Jeremiah 15
Solitary Man
solitaryman.substack.com
20240122
(Please refer to the Preface and Introduction sections found in the Jeremiah Chapter 1 commentary for some general information about this chapter by chapter study of Jeremiah).
Jer 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 of my sight (send them away from before my face), and let them go forth (depart).
Here is irrevocable proof that this particular judgment was absolutely final. These two men had more favour with God than almost any other men that ever walked the face of the earth. If they could not cause God to repent, what more could Jeremiah do? Verses like this confirm the idea that sometimes, it is indeed too late.
Jer 15:2 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 (as in pestilence), 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.
Jer 15:3 And I will appoint (oversee) over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs (male prostitute) to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts (be-he-mah) of the earth, to devour and destroy (eat up and ruin).
If God tells us that he is not interested in pretending to be our God anymore, what shall we do? Where shall we go? I wonder if God would say this exact thing to a number of churches today. These apostate dens of iniquity still want to call themselves Christian. The word of God clearly states that they are not of Jesus sheep. If they are not, and the word clearly tells them to depart, then where is God sending them? He states that just as he has good plans for the just, he has evil destinies for the abominable. As this applies to the whole land of Judah, so we can easily see this applying to North America today, as our behaviours mirror Judah’s, and God’s judgments have begun, in strikingly similar fashion as found in this prophetic book.
What are the 4 appointed judgments that God speaks of, that he has just said is a guarantee, and cannot be changed? The sword – this can refer to the countless pointless wars that America has been engaged in since world war two. The Ukraine conflict is the granddaddy of them all. There has never been anything remotely resembling the horrendous waste of men and resources as this irrational battle. The sword can also refer to government oppression. The Coutts 4 political prisoners in Canada, with all the j6’ers in America. Three years after the fact, the corrupt feds are still arresting patriots left and right, with no end in sight. And these are just the people that are on the right side of the law being persecuted. Wait until this particular judgment is unleashed in its real, full effect. This will occur when all the military aged males that have poured into our countries over the last few years are given the signal to attack and destroy whatever is left of our lands.
The dogs are always an euphemism for the sodomites. All those demonized individuals do is bring violence and chaos wherever they go. The alphabet crowd has completely destroyed the moral landscape of our nations. They are the front line soldiers of satan in our education system. They offer nothing to our culture but death, and the guarantee of judgment. Our ancestors did not want to stand up against them when they only wanted their abominable behavior decriminalized. Another example of the church embarrassed to stand up and proclaim God’s righteous penalty that he prescribed for this spiritual sickness found in Leviticus. Today we see the inevitable result of that decision. Next up on the list is the legalization of pedophilia. The dogs have torn our cultures apart. It also refers to the persecutions that the dogs bring to the real Christians.
The fowls of the heavens feast on dead things. The beasts (behemoth) are ancient creatures. These fallen ones have come to bring death, and feast on death. We can also say the animal contents of the jab is a fulfillment of this promise. Death in one form or another. Nothing but death, and more death. God had had enough of his people, his mind could not be altered anymore. Since we so mirror Judah in behavior and belief, how can we say that this can’t apply to us? Is this not the very reason Jeremiah was written, to tell us exactly what was going to happen should we decide to follow the same road? Since the same consequences are being experienced, only manifesting in a little different fashion due to different technologies available today, we can rest assured that the rest is also going to come to pass.
These promises in the word are just as real as all the positive ones that we love to memorize and quote. Would it not be more critical to our spiritual survival to memorize passages such as these, in order that we may yet personally escape what our nation has so recklessly committed themselves to?
Jer 15:4 And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh (he who forgets) the son of Hezekiah (strengthened of Yah) king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
Some acts by leaders are so vile that destruction of a nation is guaranteed. It’s just a matter of when. Josiah was able to delay, but not stop, the destruction due to Manasseh’s wickedness. Note that even though Manasseh seemed to of repented at the very end (2 Chr 22:12-17), and backed it up with good works, yet that did not wipe out the consequences of his previous actions. I am convinced that Canada’s current utterly vile and loathsome prime minister has also committed deeds that have assured Canada’s destruction. The only question is can anything yet be salvaged by the intercessions of his faithful remnant?
