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Commentary on Jeremiah 15 verses 1–9
We scarcely find any where more pathetic expressions of divine wrath against a provoking people than we have here in these verses. The prophet had prayed earnestly for them, and found some among them to join with him; and yet not so much as a reprieve was gained, nor the least mitigation of the judgment; but this answer is given to the prophet's prayers, that the decree had gone forth, was irreversible, and would shortly be executed. Observe here,
I. What the sin was upon which this severe sentence was grounded. 1. It is in remembrance of a former iniquity; it is because of Manasseh, for that which he did in Jerusalem, Jer 15:4. What that was we are told, and that it was for it that Jerusalem was destroyed, Kg2 24:3, Kg2 24:4. It was for his idolatry, and the innocent blood which he shed, which the Lord would not pardon. He is called the son of Hezekiah because his relation to so good a father was a great aggravation of his sin, so far was it from being an excuse of it. The greatest part of a generation was worn off since Manasseh's time, yet his sin is brought into the account; as in Jerusalem's last ruin God brought upon it all the righteous blood shed on the earth, to show how heavy the guilt of blood will light and lie somewhere, sooner or later, and that reprieves are not pardons. 2. It is in consideration of their present impenitence. See how their sin is described (Jer 15:6): "Thou hast forsaken me, my service and thy duty to me; thou hast gone backward into the ways of contradiction, art become the reverse of what thou shouldst have been and of what God by his law would have led thee forward to." See how the impenitence is described (Jer 15:7): They return not from their ways, the ways of their own hearts, into the ways of God's commandments again. There is mercy for those who have turned aside if they will return; but what favour can those expect that persist in their apostasy?
II. What the sentence is. It is such as denotes no less than an utter ruin.
1.God himself abandons and abhors them: My mind cannot be towards them. How can it be thought that the holy God should have any remaining complacency in those that have such a rooted antipathy to him? It is not in a passion, but with a just and holy indignation, that he says, "Cast them out of my sight, as that which is in the highest degree odious and offensive, and let them go forth, for I will be troubled with them no more."
2.He will not admit any intercession to be made for them (Jer 15:1): "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, by prayer or sacrifice to reconcile me to them, yet I could not be prevailed with to admit them into favour." Moses and Samuel were two as great favourites of Heaven as ever were the blessings of this earth, and were particularly famed for the success of their mediation between God and his offending people; many a time they would have been destroyed if Moses had not stood before him in the breach; and to Samuel's prayers they owed their lives (Sa1 12:19); yet even their intercessions should not prevail, no, not though they were now in a state of perfection, much less Jeremiah's who was now a man subject to like passions as others. The putting of this as a case, Though they should stand before me, supposes that they do not, and is an intimation that saints in heaven are not intercessors for saints on earth. It is the prerogative of the Eternal Word to be the only Mediator in the other world, whatever Moses, and Samuel, and others were in this.
3.He condemns them all to one destroying judgment or other. When God casts them out of his presence, whither shall they go forth? Jer 15:2. Certainly nowhere to be safe or easy, but to be met by one judgment while they are pursued by another, till they find themselves surrounded with mischiefs on all hands, so that they cannot escape; Such as are for death to death. By death here is meant the pestilence (Rev 6:8), for it is death without visible means. Such as are for death to death, or for the sword to the sword; every man shall perish in that way that God has appointed: the law that appoints the malefactor's death determines what death he shall die. Or, He that is by his own choice for this judgment, let him take it, or for that, let him take it, but by the one or the other they shall all fall and none shall escape. It is a choice like that which David was put to, and was thereby put into a great strait, Sa2 24:14. Captivity is mentioned last, some think, because the sorest judgment of all, it being both a complication and continuance of miseries. That of the sword is again repeated (Jer 15:3), and is made the first of another four frightful set of destroyers, which God will appoint over them, as officers over the soldiers, to do what they please with them. As those that escape the sword shall be cut off by pestilence, famine, or captivity, so those that fall by the sword shall be cut off by divine vengeance, which pursues sinners on the other side death; there shall be dogs to tear in the field to devour. And, if there be any that think to outrun justice, they shall be made the most public monuments of it: They shall be removed into all kingdoms of the earth (Jer 15:4), like Cain, who, that he might be made a spectacle of horror to all, became a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth.
