In this passage, I will examine certain questions posed through the Prophet Jeremiah and their respective answers in context. As you know, Jeremiah was living in Judah prior to the plague, famine and then ultimately the “sword” brought by the Babylonian invasion. Jeremiah was hearing directly from God and was repeatedly trying to warn the kings and their men of upcoming judgment at the hands of the Babylonians.
Jeremiah’s words contain numerous prophecies pertaining to our current last days time period. Overall, the same general story given through Jeremiah is a picture of what is soon to come again- i.e. God’s judgment on modern day Judah-Israel while employing world powers against them due to its: corrupt, oppressive leaders; rebellion against God; worship of other gods; and rampant sin/wickedness.
When looking through the many questions posed through Jeremiah along with the answers they elicit, I identified five categories that I will address in this passage:
- False security/pride
- “Why us?”/“What have we done?”
- Laments of Jeremiah
- Questions from God invoking his people’s guilt
- Questions from God signaling coming judgment/punishment
Each of these areas has strong prophetic implications for our current last days time period, at the least, and many times is indicated in direct prophecies.
False security/pride
Judah and its leaders in Jeremiah’s day maintained false beliefs that they were virtually invincible.
God’s people’s lack of wisdom
Questions below asked directly by God implicate Judah’s false sense of security and lack of wisdom.
Question: Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’—safe to do all these detestable things? (Jer. 7:9-10, God)
Question: Am I only a God nearby, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? (Jer. 23:23-24, God)
One pillar of a society’s sense of pride and false security is a denial of the one true God’s sovereign power. God repeatedly has to remind his people who he is such as, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” (Jer. 23:24), and as we read above, “Am I only a God nearby?”
As both of the primary questions (in italics above) imply, God’s people believe they can get away with sinful acts they do in private or within the confines and constructs of their false gods and belief systems. Worse yet, they do these in the temple of the Lord itself- an obvious abomination. Jeremiah observed that his enemies said, “He (God) will not see what happens to us” (Jer. 12:54). God asked, “Can anyone hide?” Referring to acts being done in his own house (temple) but that has been turned into a den of robbers, he warned, “But I have been watching!” (Jer. 7:11)
Prideful, arrogant leaders
A couple of questions asked by God below further pointed to Judah’s leaders’ (false) feelings of invincibility while God was looking on as a witness:
Question: How can you say, ‘We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord,’ when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? (Jer. 8:8, God)
Question: I am against you, Jerusalem, you who live above this valley on the rocky plateau, declares the Lord—you who say, ‘Who can come against us? Who can enter our refuge?‘ (Jer. 21:13, God)
God asked the questions above as part of making a point about prideful leaders (kings, prophets, priests) who were misled and had a sense of invincibility. These are the ones Jeremiah repeatedly ran up against when trying to get across God’s message. Due to their arrogance they could not imagine trouble or defeat coming upon them.
These lying, “greedy for gain,” prophets and priests were essentially paid off to give only good news to the kings and to misapply or disregard teaching God’s true law. God observed, they “dress the wound of my people as if it were not serious, ‘Peace,’ ‘Peace,’ they say when there is no peace” (Jer. 8:11). These false prophets were helping to cover up serious sins, lies and coming judgment as a result.
The latter question above God addressed to those in the royal house of Judah, the house of David, at the time he was warning Zedekiah about a coming all-consuming fire. God was emphasizing that he desired rulers who “rescue from the hands of the oppressor,” defend the cause of the poor, and do what is right for the fatherless, widow, and alien. God had already mocked King Jehoiakim for building a “great palace” with “more and more cedar” while at the same time being set on dishonest gain, oppression and extortion.
Meanwhile, King Zedekiah, out of disbelief, as did his predecessor, asked Jeremiah why he prophesied about pending Babylonian capture saying, “Why do you prophesy as you do?” (Jer. 32:3). This is relevant today. It can safely be assumed that virtually no current Israeli leaders or prophets have an understanding of what is certainly going to come on them and their country. (See my passages on this site entitled God’s Coming Punishment on the Country of Israel).
“Why us?”
Consistent with Judah’s pride and false sense of security discussed above, when trouble hit as part of God’s punishment, then they cried out; “Why us?”, “Why has this happened?”
God’s people’s many sins
Questions below and a few quick answers from God show how his disobedient people were out of touch.
Question: ‘Will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can. (Jer. 3:5, God)
Question: And if you ask yourself, ‘Why has this happened to me?’—it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated. (Jer. 13:22, God)
While maintaining their lifestyles of idolatry, sin, and worship of “detestable idols” and “vile images,” Judah’s society still cried out to God and wondered, “Why?” So they were hypocritical.
