13 “Therefore thus says the Lord,
‘Ask now among the nations,
Who ever heard the like of [f]this?
The virgin of Israel
Has done a most appalling thing.
14 ‘Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country?
Or is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever snatched away?
15 ‘For My people have forgotten Me,
They burn incense [g]to worthless gods
And they [h]have stumbled [i]from their ways,
[j]From the ancient paths,
To walk in bypaths,
Not on a highway,
16 To make their land a desolation,
An object of perpetual hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head.
17 ‘Like an east wind I will scatter them
Before the enemy;
I will [k]show them My back and not My face
In the day of their calamity.’”18 Then they said, “Come and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor the divine word to the prophet! Come on and let us strike at him with our tongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words.”
19 Do give heed to me, O Lord,
And listen to [l]what my opponents are saying!
20 Should good be repaid with evil?
For they have dug a pit for [m]me.
Remember how I stood before You
To speak good on their behalf,
So as to turn away Your wrath from them.
21 Therefore, give their children over to famine
And deliver them up to the [n]power of the sword;
And let their wives become childless and widowed.
Let their men also be smitten to death,
Their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
22 May an outcry be heard from their houses,
When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;
For they have dug a pit to capture me
And hidden snares for my feet.
23 Yet You, O Lord, know
All their [o]deadly designs against me;
Do not [p]forgive their iniquity
Or blot out their sin from Your sight.
But may they be [q]overthrown before You;
Deal with them in the time of Your anger!
There is a surprising analogy in this passage, as God speaks of the wicked ways of Israel. In v. 15, they have stumbled from their ways, ancient ways, to walk a bypath rather than a highway. This seems in stark contrast with the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 7, where he told the people, “the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
We see through the first that God’s ways were not hidden from them. Rather, the way was well-marked like a highway, and they were without excuse. Yet just as Jesus said, few actually followed it, and I think even today that is more the implication. God doesn’t want to hide salvation or make it some super secret code.
He wants all to come to repentance, and since creation the world has declared His glory to anyone who would listen. Through the ages though, people had chosen their paths instead of His. They left the well-marked highway to go their own way. “Look at that, looks like a fun little path, and I heard so-and-so walked down here the other day…”
From the time of Jeremiah to the time of Jesus, so few actually followed the highway that it was like a narrow gate, and few indeed did find it. Not because it was hidden, but because like those in v. 18, they willfully chose to ignore God’s words. Not content with that, some take it a step further and try to silence that voice.
They know their little bypath isn’t right. Oh, it’s well-traveled, to be sure, and our flesh craves it. How about us, are we staying true to God’s well-marked road? Sure, there are unknowns of following God, and sometimes we don’t know what He will do in our lives. But His commands are written down for all the world to see. Living right and justly is no secret, and we also are without excuse.
Don’t be tempted by the bypaths that our enemy has forged of his own rebellion. They might look like fun, but their end is not unlike the prayer of Jeremiah in the latter verses. Pain and destruction are the only reward, and though its promises are great, they are mist and shadow in the end. Stick to God’s way and listen to His voice in your heart. He won’t abandon us, though all around be shifting sand, He is our rock and firm foundation, leading us toward life eternal and life in glory.