4.They shall fall without being relieved. Who can do any thing to help them? for (1.) God, even their own God (so he had been) appears against them: I will stretch out my hand against thee, which denotes a deliberate determined stroke, which will reach far and wound deeply. I am weary with repenting (Jer 15:6); it is a strange expression; they had behaved so provokingly, especially by their treacherous professions of repentance, that they had put even infinite patience itself to the stretch. God had often turned away his wrath when it was ready to break forth against them; but now he will grant no more reprieves. Miserable is the case of those who have sinned so long against God's mercy that at length they have sinned it away. (2.) Their own country expels them, and is ready to spue them out, as it had done the Canaanites that were before them; for so it was threatened (Lev 18:28): I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land, in their own gates, through which they shall be scattered, or into the gates of the earth, into the cities of all the nations about them, Jer 15:7. (3.) Their own children, that should assist them when they speak with the enemy in the gate, shall be cut off from them: I will bereave them of children, so that they shall have little hopes that the next generation will retrieve their affairs, for I will destroy my people; and, when the inhabitants are slain, the land will soon be desolate. This melancholy article is enlarged upon, Jer 15:8, Jer 15:9, where we have, [1.] The destroyer brought upon them. When God has bloody work to do he will find out bloody instruments to do it with. Nebuchadnezzar is here called a spoiler at noon-day, not a thief in the night, that is afraid of being discovered, but one that without fear shall break through and destroy all the fences of rights and properties, and this in the face of the sun and in defiance of its light: I have brought against the mother a young man, a spoiler (so some read it); for Nebuchadnezzar, when he first invaded Judah, was but a young man, in the first year of his reign. We read it, I have brought upon them, even against the mother of the young men, a spoiler, that is, against Jerusalem, a mother city, that had a very numerous family of young men: or that invasion was in a particular manner terrible to those mothers who had many sons fit for war, who must now hazard their lives in the high places of the field, and, being an unequal match for the enemy, would be likely to fall there, to the inexpressible grief of their poor mothers, who had nursed them up with a great deal of tenderness. The same God that brought the spoiler upon them caused him to fall upon it, that is, upon the spoil delivered to him, suddenly and by surprise; and then terrors came upon the city. the original is very abrupt - the city and terrors. O the city! what a consternation will it then be in! O the terrors that shall then seize it! Then the city and terrors shall be brought together, that seemed at a distance from each other. I will cause to fall suddenly upon her (upon Jerusalem) a watcher and terrors; so Mr. Gataker reads it, for the word is used for a watcher (Dan 4:13, Dan 4:23), and the Chaldean soldiers were called watchers, Jer 4:16. [2.] The destruction made by this destroyer. A dreadful slaughter is here described. First, The wives are deprived of their husbands: Their widows are increased above the sand of the seas, so numerous have they now grown. It was promised that the men of Israel (for those only were numbered) should be as the sand of the sea for multitude; but now they shall be all cut off, and their widows shall be so. But observe, God says, They are increased to me. Though the husbands were cut off by the sword of his justice, their poor widows were gathered in the arms of his mercy, who has taken it among the titles of his honour to be the God of the widows. Widows are said to be taken into the number, the number of those whom God has a particular compassion and concern for. Secondly, The parents are deprived of their children: She that has borne seven sons, whom she expected to be the support and joy of her age, now languishes, when she has seen them all cut off by the sword in one day, who had been many years her burden and care. She that had many children has waxed feeble, Sa1 2:5. See what uncertain comforts children are; and let us therefore rejoice in them as though we rejoiced not. When the children are slain the mother gives up the ghost, for her life was bound up in theirs: Her sun has gone down while it was yet day; she is bereaved of all her comforts just when she thought herself in the midst of the enjoyment of them. She is now ashamed and confounded to think how proud she was of her sons, how fond of them, and how much she promised herself from them. Some understand, by this languishing mother, Jerusalem lamenting the death of her inhabitants as passionately as ever poor mother bewailed her children. Many are cut off already, and the residue of them, who have yet escaped, and, as was hoped, were reserved to be the seed of another generation, even these will I deliver to the sword before their enemies (as the condemned malefactor is delivered to the sheriff to be executed), saith the Lord, the Judge of heaven and earth, who, we are sure, herein judges according to truth, though the judgment seem severe.
5.They shall fall without being pitied (Jer 15:5): "For who shall have pity on thee, O Jerusalem? When thy God has cast thee out of his sight, and his compassions fail and are shut up from thee, neither thy enemies nor thy friends shall have any compassion for thee. They shall have no sympathy with thee; they shall not bemoan thee nor be sorry for thee; they shall have no concern for thee, shall not go a step out of their way to ask how thou dost." For, (1.) Their friends, who were expected to do these friendly offices, were all involved with them in the calamities, and had enough to do to bemoan themselves. (2.) It was plain to all their neighbours that they had brought all this misery upon themselves by their obstinacy in sin, and that they might easily have prevented it by repentance and reformation, which they were often in vain called to; and therefore who can pity them? O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself. Those will perish for ever unpitied that might have been saved upon such easy terms and would not. (3.) God will thus complete their misery. He will set their acquaintance, as he did Job's at a distance from them; and his hand, his righteous hand, is to be acknowledged in all the unkindnesses of our friends, as well as in all the injuries done us by our foes.
(Verses 2, 3.) But if they say to you: Where shall we go out? You shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: He who is for death, to death; and he who is for the sword, to the sword; and he who is for famine, to famine; and he who is for captivity, to captivity. And I will visit upon them four kinds, says the Lord: the sword for killing, and dogs for tearing, and birds of the sky and beasts of the earth for devouring and scattering. The four plagues by which the people of the Jews were handed over, as the prophecy of Ezekiel also shows, are the sword, pestilence, famine, beasts, and captivity (Ezek. 14). Among the beasts, dogs and birds are also understood, to whom bodies were given to be torn apart, devoured, and scattered. For it was not possible for the whole creation to rise up against sinners without the Creator being neglected.
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SUMMARY
Jeremiah 15:2 presents a stark prophetic declaration from the LORD to the people of Judah through the prophet Jeremiah, revealing the inescapable judgments awaiting them due to their persistent and unrepentant rebellion. In response to their unspoken or implied question about where they might find refuge, God unequivocally pronounces a four-fold destiny of destruction: death, the sword, famine, and captivity. This verse powerfully underscores the divine resolve to execute the promised consequences of covenant disobedience, demonstrating God's unyielding justice and His absolute sovereignty over the nation's impending doom.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Jeremiah 15:2 employs several potent literary devices to convey its grim and unyielding message. The most prominent is Repetition, specifically manifested as Anaphora in the recurring phrase "Such as [are] for..." followed by the specific judgment. This insistent repetition of "death, to death; sword, to sword; famine, to famine; captivity, to captivity" creates a powerful rhetorical rhythm, hammering home the certainty and comprehensive nature of the divine decree. This also functions as a form of Parallelism, where each clause mirrors the structure of the others, reinforcing the interconnectedness and inevitability of these various forms of judgment. The verse also features a Rhetorical Question ("Whither shall we go forth?"), which is immediately answered by the divine oracle, highlighting the futility of seeking an escape from God's determined judgment. Finally, the stark, unadorned language and direct pronouncements contribute to the solemn and authoritative Prophetic Oracle style, conveying the absolute will and unyielding authority of the LORD.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Jeremiah 15:2 stands as a profound theological statement on the severe consequences of persistent, unrepentant sin and the unwavering justice of God. It reveals that divine patience has limits, and prolonged rebellion against a holy God inevitably leads to severe judgment. This passage underscores God's absolute sovereignty, demonstrating His authority not only to warn but also to precisely execute judgment through various divinely appointed means. The four categories of destruction—death, sword, famine, and captivity—are not random occurrences but divinely ordained consequences, illustrating that God is actively involved in the history of His people, upholding His covenant, both in blessing and in curse. This serves as a solemn reminder that God's character encompasses both boundless mercy and righteous wrath, and His justice will ultimately prevail, bringing about His perfect will even through calamity.