Jeremiah 8 FSI - HEAR, O EARTH

> [!title|noicon] **Jeremiah 8 Notes** > [[Jeremiah 7 FSI|<Prev]]   [[Jeremiah 9 FSI|Next>]] > [[Jeremiah 8|Verse list view]] > [Jeremiah 8:1](Jeremiah%208.md#^1) note > > The bones are the last part of humanity. When we die, the last thing that exists are the bones, they are the final evidence that we have existed and should be treated respectfully. And whenever bones are scattered about on the ground and not buried it is a humiliating shame. Think of those who are killed in battle and their bodies are mutilated and hung in display. Our bodies have a position of respect. It's bad enough to kill someone, but to mutilate their bodies for display after they're dead is a horrible thing. So to remove the bones out of their graves is to bring shame upon them, it is a desecration. And yet God is saying here that's what will happen to them, and in the next verse God even says that they will be spread out like manure upon the face of the earth. ^jer8-1 > [Jeremiah 8:2](Jeremiah%208.md#^2) note > > This is the end of those who have not trusted in the Lord, but in themselves and in their false gods. They will be treated with the most disrespect possible. And God emphasizes here just how zealously they have worshiped these false gods: "whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshiped. . . ." So their bones will be scattered on the ground. > > In [Ezekiel 37](Ezekiel%2037.md):1-14 we find the opposite for those who become saved in Christ. There, God brings to life a valley of dead, dry bones through His Word and by His Spirit, which points to the fact that those who become saved were spiritually dead and given eternal life. But here in Jeremiah 8:2 it is the opposite, their bones are spread out before their false gods as dung upon the face of the earth. ^jer8-2 > [Jeremiah 8:3](Jeremiah%208.md#^3) note > > They are deliberately choosing death rather than life. And these are those in the local congregations, in Judah and Jerusalem ([v1](Jeremiah%208.md#^1)). They think they know more than God and want to live life how they want to live it, which leads to eternal death and not to eternal life in Christ. The true believer has an intense, ongoing desire to do the will of God, not to live independently from Him or only to check in from time to time. ^jer8-3 > [Jeremiah 8:4](Jeremiah%208.md#^4) note > > Those who are believers can fall, but they will arise ([Mic 7:8](Micah%207.md#^8), [Pr 24:16](Proverbs%2024.md#^16)), whereas the wicked simply spiral downward, becoming ever more wicked -- they excuse their rebellion and go ever deeper into it. And in [Amos 5:1](Amos%205.md#^1), [2](Amos%205.md#^2) we read where the virgin Israel has fallen and shall no more rise. And this can only happen at the end when God is finished with the churches and congregations. They have been decimated ([Amos 5:3](Amos%205.md#^3)). > > Then in [Amos 5:4](Amos%205.md#^4), [5](Amos%205.md#^5) God tells us to seek Him but to effectively stay away from Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba. Bethel itself means *House of God*, so we are not to seek Bethel, that is, we are not to seek for God in the house of God. > > Then in [Joshua 5:9](Joshua%205.md#^9) we read where Israel had crossed the Jordan River (a picture of coming into the kingdom of God, into the promised land) and settled in Gilgal, which means *rolling*. When we become saved the reproach of Egypt is rolled away from us, representing the reproach of our sins in this sin-cursed world. So that is what Gilgal normally represents. > > And in [Genesis 21:31](Genesis%2021.md#^31), [32](Genesis%2021.md#^32), [33](Genesis%2021.md#^33) we find that Beersheba is where Abraham lived when he came into the land of Canaan. So it, too, is a representation of the kingdom of God, again it is the promised land. > > So going back to [Amos 5:5](Amos%205.md#^5), we see again that God says *not* to enter into Gilgal or pass over to Beersheba because "Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought." We are to stay away from these places that typically represent the kingdom of God or the house of God because they have now come under the judgment of God. They have come to an end so we aren't to go back into them. > > So coming back to Jeremiah 8:4, "Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?" This is a rhetorical passage, we've seen in Micah that they will not arise any more. Christ has turned away from them and shall not return. There is no more salvation there in the churches and congregations, and it anticipates what is about to come upon the entire world unto judgment day. ^jer8-4 > [Jeremiah 8:5](Jeremiah%208.md#^5) note > > Again, this is Jerusalem, a figure of the kingdom of God. This is not the eternal kingdom of God made up of all true believers, the heavenly Jerusalem. It is the earthly, visible representation of the kingdom of God that are in rebellion against God. And they are perpetually backsliding because they do not listen to the Word of God. Remember what we read in [Jeremiah 