. Jeremiah 16:16
So they are going away; but one day in the future He will send fishers of men and hunters of men to bring them home. Have a familiar ring to it? He has compassion for them. A plan for a hope and a future.
But for today, the news is still bad. In verses 17-18 His eyes see the sin they are trying to conceal and he will first pay back doubly for their sin because they have polluted His land. "...they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations,"
We break His heart.
I really don't want to think of the carcasses of detestable idols that I have left in my wake.
Lord, please forgive me.
The chapter ends with this exchange between Jeremiah and the Lord.
Jeremiah:
Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
And my refuge in the day of distress,
To You the nations will come
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood,
Futility, and [a]things of no benefit.”
Can a person make gods for himself?
But they are not gods!
The Lord (which continues at length in chapter 17:
“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—
This time I will make them know
My power and My might;
And they will know that My name is the Lord.”
They will know that His name is the Lord.
Amen.