Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

The Imminence and Horror of the Invasion

Flee for safety, O children of Benjamin,

from the midst of Jerusalem!

Blow the trumpet in Tekoa,

and raise a signal on Beth-haccherem;

for evil looms out of the north,

and great destruction.

I have likened daughter Zion

to the loveliest pasture.

Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her.

They shall pitch their tents around her;

they shall pasture, all in their places.

“Prepare war against her;

up, and let us attack at noon!”

“Woe to us, for the day declines,

the shadows of evening lengthen!”

“Up, and let us attack by night,

and destroy her palaces!”

For thus says the L ord of hosts:

Cut down her trees;

cast up a siege ramp against Jerusalem.

This is the city that must be punished;

there is nothing but oppression within her.

As a well keeps its water fresh,

so she keeps fresh her wickedness;

violence and destruction are heard within her;

sickness and wounds are ever before me.

Take warning, O Jerusalem,

or I shall turn from you in disgust,

and make you a desolation,

an uninhabited land.

Thus says the L ord of hosts:

Glean thoroughly as a vine

the remnant of Israel;

like a grape-gatherer, pass your hand again

over its branches.

To whom shall I speak and give warning,

that they may hear?

See, their ears are closed,

they cannot listen.

The word of the L ord is to them an object of scorn;

they take no pleasure in it.

But I am full of the wrath of the L ord;

I am weary of holding it in.

Pour it out on the children in the street,

and on the gatherings of young men as well;

both husband and wife shall be taken,

the old folk and the very aged.

Their houses shall be turned over to others,

their fields and wives together;

for I will stretch out my hand

against the inhabitants of the land,

says the L ord.

For from the least to the greatest of them,

everyone is greedy for unjust gain;

and from prophet to priest,

everyone deals falsely.

They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,

saying, “Peace, peace,”

when there is no peace.

They acted shamefully, they committed abomination;

yet they were not ashamed,

they did not know how to blush.

Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;

at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,

says the L ord.

Thus says the L ord:

Stand at the crossroads, and look,

and ask for the ancient paths,

where the good way lies; and walk in it,

and find rest for your souls.

But they said, “We will not walk in it.”

Also I raised up sentinels for you:

“Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!”

But they said, “We will not give heed.”

Therefore hear, O nations,

and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.

Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people,

the fruit of their schemes,

because they have not given heed to my words;

and as for my teaching, they have rejected it.

Of what use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba,

or sweet cane from a distant land?

Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,

nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.

Therefore thus says the L ord:

See, I am laying before this people

stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;

parents and children together,

neighbor and friend shall perish.

Thus says the L ord:

See, a people is coming from the land of the north,

a great nation is stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.

They grasp the bow and the javelin,

they are cruel and have no mercy,

their sound is like the roaring sea;

they ride on horses,

equipped like a warrior for battle,

against you, O daughter Zion!

“We have heard news of them,

our hands fall helpless;

anguish has taken hold of us,

pain as of a woman in labor.

Do not go out into the field,

or walk on the road;

for the enemy has a sword,

terror is on every side.”

O my poor people, put on sackcloth,

and roll in ashes;

make mourning as for an only child,

most bitter lamentation:

for suddenly the destroyer

will come upon us.

I have made you a tester and a refiner among my people

so that you may know and test their ways.

They are all stubbornly rebellious,

going about with slanders;

they are bronze and iron,

all of them act corruptly.

The bellows blow fiercely,

the lead is consumed by the fire;

in vain the refining goes on,

for the wicked are not removed.

They are called “rejected silver,”

for the L ord has rejected them.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Though the Prophet had spoken as though there was no remedy for the evils of Jerusalem, he yet exhorts it to seek peace with God, and addresses men past remedy in his name. It is then the same as though God was stopping in the middle course of his wrath, and saying, “What is to be done? Shall I destroy the city which I have chosen?” He then attributes here to God a paternal feeling, as we also find in several other places: God appeared as unwilling to proceed to extreme rigor in punishing his people.

