Jeremiah Chapter 15
Jeremiah 15
The Painful Prayer of the Prophet
Jeremiah 15:1, The Uselessness of Intercession for Rebellious Judah
Jeremiah 15:1, “Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people, cast them out my sight, and let them go forth.”
Jeremiah 15 begins with one of the strongest declarations of fixed judgment in the book. The LORD tells Jeremiah that even if Moses and Samuel stood before Him in intercession, His mind would not be toward this people. This follows the repeated commands in Jeremiah 7, Jeremiah 11, and Jeremiah 14, where God told Jeremiah not to pray for Judah because their judgment was settled.
Moses and Samuel were two of the greatest intercessors in Israel’s history. Moses pleaded for Israel after the golden calf, and the LORD spared the nation from immediate destruction.
Exodus 32:11-14, “And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out the land Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars heaven, and all this land that I have spoken will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. And the LORD repented the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”
Samuel also interceded for Israel, and God delivered them from the Philistines.
1 Samuel 7:8-9, “And the children Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out the hand the Philistines. And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD, and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel, and the LORD heard him.”
Yet God now says that even if men like Moses and Samuel stood before Him, the judgment would not be reversed. This does not lessen the power of prayer. It shows the severity of Judah’s hardened rebellion. The people had refused warning after warning, prophet after prophet, correction after correction. They had persisted in idolatry, injustice, false worship, and rejection of the covenant. Therefore the time for averting judgment had passed.
“Cast them out my sight, and let them go forth.” Judah would be expelled from the land and from the visible favor of God. This is exile language. They had cast God’s word behind them, and now God would cast them out.
Jeremiah 15:2-4, The Four Forms of Destruction
Jeremiah 15:2-4, “And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD, Such as are for death, to death, and such as are for the sword, to the sword, and such as are for the famine, to the famine, and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD, the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls the heaven, and the beasts the earth, to devour and destroy. And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms the earth, because Manasseh the son Hezekiah king Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.”
When the people ask, “Whither shall we go forth?” Jeremiah must answer with the dreadful alternatives of judgment, death, sword, famine, and captivity. There is no path of escape because the nation has refused the path of repentance. Some will die by pestilence, some by battle, some by famine, and others will be taken into exile.
The four kinds of destruction intensify the horror. The sword will slay. Dogs will tear. The birds of heaven and beasts of the earth will devour and destroy. The disgrace of being left unburied was horrifying in Israelite thought. It meant public dishonor, covenant curse, and utter humiliation.
Deuteronomy 28:25-26, “The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies, thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them, and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms the earth. And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls the air, and unto the beasts the earth, and no man shall fray them away.”
Jeremiah’s prophecy is therefore not a new threat disconnected from Scripture. It is the covenant curse coming upon a covenant breaking people.
God says He will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah. Manasseh’s reign was one of the darkest in Judah’s history. He promoted idolatry, filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and led Judah into deep corruption.
2 Kings 21:9-16, “But they hearkened not, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children Israel. And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols, Therefore thus saith the LORD God Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line Samaria, and the plummet the house Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out Egypt, even unto this day. Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight the LORD.”
Manasseh later personally humbled himself and found mercy, but his national legacy remained. His sins had taught the people corruption. His innocent blood and idolatry left a stain on Jerusalem. Personal repentance does not always erase the historical consequences of public evil.
Jeremiah 15:5-9, Woe upon the Widows
Jeremiah 15:5-9, “For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest? Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward, therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee, I am weary with repenting. And I will fan them with a fan in the gates the land, I will bereave them children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways. Their widows are increased to me above the sand the seas, I have brought upon them against the mother the young men a spoiler at noonday, I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city. She that hath borne seven languisheth, she hath given up the ghost, her sun is gone down while it was yet day, she hath been ashamed and confounded, and the residue them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.”
God asks who will pity Jerusalem. Who will mourn for her? Who will turn aside and ask how she is doing? The answer is that no one will care for Jerusalem as God had cared for her. Yet Judah had forsaken the very One who loved her. This is the tragedy of sin. It rejects the only true source of mercy, then wonders why no one can save.
“Thou art gone backward.” Judah was not progressing. She was regressing. She had turned away from the LORD and gone backward into idolatry, injustice, and rebellion. Therefore God would stretch out His hand against her and destroy her.
“I am weary with repenting.” This does not mean God sins or changes in a humanly unstable way. It means God had long delayed judgment, relented from immediate destruction, and shown patience again and again. But Judah presumed upon His patience. The time came when He would delay no longer.
Romans 2:4-5, “Or despisest thou the riches his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day wrath and revelation the righteous judgment God.”
God would fan them with a fan in the gates of the land. Winnowing separates grain from chaff by tossing it into the wind. Judah would be scattered like chaff. God would bereave them of children and destroy His people because they would not return from their ways.
The number of widows would increase beyond the sand of the seas. The death of young men in war would leave mothers bereaved and wives widowed. A spoiler would come at noonday, suddenly and openly. Judgment would not wait for night. It would strike in the brightness of day.
