Read Jeremiah 6 at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
5:30-6:5 {p} They have loved falsity and oppression, so disaster and destruction shall come from the north
6:6-8 {p} Build a siege mound against Jerusalem for she wells up with wickedness
6:9-15 {s} They shall glean the remnant of Israel, who delight not in My word, for all covet and deal falsely
6:16-21 {p} Calamity is coming upon this people, because they not heeded My Law but rejected it
6:22-30 {p} A nation is coming against them from the north, cruel and without mercy/ YHVH has rejected them
The Strong themes:
5:20-6:5 {s+p} YHVH’s foolish people who have loved falsity and oppression, so destruction coming from the north
6:9-21 {s+p} Calamity comes, because His people do not delight in His Word nor heed His Law but rejected it
The Chiastic structures:
Jeremiah 6:1b-29 Chiasm
Jeremiah 4:3-6:30 Chiasm
Thus says YHVH, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the everlasting paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Jer 6:16 (Central axis of the 6:1b-29 Chiasm)
1. The everlasting paths, the good way, are God’s paths.
With whom did He consult, and who made Him understand? Who taught Him the path of justice, or taught Him knowledge, or showed Him the way of understanding? Isa 40:14
Search me, O God, and know my heart … and lead me in the way everlasting. Psa 139:24
2. They do not change, as He does not change, but apply to all times and places.
For I am YHVH, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Mal 3:6
The entirety of Your Word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. Psa 119:160
3. While the attributes of God can be known by the created world …
The heavens declare the glory of God … Psa 19:1
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Rom 1:20
4. God’s everlasting paths can only be known by His self-disclosure.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Pro 14:12
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isa 55:9
The secret things belong to YHVH our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this Law. Deu 29:29
Surely the Lord YHVH does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. Amo 3:7
5. He has revealed His everlasting paths through His Word.
Teach me, O YHVH, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. … Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it. Psa 119:33-35
Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psa 119:105
6. God’s revealed Word culminates in Messiah Yeshua, the Living Word.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Joh 1:14
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. Heb 1:1-2
Why This Matters: Without God’s initiative to speak, man is left in darkness, as our natural state is separated from Him (Isa 59:2). Revelation through creation shows us that God exists, but revelation through His Word is necessary for knowing His will, His way of right living, and His plan of salvation: His everlasting paths. Yet He does not hide Himself or the knowledge of His paths. He invites us to ask Him, and He will disclose them.
Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the everlasting paths, where the good way is, and walk in it Jer 6:16
Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? … She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors: “To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.” Pro 8:1-4
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Jam 1:5
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