Year 3, Day 57: Jeremiah 4

Where Do You Plant Your Seeds?

“Break up your fallow ground and do not sow among the thorns,” the Lord says as He calls for repentance.  This is such a cool analogy.  Obviously, the Lord is not giving agricultural advice here.  The Hebrew people knew how to plant crops.  That’s what makes this analogy so powerful.

Because the Hebrew people knew agriculture, they would know the utter futility in sowing seed without breaking up the ground first.  In fact, even in a non-agrarian society like ours we know the difference.  If you walked by my house and you saw me with a packet of zinnia seeds and I was just sprinkling them over top of my lawn, what would you think?  Besides judging my current mental state, I am willing to think that you would consider my efforts fruitless.  It is possible for a zinnia seed to sprout and grow to maturity, but the odds are stacked against it.  No, I must break up the ground, plant the seed an appropriate depth, and then let nature take its course.

God makes the same point about planting seeds of faith.  Why would God plant a seed of faith in the unrepentant heart – or even in an unrepentant nation?  Is it not better to till the soil and break up the fallow nature?  Is it not more effective to find a tilled heart – a repentant one – that is ready to not just receive the seed of faith but also nurture it into maturity?  I love this opening analogy!

The Lion Comes

Jeremiah then predicts the fall of Jerusalem.  Just as Israel fell from an army descending upon it from the north, so shall Jerusalem.  The Babylonians will come and their ferocity will be like that of a lion.  In fact, Babylon is referred to as a “destroyer of nations.”

Then in verse 10 we have a very difficult verse to translate.  It appears as though Jeremiah is accusing God of having deceived the people by telling them that they would be at peace.  This understanding of the verse must be rejected, because God has not said anything about peace!  In fact, if you remember from Isaiah we know that God quite clearly told His people that they would have anything but peace!  God told them quite plainly that they would be overcome.

So what is Jeremiah saying?  I believe this verse is best read as a lament over the false prophets.  The false prophets have been telling the people of Jerusalem that God is not going to take them into captivity.  Thus, when captivity comes those who believed that the false prophets were true prophets will be saying that they were “deceived by God.”  Jeremiah is lamenting that the false message of peace was able to go out from their mouths so boldly and so many people bought into their message.  {For more information on this idea, see Jeremiah 28:1-11.}

Wash Your Hearts

In the next section, we hear Jeremiah talk about the coming Babylonians as a scorching wind as well as a great and turbulent storm.  But in the midst of all of that we hear the plea of the Lord.  The Lord does not want to bring about their destruction.  He wants to bring about their repentance.

The Lord asks the Hebrew people to wash their hearts.  This is a wonderfully New Testament concept.  But to be fair, it is also a wonderfully Old Testament concept.  Hosea 6:6, Psalm 51:15-17, Joel 2:13 all speak about God being concerned with the status of our hearts.  Our deeds do not bother God nearly as much as our heart.  This is probably because our actions are a sign of our heart.  Where the heart is, the action will follow.  Thus, God tells the Hebrew people to wash their hearts.  If they would purify their heart, their repentance would assure obedience and God could relent from judgment.

What makes this a wonderful New Testament idea is that we can begin to see the development of baptism here.  Baptism is a sign of repentance – or at least one’s need for repentance.  Literally, God is asking the Hebrew people to wash and repent.  Jeremiah doesn’t realize it, but he is laying one stone in the foundation for the proclamation of John the Baptizer as he proclaims these words.

Anguish

As we look at the last section in Jeremiah 4, do not overlook the “anti-creation” story composed here.  As Jeremiah looks to the captivity, it is an analogy to the undoing of God’s creative work.  The righteous experiment with the Hebrew people is coming to a close.  God will undo this plan and have to start over all again.

Of course, for those of us that know the full story of God’s plan of salvation, this is not bad news at all.  But put yourself in Jeremiah’s shoes.  This is tragic.  It gets no worse than God having to bring judgment upon His own chosen people.

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