The questions above were posed by a people with a sense of entitlement, perhaps because they happened to live in the holy land and virtually in the shadows of the temple. God himself referred to the “pride of Judah” and the “great pride of Jerusalem.” (Jer. 13:8). Along with his responses above God called the house of Jacob-Judah a “foolish” and “senseless” people and observed at the time that they had eyes but “do not see” and ears but they “do not hear” (Jer. 5:20).
His people serving other gods
God finally decreed to forsake his inheritance and give them over to the Babylonians to be invaded and taken captive.
Question: And when the people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’ (Jer. 5:19, God)
Question: People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?’ (Jer. 22:8, God)
First and foremost, God turned his people over because of his jealous anger. His people had forsaken him. God often likened his people’s idolatry to prostitution and having many lovers other than him alone. He observed they had “stubbornness of evil hearts” (Jer. 16:10), which also included not listenening to him. So, God is jealous for his people’s faith and attention but his patience had reached its limit.
The first question above also speaks to God’s general policy of returning on his people the deeds that they have done to others. Upon decreeing destruction God called on the king and queen to step down from their thrones and remove their “glorious” crowns. An army from the north invaded, representing those who Judah-Israel thought were their allies. They were taken captive, into exile, and set up to serve their enemy.
Note: This general scenario just described will soon repeat in our current last days time period. Recall that I mentioned in prior passages that current day Judah (country of Israel) will be forced to flee when those they thought were their allies invade.
Laments
Some questions asked by/through Jeremiah were laments for Judah including for Judah’s “wounded,” godless society as a whole and were somewhat inspired by how they treated Jeremiah himself.
Judah full of lies and deceit
Jeremiah’s laments:
Question: Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. (Jer. 5:3, Jeremiah)
Question: Listen to me, O Lord; hear what my accusers are saying! Should good be repaid with evil? (Jer. 18:19-20, Jeremiah)
The first question above highlights how the Prophet Jeremiah lamented a society that was full of lies. God agreed and replied, “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider…If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city” (Jer. 5:1). As a result of worshiping other gods and practicing wickedness, deceit naturally followed. God’s people were “swear(ing) falsely.”
This was a time when God warned Jeremiah, who realized himself that he was being plotted and schemed against. Jeremiah recognized how his enemies said, “Let’s attack him with our tongue” (Jer. 18:18). God warned him: “You live in the midst of deception”; “beware of your friends”; and, “do not trust your brothers.” The Judah-Israel society were two-faced, being friendly to their neighbors while at the same time setting traps for them. This is an age-old anti-Christ spirit tactic that remains in our current day. Recall that end times ‘Jacob’ and the ‘Daughter of Zion’ are figures who are schemed against.
A people away from God
Jeremiah assumed that his society’s sad situation was only among the common people at large in Judah and that he would be able to talk to its leaders. Then, he found that leaders had “broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds” (Jer. 5:5). They had broken God’s covenant and turned to worship other gods. (And of course, I have also already discussed the false prophets who lied just to tickle the ears of kings and the people at-large).
Jeremiah greatly lamented about the wickedness he saw in his day. So he asked God:
Question: How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, ‘He will not see what happens to us.‘ (Jer. 12:4, Jeremiah)
When looking at the sinful state of Judah and considering his own challenges, Jeremiah stated his complaint above. He observed the sheer wickedness among his people. In particular, he observed:
- They feel no pain, they refuse correction (Jer. 5:3)
- Their faces are “harder than stone” (Jer. 5:3)
- They do not know the way of the Lord (Jer. 5:4)
- You (God) are always on their lips but far from their hearts (Jer. 12:2)
Jeremiah went from a state of lamenting for his people to asking God to bring punishment. He lamented the injustice in his society and how the ways of the wicked prosper.
We are in a similar time again currently. Recall that Jeremiah was a foreshadowing “type” of end times ‘Jacob’ who contends with his wicked land of ‘Babylon’ with a righteous cause.
A few other lamenting questions in the book of Jeremiah were those on behalf of the people inquiring of God if he had forgotten and rejected Judah completely. In a prophetic observation, his people recognized that, “the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jer. 13:20). This will be the case again in our last days when God hides his face prior to his return. God’s response in Jeremiah’s time was that he had indeed forsaken his inheritance (Judah). His reasoning is more fully addressed in the following section.
Questions from God invoking his people’s guilt
Many questions (and answers) of God asked through Jeremiah served to address and answer Judah’s laments and distress about their punishment.
God’s people serving other gods
God was trying to show his people their sin and the nature of their disobedience. That is, they served foreign gods and their associated idols.
