Now God gave His people reasons for the coming judgment. He stressed social and personal sins particularly.
"Jeremiah now appreciates the moral necessity for God's judgment of His people, as he sees clearly with his own eyes the iniquity, selfishness and depravity of life in Jerusalem."131
5:1 The Lord challenged Jeremiah to search Jerusalem for a man who was just and sought the truth.132If he could find even one on his "scavenger hunt,"133the Lord promised to pardon the city (cf. Gen. 18:23-32).
"Obviously some godly people like Josiah, Baruch, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah himself were living in Jerusalem. But the words certainly applied to the mass of the populace. In short, corruption was so widespread that exceptions were not significant (cf. Ps. 14)."134
Justice and truthfulness are two terms that often appear together in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament. They are covenant qualities that govern relations between people and God and between people and other people.135
5:2 The Jerusalemites used the Lord's name to swear by, but then they showed no respect for Him by breaking their promises made in His name. When a person swore by Yahweh's name he or she called on the Lord to punish him or her if the swearer violated the terms of the oath.
5:3 Jeremiah acknowledged that even though the people of Jerusalem did not seek truth (v. 1) the Lord did. The prophet knew that Yahweh's discipline of the people had not yielded repentance. They had hardened themselves against Him and had refused to repent (Heb. shub).
"Jerusalem was to fall at the hands of the political enemy from without because of the spiritual enemies of God working from within."136
5:4-5 Jeremiah, as he searched for righteous people in the city, initially concluded that only the ignorant and foolish ordinary citizens were blind to God's ways and laws. But as he continued to investigate he discovered that the informed leaders among the people had also rebelled against the Lord.
5:6 Therefore, the people of Judah would become prey for their savage animal-like enemies (cf. 2:15; 4:7; Hos. 13:7-8; Hab. 1:8; Zeph. 3:3).
"The lion represents strength, the desert wolf ravenousness, and the leopard swiftness--all traits of the Babylonians."137
When the Judahites would try to leave their towns, the foe would devour them. The reason was they had transgressed Yahweh's covenant greatly and had departed from Him many times. The eighth-century B.C. Sefire treaties contain references to lions and leopards ravaging people in fulfillment of a treaty curse.138The Judahites were familiar with wild beasts attacking and killing humans outside their cities (cf. 2 Kings. 17:25).
5:7 Yahweh asked the people why He should pardon them. Their sons, for whom the older generation was responsible, had forsaken Him and trusted in idols. As payment for blessings He had sent them, they proceeded to commit adultery with the Canaanite gods and their human representatives.
5:8 They were like well-fed stallions that used their strength to pursue illegitimate mates, even their neighbor's wives. Spiritual adultery led to physical adultery.
"They used their affluence for sin. Does that sound familiar? Consider modern dramas, novels, movies, painting, sculpture. In the midst of the affluent society often the artist's answer is a call to the hedonistic life."139
5:9 Was it not just for Yahweh to punish such a people and to take vengeance on them for their sins (cf. v. 7)? It certainly was just, as verses 7 and 8 amply demonstrated (cf. Eph. 5:5; Heb. 13:4).140