Other verses that confirm this awful truth about the unforgivability of Manasseh’s actions can be found in 2 Ki 23:26, 24:3. interestingly, Jewish tradition credit Jeremiah with writing 1 and 2 Kings. This hard truth of God’s immovable judgment concerning Manasseh is consistent in both Kings and Jeremiah. Chronicles, most likely written by Ezra, focused on Manasseh’s personal repentance at the end of his life, and does not mention this fact of God’s unwillingness to pardon Judah due to the awfulness of Manasseh’s sin. Thus we see yet again of the importance of embracing the whole counsel of God. One book leaves you with a story that the worst of people can be saved, which is true. The other books are silent on Manasseh’s repentance, but rather speak of the danger of continuing in such a level of sin that future generations cannot escape God’s wrath, regardless of what they do.
This verse completely destroys the idea that when you come to Jesus, all consequence of past sin is somehow magically erased at the cross. Strange as it may seem, Manasseh may even be found in heaven, since he seemed to of ended his life in repentance. God then sent Josiah and gave Israel 31 extra years to get their house in order. Yet even with the greatest moral and temple reforms that any king ever undertook, it could not erase the wrath that Manasseh had created for the nation of Judah. Just as soon as the last repentant king was gone, the wrath due them fell.
This verse says that the Jews would be scattered into every kingdom of the earth. How completely fulfilled this curse came to be! Jews were found everywhere throughout the centuries. How they suffered! How they had no one to turn to. For century upon century, they wandered and tried to find a place of refuge. Finally in 1948 they were able to come home. Yet has any nation faced such daily threats to their existence as this land? Now we see that since October 7, God has set something in motion that will most likely lead to the final act of the Hebrews that God started so long ago when he visited Abram.
Trump may of been America’s Josiah. He may of allowed four years delay before the destruction came. Maybe God wanted to give more, but he found our behavior wanting. Now our rejection of God and his ways have come home to roost, even as Judah found out. Their time was up, and so is ours.
Jer 15:5 For who shall have pity (commiserate, have compassion) upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee (shake their head in sympathy)? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest (shalom)?
Such a precise fulfillment yet again as the Jews are facing the Muslims virtually alone. They get attacked in the most horrendous manner possible, and they are the criminals in all the nation’s eyes. What causes such insanity? I believe the only explanation is that satan has genetically wired into fallen man’s dna an unreasonable, irrational hatred of Jews, God’s chosen people. Only the blood of Jesus can remove this defect. Many Christians refuse to allow Jesus to cleanse them. Please don’t be found on the wrong side of this issue.
In the same way who will stand up for America? For Canada? There are no others to come and rescue us. We were the end of the road as far places to flee to for freedom. When America goes, the world falls with it.
Jer 15:6 Thou hast forsaken me (cast me aside), saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary (tired of) with repenting.
All those wonderful passages that we all know about righteous men pleading with God, seemingly getting him to change his mind. All a type and shadow of Jesus, our great mediator on our behalf. In this book, God couldn’t be clearer. Forsake God long enough and deep enough, and God makes a final, irrevocable decision to destroy you (or your nation). God was tired of listening to his people’s prayers. He was not going to change his mind anymore. The possibility of God sparing Judah came to an end. I believe many in the remnant church in our lands feel that this may be the case, if we are really honest with ourselves. Not just the dire straits we find ourselves in. Not just because prayers for the land in the last 4 years seem to of all gone unanswered. We have been in tough places before. No, it’s something in our hearts, in our spirits. A deep unease, a knowing that this time there is something profoundly different in the spiritual atmosphere all around us. Others will call us crazy, or doom and gloomers. It matters not. I don’t think I’m the only one who believes that we have most likely reached this stage of spiritual decay as described in this verse.
Jer 15:7 And I will fan (disperse, scatter) them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children (miscarry, suffer abortion), I will destroy (lose, perish) my people, since they return not from their ways (road, course of life).
Sterilization is promised to those who refuse to change course. Miscarriages are occurring in up to 80% of all births in certain hospitals where we have been able to get reliable data. Some countries birth rates have plunged 67%! If the wicked have been able to succeed in wiping out our ability to produce even one more generation, what other horrors lie in wait for the unrepentant, ignorant, delusional inhabitants of the land?
You can find many videos about people leaving Canada in droves, as the nation is becoming so unpleasant, dangerous, expensive and corrupt, that it is quickly becoming unlivable. Yet our population has now surpassed 40.5 million. Even with all the death shots. All the euthanasia. All the decent people who are able and have fled. They are more than made up with every worthless person from the armpits of the world flooding in and destroying whatever quality of life that is left in the cities. Note God is taking away our children. Our collective sin has led us to this point where we ask: ‘How has it come to this’?
