Jeremiah 5:5

I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. THEY HAVE KNOWN - rather, 'they must know.' The prophet supposes it as probable, considering their position. BUT THESE - I found the very reverse to be the case. BURST THE BONDS - set God's law at defiance ()....

He now adds, _I will go to the great _By the great he meant the priests and the prophets, as well as the king’s counselors, and the king himself. _I will go, _(132) then, he says, _to the great, and will speak to them _It is the same as though he had said, that everywhere his labor was in vain, for not only he spoke to the deaf when addressing the illiterate vulgar, but also when addressing the chief men. I have said, that the Prophet did not make the inquiry as one doubtful, but his purpose was to make the chief men ashamed of themselves, and also to confirm what he had said before, — that not one just and upright man could be found in Jerusalem. _For they know, _he says, etc. He declares the same thing in the same words. But we must ever remember, that the Prophet did not believe this; but he speaks of it as a thing that appeared probable: for who could have then thought that there was...

1-9 None could be found who behaved as upright and godly men. But the Lord saw the true character of the people through all their disguises. The poor were ignorant, and therefore they were wicked. What can be expected but works of darkness, from people that know nothing of God and religion? There are God's poor, who, notwithstanding poverty, know the way of the Lord, walk in it, and do their duty; but these were willingly ignorant, and their ignorance would not be their excuse. The rich were insolent and haughty, and the abuse of God's favours made their sin worse....

Verse Jeremiah 5:5. _I WILL GET ME UNTO THE GREAT MEN_] Those whose circumstances and rank in life gave them opportunities of information which the others could not have, for the reasons already given. _THESE HAVE ALTOGETHER BROKEN THE YOKE_] These have cast aside all restraint, have acted above law, and have trampled all moral obligations under their feet, and into their vortex the lower classes of the people have been swept away. _Solon_ said, "The laws are like cobwebs; they entangle the small fry, but the great ones go through them, and carry all away with them....

THEY HAVE KNOWN ... - Men of education, who read the Scriptures, and learn from them the nature of God’s judgments. BUT THESE - literally, surely they (compare Jeremiah 5:4). THE YOKE - The Mosaic law. AND BURST ... - They have torn off, torn themselves loose from. THE BONDS - The fastenings by which the yoke was fixed upon the necks of the oxen....

EXPOSITION Is the punishment thought too severe? Then let the moral condition of Jerusalem be inquired into. Must not such transgressions precipitate its people into ruin? There are four well-marked sections or strophes. JEREMIAH 5:1 Gladly would Jehovah pardon, if his people showed but a gleam of sound morality. But they are all deaf to the warning voice—the Law of God is flagrantly violated. In particular the marriage tie, as well the typical one between man and woman as the anti-typical between the people and its God, is openly disregarded (comp. Hosea 4:1; Micah 7:2; Isaiah 64:6,...

I WILL GET ME UNTO THE GREAT MEN, AND SPEAK UNTO THEM,.... The princes, nobles, and judges, the elders of the people, the scribes and doctors of the law: FOR THEY HAVE KNOWN THE WAY OF THE LORD, AND THE JUDGMENT OF THEIR GOD; it might be reasonably expected that they had, having had a good education, and being at leisure from worldly business to attend to the law, and the knowledge of it, and whatsoever God had revealed in his word, both in a way of doctrine and duty: BUT THESE HAVE ALTOGETHER BROKEN THE YOKE, AND BURST THE BONDS; the yoke of the law, and the bonds of his precepts, with which they were bound; these they broke off from them, and would not be obliged and restrained by them, but transgressed and rejected them....

Jeremiah 5:1. _Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it._ It was a very wonderful offer, on the part of God, to forgive the inhabitants of the whole city of Jerusalem for the sake of one man; and it was all the more remarkable because he gave them time to make a thorough search to see whether such a person could be found: «if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth.» Into what a horrible state of guilt must the Jewish capital have fallen when there was not one man, even among the magistrates or the priests, who cared for that which was just and true. May God prevent London and England from becoming like Jerusalem and Judah! May truth and righteousness flourish in our land!...

CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The apostate conditions of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 5:1) _ 2. The impending judgment (Jeremiah 5:10) 3. Sowing and reaping (Jeremiah 5:19) 4. The horrible thing (Jeremiah 5:30) Jeremiah 5:1. So degenerate had the inhabitants of Jerusalem become that the Lord promised if but one man could be found in the city who executed judgment and sought the truth, He would pardon Jerusalem. It was a general apostasy. A similar apostasy is predicted for the end of our age. “Nevertheless when the Son of Man

THE SINS OF JERUSALEM. Jeremiah is bidden to seek even one man in Jerusalem, for whose sake Yahweh may spare the city (_cf._ Genesis 18:16), one man of justice and faithfulness (_mg.) ;_ even the oaths they swear by Yahweh mean nothing. The prophet confesses that it is this lack of faithfulness that has brought a hard discipline on the city, though in vain; yet he turns from the man in the street to those of high degree, for _they_ (emph.) know the ordinances of Yahweh only to find them united in disobedience (Jeremiah 5:5; for the figure of the rebellious oxen, _cf._ Jeremiah 2:20). So comes the foe, like forest lion, or desert wolf (_mg.),_ or lurking leopard; since Yahweh's provision of a fer