Jer 4:23-31 | KingComments | STEP | Jeremiah sees in the spirit the consequences of the enemy’s coming. He sees God’s judgment as a cosmic catastrophe that will make the land “formless and void” ( ), as the earth was before God began to form and fill it ( ). The heavens lack light. What stands for firmness and stability, “mountains” and “all the hills”, is moved to and fro ( ). There is no longer a living creature to be seen ( ). Nor is there any life to be seen further, for the fertile land has become a wilderness, and the gathering places of people, the cities, have been pulled down ( ). The description is vivid, simple, direct, wide in references, and earnest in content. These are unique verses. The prophet is led by the Spirit to witness this cosmic disaster. Four times it says “I looked”. It applies to the coming day of the LORD. All of nature will be upended and no element of it will be left untouched. And if then we expect this to be because of the work of the enemy, we suddenly hear that it happened “before the LORD, before His fierce anger”. Behind the work of the enemy is the hand of the LORD. He is the Causer of the devastation.

‏ Jeremiah 4:23-31

The Cosmic Disaster

Jeremiah sees in the spirit the consequences of the enemy’s coming. He sees God’s judgment as a cosmic catastrophe that will make the land “formless and void” (Jer 4:23), as the earth was before God began to form and fill it (Gen 1:2). The heavens lack light. What stands for firmness and stability, “mountains” and “all the hills”, is moved to and fro (Jer 4:24). There is no longer a living creature to be seen (Jer 4:25). Nor is there any life to be seen further, for the fertile land has become a wilderness, and the gathering places of people, the cities, have been pulled down (Jer 4:26).

The description is vivid, simple, direct, wide in references, and earnest in content. These are unique verses. The prophet is led by the Spirit to witness this cosmic disaster. Four times it says “I looked”. It applies to the coming day of the LORD. All of nature will be upended and no element of it will be left untouched.

And if then we expect this to be because of the work of the enemy, we suddenly hear that it happened “before the LORD, before His fierce anger”. Behind the work of the enemy is the hand of the LORD. He is the Causer of the devastation.

The Desolation of the Land

Because the LORD Himself executes this judgment, that is at the same time the guarantee that He will determine its limit which will not be crossed (Jer 4:27). This offers the prospect of some hope, the hope of a remnant. The enemy will not want to leave anything of God’s people, but the LORD will make sure that there is no complete destruction of the land.

However, the earth will grieve because of the disasters that will come upon it (Jer 4:28). And it will come. The LORD confirms this in the strongest terms with the swearing of a fourfold oath:

1. “I have spoken,

2. I have purposed,

3. and I will not change My mind,

4. nor will I turn from it.”

When the cries of the oncoming horsemen and bowman are heard, every city will flee (Jer 4:29). They all seek refuge outside the city, into the thickets or on the rocks. In this way they want to try to hide from the anger of God (cf. Rev 6:15-16). When the enemy comes to Jerusalem, all the other cities of Judah are already a wilderness, no one lives in them anymore.

Then the LORD turns to the ruined city and, with irony in His voice, asks what she now intends to do (Jer 4:30). He can tell her that anything she does to make herself beautiful to be attractive to the enemies of His people will have no effect. She wants to look like a harlot and thinks she can avert judgment that way. Her provocative clothing, her attractive jewelry, and her ogling eyes – therefore she enlarges her eyes with paint – will work the opposite (cf. 2Kgs 9:30; Eze 16:26-29 ; Eze 23:40-41).

Her lovers will reject her and make her life impossible. She has lost all attractiveness and is cast aside as worthless. So it goes with everyone who is full of self-importance and thinks to be attractive to others, but does not ask how God sees him or her.

Jeremiah hears the sound of a woman in labor giving birth to her first child (Jer 4:31). The distress this causes is a picture of what judgment brings. Labor pains at the same time hold the promise of new life. Jeremiah hears here how Zion gasps for breath and stretches out her hands to receive help. The faithless woman, the harlot, must become a woman in labor. The murderers who come upon her must drive her out to the LORD with repentance for her sins in order to receive new life. The exclamation “woe is me!” is the beginning of this.