Jeremiah 5:7-9

2. Sexual impurity (Jeremiah 5:7-9)

TRANSLATION

(7) Wherefore should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and have sworn by no-gods; and when I fed them, then they committed adultery and they flocked to the house of a harlot. (8) They have become well-fed stallions roaming about; each man neighs unto the wife of his neighbor. (9) On account of these things shall I not punish (oracle of the LORD)? Shall not MY soul take vengeance on a nation which is like this?

COMMENTS

Persistent unbelief makes divine forgiveness of Judah impossible. The children of Judah have forsaken God and have indicated their allegiance to idols by swearing in the name of these non-entities. God had fed them, granted to them prosperity. But instead of gratitude, here is depravity. They had committed the sin of adultery. The prophet may be referring to literal adultery here or he may be using adultery as a metaphor for apostasy. The men of Judah flocked (lit., assembled in troops) to the house of the harlot (Jeremiah 5:7). They were utterly unashamed of their actions and made no attempt to hide their immoral acts. The reference here might be to the obscene orgies which characterized certain of the Canaanite cults. In any case, the immoral acts of the Baal cult could not be confined to religious exercises. The men of Judah roam about like well-fed[166] stallions, each one neighing to the wife of his neighbor (Jeremiah 5:8). The morals of a nation have sunk to rock bottom when sexual desire becomes merely an animal appetite to be satisfied in any manner and with anyone. Can God do anything other than bring punishment and divine vengeance upon such a nation? (Jeremiah 5:9). Divine vengeance in Scripture is just retribution for sins which are an affront to God.

[166] The meaning of the Hebrew word is obscure. The best Hebrew authorities suggest that the word means weighted or furnished with weights.