9 [a]Oh that my head were waters
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
For the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 [b]Oh that I had in the desert
A wayfarers’ lodging place;
That I might leave my people
And go from them!
For all of them are adulterers,
An assembly of treacherous men.
3 “They bend their tongue like their bow;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they proceed from evil to evil,
And they do not know Me,” declares the Lord.
4 “Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor,
And do not trust any brother;
Because every brother deals [c]craftily,
And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
5 “Everyone deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth,
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They weary themselves committing iniquity.
6 “Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Behold, I will refine them and assay them;
For what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?
8 “Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor,
But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.
9 “Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord.
“On a nation such as this
Shall I not avenge Myself?10 “For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing,
And for the pastures of the wilderness a dirge,
Because they are laid waste so that no one passes through,
And the lowing of the cattle is not heard;
Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.
11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
A haunt of jackals;
And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
Throughout this passage, there is a heavy focus on the deceit and lies that were rampant in Israel. In v. 3 their tongue is like a bow, and their words like arrows (v. 8). Their lies pierce even their brothers and they go “from evil to evil”. In vv. 4-5, neighbors also are caught up in the fray, slandering or deceiving each other. They say good to their neighbor, and then stab them in the back with lies to another (v. 8 again).
So God asks rightly, “Shall I not punish them for these things?” How about us? Do we value honesty above all else? Or do we allow ourselves to be caught up in gossip and idle words for which we have little (or no) basis? The deeds of Israel may seem extreme, but it is easy for us to be ensnared in the same web of half truths and outright lies.
Even when we are 100% right, we should check out motives. Who is benefitting from the accusations we fling? Should we not go to our brother, as Jesus taught us, and encourage them to do better? Instead, we run off to someone else and say, “Did you hear what that person did?!” Whether it is jealousy, or trying to make ourselves look better, or anything else, we need to let two things guide us.
First, truth must be our focus, if we didn’t see it and can’t verify it, what damage could our words do? Second, and perhaps more important, is love for our brother (and sister), our neighbor, and even our “enemies”. If what we do doesn’t help them, but only tears them down, what have we accomplished? We certainly haven’t followed Jesus example, when He told the very woman caught in adultery, unquestionably guilty, “Go and sin no more!”
Let all our words and deeds be directed by love, and directed by God’s Spirit. Listen for His voice, guiding you in what you ought to say and do. Don’t let malice or jealousy cloud your judgment, but let God’s heart be your own, and build each other up, like iron sharpening iron.