No Substitute For a Pure Heart For God
April 13, 2019
Commentary
Beginning with verse 17, Jeremiah lists three separate pronouncements:
- God called for the professional mourners (wailing women) to lament for Jerusalem. “The “skillful wailing women” refers to women wise or skillful at mourning. Jeremiah urges these women to wail until tears come to the eyes of the people of Judah. This funeral preparation was over the death of the children and the young men who were killed when the Babylonians broke into the city (vv. 17-21).
- God pictured the severity of the massacre by Babylon. The dead bodies would resemble the cut grain left behind the reapers in the field and no one would be left behind to gather the harvest (v. 22).
- God did not expect the people to boast in their human wisdom or strength. Instead they were only to boast to the extent they understood and knew God. God would vindicate the innocent and punish the guilty (vv. 23-24).
Judgment is for all unbelievers in heart (vv. 25-26). Judah cannot rely on circumcision to protect her for this was practiced by other nations. There is no substitute for a pure heart for God (Rom. 2:25).
Application
People tend to admire human wisdom, strength, and riches. God puts a higher priority on knowing Him personally. What do I want people to admire most about me?
Jeremiah 9:17– 26 (NET)
17 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies told me to say to this people: “Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!”
18 I said, “Indeed, let them come quickly and sing a song of mourning for us. Let them wail loudly until tears stream from our own eyes and our eyelids overflow with water.
19 For the sound of wailing is soon to be heard in Zion, ‘We are utterly ruined! We are completely disgraced! For we have left our land, for our houses have been torn down!’”
20 I said, “So now, you wailing women, listen to the Lord’s message. Open your ears to the message from his mouth. Teach your daughters this mournful song, and let every woman teach her neighbor this lament.
21 ‘Death has climbed in through our windows. It has entered into our fortified houses. It has taken away our children who play in the streets. It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’
22 Tell your daughters and neighbors, ‘The Lord says: “The dead bodies of people will lie scattered everywhere like manure scattered on a field. They will lie scattered on the ground like grain that has been cut down but has not been gathered.”’”
23 The Lord says, “Wise people should not boast that they are wise. Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. Rich people should not boast that they are rich.
24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth and that I desire people to do these things,” says the Lord.
25 The Lord says, “Watch out! The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. 26 That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples. I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight. Moreover, none of the people of Israel are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.”