Jeremiah 5:23

Jer 5:23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

Ver. 23. But this people have a revolting and rebellious heart.] {a} Cor recedens et amaricans; gone they are, and return they will not. Apostates are dangerous creatures, and mischievous above others; witness Julian, once a forward professor; Lucian, once a preacher at Antioch; Staphylus and Latomus, once great Lutherans, afterwards eager Popelings. Harding was the target of Popery in England, saith Peter Moulin, against which he had once been a thundering preacher in this land, wishing he could cry out against it as loud as the bells of Oseney. The Lady Jane Grey, whose chaplain he had sometimes been, gave him excellent counsel in a letter; but he was revolted and gone past call. {b}

{a} καρδια ανηκοος και απειθης. - Sept.

{b} Acts and Mon., fol. 1291.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer_5:23-24

But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

Israels apostasy

Our state of heart and mind toward God is shown, not by those emotions which are kindled in us on receiving any extraordinary mercy, nor by what we do under the influence of those emotions, but by the habitual condition of our hearts and minds toward God as concerned in His everyday gifts and our everyday doings.

I. The accusation made.

I. God complains of revolt and rebellion against Him. The only rightful ruler over all: whose power is absolute and independent, whose wisdom is unerring, whose justice perfect, and whose goodness infinite: whose statutes are all right, rejoicing the right-hearted, whose commandment is all pure, enlightening the eye that is single.

2. And what thought was it in their hearts, which God construed as rebellion against Him? It took in Israels heart the simple and familiar form of mere unthankfulness to God for common mercies.

II. The proof of their rebellion and revolt.

1. They did not in the gift of a good harvest discern God at all.

2. If, as I feel too much afraid it is, this part of the proof of a rebellious heart be in us, of necessity the other part will not be wanting: and as God saith in the text of His people of old, Neither say they in their hearts, Let us now fear the Lord our God, so neither shall we say the same. The goodness of God is meant to lead men to repentance. (F. C. Clark, B. A.)

Sin is revolt and rebellion against Christ-our King

One day, over in Australia, at Maryboro, an unusually fine-looking man came in and said, I want to talk with you. I dont know about your preaching. I am a moral, upright man, and nobody can deny it. I should like you to tell me what you have got against me. I said, Are you a Christian? No, sir. Well, then, I charge you with high treason against your King. God made Him so, and I charge you--and I looked him right in the eye--with the crime of high treason against your King. An awful cloud came over the mans face. He got up and walked out of the room. Months passed away. We had been over to Tasmania, and got back to Australia, and were preaching at Ballarat, about forty miles, I think, from Maryboro. At the close of one of my meetings, a fine-looking man came and said, Do you remember me? I replied, I have seen you somewhere but 1 cannot trace you. Do you remember charging a man with high treason? I said, I have charged many a man with high treason. He said, Do you remember charging a specific man? and he narrated the circumstances. Yes, I said, I do. He replied, I am the man. You will never charge me with it again. He held out his hand and I held out mine. He took me in his mighty grip, and dropped on his knees and I on mine. He looked up and said, Lord Jesus, I hand in my allegiance; I give up my treason and take Thee as my King. You men ought to do it tonight. (A. Torrey.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5:23-25 The people falsely thought that they could do without the Lord, who provided rain for their crops (Deut 11:14). This wickedness caused them to lose wonderful blessings and good things (Jer 3:3).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(Jer 6:28).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 23. They are revolted and gone.] They have abandoned me, and are gone farther and farther into transgression. They are gone entirely away from truth and righteousness.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Here the previous verse is completed; for what is said here is connected with the question which we have noticed. But God now proves more clearly why he adduced what he said of the sea. The copulative ו, vau, is to be taken here as an adversative, and to be thus rendered, But this people have a perverse heart: for סורר, surer, means “perverse;” some render it “revolting, “but improperly; for it appears from many other passages that it is something more: besides, the other meaning is more suitable to the context here; for he says first, that the people had a perverse heart; and then, that they had a rebellious or an untamable heart. He no doubt compares the obstinacy with the obedience of the sea, or sets one in contrast with the other, and conveys simply this truth, that there was more fury and stupidity in that people than in the raging sea.

And he proves that the people had a perverse heart by the effect; for they had fallen away and departed Had he said only that they had fallen away, the proof would not have been so complete; but by adding “departed, “he points out their obstinacy; as though he had said, that their corruption was permanent, like settled diseases, which can be healed by no remedies. They have then fallen away and departed; that is, “I could not bring them back.” God had indeed often tried by his servants to restore them to a right course; but their perverseness only discovered itself more and more, and shewed itself to be irreclaimable; for they departed, so that there was no prospect of repentance. It follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(23) But this people . . .—The contrast seems to lie in the fact that the elements are subject to God’s will, but that man’s rebellious will, with its fatal gift of freedom, has the power to resist it. The two adjectives “revolting” and “rebellious” (the negative and positive aspects of apostasy) are joined together, as in Deu_21:18; Deu_21:20.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. The people are rebellious, even as inanimate nature sometimes is. But Jehovah can control both.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They are not so obedient as the sea and its waves; nor so firm and stable as the sand that is set for the bound of it. This is a reproof and an aggravation of the revoltings and rebellions of this people:

they are revolted and gone; they had departed from the ways of the Lord, and were gone back from his worship, as the Targum; and were gone into evil ways, and to a false worship; they not only had revolted, but they went on, they continued therein, and went further and further, off from God and his worship.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

They are not only revolted from me, and gone back, but they continue obstinate, and will not return, Psa 78:8, as the next clause intimates, where God shows their obstinacy by the effect of it.

Gone, viz. from me, they persist in their courses, no reclaiming of them; for they are not only revolted, but they are gone quite away, and are irreclaimable.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

A revolting and a rebellious heart. The heart is the center of the moral life virtually equivalent to "the will;" it. is "revolting" when it "turns back" (so literally here) from God"s Law and service, and "rebellious" when it actively defies and opposes him.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gone - From me.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Yahweh continues to speak to the people of Israel.

this people has a stubborn heart. It turns

The people's heart represents their attitude toward God. If Yahweh is speaking to the people, this can also be expressed with the word "you." AT: "but you people have a stubborn heart. You turn" or "but you people are stubborn. You turn" (See: Metaphor and First, Second, or Third Person)

It turns away in rebellion and goes away

The word "it" refers to the people. Here "goes away" represents disobeying God. AT: "They rebel and disobey me" (See: Metaphor)

they do not say in their hearts

Here "their hearts" represent their thoughts, and "say" represents thinking. AT: "they do not think" (See: Metaphor)

keeping the fixed weeks of the harvest for us

Here "keeping the fixed weeks of the harvest" represents making sure that those weeks happen at the right time. AT: "making sure for us that the weeks of harvest happen when they are supposed to" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

Your iniquities

The word "Your" refers to the descendants of Jacob and the people of Judah.

these things

This refers to the rains and the harvests.

Your sins have stopped good from coming to you

Good things "coming" represents good things happening. "Because of your sins, good things have stopped happening to you" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

stiff-necked

heart

rebel

fear

Yahweh

God

harvest

iniquity

sin

good

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.