“She that hath borne seven languisheth.” A woman with seven children represented fullness of blessing, family strength, and security. But even she would wither. Her sun would go down while it was yet day. Life, hope, and joy would end prematurely. This is the sorrow judgment brings when a people refuse to return.
Jeremiah 15:10, Jeremiah’s Personal Woe
Jeremiah 15:10, “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me a man strife and a man contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury, yet every one them doth curse me.”
Jeremiah now turns from Judah’s woe to his own pain. “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me.” Like Job, Jeremiah feels the weight of his calling so deeply that he laments his birth. This is not faithless theatrics. It is the honest anguish of a prophet whose ministry brought continual conflict.
He calls himself “a man strife and a man contention to the whole earth.” Jeremiah did not seek controversy for its own sake. The word God gave him made him controversial. He preached truth to a people who wanted lies. He warned of judgment when others promised peace. He stood against kings, priests, prophets, and people. Therefore his life was filled with strife.
He says he had not lent on usury, nor had men lent to him on usury. Money disputes often caused personal hostility, but Jeremiah had not wronged them financially. Their hatred was not because he had cheated them. They cursed him because he spoke the word of the LORD.
This is the burden of faithful ministry. A man may be hated not because he has done wrong, but because he tells the truth.
Galatians 4:16, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”
Jeremiah’s pain is intensified by the lack of visible success. He labored, warned, wept, and prayed, yet the people hardened themselves. Faithfulness without apparent results is one of the heaviest burdens a servant of God can bear.
Jeremiah 15:11-14, Promise of Help, Promise of Exile
Jeremiah 15:11-14, “The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant, verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time evil and in the time affliction. Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not, for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.”
The LORD answers Jeremiah with both personal encouragement and national warning. “Verily it shall be well with thy remnant.” God promises that Jeremiah will not be abandoned. Even in the coming crisis, the enemy will treat him with favor in the time of evil and affliction. This would later be fulfilled when Babylonian officials protected Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 39:11-12, “Now Nebuchadrezzar king Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain the guard, saying, Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm, but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee.”
God’s servant would suffer, but he would not be forgotten.
Yet this promise to Jeremiah does not cancel Judah’s judgment. “Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?” Babylon’s power would not be broken by Judah. The northern iron symbolizes the strength of the coming invasion. Judah’s defenses would fail.
God says He will give Judah’s substance and treasures to spoil without price. The wealth they trusted would be plundered because of their sins throughout their borders. The judgment would not be localized to one small area. Sin filled the land, and judgment would touch all their borders.
“I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not.” Exile is again announced. The people would be carried away into unfamiliar territory. God’s anger is described as a fire kindled that shall burn upon them. They had kindled the fires of idolatry, and now the fire of divine anger would burn.
Jeremiah 15:15-18, The Painful Prayer of the Prophet
Jeremiah 15:15-18, “O LORD, thou knowest, remember me, and visit me, and revenge me my persecutors, take me not away in thy longsuffering, know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing mine heart, for I am called by thy name, O LORD God hosts. I sat not in the assembly the mockers, nor rejoiced, I sat alone because thy hand, for thou hast filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?”
Jeremiah prays honestly before the LORD. “O LORD, thou knowest.” He appeals to God’s knowledge. Men misunderstand him, curse him, oppose him, and persecute him, but God knows. He asks God to remember him, visit him, and avenge him on his persecutors. Like earlier, Jeremiah does not take vengeance into his own hands. He commits his cause to God.
“Take me not away in thy longsuffering” means that while God patiently delays judgment on Jeremiah’s persecutors, Jeremiah asks not to be destroyed by their continued hostility. He has suffered rebuke for God’s sake. His reproach came because he bore the LORD’s word.
Then Jeremiah gives one of the most beautiful testimonies in the book, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them.” He did not merely hear God’s words externally. He received them inwardly. He consumed them as spiritual food. The word of God became nourishment to his soul.
The result was joy, “thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing mine heart.” This is remarkable because Jeremiah’s message was often severe. Yet the word itself, because it was God’s word, was his joy. He loved the word because he belonged to the LORD, “for I am called by thy name, O LORD God hosts.”
Psalm 119:103, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Jeremiah also says he did not sit in the assembly of mockers. This echoes Psalm 1.
Psalm 1:1-2, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel the ungodly, nor standeth in the way sinners, nor sitteth in the seat the scornful. But his delight is in the law the LORD, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
Jeremiah separated from the mockers because of God’s hand upon him. He sat alone because he could not participate in the laughter, sin, and false confidence of the people. Faithfulness sometimes creates loneliness. He was filled with indignation because God had given him a holy burden against sin.
Yet even with his love for the word, Jeremiah is still in deep pain. “Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable?” He feels wounded and unhealed. Then he asks a dangerous but honest question, “wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?” Jeremiah feels as though God, once known as the fountain of living waters, now seems like a failing stream.