Jer 15:8 Their widows (also desolate places) are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler (robber) at noonday: I have caused him to fall (naphal) upon it suddenly (or I have brought suddenly upon her), and terrors (panic, destruction) upon the city.
The ‘died suddenly’ phenomenon has swept the land. So many young men (and women) in the prime of life, suddenly cut down as with a sledgehammer. So many parents losing their children, with no way to even get anyone to investigate why this unprecedented thing is happening. How much longer can they keep covering it up? I suspect as long as the land goes without any sort of true repentance. The evil will only increase and continue to prosper without measure, rather than decrease or stop.
Jer 15:9 She that hath borne seven languisheth (droops, mourns, becomes sick and feeble): 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 of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
The idea here is that those who kept compromising and turning a blind eye to the destruction of others will eventually be swept up themselves.
In this total judgment God is not even satisfied with leaving a small unpunished remnant, but all the wicked souls shall eventually perish one way or another. It also refers to the idea that even though you’ve managed to keep under the radar by staying silent while your neighbours are rounded up, your turn will come.
Jer 15:10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife (controversy) and a man of contention (discord) to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury (security or charged interest), nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.
Almost no one on the planet wants to hear this message of judgment and condemnation. Jeremiah is only human. He has hit a point where the stress and pressure causes him to vent before God. He indirectly addresses God by addressing his mother, saying how unfortunate she is that she bore such a son of division and controversy. Yet the families of those who are called by God do suffer, and at times suffer greatly. Persecuted pastors who are arrested or killed often leave families in poverty and great hardship. If you are called to be a helpmate, or even a close friend of someone who is out on the front lines, you may face serious danger yourself.
The universal hatred of bankers was alive and well even during Jeremiah’s time. No one wants to be in bondage to the lender. This particular form of slavery has been developed by the west into an art form. Probably the most universal slander of the Jews is their traditional reputation as moneylenders. That causes a knee jerk reaction in so many people, condemning all Jews as if everyone’s personal financial problems can be laid squarely at their feet. Moneylenders were cursed then, and I suppose they will always be until the end of time. God had a prohibition against using money to enrich yourself at the expense of your countrymen. Obviously, he wants his people to engage in honest labor, and increase wealth by producing something. So many of the elite today have produced nothing on their own, yet their fiat currency multiplies by itself, creating wealth out of thin air. However this ponzi scheme is almost at an end for good.
Jer 15:11 The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant (those that are still free); verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.
The Hebrew in this verse is obscure, and hard to get a definitive meaning. It is one of the few positive promises found in the text thus far. (Maybe Jeremiah is so out of practice of saying anything good, that he finds it hard to express himself properly!). From what I can make of it, there will be a remnant that will escape the worst of these evils. God will arrange it so that even our enemies will treat us well in the evil day, in the evil season appointed. In Jeremiah’s case, it still meant deportation for most, but he was set free by the king of Babylon and was able to remain in the land. May God earnestly protect his faithful remnant, as we continue to try and do all that we can to rescue individual souls from the wrath to come.
Perhaps a possible translation would go something like this: ‘truly it will be good for you, the time you have left will be in freedom, the enemy will treat you well in tribulation. The remnant could refer to the remnant of time Jeremiah had left to live. Because he was faithful to proclaim the word of judgment, he would stay free.
Jer 15:12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
Though its an awkward change of object, God must of switched from speaking to Jeremiah and goes back to speaking of Judah, as what treasures does Jeremiah have, and what sins would he be judged for?
There are several different interpretations to this verse.
1. the powerlessness of the Judeans to resist the northern Chaldeans
2. the impotence of the prophet’s enemies to deter him from his work.
3. the prophet’s lack of power against the rebelliousness of this people.
4. the weakness of Pharaoh against Nebuchadnezzar.
Jer 15:13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
Your earthly wealth is all going away. Your sins have guaranteed that all you and your ancestors have worked for will be taken away in a very short time. There is no place you can hide in your land, it is all going down. Brace yourself.
Jer 15:14 And I will make thee to pass (cross over) with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger (in my nostrils), which shall burn upon you.
Most were sent away to Babylon. In our case, the land that you know not is our own lands turning into something unrecognizable. God has chosen to bring our enemies into our land and transform it into something as alien as if we were deported to the other side of the world.
Jer 15:15 O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit (remember) me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.
