Jeremiah 17:6, commentary and pictures

The verse pronounces a curse on the one who puts trust in human beings, makes human power his strength, and lets his heart turn away from the Lord. Such a person becomes like a stunted shrub in the desert, dry, barren and unfruitful, cut off from what would give life and refreshment to the soul. He fails to recognize or receive the good that comes within his reach, because spiritual discernment is lost and blessing brings him no relief. This desolate condition stands in direct contrast to the blessed one who trusts in the Lord, who is like a tree planted by abundant water that stays green in heat, endures drought without fear, and never stops bearing fruit. The way out is to turn from every human arm to God alone, looking to Him, coming to Christ for rest, and asking in childlike trust for the wisdom and power that never fail.

Curse and Its Cause

The verse pronounces a curse on the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm while his heart departs from the Lord. Such a person becomes like a stunted plant in the desert who does not recognize or receive good when it comes and remains in dry, barren, salty, waste and uninhabited places with barrenness of soul and no refreshing. Sinful man can find hope and righteousness only in God, and no one stays righteous longer than he has faith in God and keeps a vital connection with Him, just as a flower of the field must stay rooted in soil and receive air, dew, showers and sunshine to flourish, for breaking that connection leaves nothing to minister to the life of the soul. The warning applies to God's people and their leaders when they rely on human strength instead of seeking the Lord, and the remedy is to shut oneself up with God and rely on Him who never fails a trusting soul. The cursed man who keeps selfishness, self-confidence and a disposition to dominate and control, and who does not humble his heart and give up his will to God's will, as seen in unconverted church leaders, has lost spiritual discernment and cannot be trusted, rejects God's warnings, greatly hinders the Lord's work, and is left spiritually dry, barren and unfruitful and unable to advance heavenward.

To make flesh one's arm is to trust human strength, wisdom, ideas, opinions, sympathy, succor, counsel and efficiency instead of looking to Jesus and to God for strength. That path is not the Bible path, and it is dangerous to leave others in it. In trouble it means looking to fellow men for help, listening to their opinions, relying on them for sympathy, succor, counsel and uplifting instead of shutting oneself up with God, forsaking the fountain of living waters, the cool snow waters of Lebanon, to drink the turbid streams of the valley and walk in sparks of one's own kindling instead of drinking the water of life from God. It includes trusting human authors who deny God and pour contempt on His word and giving place to their skeptical works in libraries and schooling, since nothing vindicates such trust and no clean good can come from an unclean source. It includes seeking human counsel where dependence on God is due, which does not promote growth in grace or knowledge of Christ, trusting worldly counsel and human strength and relying on people who disregard God and His law, which brings no safety and no standing with God but disappointment, and trusting a human leader, having implicit confidence in self and one's own judgment, and seeking greatness and exaltation among men. To cease looking to Jesus for strength and efficiency and depend on finite, erring fellow men is to be led astray by the tempter and to fall into Satan's laid trap to catch men and win them to his side, while God in mercy and faithfulness causes fellow men in whom confidence is placed to fail so the folly is learned. The opposite is the blessed man who trusts in the Lord, who is like a tree planted by the waters spreading roots by the river, green in heat, untroubled in drought and still yielding fruit, and the remedy is to talk of heavenly things and the eternal weight of glory awarded to the overcomer, which brings success in work for souls.

