Jeremiah 14:1-6

CHAPTER TEN

NATIONAL DISTRESS AND PROPHETIC DISCOURAGEMENT

Jeremiah 14:1 to Jeremiah 17:27

Sometime during the ministry of Jeremiah a terrible drought or series of droughts (the Hebrew word is plural) struck Palestine (Jeremiah 14:1). This national crisis forms the background of most if not all of the materials in Chapter s 14-17. No date for the drought is given. But since in these Chapter s Judah's punishment is still future and since no reference is made to the deportation of Jehoiachin in 597 B.C. it is likely that these events transpired in the reign of Jehoiaklm. Droughts were not uncommon in Old Testament Palestine and numerous references to them occur in the Scriptures,[200] In the Book of Deuteronomy the Lord threatens to use drought as one of the disciplinary disasters which He will bring upon His people if they are unfaithful to Him (Deuteronomy 11:10-17; Deuteronomy 28:23-24). Growing out of this crisis is a personal crisisthe second onein the ministry of Jeremiah. Chapter 17 contains a series of utterances more appropriately called Jeremiah's sayings than Jeremiah's sermons. Perhaps these sayings were excerpts from the preaching which Jeremiah did during the drought.

[200] Genesis 12:10; Genesis 26:1; Genesis 42:1-2; Ruth 1:1; 2 Samuel 21:1; 1 Kings 8:37

I. PROPHETIC INTERCESSION Jeremiah 14:1 to Jeremiah 15:9

One of the hallmarks of a prophet is that he prayed on behalf of his people. During the time of the terrible drought (Jeremiah 14:1-6) Jeremiah prayed three times for his countrymen (Jeremiah 14:7-9; Jeremiah 14:13; Jeremiah 14:19-22). Three times God rejected the petition of his prophet, the third time emphatically so (Jeremiah 14:10-12; Jeremiah 14:14-18; Jeremiah 15:1-9). Jeremiah was to learn through this frustrating effort that intercessory prayer without prior repentance on the part of the sinners is futile and useless.

A, The Description of the Drought Jeremiah 14:1-6

TRANSLATION

(1) The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah concerning the matters of the drought. (2) Judah mourns; her gates languish. They make themselves black to the ground and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. (3) And their nobles have sent their inferiors for water. They have come to the pits, and have not found water; their vessels return empty; they are ashamed and dejected, they cover their heads. (4) Because of the ground which is dismayedfor there is no rain in the landthe ploughmen are bewildered, they cover their head. (5) For even the doe in the field gives birth and forsakes her kid because there is no grass. (6) And the wild asses stand on the bare hills, they gasp for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no grass.

COMMENTS

Whether or not Jeremiah 14:2-6 are to be considered a part of Jeremiah's prayer or a background to it is not clear. In either case these verses are a masterful description of the national plight created by the drought. This is Hebrew poetry of the first rank.

In Jeremiah 14:2 Jeremiah pictures the whole nation engaged in lamentation. Even the gates of cities are said to be participating, perhaps bemoaning the absence of those who formerly had assembled there to transact business. By heaping dust upon themselves both the people and their garments became black. This blackening of oneself was one of the customary signs of mourning in antiquity.[201] The nobles would send their inferiors (liter ally, their little ones) to the cisterns for water but they would return with empty vessels. Ashamed, dejected these servants would return to their master with heads covered as a sign of deepest mourning[202] (Jeremiah 14:3). The farmers are as confused as the nobles. The ground can no longer fulfill its function of producing fruit because of the absence of rain (Jeremiah 14:4). Even the wild animals are suffering in the drought. The tender doe is starving. Her natural affection for her young is forgotten as she desperately seeks food for herself (Jeremiah 14:5). The rough wild ass, accustomed to the harsh realities of desert life, desperately sniffs the air in an attempt to pick up the scent of water. Finally with no water and no food the animal languishes and dies (Jeremiah 14:6).

[201] See 2 Samuel 13:19; 2 Samuel 21:10; Job 2:12; Lamentation Jeremiah 2:10.

[202] 2 Samuel 15:30; 2 Samuel 19:4; Esther 6:12.