Question: How can you say, ‘I am not defiled I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. (Jer. 2:23, God)
Question: Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. (Jer. 3:2, God)
Recall these were people who could not “see” or “hear.” They were proud and unremorseful. God observed, “No one repents of his wickedness or asks, ‘What have I done?’” I discussed earlier how God’s own people even defiled his temple when serving other gods and their practices. They were deceived and enslaved to the practice of the anti-Christ spirit dialectic. They were “double minded.” While they still performed their religious, ritual sacrifices, etc. they also adhered to the detestable practices of foreign gods. This is why God said:
Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign Lord. (Jer. 2:22)
In fact, these were people who served many gods. They swore to gods that, in fact, “are no gods” at all. They engaged in romance with numerous pagan gods. Scripture says they called wood their “father” and called a stone the one that “gave me birth.” This is why God called them like a prostitute with many lovers, and like a “woman unfaithful to her husband.” And he asked them, “Why do you go about changing your ways so much” (Jer. 3:20).
God’s people’s sinful behavior
Foreign gods open paths to sinful, wicked behavior. Chief among these are sexual sins and adultery. In speaking of his people’s idol worship in Jeremiah’s day, God said:
Question: Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I supplied all their needs, yet they committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes. (Jer. 5:7, God)
Question: Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘See, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people?’ (Jer. 9:7, God)
God’s people destroyed themselves because of their own ways in going astray. They declared, “we are free to roam (after other gods),” but then when they come back to God when all of their gods did not work for them in times of trouble is it any wonder the one true God replied, “let your gods come save you.” God made the point about his very unwise people whose own gods exposed and disclosed their sins:
But am I the one they are provoking? declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame? (Jer. 7:19)
The last days will be a time when God either purges or refines his people by fire and hides his face for a time. He will use his people’s own foreign gods to teach them a lesson. They will realize that the same ancient anti-Christ spirit gods (i.e. Assyrian, Egyptian, etc.) will hold them captive in their sins.
Questions from God signaling coming judgment/punishment
There is a group of questions from God through the Prophet Jeremiah that clearly signal God’s upcoming judgment and punishment. This judgment is coming soon to the current day country of Israel for the same reasons it came upon Judah in pre-Babylonian captivity days. It is due to the rebellion of God’s people.
An anti-Christ spirit-ruled society
In Jeremiah, Chapter 5, as God describes his upcoming punishment on Judah, he said, “for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many” (Jer. 5:6). Their society had been taken over by an oppressive, corrupt anti-Christ spirit.
Question: Should I not punish them for this? declares the Lord. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? (Jer. 5:29, 9:9, God)
In a clear picture of how a society such as current day Israel which is ruined by foreign god- and idol-worshipers, ancient Judah was ravaged by a web of lies and deceitful practices. God called the lies of the ruling prophets and priests “horrible and shocking,” and worse yet observed that his people, “love it this way.”
Recall this was the same society about which God said:
They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another… (Jer. 9:3)
Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully. With their mouths they all speak cordially to their neighbors, but in their hearts they set traps for them. (Jer. 9:8)
The other clear sign of an anti-Christ spirit-filled society doomed to destruction is the oppression and resulting disparities among its people. Scripture says Judah here had forgotten the fatherless and the poor yet their houses that were “full of deceit” had become rich and powerful (Jer. 5:23). They gained slaves and servants by wicked men who lied in wait to “set traps” to catch men.
God’s people don’t listen
Another sign of a rebellious Judah is that they would not listen to their only God.
Question: To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it. (Jer. 6:10, God)
It is sad that God observed about his own people, “The word of the Lord is offensive to them.” God repeatedly tried to get this nation’s attention. See the examples in the following line of text:
This is what the Lord says:
- Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.
- But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ (Jer. 6:16)
- I appointed watchmen over you and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
- But you said, ‘We will not listen.’ (Jer. 6:17)
God’s people willfully and knowingly turned away, did not listen, and rejected his law. Once again, this ancient scenario is directly applicable to what is happening in our current last days time period to Israel’s people who do not know their Messiah, Jesus Christ.
God’s temple defiled
So I will conclude this passage with one of the points that I began with, which is God’s people defiling his own temple with wickedness- just one more rebellious act.
Question: What is my beloved doing in my temple as she, with many others, works out her evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your punishment? When you engage in your wickedness, then you rejoice. (Jer. 11:15, God)
God again made the point here how cleansing rituals and sacrifices could cover his people’s sinful ways. They burn incense to Baal on as many altars in Jerusalem as there are streets (Jer. 11:13). Their Baal worship was referred to in scripture as a “conspiracy” among the people of Judah-Jerusalem, which likely means that this was coordinated among many but kept secret from the citizens at-large. Again, God refers to this as being “double-minded.”
God “decreed disaster” for the house of Israel and the house of Judah for their evil acts. It happened then and it will happen again in the near future.
~
The most important takeaway from this passage is its prophetic implications for current-day Israel, and judgments that will come upon it. I discuss this coming event in detail in my book, Biblical End Times, Volume 2.
Grace & Peace,
Lion’s Lair (LL)
Lion's Lair 
One thought on “Prophetic Questions (and Answers) Given in the Book of Jeremiah”