“Alas! I will now take vengeance on mine enemies,”
he says by Isaiah. (Isaiah 1:24)

He called them enemies, and justly too; for as it was said before, they ceased not to carry on war against him; but he spoke with grief: “Alas! must I take vengeance on mine enemies; I would, however, willingly spare them, were it possible.” God is not indeed subject to grief or to repentance; but his ineffable goodness cannot be otherwise expressed to us but by such mode of speaking. So also, in this place, we see that God as it were restrains himself; for he had previously commanded the enemies to ascend quickly the walls, to overturn the towers, and to destroy the whole city; but now, as though he had repented, he says, Be instructed, ¹⁶⁸¹⁶⁸ Or, “Be warned,“ or, “Be reformed.” The verb in Niphal is found in four other places, Leviticus 26:23; Psalm 2:10; Proverbs 29:19; Jeremiah 31:18, and rendered reformed, instructed, corrected, and chastised. It is the same as to receive correction and to become reformed. — Ed. Jerusalem; that is, “Can we not yet be reconciled?” It is like the conduct of an offended father, who intends to punish his son, and yet desires to moderate his displeasure, and to blend some indulgence with rigor. Be then instructed; that is, “There is yet room for reconciliation, if thou wishest; provided thou shewest thyself willing to relinquish that perverseness by which thou hast hitherto provoked me, I will in return prove myself to be a father.”

There is no doubt but the object of the threatenings of the prophets was to lead the people to know their sins, and suppliantly to seek pardon; for why were the unbelieving threatened, except that God thereby proved whether they were healable? It is indeed true that the reprobate are known by God, and that God does not try or seek to find what is in their hearts, as though he did not know their obstinacy; but as I have already said, God speaks here after the manner of men: and he also shews what is the end of teaching, which is to lead men to repentance; and this cannot be done without giving them the hope of pardon and reconciliation. The Prophet thus briefly shews here for what purpose he had hitherto so dreadfully threatened the Jews, even to lead them at length to repentance.

Lest torn shall be my soul from thee ¹⁶⁹¹⁶⁹ Or, “Lest forced shall be my soul from thee.” The verb means to drive, to thrust, to force. To “depart,“ as rendered by the ancient versions, and by our version, is too weak, and is not the idea; and still worse is “alienated,“ as rendered by Blayney. It intimates God’s unwillingness, as it were, to give up his chosen people, according to what Calvin observes. — Ed. Here God more clearly shews that he was as yet restrained by love. He alludes no doubt to a similitude which we have observed in another place; for God sustains the character of a spouse to his Church; and hence he shews, that he had not yet divested himself of that love which a husband has towards his wife. For a husband, when grievously offended at his wife, cannot immediately throw aside his conjugal affection; some feeling of this kind will ever remain. And we have seen in the fourth chapter, that God surpasses all husbands in kindness; for he says there, “When a repudiated wife has found another husband, will the former receive her again? Return to me, thou harlot, return to me, thou strumpet and adulteress, and I am ready to pardon thee.” It is the same course that God pursues here, “Be instructed, Jerusalem, lest my soul wholly depart from thee;” as though he had said, “Even though I am now angry, and have resolved severely to punish thy perfidy and rebellion, I shall yet be reconciled to thee, provided thou returnest.” And it is added, Lest I make thee a desolate land, a land uninhabited

The Prophet in short shews in this verse, that however grievously offended God was with his people, there was yet a hope of pardon; for he would be propitious to the people, if they turned and humbly confessed their sins, and sought to return into favor with him. It follows —

¹⁶⁸ Or, “Be warned,“ or, “Be reformed.” The verb in Niphal is found in four other places, Leviticus 26:23; Psalm 2:10; Proverbs 29:19; Jeremiah 31:18, and rendered reformed, instructed, corrected, and chastised. It is the same as to receive correction and to become reformed. — Ed.

¹⁶⁹ Or, “Lest forced shall be my soul from thee.” The verb means to drive, to thrust, to force. To “depart,“ as rendered by the ancient versions, and by our version, is too weak, and is not the idea; and still worse is “alienated,“ as rendered by Blayney. It intimates God’s unwillingness, as it were, to give up his chosen people, according to what Calvin observes. — Ed.