To have the heart depart from the Lord is to turn away from God and choose to please self, keeping self-will, selfishness, self-confidence and a disposition to dominate and control instead of humbling the heart and giving up the will to God's will. Such self-directed pursuits amount to a worthless heap and bring no profit to God or the world. It is to live without a vital connection with Christ, in jealousy, suspicion, discord and strife that oppose God, with a life that does not obey Christ's words. It is to put man where God should be, to walk in darkness while expecting a human leader to do what the Lord God of Israel alone can do, instead of drawing nearer to God, finding strength in Him, using God-given powers, letting light shine in good works, speaking in faith and humility, dwelling on the lessons of Christ and setting things in order so God speaks to human hearts. It is to turn away from the living God and go to the world for strength, forsaking God as the source of all strength and placing dependence on worldly and forbidden alliances with heathen neighbors, thereby becoming as weak in moral power as those trusted, being leavened by evil practices, losing identity as God's peculiar people, losing first love and zeal for God's service, and gaining only disappointment and loss of souls. For the minister it means trusting in man instead of Christ, following in the shadow of a living man, binding the heart to a human being, letting another do his thinking, sinking individuality in a father or in great and good men of past generations, and preaching other men's ideas without diligent prayerful thought for himself, leaving him dry and barren and shut out from good, for that entire dependence where conscience is not one's own and judgment and intelligence are controlled by others is the doctrine of the church of Rome.

Desert Imagery Explained

To be like the heath in the desert is to be stunted, withered, dry, barren and unfruitful like a desert shrub or scrub, with barrenness of soul and no refreshing. The one who trusts in human strength and turns the heart from the Lord becomes that plant in the desert, cut off from what would sustain the life of the soul. Though set opposite the tree planted by waters with roots by the river, green in heat, untroubled in drought and continually fruitful, he remains in dry and barren uninhabited places. Good does not bring him relief or blessing, for he is spiritually barren and desolate.

Not seeing when good comes means failing to recognize, perceive, receive, retain or benefit from the good that comes within reach. Good may come and yet not come within effective reach, life being spent in dry deserted places because spiritual discernment is lost. When messages of reproof are brought, those who make wrong principles their rule of action, weaken the hands of those who should be upheld, remain unaffected, brace themselves to resist every appeal, and in pride refuse to admit and amend their wrong course, will not see when good comes. Relying on human wisdom instead of following the Lord's leading therefore brings failure, leaving the soul unable to recognize good when it comes.

Inhabiting the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited, means living in dry, salty, waste, desolate and uninhabited places. It is dwelling in dry and uninhabited waste, in desolate uninhabited places, in a dry and desolate condition, isolated from what would minister to the life of the soul. The self-directed pursuits of the one who turns away to please himself amount to a worthless heap and bring no profit to God or the world. This is what happens when in trouble people look to human beings for help, listen to their opinions, and rely on them for sympathy, succor and counsel instead of shutting themselves up with God.

Though God's goodness, grace and blessings are freely available, the one who trusts in man separates himself from them and shuts himself away from them. He is thus unable to receive the good that comes and lives in desolation, and in misery apart from God.

Contrast and Scripture Links

The curse of barrenness stands directly opposite the blessing on the one who trusts in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is. The blessed one thrives like a tree planted by the waters spreading its roots by the river, staying green when heat comes, untroubled in drought, and never ceasing to bear fruit. The cursed one becomes stunted and dry like scrub in the desert, unable to perceive good when it comes, and settled in parched, salty, uninhabited waste.

To turn the heart from the Lord in this way is to forsake the fountain of living waters and the hope of Israel. It is to forsake the cool snow waters of Lebanon to drink the turbid streams of the valley, to hew out broken cisterns that can hold no water, and to walk in sparks of one's own kindling instead of drinking the water of life from God. Such departure brings shame and being written in the earth, while healing and salvation come only from the Lord as the object of praise.

The same context lays bare the heart as deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, known and searched only by the Lord who tries the reins to give every man according to his ways and the fruit of his doings.

Trusting in man repeats the follies of Israel in turning to human help, which will be repeated among God's people today unless there is greater humility, less confidence in self, and more trust in the Lord God of Israel. As when Israel wanted to be like other nations and asked for a king, ending in the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the nation, and as when Solomon through alliance with idolatrous nations and marriage to heathen women forsook God to worship idols, so trust in man turns aside the work God desires to accomplish and brings weakness and ruin. As Israel by forbidden alliances with heathen neighbors was leavened by evil practices, lost identity as God's peculiar people, lost first love and zeal for God's service, and gained only disappointment and the loss of souls, so will be the experience of all who forsake God as the source of strength and place dependence on worldly alliances.

