©Michael Player
Chapter 10:17-25 (ESV) - Gather up your bundle from the ground,
O you who dwell under siege!
For thus says the LORD:
“Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
at this time,
and I will bring distress on them,
that they may feel it.”
Woe is me because of my hurt!
My wound is grievous.
But I said, “Truly this is an affliction,
and I must bear it.”
My tent is destroyed,
and all my cords are broken;
my children have gone from me,
and they are not;
there is no one to spread my tent again
and to set up my curtains.
For the shepherds are stupid
and do not inquire of the LORD;
therefore they have not prospered,
and all their flock is scattered.
A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!—
a great commotion out of the north country
to make the cities of Judah a desolation,
a lair of jackals.
I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
Correct me, O LORD, but in justice;
not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not,
and on the peoples that call not on your name,
for they have devoured Jacob;
they have devoured him and consumed him,
and have laid waste his habitation.
Question to consider: Who were the stupid shepherds who let their flocks be scattered?
At one time, the LORD gathered the people of Israel from captivity in Egypt, gave them a land flowing with milk and honey, dwelt among them in His holy temple, and protected them from the gods of the surrounding nations. Rather than dwelling with the LORD in peace and prosperity and doing the things that the LORD promised would bring life and salvation, they welcomed the gods of the nations as their own and treated the LORD with contempt. Thus, the LORD gave them over to these gods and lifted His hand of protection. As they were flung out from the land and into these nations, they would experience the consequences of their sin just as a cheating spouse would be told to pack up and leave for their adulteries.
After this declaration from the LORD, Jeremiah expressed the deep-seated anguish he felt at this news with a lamentation. The expression “O woe!” in Yiddish is “Oy vey!” You may have heard it used in an almost comedic or flippant way in modern culture as a reaction to a foolish statement or outcome. However, its use in scripture was to convey deep anguish in receiving a terrible judgment of the LORD. Jeremiah was wounded to the core to realize that his homeland was going to be destroyed and his people torn apart like strands of a frayed rope which had snapped. An additional gut punch was in the realization that this scattering of the sheep was caused by the shepherds. A young man who had desired to be a pastor his whole life was emotionally trying to process the fact that those who were probably his childhood heroes of the faith were lying to the people about their relationship with the LORD.
Jeremiah conveyed with every fiber of his being to his beloved people that the rumors were true. This was no conspiracy theory. The Babylonians would surprise them by coming through the north country through Dan and make Judah a wasteland. In the midst of this, Jeremiah pleaded with the LORD to not let the Babylonians completely destroy them. The LORD had already promised that Israel would not be completely destroyed, but we can look at this as Jeremiah praying that promise back to the LORD.
In praying for the LORD’s mercy for Israel, Jeremiah also asked that the LORD punish those who were coming to devour Judah and lay waste their homes and families. The LORD would indeed punish the Babylonians by the Medes and Persians seventy years later, and Israel would be brought back into the land where they were able to rebuild. Almost five centuries after this rebuilding, this remnant would bring forth the promised seed of Abraham who would redeem all who would call upon the name of the LORD whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free. They would receive an eternal inheritance which can never perish, spoil or fade, and this lamentation would be replaced with songs of joy.
Dear heavenly Father, we pray for noble shepherds to step up and preach Your truth so that people will return to You and find life and salvation. Help us to see through the lies of this world and ignore its call to fight over things that have no lasting value. Amen.