5:3](Jeremiah%205.md#^3) and [7:24](Jeremiah%207.md#^24). Once they no longer fully believe the authority of the Word of God or they simply don't want to be completely under its authority, they slide down this path. They have their church doctrines that they can live by and that they are happy with, but they don't want to get any further locked in to the Word of God. > > "they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return" -- This is the answer to why they are perpetually backsliding. They listen to lies, they hold fast to deceit. Anything that is not faithfully produced from a careful study of the Word of God is deceptive. And they are happy with the way it is, they refuse to return. This shows the blindness of sin, even to the point where God has given them over to strong delusion. ^jer8-5 > [Jeremiah 8:6](Jeremiah%208.md#^6) note > > God knows all that is going on, He hears what everyone is thinking and saying and sees what they are doing. There is nothing that escapes His gaze ([Heb 4:13](Hebrews%204.md#^13)). And He hears that they are not teaching the Truth, they are bringing their own deceptions, their own lies, their own doctrines that *they* like. And they don't repent from this wickedness. One would think if they are serious and truly want to do God's will that they would say, "What has gone wrong?" -- that they would be praying to God for guidance to lead them back to Truth. But instead, God says, "every one turned to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle." It's like they are charging into their wickedness, they can't get there fast enough. And they have blinders on so they can only look in that one direction and not get distracted. They want what they want, they think they've found happiness that they can love and share and build a large congregation and so on, but they are like a horse that is charging into battle into their sin. ^jer8-6 > [Jeremiah 8:7](Jeremiah%208.md#^7) note > > This is a real put-down. Sometimes we might joke about someone having a bird brain, using the idea that the brain of a bird is very small compared to a human brain. And yet here are these birds with tiny brains, and every year (and sometimes even on a certain day) they know where to go or where to be. They follow the rule of nature that God has given them. In the same way with the plants -- every spring you find the almond tree, the plumb tree or the cherry tree blossoming. They all follow the rule of God that He has put there. But where do we find that the rules are not followed? With humanity. When God cursed this creation with decay ([Ro 8:20](Romans%208.md#^20)) it was because humanity has rebelled, those who ruled over creation. Yet even today the animals and the plants continue to follow the rules that God has set down. > > Think about going camping in the mountains. You get out there and it's just beautiful and quiet with the wildflowers and so on. But then comes a couple of families to the camp next door and that evening the loud music and the beer bottles come out. And the next thing you know there's a quarrel going on, and a fistfight, and you wake up in the morning and there are beer cans strewn outside the camp. And, of course, you would expect that out there in the world. > > "but my people know not the judgment of the LORD." -- But here in verse 7, God is speaking about *His people*, those who have the Bible. In the face of what the Bible declares they dare to charge in the direction they want to go and do not pay attention to the law that God has set. ^jer8-7 > [Jeremiah 8:8](Jeremiah%208.md#^8) note > > Given what has been said in the previous verses, God asks this question of those in the churches and congregations. They claim to believe in the infallible, inerrant Word of God. They claim that the Bible is absolutely true with no errors in it, and thereby they imply that they follow it as their Authority. So they are claiming to be wise with the Law of the LORD with them. But then why are their doctrines and practices so different and so worldly from what the Bible says? So God says that the Word of God is not serving them as it should, it is vanity to them, it's in vain that they have the Bible because they are going their own way, as we see in the next verse. ^jer8-8 > [Jeremiah 8:9](Jeremiah%208.md#^9) note > > Everyone wants to be wise. But any kind of a gospel that isn't the Gospel of the Bible is the wisdom of this world. When humanity picks and chooses what they like out of the Bible and redesigns it to create a gospel that is more palatable, more happy and more pleasing to their thinking it falls into the wisdom of the world ([1 Cor 1:18](1%20Corinthians%201.md#^18), [19](1%20Corinthians%201.md#^19), [20](1%20Corinthians%201.md#^20); [25](1%20Corinthians%201.md#^25)). This is the wisdom of the world so that there is no true Wisdom of God within them. ^jer8-9 > [Jeremiah 8:10](Jeremiah%208.md#^10) note > > "Therefore will I give their wives unto others, *and* their fields to them that shall inherit *them*:" -- This is another