The Logic of Judgment Text: Jeremiah 5:7-13
Introduction: The Arrogance of the Well-Fed
We live in an age that has mistaken God’s kindness for God’s approval. Our society is fat, prosperous, and entertained beyond any previous generation in human history, and it has drawn the entirely wrong conclusion. It has concluded that because the lightning bolt has not yet struck, it must mean that God is either absent, senile, or in complete agreement with our sexual shenanigans and theological novelties. We have mistaken the long fuse of God’s patience for a divine stamp of approval on our rebellion. We think that because the harvest is plentiful and the Wi-Fi is fast, God must be winking at our sin.
This is an ancient and deadly error. The prophet Jeremiah was sent to a people who had made the exact same miscalculation. Judah was steeped in covenant treachery. They had taken the blessings of God, the very fatness of His provision, and used that energy to chase after foreign gods and their neighbors' wives. They were full, and therefore they were faithless. They were satisfied, and therefore they were adulterous. And when the prophet of God stood up to call them to account, they plugged their ears and called him a windbag. They had developed a sophisticated theology of denial, assuring themselves that God was not the sort of God who would ever bring calamity. "Not He," they said. "That's not the God we know."
This passage in Jeremiah 5 is a divine cross-examination. God Himself takes the stand and lays out the case against His people. It is a case built on logic, on cause and effect, on covenant realities. God is not arbitrary. His judgments are not random fits of pique. There is a terrible, inexorable logic to them. When a people forsakes the fountain of living waters, they should not be surprised when they find themselves thirsty in a barren land. When a nation uses its strength for harlotry, it should not be surprised when it is ruined. This is not just a historical record of Judah's fall; it is a spiritual diagnostic manual for any nation, any church, any individual who thinks they can enjoy God's blessings while despising His law.
The Text
"Why should I pardon you? Your sons have forsaken Me And sworn by those who are not gods. I had satisfied them to the full, Then they committed adultery And trooped to the harlot’s house. They were well-fed lusty horses, Each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife. Shall I not punish these people,” declares Yahweh, “And on a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself? Go up through her vine rows and make them a ruin, But do not make a complete destruction; Remove her branches, For they are not Yahweh’s. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares Yahweh. They have dealt falsely about Yahweh And said, “Not He; Calamity will not come on us, And we will not see sword or famine. The prophets are as wind, And the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them!”
(Jeremiah 5:7-13 LSB)
The Indictment: Full Stomachs and Empty Vows (vv. 7-8)
God begins with a rhetorical question that is also a legal charge. He asks for a reason why He should not bring judgment, knowing full well there is none.
"Why should I pardon you? Your sons have forsaken Me And sworn by those who are not gods. I had satisfied them to the full, Then they committed adultery And trooped to the harlot’s house." (Jeremiah 5:7 LSB)
The question "Why should I pardon you?" is devastating. It throws the burden of proof onto the guilty party, and their silence is the answer. The first charge is foundational: "Your sons have forsaken Me." This is the root of all the other sins. It is a covenantal lawsuit. God’s relationship with Israel was that of a husband to a wife. To forsake Him was not just to change one's mind; it was an act of profound betrayal. And the evidence of this forsaking was that they "sworn by those who are not gods." An oath is the most solemn appeal to ultimate reality. When they swore by Baal or Molech, they were declaring that these idols, these nothings, were their final authority, their judge, their reality. They had exchanged the living God for impotent demons.
But notice the context God provides for this treachery. "I had satisfied them to the full." This is crucial. Their apostasy was not born of desperation or need. It was born of abundance. God had filled their bellies, and they used that strength to slap His face. Prosperity is a dangerous test, and one that God's people frequently fail. A full stomach can easily lead to a forgetful heart (Deut. 8:11-14). Once satisfied, they immediately "committed adultery and trooped to the harlot's house." The spiritual adultery of idolatry and the physical adultery of sexual sin are always intertwined. To worship a false god is to commit spiritual fornication, and it almost always leads to the physical kind. The Canaanite religions they were chasing were fertility cults, filled with ritual prostitution. When you abandon God's law, you don't become a noble, rational free-thinker. You become a slave to your appetites. They didn't just stumble into sin; they "trooped" to the brothel, marching in organized rebellion.
Verse 8 gives us one of the most visceral and damning images in all of Scripture.
"They were well-fed lusty horses, Each one neighing after his neighbor’s wife." (Jeremiah 5:8 LSB)
This is not a compliment. God is saying that His blessings have turned them into brute beasts, driven by instinct and appetite alone. A "well-fed, lusty horse" is a picture of uncontrolled, animalistic passion. They have lost all sense of covenant, of loyalty, of restraint. The neighing is the sound of raw, indiscriminate lust. And it is directed at the "neighbor's wife," a direct violation of the Tenth Commandment and an assault on the basic fabric of society. When sexual boundaries collapse, everything else is soon to follow. A nation that will not govern its loins will not long govern itself. This is what prosperity without gratitude produces: a society of sleek, well-fed animals, tearing each other apart.
The Verdict: Inescapable Justice (v. 9)
After laying out the evidence, God delivers the verdict in the form of another rhetorical question. The answer is self-evident.
