4:5 The Lord instructed Jeremiah to call for the people of Judah to assemble in the main cities. Blowing the trumpet in Israel's history and in the ancient Near East was a call to assemble and take cover in fortified cities, similar to the sounding of an air raid siren today (cf. Hos. 5:8; Joel 2:1; Amos 3:6).
4:6 The people were to lift up a flag or light a signal fire (Heb. nes) in Jerusalem as a sign of coming attack (cf. Isa. 13:2; 18:3). They should seek refuge quickly because the Lord was bringing an evil destroying force against them from the north (cf. 2 Kings. 16:5-6; Hos. 5:8: Joel 2:1; Amos 3:6). This was not just a twist of political fate; Yahweh was sending this enemy against His people.
4:7 A lion-like enemy had left its home to desolate Judah and its cities, and this enemy would succeed in driving out the inhabitants of these towns (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8). As noted previously, one of the symbols of Babylon was the lion.119
4:8 The people of Judah were to go into mourning over this situation. They were to view it as part of the continuing judgment of Yahweh on them.
4:9 When this enemy invaded, all the people, represented by their various groups of leaders, would be terrified (cf. 2:8, 26). False prophets had created the illusion that peace would continue indefinitely (cf. 6:13-14; 14:13-14; 23:16-17).
4:10 Jeremiah responded to this revelation by objecting that the sovereign Lord had misled His people by telling them that they would have peace when really they would have war. The basis of his charge seems to be that God had allowed false prophets to predict peace. Even though Jeremiah announced this judgment he took no personal delight in it because it meant the destruction of his own people.
"At first glance Jeremiah's comments appear to be blasphemous. . . . Rather must we see in such an utterance not so much a considered judgment, but the spontaneous reaction of a man who felt deeply about the tragedies of life, whether his own or those of others."120