way of saying they're going to be dead, they will lose their eternal inheritance. The meek, those who are saved, shall inherit the earth, meaning the new heavens and new earth in heaven. But for these people their inheritance will be taken from them as they come under the punishment of God. > > "for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one deals falsely." -- This is God's indictment. Here God makes it *very clear* that He isn't just talking about some of the people in the congregations who are sitting in the pews, living in the world and yet attending church. He comes right to the most learned, to those who ought to know better than anyone else: the prophets and the priests, the heads of the church, those who rule and have the spiritual oversight, those who have the education to be the purveyors of Truth with the responsibility of declaring the Word. From the least to the greatest they are all, every one, given to covetousness and deal falsely. They have tailored their gospel and their presentation to please their own minds rather than humbly and prayerfully seeking what God is teaching in the Bible. No one can alibi that they didn't have the Truth from the Bible so they are without excuse. ^jer8-10 > [Jeremiah 8:11](Jeremiah%208.md#^11) note > > This is a very heavy indictment. Here are these people who are hurting, they have the *enormous* disease of sin and are on their way to eternal death. And here comes the pastor with a very light and airy and beautiful gospel, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. And I'm going to tell you how you can get right with God and *know* that you are saved tonight. And you do this and that, and, wonderfully, you can know that you are eternally secure as a child of God. If you just do these things: pray the sinners prayer, invite the Lord Jesus into your heart, and here, I'll even pray with you and you can know right now that you are secure in the arms of Jesus." All of this is to offer a false peace to those who are in desperate need of salvation. ^jer8-11 > [Jeremiah 8:12](Jeremiah%208.md#^12) note > > God is speaking about those who come with false teachings, with what is pleasing to them rather than being faithful to the Word of God (v11), as abomination. Satan comes as an angel of light and his ministers as ministers of righteousness. And they are not ashamed. The problem is that they're stone cold blind. They're just as blind as the evolutionist who cannot tolerate the idea that there's a God who created the world, and in his blindness he will corrupt himself with all kinds of nonsensical ideas about long periods of time and creatures adapting themselves, and it's all done very seriously like they know everything where all truth resides with them. And they haven't the slightest idea that they are as far wrong as anyone could ever be wrong. And it's no different in the churches where they are bringing these doctrines that are contrary to the Word of God, there is a total blindness. And God explains how He gives them eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, sending them strong delusion to make them believe what is false ([2 Thes 2:11](2%20Thessalonians%202.md#^11)). > > "therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD." -- Visitation has to do with the time when God comes in judgment. And we are living in that awesome time today. No, we haven't seen Christ coming in the clouds of glory just yet. But Christ has come to remove the candlestick from the local congregations as He warned in Revelation 2 that He would *come quickly* and do so ([Rev 2:5](Revelation%202.md#^5)). [Conversely, in [John 14:23](John%2014.md#^23) we read where Christ *comes* to abide with us if we have become saved.] And as Christ comes as the Judge He is preparing them for the burning, they are being bound, they are locked in through strong delusion. ^jer8-12 > [Jeremiah 8:13](Jeremiah%208.md#^13) note > > "I will surely consume them" would be more accurately translated, "*Gathering* I will consume them." This is parallel to the idea that they are being bound and bundled for the burning in [Matthew 13:30](Matthew%2013.md#^30). God is gathering the tares, that is, the unsaved, within the congregations and out in the world for the burning, for judgment, as we see sin, delusion and confusion multiplying so rapidly everywhere we look. There are all kinds of hatred, all kinds of sexual perversion and rebellion against God in full force as the Bible is resoundingly disowned today more than at any time in New Testament history. > > "*there shall be* no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree" -- Remember the fig tree that was cursed in Mark 11? That is the nation of Israel. It is a complete falsehood that the nation of Israel will return to the Lord other than a trickle of elect believers. Then the vineyard was national Israel until the church age, and then it represented the churches. And we saw previously how God is going to destroy the vineyard as it brings forth wild grapes. And we see that