"Shall I not punish these people,” declares Yahweh, “And on a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?" (Jeremiah 5:9 LSB)
The question demands a "yes." For God not to punish such behavior would be for Him to deny His own character. A god who is indifferent to treachery and adultery is not a holy God; he is an idol, a cosmic accomplice. God's justice is not an option; it is an essential attribute of who He is. The word "avenge" here is not about petty revenge. It is a legal term. It means to vindicate what is right, to restore justice, to act as the righteous governor of the universe. If God were to let this slide, His own name would be profaned. He would be communicating that holiness doesn't matter, that covenants are meaningless, and that sin has no consequences. And a universe where sin has no consequences is a universe of ultimate chaos and despair. God's wrath is actually a form of His love for righteousness and order.
The Sentence: Pruning the Faithless Vine (vv. 10-11)
The sentence is then handed down. It is a command to an invading army, pictured as workers in God's vineyard.
"Go up through her vine rows and make them a ruin, But do not make a complete destruction; Remove her branches, For they are not Yahweh’s." (Jeremiah 5:10 LSB)
Israel is often pictured as God's vineyard (Isaiah 5). Here, the vineyard has run wild with worthless branches, producing poison fruit. The command is to bring ruin, but it is a qualified ruin: "do not make a complete destruction." This is the great biblical doctrine of the remnant. Even in His fiercest judgment, God preserves a seed. He never wipes the slate entirely clean. He is pruning, not annihilating. He is judging in order to purify, not to destroy. The branches that are to be removed are specified: "For they are not Yahweh's." This is a terrifying statement of divine ownership. Though they were ethnically Israelites, though they went to the Temple and offered sacrifices, God says they do not belong to Him. Their treachery proved it. Outward identity is meaningless without inward fidelity. God knows those who are His, and He knows those who are not.
Verse 11 gives the reason for this severe pruning.
"For the house of Israel and the house of Judah Have dealt very treacherously with Me,” declares Yahweh." (Jeremiah 5:11 LSB)
The charge is repeated and broadened. This is not just a few bad apples; it is systemic rot in both the northern and southern kingdoms. The word "treacherously" is a strong word, a covenant word. It speaks of betrayal from within, of breaking faith with one to whom you owe everything. They have acted like a faithless spouse, and so God, the faithful husband, must act.
The Folly of Denial (vv. 12-13)
The final verses of our text reveal the people's response to God's warnings. It is a master class in self-deception and arrogance.
"They have dealt falsely about Yahweh And said, “Not He; Calamity will not come on us, And we will not see sword or famine." (Jeremiah 5:12 LSB)
They have lied about God. They have created a new god in their own image, a tame and manageable deity who would never rock the boat. When the true Yahweh is proclaimed, the God of the covenant who judges sin, they say, "Not He." That is not our God. Our God is a god of affirmation, a god of tolerance, a god who would never send calamity. This is the essence of all liberal theology. It is the practice of editing God, of cutting out the parts of His character that make us uncomfortable. They had convinced themselves that they were exempt from the consequences of their actions. They had a false security, a bubble of denial, believing that sword and famine were for other people, not for the chosen people of God.
And what of God's messengers? How did they handle the inconvenient prophets like Jeremiah?
"The prophets are as wind, And the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to them!" (Jeremiah 5:13 LSB)
They dismissed them as nothing but hot air. "The prophets are as wind." They treated the word of the Lord as meaningless noise. They declared that the true prophet had no real substance, no divine word. And then, in a final act of defiant mockery, they pronounce a curse on the prophets: "Thus it will be done to them!" They are saying, "All this doom and gloom you are predicting for us? Let it happen to you instead." This is the final stage of rebellion: when you not only ignore the warning but you actively mock and curse the one who brings it. They are so confident in their denial that they believe they can turn God's judgment back on His own messengers. But as the next verse will show, God is about to make Jeremiah's words not wind, but fire.
Conclusion: Wind and Fire
The people of Judah thought Jeremiah's words were just wind. But God's Word is never just wind. It is either the fire of judgment that consumes the wicked or the fire of the Spirit that purifies the righteous. They wanted a God who was safe, predictable, and who would leave them alone in their sin. They did not get what they wanted.
The same choice is before us. Our culture is full of well-fed, lusty horses, neighing after every forbidden thing. Our churches are full of people who have lied about God, saying "Not He," whenever the topic of sin, wrath, or judgment comes up. And when a faithful voice preaches the whole counsel of God, he is dismissed as a windbag, a hater, a fanatic.
The people of Judah said, "Calamity will not come on us." But it did. The sword and famine came. The ruin came. Their false security was shattered against the hard reality of God's holiness. The only true security is not in denying God's judgment, but in fleeing to the one who absorbed God's judgment for us. On the cross, Jesus Christ took the sword and the famine that we deserved. He took the full force of God's covenant lawsuit against our treachery.
Therefore, we are not to be those who say "Not He" to the warnings of Scripture. We are to be those who say "It is He!" to the promises of the gospel. It is He who pardons our treachery. It is He who takes away the ruin we deserve. It is He whose words are not wind, but the very words of eternal life. Do not be a well-fed horse, fat with blessings and blind to judgment. Be a humble sheep who knows the Shepherd's voice, and who runs to Him for refuge.