The Precious from the Vile

Jeremiah 15 begins with a severe word. Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not turn toward this people. Moses and Samuel were famous for praying for Israel, so this showed how final the judgment had become. God described the coming disaster and said Jerusalem had rejected him and gone backward.

Jeremiah then poured out a personal lament. He felt like a man of strife to the whole earth, though he had neither lent nor borrowed. He asked God to remember him and reminded God that for his sake he had suffered reproach. Here he spoke one of the Bible's great statements about Scripture. Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name.

Yet Jeremiah's pain also turned to accusation. He asked if God would be to him like a deceitful brook. God's reply called Jeremiah himself to repent. If you return, then I will bring you again, that you may stand before me. If he would take out the precious from the vile, he would be as God's mouth. God renewed his first promise. I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall. They would fight against him but would not prevail, because God was with him to save and deliver him.