The city which God had chosen, where He had set His name, was about to be judged. Jerusalem, which David had built when Jehovah was with him (1 Chronicles 11:4-9: 15:1, etc.) and where Solomon had afterward erected the very costly temple for the worship of the only true God (2 Chronicles 2-7), was to be overwhelmed by strangers out of the north. The time was not yet come to tell who the enemy would be, but "the north" must have been a true token to those who heard Jeremiah's early prophecies, of Babylonia, which had just (B.C. 625) taken Assyria's place as the great northeastern power equal to, and presently greater than Egypt, Israel's ancient southern neighbor.
Comparing Jeremiah's prophecy in this and preceding chapters with our own times, a. parallel is plain. Judgment, far more intense,—unsparing – is soon to descend upon the inhabitants of this modern world, but, as in verse 1 the children of Benjamin were directed to flee for safety from connection with the guilty city, and sound an alarm; so are those today who have ears to hear, bidden to seek Him Whose hands are yet outstretched in mercy, and to warn others to flee from the wrath to come.
Verses 3 to 6 no doubt gave to the people of Jerusalem the manner of the approach of the Babylonians to Jerusalem, and the final siege, at the end of which the city was destroyed. Not at the first appearance of the invading hosts of Babylon was Jerusalem defended against them; rather it seems did the then king of Judah submit to Nebuchadnezzar. (See 2 Kings 21-25).
The state of Jerusalem, that is, its inhabitants, was by this time beyond recovery, as verse 7 in chosen words declares. The example of the godly king Josiah, particularly during the first eighteen years of his 31 year reign (2 Kings 22 and 23; 2 Chronicles 34 and 35) was not sufficient to turn the nation back to their God.
The judgment, long: promised and long withheld, should, when executed, be unsparing, because there was no willingness to listen to God speaking through His servants (verse 10). Even yet His counsel was given (verses 16-17)—-how weighty for today if only heeded!—-to "stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls,"
This was the soft-spoken voice of mercy, heard where the trumpet tones of judgment would soon be heard. The sacrifices of a disobedient people were not acceptable, not pleasing to their God (verse 20). Just so was it with Cain (Genesis 1:3-43And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:3‑4)) and Jude verse 11 declares that the way of Cain will bring eternal woe; that "way" is much practiced today, man denying that he is a sinner and that he must needs approach God by blood, even the precious blood of Jesus.
In this scene of approaching overwhelming judgment was Jeremiah placed (verse 27), and his two books (Jeremiah and Lamentations) witness to us how his tender heart was wrung by the hardheartedness of his people. He did not try to make his words pleasing to his hearers, but faithfully delivered the message of God to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah.