Day 212: Do lies matter? - Jeremiah 9 vs 1 – 16

1-2 If only my head were a pool of water and my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night for all my people who have been slaughtered. Oh, that I could go away and forget my people and live in a travellers’ shack in the desert. For they are all adulterers - a pack of treacherous liars. 3-6 “My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot out lies. They refuse to stand up for the truth. They only go from bad to worse. They do not know me,” says the Lord. “Beware of your neighbour! Don’t even trust your brother! For brother takes advantage of brother, and friend slanders friend. They all fool and defraud each other; no one tells the truth. With practiced tongues they tell lies; they wear themselves out with all their sinning. They pile lie upon lie and utterly refuse to acknowledge me,” says the Lord.

7 Therefore, this is what the Lord  of Heaven’s Armies says: “See, I will melt them down in a crucible and test them like metal. What else can I do with my people? 8 For their tongues shoot lies like poisoned arrows. They speak friendly words to their neighbour while scheming in their heart to kill them. 9 Should I not punish them for this?” says the Lord. “Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?” 10 I will weep for the mountains and wail for the wilderness pastures. For they are desolate and empty of life; the lowing of cattle is heard no more; the birds and wild animals have all fled. 11 “I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins,” says the Lord. “It will be a place haunted by jackals. The towns of Judah will be ghost towns, with no one living in them.”

12 Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it to others? Why has the land been so ruined that no one dares to travel through it? 13-14 The Lord replies, “This has happened because my people have abandoned my instructions; they have refused to obey what I said. Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own desires and worshiped the images of Baal, as their ancestors taught them. 15-16 So now, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink. I will scatter them around the world, in places they and their ancestors never heard of, and even there I will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely.” Jeremiah 9:1-16 New Living Translation (English Standard Version link)

Jeremiah is sometimes called 'the weeping prophet'. Look at vs 1 & 10-11. Why was he weeping so much?

I suspect many tears were because of how wicked the people had become, but even more out of his sorrow at the destruction and desolation that was on the way. (vs 10-11) Does this perhaps tell us anything about God's own heart seeing that Jeremiah was God's servant? Does God enjoy punishing sinners? (I'll come back that.) What sin does God point out as having become very common in the land? (vs 3-6)

Have we realized that God hates lies as much as this? Last week we saw it was the leaders and priests who were full of falsehood - now we see it was everyone. Vs 8 describes how two-faced deceit is. Smiles and friendliness on the outside but poisonous intentions on the inside. Look at God's response to that. (vs 9) God was angry and the people ought to have seriously reconsidered the dishonest lives they were living. But did they? (vs 14)

They were unashamed and continued to turn their backs on God. So vs 15-16 announce what lay in store. Back to the question – does God enjoy punishing sinners? Last week we noted Ezekiel 18:23 where God said: “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked - and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” God doesn’t ‘take delight’ in condemning the wicked.

Some books in the Bible, like Jeremiah, are very gloomy. Chapter after chapter speak of people's sins and God's displeasure and judgement. But they warn us of sin's' terrible danger and where it leads to. Jeremiah wept about that. Jesus also wept over the hard hearts of the people of Jerusalem when he came to them with a message of God's forgiveness for all who grieve over sin and turn from things such as lies and deceit. God would rather save us than condemn us. He says: “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:22)