Jer 5:13 | KingComments | STEP | Judgment must come, but the LORD will not destroy the whole land ( ). He calls upon the enemies to go up to Israel’s vineyards and destroy them, but sets a limit to that destructive work (cf. ). A remnant must be left. The destruction concerns the branches that bear no fruit, which is the ungodly multitude. They are branches that have no connection to the true vine ( ). Instead of good fruit they have produced bad fruit ( ). They “have dealt very treacherously” with the LORD ( ). They are not faithless just once or in one aspect, but continuously and in all aspects of their lives. It is also not just a few who do so, but the whole people, both “the house of Israel and the house of Judah”. The people are blind to it. They are blind to the warnings of discipline from the LORD. They do not expect Him to discipline them and deny the calamity that is being spoken to them ( ; cf. ). They judge that Jeremiah’s words are words of himself and not of the LORD. To them Jeremiah is one who claims to speak by the Spirit, but whose words are nothing more than wind ( ). [In Hebrew, the word ruah means both “spirit” and “wind”.] In doing so, the people deny that Jeremiah is speaking God’s words. Also, it shows that they cannot distinguish between wind and the true spirit of prophecy. They are even so audacious as to say that the word, which is the word of the LORD, is not with prophets like Jeremiah. They add that the judgments that prophets like Jeremiah proclaim will fall on those prophets themselves. Their wish is that doomsday preachers will perish as they preach, which means that calamity, sword and famine, will strike the prophet of the LORD.

‏ Jeremiah 5:13

Denial of the Work of the LORD

Judgment must come, but the LORD will not destroy the whole land (Jer 5:10). He calls upon the enemies to go up to Israel’s vineyards and destroy them, but sets a limit to that destructive work (cf. Job 1:12 ; Job 2:6). A remnant must be left. The destruction concerns the branches that bear no fruit, which is the ungodly multitude. They are branches that have no connection to the true vine (Jn 15:1-6). Instead of good fruit they have produced bad fruit (Isa 5:1-7).

They “have dealt very treacherously” with the LORD (Jer 5:11). They are not faithless just once or in one aspect, but continuously and in all aspects of their lives. It is also not just a few who do so, but the whole people, both “the house of Israel and the house of Judah”.

The people are blind to it. They are blind to the warnings of discipline from the LORD. They do not expect Him to discipline them and deny the calamity that is being spoken to them (Jer 5:12; cf. Zep 1:12). They judge that Jeremiah’s words are words of himself and not of the LORD. To them Jeremiah is one who claims to speak by the Spirit, but whose words are nothing more than wind (Jer 5:13). [In Hebrew, the word ruah means both “spirit” and “wind”.]

In doing so, the people deny that Jeremiah is speaking God’s words. Also, it shows that they cannot distinguish between wind and the true spirit of prophecy. They are even so audacious as to say that the word, which is the word of the LORD, is not with prophets like Jeremiah. They add that the judgments that prophets like Jeremiah proclaim will fall on those prophets themselves. Their wish is that doomsday preachers will perish as they preach, which means that calamity, sword and famine, will strike the prophet of the LORD.