here, the vine is without grapes and the fig tree is without figs, there is no spiritual fruit. > > "and the leaf shall fade; and *the things that* I have given them shall pass away from them" -- See [Matthew 13:12](Matthew%2013.md#^12). This is a principle that we can see when we look objectively at what has happened in the local congregations. During the time of the Reformation, for example, there was an enormous zeal for the Word of God. People were ready to lay down their lives for the Word of God and were fairly accurate in many of their doctrines. But now those very congregations have altered their doctrines and practices for many years so that what spiritual benefit they had has been taken away. They're farther away from the Word of God and obedience to the Word of God than they were in the past. This is very parallel to what happened to the nation of Israel who could not even recognize the Messiah when He came, they absolutely rejected Him. The same is true today in the churches in that they will have nothing to do with what is being taught from the Bible. ^jer8-13 > [Jeremiah 8:14](Jeremiah%208.md#^14) note > > This is a verse of utter resignation that ultimately would only be understood by the true believers in this situation. The doom has come, we might as well surrender, there is no hope. God has cut them off and given them poison water to drink, not the water of the Gospel, because of their sins. They are so committed to their sinful path that they have been rejected by God. To be put to silence also means that there is no more Gospel, no Word of God, to bring them hope and comfort. ^jer8-14 > [Jeremiah 8:15](Jeremiah%208.md#^15) note > > Remember the kind of peace they were promising in [verse 11](Jeremiah%208.md#^11) was a false peace through their own kind of a gospel, through a gospel of their own design, structure and ideas -- not the peace that God provides based on the Word of God. So when they looked for peace, of course no good came. They looked for healing and a time of health -- a spiritual reference to salvation -- but behold, trouble and terror. > > A parallel verse to this is [Jeremiah 14:19](Jeremiah%2014.md#^19). The word translated *trouble* here in these verses means *terror, fear or dismay*. And this reason for this, again, is seen in [Jeremiah 14:20](Jeremiah%2014.md#^20), and the result of it in [Jeremiah 15:1](Jeremiah%2015.md#^1), [2](Jeremiah%2015.md#^2). That is, God's decision has been made, there is no longer any recourse, they are given over to death and destruction, it is now a dead institution. They have lost their charter and their commission and are thus no longer being used of God to send forth the Gospel. The Gospel has gone out away from them to gather those in the highways and byways ([Mt 22:8](Matthew%2022.md#^8), [9](Matthew%2022.md#^9), [10](Matthew%2022.md#^10); [Lk 14:23](Luke%2014.md#^23), [24](Luke%2014.md#^24)). And with all of these verses of warning in Jeremiah and other passages in the Bible they are without excuse, they cannot say that they didn't know. God has declared it again and again. ^jer8-15 > [Jeremiah 8:16](Jeremiah%208.md#^16) - [17](Jeremiah%208.md#^17) note > > If we had to name a tribe that was as far from truth as possible, it would be the tribe of Dan. It's pretty difficult to find anything good about Dan. The best we can find is that Samson was of the tribe of Dan. But even Samson was such a different person. He was a judge over Israel and a type of Christ, yet he had an affair with a Philistine woman and did some other things. And if we didn't see him named with the heroes of faith like Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, David and Samuel in Hebrews 11, we might think Samson was more like the tribe of Dan which was mostly wicked. It was in Dan in Ephraim that Israel made the first golden calves under Jeroboam, and they remained there for the entire history of Israel. Yet the word Dan means *judge*. > > In [Deuteronomy 33:22](Deuteronomy%2033.md#^22) we read where Moses called Dan a lion's whelp that shall leap from Bashan. And Bashan is the part of Canaan where the Amorites were located ([Deut 3:1](Deuteronomy%203.md#^1), [2](Deuteronomy%203.md#^2)). Og and Sihon were the kings of the Amorites ([verse 8](Deuteronomy%203.md#^8)). So the Amorites are identified with Bashan, and we read in Deuteronomy 33:22 that Dan will leap from Bashan, that is, from the land of the Amorites. > > Now we first read of the Amorites in [Genesis 15:16](Genesis%2015.md#^16) where God made a prediction to Abraham that his seed would return to the land when the iniquity of the Amorites was full. And that was fulfilled hundreds of years later when they conquered Og and Sihon on the east side of the Jordan River, when they first returned to the land. So when God says that Dan is a lion's whelp that shall leap from Bashan in [Deuteronomy 33:22](Deuteronomy%2033.md#^22), He is indicating that Dan is identified with the Amorites, with those who are under the curse of God, with those who are in rebellion