But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
This word was spoken to Jerusalem when the downfall of the city was near, when religion among leaders and people had become mere outward form without living connection to heaven while they still boasted in the temple. It belongs to Jeremiah's denunciation of sin and his sorrow over transgression, describing the people's failure to respond to God's messages and appeals to return to Him. It means that Judah, leaders and people alike, had a stubborn, defiant and rebellious inner life, had left the sincere way of the Lord, and had turned away, rebelled and departed from Him.
In its immediate context, the people no longer said in their hearts to reverence God as the one who sends the early and latter rain in its season and preserves the appointed weeks of harvest. Their wrongs had turned blessings aside, and their sins had withheld good and rain from them. The surrounding passage further exposes wicked men among God's people who lie in wait with traps to catch others, whose houses are full of deceit by which they grow great, rich and sleek and surpass the wicked in evil. Though prospering, they refuse justice for orphans and the rights of the needy, so the Lord declares He will punish and avenge Himself on such a nation.
The only hope held out was to ask for the old paths and the good way and walk in it. If obeyed, that return would have saved the people and the city and would have turned back Nebuchadnezzar as Sennacherib's army was turned back. But the warning was refused, and judgment fell on Jerusalem in captivity and apparent heathen triumph. As a warning to the church, harboring sin, including withholding tithes and offerings, can hold back good and prevent the latter rain and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
This word was spoken to Jerusalem when the downfall of the city was near, when religion among leaders and people had become mere outward form without living connection to heaven while they still boasted in the temple. It belongs to Jeremiah's denunciation of sin and his sorrow over transgression, describing the people's failure to respond to God's messages and appeals to return to Him. It means that Judah, leaders and people alike, had a stubborn, defiant and rebellious inner life, had left the sincere way of the Lord, and had turned away, rebelled and departed from Him.
In its immediate context, the people no longer said in their hearts to reverence God as the one who sends the early and latter rain in its season and preserves the appointed weeks of harvest. Their wrongs had turned blessings aside, and their sins had withheld good and rain from them. The surrounding passage further exposes wicked men among God's people who lie in wait with traps to catch others, whose houses are full of deceit by which they grow great, rich and sleek and surpass the wicked in evil. Though prospering, they refuse justice for orphans and the rights of the needy, so the Lord declares He will punish and avenge Himself on such a nation.
The only hope held out was to ask for the old paths and the good way and walk in it. If obeyed, that return would have saved the people and the city and would have turned back Nebuchadnezzar as Sennacherib's army was turned back. But the warning was refused, and judgment fell on Jerusalem in captivity and apparent heathen triumph. As a warning to the church, harboring sin, including withholding tithes and offerings, can hold back good and prevent the latter rain and the gift of the Holy Spirit.