This is the language of an overwhelmed servant, not a settled theological denial. Jeremiah is expressing the emotional crisis of prolonged suffering. The LORD will correct him in the next verses, but He does not cast him away. God is merciful to His burdened servants, even when they speak out of anguish.
Jeremiah 15:19-21, A Promise to Protect the Prophet
Jeremiah 15:19-21, “Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me, and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth, let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them. And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall, and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD. And I will deliver thee out the hand the wicked, and I will redeem thee out the hand the terrible.”
God answers Jeremiah with correction and restoration. “If thou return, then will I bring thee again.” Jeremiah had been calling Judah to return, and now God calls Jeremiah himself to return from the unbelieving words and despair that had entered his complaint. This does not mean Jeremiah had become like rebellious Judah. It means even a faithful prophet must guard his heart and repent of unworthy thoughts of God.
“If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth.” Jeremiah must separate truth from bitterness, faith from despair, and the precious word of God from vile accusations against God’s character. If he does this, he will continue as God’s mouthpiece.
The instruction is firm, “let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them.” Jeremiah must not lower himself to the level of the people to win them. They must return to the truth he preaches. He must not return to their unbelief, compromise, fear, or rebellion. This is essential for faithful ministry. The prophet must not be shaped by the people’s resistance. The people must be called back to God’s word.
God renews Jeremiah’s original calling, “I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall.” This echoes Jeremiah 1. The people will fight against him, but they will not prevail because God is with him.
Jeremiah 1:18-19, “For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people the land. And they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.”
God promises to save, deliver, and redeem Jeremiah from the hand of the wicked and the terrible. The promise does not remove conflict. “They shall fight against thee.” But it guarantees that they will not prevail. The glory of Jeremiah’s ministry is not ease, popularity, or comfort. It is endurance under divine protection.
Doctrinal and Practical Notes
Jeremiah 15 teaches that there can come a point when intercession will not avert temporal judgment. Even Moses and Samuel could not reverse Judah’s appointed discipline because the nation had hardened itself under repeated warnings.
Jeremiah 15 teaches that God’s judgment is morally serious and historically specific. Death, sword, famine, captivity, and dishonor of the dead would come because Judah persisted in covenant rebellion, especially the legacy of Manasseh’s bloodshed and idolatry.
Jeremiah 15 teaches that personal repentance may not erase public consequences. Manasseh found personal mercy, but the damage he inflicted on Judah remained.
Jeremiah 15 teaches that God’s patience must not be presumed upon. He had relented long, but finally said, “I am weary with repenting.” Delayed judgment is mercy, but it is not permission.
Jeremiah 15 teaches that faithful ministry can be lonely, painful, and opposed. Jeremiah became a man of strife and contention, not because he loved conflict, but because he spoke God’s word to a rebellious people.
Jeremiah 15 teaches that God knows how to preserve His servants in the middle of national judgment. Jeremiah would be treated well by the enemy even while Judah fell.
Jeremiah 15 teaches that God’s word must be eaten, not merely admired. Jeremiah found the words of God and consumed them inwardly. They became joy and rejoicing to his heart.
Jeremiah 15 teaches that separation from mockers may bring loneliness. Jeremiah sat alone because of God’s hand. Faithfulness sometimes requires isolation from corrupt assemblies.
Jeremiah 15 teaches that even faithful servants can speak wrongly under pain. Jeremiah feared God had become like failing waters. God corrected him, but did not discard him.
Jeremiah 15 teaches that the preacher must not return to the people’s level. “Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them.” The servant of God must call men up to God’s truth, not descend into their compromise.
Jeremiah 15 teaches that God strengthens those He calls. Jeremiah would be made a fenced brasen wall. Opposition would continue, but it would not prevail because the LORD was with him.
Summary
Jeremiah 15 begins with God declaring that even if Moses and Samuel interceded, His mind would not be toward rebellious Judah. The nation would be cast out of His sight. When they ask where they should go, Jeremiah must tell them, some to death, some to sword, some to famine, and some to captivity. God appoints four forms of destruction and disgrace, because of the deep legacy of Manasseh’s sin in Jerusalem.
The chapter then laments Jerusalem’s coming abandonment. No one will pity her because she has forsaken the LORD and gone backward. God is weary of relenting. He will winnow the people, increase the widows beyond number, and bring sudden terror. Even the mother of seven will languish and be ashamed.
Jeremiah then pours out his own pain, lamenting that he was born a man of strife and contention. God promises that it will be well with Jeremiah’s remnant and that the enemy will treat him favorably, but Judah’s treasures will be spoiled and the people will be carried into a foreign land.
Jeremiah prays again, asking God to remember him, visit him, and avenge him on his persecutors. He testifies that he found God’s words and ate them, and that the word became the joy and rejoicing of his heart. Yet he also confesses his loneliness, pain, and fear that God has become like failing waters. God answers by calling Jeremiah to return, separate the precious from the vile, remain His mouthpiece, and refuse to return to the people’s level. God renews the promise that Jeremiah will be a fenced brasen wall, fought against but not overcome, because the LORD will save, deliver, and redeem him.