against God. But where shall he leap? > > We get another little insight into Dan when we look at another blessing in [Genesis 49:16](Genesis%2049.md#^16), where Jacob is blessing his sons, and says that Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. But then we see in [Genesis 49:17](Genesis%2049.md#^17) that he is like a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that bites the horse's heels, causing the rider of it to fall backward. And this is parallel to what we read in the next verse of Jeremiah 8, [verse 17](Jeremiah%208.md#^17). > > So an analogy we could use for Dan is to consider Judas -- he was one of the twelve apostles, he was not an outsider. Spiritually, he was in the kingdom of the world, not in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, in that he was not a true believer. But he was presented to us as one of the apostles. Likewise, Dan stands with the other tribes of Israel, but he is a lion's whelp that shall leap from Bashan. That is, he is spiritually identified with those who are in total rebellion against God, even as Judas was identified as the son of perdition, with those under judgment. > > Now who was it that finally brought destruction to Israel? It was Israel itself that was in rebellion against God and wanted their own way. Likewise, what brings down the local churches and congregations? It is something from within, it is from unbelief, it is from wrong preaching, it is from the changing of the meaning of verses in the Bible to suit themselves. And these people do not represent Christ, they represent Satan as an angel of light, as ministers of righteousness. And that comes as a judgment, God is allowing them to bring that judgment upon the local congregations, just as Dan comes as a serpent and an adder, he has come to destroy so that the rider shall fall backward ([Rev 6:8](Revelation%206.md#^8)). That is, Dan represents the visible kingdom of God, but as an *Amorite*, as those who have *not* been faithful to God as he bites the horse's heel and causes them to fall *backward*, which is a judgment of God ([1 Sa 4:18](1%20Samuel%204.md#^18); [Ps 40:14](Psalm%2040.md#^14); [Is 1:4](Isaiah%201.md#^4), [28:13](Isaiah%2028.md#^13), [44:25](Isaiah%2044.md#^25); [Jer 15:6](Jeremiah%2015.md#^6); [Lam 1:8](Lamentations%201.md#^8); [Jn 18:4](John%2018.md#^4), [5](John%2018.md#^5), [6](John%2018.md#^6)). > > So the blame lies within themselves, within the local congregations that go their own way and bring judgment upon themselves until there is nothing left of the Truth, it is self-destruction to go away from Christ and His Word. ^jer8-16 > [Jeremiah 8:18](Jeremiah%208.md#^18) note > > This verse expresses the sorrow of the local congregations as they are personified as those under God's judgment. This verse matches what we find in [Lamentations 1:12](Lamentations%201.md#^12), [13](Lamentations%201.md#^13). There should be deep sorrow that all of this is happening. And it is God Who is bringing this judgment. And as you go through the book of Lamentations you'll find that it is a funeral dirge, a lament -- there's a weeping, a sorrow of the highest magnitude that this terrible thing is happening. > > There should be no joy that this is happening whatsoever, we should never look at disdain toward the congregations, but only with sorrow that this is happening. The church is the institution that God had established over almost 2,000 years ago to be the representation of the kingdom of God to this world but now it has come under the rule of Satan and has been abandoned by God. Then we look at [Lamentations 1:15](Lamentations%201.md#^15) and we see the winepress, as also we read about judgment day as a winepress in [Revelation 14:19](Revelation%2014.md#^19), indicating that this is speaking about God's terrible wrath against them. And then in [Lamentation 1:16](Lamentations%201.md#^16) we see the intense sorrow because of this. This is how we should all be thinking about God's wrath coming upon them with weeping and a mourning, it is a lamentation like at a funeral service, and just as Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet because of God's judgment that has come upon them. And many of us have family members who are trusting in what they are hearing preached and taught in their local congregations so that we weep as we witness what is going on. ^jer8-18 > [Jeremiah 8:19](Jeremiah%208.md#^19) note > > Those who dwell in a far country have to do with the enemy that has come into the local congregations. And the enemy is Satan, he has taken over through his ministers of righteousness. Or, from a different perspective, it has to do with Christ Who has come in judgment from a [far country](Matthew%2025.md#^14) to have an accounting of his servants to whom He had given the talents (also [Mt 21:33](Matthew%2021.md#^33)). But in either case, there's a big change happening as we get into this time of great tribulation. > > Then the rhetorical question is raised, "*Is* not the LORD in Zion? *is* not her king in her?" -- The answer