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Jeremiah 15:2 serves as a sobering reminder that choices have profound consequences, and persistent rebellion against God's revealed will ultimately leads to inevitable judgment. While believers now live under the New Covenant, where Christ has fully borne the ultimate judgment for sin, the spiritual principles of sowing and reaping remain eternally true. This passage calls us to a profound humility and a sober assessment of our own lives and the spiritual state of our communities. It challenges us to consider whether we are truly heeding God's warnings and pursuing genuine repentance, or if we are presuming upon His grace and delaying obedience. For the believer, it underscores the immense seriousness of sin and the immeasurable cost of our redemption, prompting a deeper appreciation for the grace that has delivered us from such a dire fate. It also reminds us that God is just and righteous, even when His judgments seem severe, and that His ultimate purpose is always to bring about His perfect will, often through a process of purification and restoration.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "Such as are for death, to death" mean in this context?
Answer: This phrase, repeated for death, sword, famine, and captivity, signifies a divine appointment or designation. It means that God has specifically determined the fate for different segments of the people of Judah, or that all will inevitably face one of these ends. Those appointed "for death" will indeed experience death, whether through pestilence, disease, or other non-military causes. It underscores the certainty and inevitability of the judgment, indicating that there is no escaping the particular form of destruction God has ordained for them. It's a declaration of inescapable destiny for a nation that has persistently rebelled against its covenant God, as seen in Jeremiah 15:2.
Why did God allow such severe judgments to come upon His people?
Answer: God allowed these severe judgments not out of arbitrary cruelty, but as a just and necessary consequence for Judah's prolonged and unrepentant rebellion against His covenant. Throughout centuries, God had patiently warned them through prophets, demonstrating His desire for their repentance and restoration (e.g., Jeremiah 7:23-26). However, Judah consistently rejected His commands, pursued widespread idolatry, and engaged in pervasive social injustice. The calamities described in Jeremiah 15:2 were the direct fulfillment of the curses outlined in the Mosaic Covenant for disobedience (e.g., Deuteronomy 28:15-68). These judgments were intended to purify a remnant and ultimately bring them back to Him, demonstrating that God is holy and righteous and cannot tolerate unbridled sin indefinitely.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
While Jeremiah 15:2 paints a bleak picture of inescapable judgment for a rebellious nation, its ultimate Christ-centered fulfillment lies in the profound contrast and ultimate deliverance offered through Jesus Christ. The four-fold judgment of death, sword, famine, and captivity represents the comprehensive nature of sin's consequences and the brokenness of a world under the curse. Yet, in Christ, we find the one who perfectly absorbed the full measure of God's righteous wrath, enduring the ultimate "death" on the cross, not for His own sin, but for ours (e.g., Romans 5:8). He is the true Lamb of God who takes away the "sword" of divine judgment that hung over humanity (e.g., John 1:29). For those who believe, He delivers us from spiritual "famine," offering Himself as the Bread of Life (e.g., John 6:35), satisfying our deepest spiritual hunger. Moreover, through His redemptive work, He frees us from the "captivity" of sin and death, bringing us into the glorious freedom of the children of God (e.g., Romans 8:21). Thus, what was an inescapable doom for Judah under the Old Covenant becomes a profound testament to the liberating and life-giving power of Christ's sacrifice, offering an escape from eternal judgment and a path to abundant life for all who turn to Him (e.g., John 3:16).