It took me 20 minutes to read this passage. We often limit God’s to the Gospel; Good News. But when we do that we neglect the fact that God has always had a response when his people rejected his commands; the bad news of judgment. That is the message that Jeremiah is delivering AGAIN in this passage. Such a picture of God is wholly consistent with his nature as revealed in scripture. In 15:4 God explains that this punishment is to come on Judah because of the sins of Manasseh, even though Jeremiah’s words didn’t begin until 13 years after Manasseh’s death. The effects of Manasseh’s sins persisted in Judah in spite of Josiah’s attempts to reform the wayward country. So Jeremiah’s message was delivered. A message that was totally opposite of the message offered by other “prophets”; prophets whom God said he did not send (14:14). So Jeremiah spoke, knowing that his message would not be welcomed or received he spoke; in total obedience to God. Jeremiah was a living picture of what Judah needed to be.
Stuart
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