Spiritual Condition Described

The one who trusts in man is cut off from what alone can keep the soul alive, for no one remains righteous any longer than he keeps faith in God and a living connection with Him, and sinful man can find hope and righteousness only in God. As a flower of the field must stay rooted in the soil and receive air, dew, showers, and sunshine to flourish, so the soul must receive from God what ministers to its life, and when that connection is broken nothing remains to sustain it. Life and hope come from God, not from human control or judgment.

To lean on men for strength and influence dishonors God by failing to appreciate His sufficiency, setting Him aside as not sufficient, and choosing to be guided by seen human power rather than by unseen divine power. It is leaning on the arm of the world instead of the arm of God in order to gain recognition and to do some great thing, and it turns aside the work God desires to accomplish through His chosen people. Making flesh one's arm in this way is being led astray by the tempter, for it is Satan's laid trap to catch men and win them to his side when they cease looking to Jesus for strength and efficiency and depend on finite, erring fellow men.

Not seeing when good comes is the state of ungrateful, unmindful people who forget what God has done, though He continually benefits mankind, heals the sick, delivers from unseen peril, guards by angels, and has given all the riches of heaven to redeem them. By ingratitude and unbelief they close their hearts against grace, so good brings them no relief or blessing. By failing to exercise faith while striving to obey they claim little when much might be claimed, since there is no limit to the promises of God, and they misrepresent the sanctification that comes through obedience to the truth, which God intends to make His sons and daughters happy, peaceful, and obedient.

Those who know their need and hunger for salvation are not like the desert shrub, for they recognize and receive the good offered to them. They learn of Jesus and trust God so that they can recognize His love even in sorrow and hardship, because they judge Him by Christ's gift rather than by difficult circumstances.

God cannot prosper His people or His church while men who are not walking in the light trust in man, make wrong principles their rule of action, weaken the hands of those who should be upheld, resist appeal, and in pride refuse to admit and amend their wrong course. He gives them up to their own perverted imaginations to remain dry and desolate. In mercy and faithfulness He causes fellow men in whom confidence is placed to fail, so that the folly of looking to fellow men for sympathy and uplifting instead of looking to Jesus is learned. He shakes His afflicted servants from every earthly help by separating them to look to Him alone, and in that separation gives opportunity to reflect, review the past life, see mistakes and wrongs, humble the heart, confess, and seek His face by frequent earnest prayer, which gives cheerfulness, courage, hope, faith, and a source of strength and happiness unknown to lovers of pleasure.

Those in responsible positions who have received great light and abundant testimony but set themselves against God's message and resist the appeals of His Spirit barricade their souls with resistance, doubts, and unbelief so that they cannot see good when it comes. Their hardness of heart and blindness of mind grows as great as the light that shone upon them was great, because though enlightened they have chosen darkness rather than light. They are not moved to change their position and cannot be helped by further words, but are left in the hands of God, with the end of such stubborn unbelief yet to be learned.

Warnings and Right Response

The warning falls on God's people and their leaders whenever they lean on human strength instead of seeking the Lord. It falls especially on unconverted church leaders who refuse to humble the heart, give up the will to God, and let go of selfishness, self-confidence, self-will and a disposition to dominate and control, for they lose spiritual discernment, cannot be trusted, reject warning and greatly hinder the work. It falls on those who have not walked in the light, who make wrong principles their rule of action and weaken the hands of those who should be upheld, who when reproof comes remain unaffected and in pride brace themselves to resist every appeal and walk in their chosen way, so that prosperity is withheld and they are given up to perverted imagination to remain dry and desolate with a spirit like that of Nadab and Abihu. It falls on leaders left to themselves who may lead the people astray into barrenness where good when it comes is not recognized. It falls on men in high places entrusted with prosperity and influence whose view becomes distorted by exalted position.

