Therefore thus saith Jehovah Behold, I will bring evil upon them, from which they shall not be able to escape; and they will cry unto me, and I will not hearken unto them.
Commentary for this Verse
God had reminded Judah of the covenant He made when He brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and told them plainly that they had broken it. Verse 11 gives the verdict: an evil they cannot escape, and a God who will not answer when they call.
A broken covenant and its curse
The covenant at Sinai was an arrangement with terms attached, and the people had agreed to them.
Samuel RidoutA covenant is an agreement between two parties on condition that certain things are done. One party promises to do certain things if the other keeps his side of it. That is the covenant of the law. God promises to bless His people if they on their part will obey the law. Look, for instance, at this eleventh chapter of Jeremiah… The whole chapter is a reminder of the first covenant. It recalls God's promises to Israel under that covenant, and their promises to keep His commandments.
Because Judah broke the terms, the threat attached to them now comes into force. Commentators note that this marks a change in how God was dealing with the nation.
William KellyGod brings their disobedience home to them. "Therefore, thus says the LORD, behold, I am bringing disaster upon them." The time had now come to carry out the curse. The curse spoken in the days of Moses fell in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. As a result, a vast change took place in the people's relationship with the LORD. Until then they had only been under God's discipline. Now they were just as truly under the curse. It was a new thing; they had broken the covenant.
Why judgment could not stay asleep
God's refusal to listen is not indifference. He will not put His name to what they are doing.
William KellyIt was impossible for the LORD to take part in His people's sin and misery, any more than in His own dishonour. So judgment would not sleep.
No prayer for this people
This chapter also forbids Jeremiah to plead for the people. Even so, God still speaks of them with affection.
J. N. DarbyGod speaks to Israel again about their responsibility. He reminds them of the call to obey that He had given them ever since they came out of Egypt. God was about to bring on the people the evil with which He had threatened them. Jeremiah is not to intercede for them. Still, He calls Israel His "beloved." But she was corrupt, so what was she doing in His house? Whatever she might have been to Him, judgment was coming.
Their idolatry was settled, and that is why praying for them was pointless.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThey had followed the evil example of their fathers. They had burned incense to the idol gods. Therefore the prophet again is told not to pray for this adulterous generation, "for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble."
The kind of cry God does not answer
The people do cry out. What is missing is any judgment of themselves.
The Bible TreasuryIsrael sinned, and in their distress they cried, "We have sinned." But they never truly judged themselves. They mourned their misery, not their sin. So after every deliverance they sinned again, and worse than before. They forgot the mercy that rescued them. They ignored the rebuke for their sin. They were deaf when grace called them. Such is man.
The principle reaches past Judah. It touches anyone who wants answers from God while holding on to what God condemns.
Henry Allan IronsideIt is useless to pray while going on in sin. The man who does not seek to walk with God has no right to expect anything from Him… If prayer goes unanswered, if heaven seems shut, that is a solemn sign that something is wrong inside. It should lead to self-judgment and to giving up every evil way.
Love inside the judgment
The names God uses for the nation in this chapter sit strangely beside the threat, and that is the point.
H J VineHow deeply all this touched the heart of the Lord can be seen in what He says about the sinful nation. "My Beloved," He calls her; "A green olive tree"; but she rejoiced in evil, and evil should come upon her.
Even the broken olive tree of this chapter is not the last word on the nation.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinIn Romans 11 the Spirit of God uses verse 16. That chapter opens with the assurance that God has not cast away His people. The branches of the green olive tree are broken. Yet there is hope; they are still beloved for the sake of their forefathers.
Summary
- Covenant. The agreement had conditions on both sides. Judah's disobedience is what sets the threatened evil in motion.
- Curse. The change is real, not just words. The people move from God's discipline to the curse He spoke in Moses' day and carried out in the days of Nebuchadnezzar.
- Consent. God will not listen because He will not take part in His people's sin and misery, or in His own dishonour. Judgment cannot keep sleeping.
- Cry. Their cry mourns the trouble, not the sin. Prayer offered while they hold on to sin has nothing behind it.
- Compassion. Judgment and affection stand together. He still calls her "beloved," and Romans 11 shows the broken branches are not cast away for good.