is, "No! The LORD is not in Zion, the king is not in her, He has abandoned them. That's why there is sorrow and weeping!" That's why this time is so terrible. Remember [Jeremiah 5:1](Jeremiah%205.md#^1) where we saw that the Man here can *only* be the Lord Jesus Christ through whom there can be pardon offered because He is the Savior. And yet, there is no Man, the church is without its King so it has no Savior and has become a place where there is no salvation. > > "Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, *and* with strange vanities?" -- Again, it's almost like shaking your head in utter astonishment. Why did the churches go so badly when they had been entrusted with the Word of God? They had the Source of Truth, the very Voice of God. They started off in the beginning with thousands who were being saved, and many more throughout the New Testament period. They have removed the guardrails and the ancient landmarks, having reconfigured their doctrines to suit themselves, to pattern themselves after the wisdom of the world, and to (mis)understand the Bible through their own interpretive methods. And any time we put our trust in anything else, including in our congregation or denomination or the theologians of our denomination instead of having an implicit trust in the Word of God, then they have become like a graven image to us, spiritually speaking, they have become our gods. The people blindly follow -- "This is what we Baptists believe, or we Presbyterians, or we Lutherans." So they come up with teachings that are from the minds of people and not from the Bible. ^jer8-19 > [Jeremiah 8:20](Jeremiah%208.md#^20) note > > This verse identifies harvest with summer. See [Matthew 24:32](Matthew%2024.md#^32), [33](Matthew%2024.md#^33), which indicates that this is the time of the very end when the return of Christ is at the doors. When we think about the great tribulation, God normally identifies that with *winter* ([Mt 24:20](Matthew%2024.md#^20), [21](Matthew%2024.md#^21); [Mk 13:18](Mark%2013.md#^18), [19](Mark%2013.md#^19)). But when we look at Matthew 24:32-33 and take what we read here in Jeremiah 8:20, we could read it as: > > *Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and puts forth leaves, ye know that summer (that is, the harvest) [is] nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors.* > > What harvest is this? It is the harvest that God anticipates when the fig tree is in leaf, and the fig tree represents the nation of Israel as it is reconstituted as a nation amongst the nations again near the end of time. It is the final ingathering as the Gospel goes out into all the world to save the last of God's elect during the time of the latter rain. And the harvest is also the time when the tares (or the chaff) are gathered into bundles for the burning. So the sign that God has given us that we are the very time of the final harvest is the existence of the nation of Israel once again after many centuries having been scattered into all the nations. > > But sadly here in verse 20, the harvest is past, the summer is ended for them, and they are not saved. And remember this is speaking about Jerusalem, the local churches and congregations of the New Testament period. God's judgment has come upon them so that there is no more ingathering in their midst. Why? Because, as we saw in [verse 19](Jeremiah%208.md#^19), her King is not in her. They therefore do not enjoy the latter rain of the final harvest period as we saw in [Jeremiah 3:3](Jeremiah%203.md#^3). The Gospel is going forth outside of their midst during this period of final harvest. ^jer8-20 > [Jeremiah 8:21](Jeremiah%208.md#^21) note > > The word *black* here is not a good translation. It is normally a word that means darkened in the sense of *mourning*, such as in [Psalm 38:6](Psalm%2038.md#^6) and [Psalm 42:9](Psalm%2042.md#^9). And remember the setting here in Jeremiah 8 is like a funeral dirge (see also [Jer 9:1](Jeremiah%209.md#^1)), a lamentation with weeping, mourning and much sorrow because of all of the terrible things that are happening: "astonishment (desolation, something appalling) has taken hold on me." It's the extreme sorrow, misery, pain and trauma that has come upon the local congregations because of their sins which has brought about the wrath of God. And the amazing thing really is that God has been patient for so long before it has gotten to that point. ^jer8-21 > [Jeremiah 8:22](Jeremiah%208.md#^22) note > > This is a rhetorical question. Gilead was noted for its medicinal ointments. And balm was used for its soothing and healing properties. But there is none! The King is not in her, there is no balm in Gilead, there is no healing. The Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ, is *not* there. That is why the health of the daughter of His people cannot be recovered, there is no more healing balm of the Gospel, there is no Physician bringing salvation because He has abandoned them. ^jer8-22 Tags: #Old_Testament #Jeremiah #Gods_judgment_on_His_people #FSI