The same warning is called to bear on teachers who have received great spiritual light and evidence but fail to use it rightly, whose conduct has not been reformed by it and who have treated students harshly and departed from safe paths, bringing them under rebuke. It falls on believers who trust human authors who deny God and pour contempt on His word and who give place to their skeptical works in libraries and schooling, for that is making flesh an arm and brings the curse of spiritual barrenness and dryness where good cannot be seen when it comes, since nothing vindicates such trust and no clean good can come from an unclean source.

The warning falls on physicians who stand in temptation and danger, where trusting in man leads to unbelief and failure to advance heavenward instead of constant progress through the power of truth, firm allegiance by taking hold of God's strength, and working with Christ in restoring suffering humanity by nature's remedies. It falls on medical workers who lean their weight upon a human leader instead of leaning upon Christ, binding themselves to a man rather than making the great Medical Missionary their strength, leaving them dry and fruitless like a bush in the desert. It falls on those who rely on people who disregard God and His law, whose worldly wisdom and counsel cannot secure standing with God and bring only disappointment and no safety. No man should embrace responsibilities God has not laid upon him that encourage others to depend on him, but every physician should make Christ his strength and obtain an experience for himself by trusting God directly. The afflicted are to commit soul and body to their covenant-keeping God as the great Physician, trusting, praying and exercising faith with no doubts allowed.

The verse exposes the cursed condition of the minister who trusts in man instead of Christ. Such a one follows in the shadow of a living man, binds the heart to a human being, lets another do his thinking, sinks individuality in a father or in great and good men of past generations, and preaches other men's ideas without diligent prayerful thought for himself, leaving him dry, barren and shut out from good. That entire dependence where conscience is not one's own and judgment and intelligence are controlled by others is the doctrine of the church of Rome. It also describes a preacher without burden for the work whose unbelief kept him from discerning when to speak and when to support those through whom light was being given.

Those who put man where God should be and make flesh their strength do not see good when it comes but walk in darkness. They expect a human leader to do what the Lord God of Israel alone can do, place a minister where God should be, find strength in man, and look to sympathizing brethren for uplifting until courage wavers, and so the blessing already received becomes condemnation. No man in any position is to teach his fellow to look to him for wisdom or ever take the place of God, for God alone is to be trusted and looked to for guidance and His counsel followed. It is perilous to encourage dependence on a human leader or to look to man for wisdom to define duty instead of turning to God as the only Source untainted with human error, and he who walks in God's counsel will refuse to be brains and conscience for brethren but will lead them to seek God directly in humility, by which many dangers are averted. Those who make God alone their trust use their God-given powers in harmony with Him, let light shine in good works, speak in faith and humility, dwell on Christ's lessons, set things in order, exalt the message and not self, and walk humbly day by day under the Great Shepherd, and they are educated in safe paths, receive power and efficiency, become light-bearers, receive the Spirit and obtain repentance that needs not to be repented of.

Those who claim to believe the end of all things is at hand are called to show faith by works, speak the truth persuasively, consider who will labor for souls who know not the truth, take the burden of being faithful humble messengers, be diligent without losing more time, and be guarded on every side. Those without the intense interest the condition of the world warrants must humble their hearts, pray and believe for clear spiritual eyesight, and be aroused before it is too late.

In the valley of humiliation where men depend on God to teach and guide every step there is comparative safety. Those standing on a lofty pinnacle in positions of responsibility, supposed because of exalted position to have much wisdom, will fall unless they feel their need of an Arm stronger than the arm of flesh. Therefore they need most the prayers of the whole church and of everyone who has a living connection with God.

The remedy is to rely on God who never fails a trusting soul, shutting oneself up with God and making Him alone the trust instead of looking to human beings in trouble for opinions, sympathy, succor and counsel. Safety is found only in childlike love, faith and perfect trust that seeks nearness to the Father above every other person and rests in His wisdom and strength, looking unto Him to be saved, coming unto Christ for rest, and asking God for wisdom. Trust in God is shown by humility, meekness, caution, much more praying and less talking, and dependence on divine power rather than on people or self and one's own judgment. It is shown by talking of heavenly things and the eternal weight of glory for the overcomer, which brings success in work for souls.