Jeremiah has a clear understanding of where his nation’s history is about to go. He knows all about the fierce anger of the Lord. About how sometimes it can burn so hot, that it can almost seem as if it gets out of control. He begs God that he is not swept up in the carnage that is about to fall.
We need to visit with God, asking him to remember us. We look to him for vengeance, instead of to ourselves. We remind him that we have suffered actual loss in serving him, we have not just paid him lip service like so many others. In other words, Jeremiah is making his case that he believes God should find him worthy to hear his plea and protect him.
I am so tired by the insecure perpetual baby Christians that will rise up and bleat about how this is all wrong, that you’re preaching some sort of works based salvation. They say Jesus already made us worthy, we can add nothing to that (sigh). Get this through your heads. I am not speaking about how to be saved. The book of Jeremiah does not address that topic. If that is all you want to study, go find your favorite cessationist or Calvinist or fundamentalist Baptist preacher and go through the book of Romans for the upteenth time. Leave the remnant alone, as you don’t belong here.
For the rest of us, we are speaking of our desire that our daily walk is truly pleasing the Lord. How do we know that? Well, first you will have an inner witness of the spirit. Second, your beliefs and your actions will not contradict the revealed word. Third, your prayers are being answered. Fourth, God is rewarding you with revelation and understanding that many around you have no access to, due to their unworthiness. Being found worthy means your level of obedience passes muster with God. It means that you are fulfilling the requirements of being marked as a genuine disciple of the Lord.
Let us not worry about those whose insecurities and lack of commitment try to bring every one down to their level. Let us choose to go deeper with Jesus. The time is now here where we simply cannot linger and look back, like Lot’s wife. Let us go on and follow the Lord, wherever he leads, even though very few may follow.
Jer 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
Jeremiah continues to make his case before God. He has joyfully received and embraced true revelation. Not only did he find truth, but eating truth meant that he fully embraced it, and let it become a part of him. Truth fed him, not lies and propaganda. True joy comes only from ingesting truth, not jumping up and down by the worldly entertainments offered by the Laodicean ministries in their state of the art facilities. Jeremiah’s confidence is found as his identification as a true believer in Yehovah.
Jer 15:17 I sat not in the assembly (secret counsels) of the mockers (scorners, those who made sport of), nor rejoiced (to jump for joy); I sat alone (separate, solitary) because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation (fury, rage, frothing at the mouth).
He did not join with the deceived believers, laughing at and making jokes at those old hellfire and brimstone preachers. He did not participate in some secular type service, jumping around to the eardrum shattering beat of some hypnotic, mesmerizing rock band that was masquerading as a worship group. When he could not find true fellowship, and a real fear of the Lord, he chose to separate himself and sit alone before his God. He was a solitary man. As a result, God filled him with the actual emotion God was feeling at the time. Was he feeling sadness for his wayward people? How about compassion, or pity? He must of been overwhelmed with love for those poor, lost sheep, right?
God filled him with fury, rage, and a frothing at the mouth anger! Exactly what other words should God be using to get you to finally realize exactly how much nonsense your churches have been stuffing you with? Do you think the world is being detroyed for no reason? That God’s great love is allowing this to happen? His mercy? It is his rage. His wrath. Unless and until we start to take sin as seriously as our creator does, there is no other outcome than total annihilation. You can soothe yourself by saying that I exaggerate. That I am engaging in hyperbole. That I am simply too worked up. That maybe I need to go and spend a few days in the gospel of John or something, take a couple John 3:16’s and call me in the morning!
I am simply going where the text takes me. No more, no less.
Jer 15:18 Why is my pain (suffering) perpetual (continual), and my wound (pestilence, plague) incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?
It seems as if Jeremiah has reached his breaking point. He is not suffering a physical wound (so far), but an inner one. He can’t seem to find any relief. All the traditional commentators try to say that ‘liar’ means a deceitful brook, which would fit with the rest of the sentence. Yet Strong’s offers no such alternative. Maybe they got the meaning from an obscure manuscript, but since the King James translators did not hesitate to use the word liar, then that is what we will go with.
Jeremiah does not say that God is a liar, only that he seems to be treating him as if he was one. God is likened to a source of water that unexpectedly dried up. I think this speaks to our all too human propensity to assume or add to what God is really saying and meaning, when a closer look shows that he is saying no such thing as we believe. It sounds like Jeremiah had a certain expectation. He felt that if he obeyed the command of the Lord, God would reward and protect him, at least from the level of persecution that he had already faced. Yet what has God said to him so far? That if you can’t run with men, how will you run with horses? He told him that this is nothing, it’s going to get much worse. I don’t think Jeremiah had internalized that particular verse yet in his heart.
We all remember things that we have spoken in the anguish of the moment that we were sorry for later. As we shall see, things were not going to get easier for him.
Jer 15:19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return (shoob – turn back), then will I bring thee again (shoob – turn back), and thou shalt stand (raised up, established) before me: and if thou take forth the precious (valuable) from the vile (worthless), thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return (shoob – turn back) unto thee; but return (shoob – turn back) not thou unto them.
Jeremiah needs to repent from thinking that God hasn’t treated him justly. Instead God is telling him that if he will use true discernment to separate what is of God and what is of his own heart, God will once again use him as his spokesman.
That’s a lot of shoob to unpack. It’s almost as if God is using a play on words to really grab the prophet’s attention. Our relationship with God is conditional. If we turn back to him, he will turn back to us. Obviously by Jeremiah’s previous speech/prayer, God knew that he had taken offence at God. God did not behave as he expected. Therefore he felt justified in blaming God. God calls that turning away from him. If you do not shoob – turn back toward him, then god cannot shoob – turn back toward you. We need to get rid of that old hyper grace nonsense about how God expects us to do absolutely nothing, all the time, in every place, and in every situation, else he will charge you with the heinous crime of works-salvation. All life is a test. Will you shoob towards god or will you shoob towards sin and self?
God states that Jeremiah had temporarily taken himself out of the ball game. God promised he could stand before him again, implying that he wasn’t currently in God’s presence anymore.
God then gives him his second pair of shoobs. God was not speaking to him in some decibel record breaking voice that Jeremiah could never mistake for anything else. God said Jeremiah had the discernment within to separate the true word of God from his own human reasoning, that was based on offence and human passion. Jeremiah had accused God of not treating him justly. He had mixed up his personal sense of mishpat with the true mishpat of Yehovah. When you do that, you will take offence at him. God says you must repent, if you expect the relationship to be mended, and I start talking to you again. If you do that, then next time don’t mix up human reasoning with my true word. If you do that, then I will begin to use you again as my representative. When you are now acting under my orders, remember that you need not compromise my message by turning back to the people, who will only accept you if your soften my words. God tells him to wait for them to turn back to you, don’t you dare turn back to them. In other words, keep speaking truth. Never compromise in order to be accepted once again by your peers. Wait for them to come around to the truth. Don’t ever be tempted to once again turn back to their unregenerate ways of thinking. That way is death. Either they repent and embrace the truth that you speak, or they don’t. Just stay firm in the center of my will.
Jer 15:20 And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall (an inaccessible metal coated wall of protection): 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 (rescue, snatch you away), saith the LORD.
What security we have in total obedience! Notice I did not say what security we have in Jesus. That’s what most pastors say, and leave it at that. That statement is not complete. Yes, Jesus is our only hope of salvation and deliverance. But just as we had to follow the bible’s rules exactly in order to enter into that salvation initially, so we have to follow the bible’s instructions to keep ourselves safe in the shadow of the most high.
If Jeremiah would shoob toward God, and never again shoob toward the people, God would build that impenetrable wall all around him. Isn’t that what we all long for, in this, the most dangerous of seasons?
Notice God didn’t say that even with that wall in place, you would have total peace. No, the enemy will still hurl themselves against that wall. As long as you learn how to shoob properly, even if you are taken captive for a season, God promises to rescue you and snatch you away to safety!
Jer 15:21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem (ransom, preserve) thee out of the hand of the terrible (fearful, powerful, tyrannical).
What a tremendous promise in the midst of all these pronouncements of woe! So many tyrannical rulers surround us on all sides. Yet our God is much bigger than all of them put together.
It is up to us to not blame God when we suffer some unjust thing in this time of tribulation. Keep turning unto him, and especially seek discernment as to what word is from him and what isn’t, and you will be given the conviction to stand firm and wait for others to come to you rather than you compromising to their way of thinking. No opposition will be able to overcome you.
Let us apply ourselves to separate the precious from the vile in our own personal lives like never before. Remember that what we may think is precious, God may call vile. Do we want an inaccessible wall of protection in our lives? Then learn to value what God values, and you’re halfway there.
Solitary Man
https://solitaryman.substack.com/
