Creation's Rebuke
Introduction: The Folly of a Broken Heart
We live in an age that prides itself on its intelligence, its data, and its science. We have mapped the genome, split the atom, and sent probes to the outer edges of the solar system. And yet, for all our accumulated knowledge, we are a generation of sophisticated fools. We can explain the mechanics of the tides but refuse to acknowledge the One who set their boundaries. We can describe the meteorological patterns that bring the rain but will not thank the Giver of it. We have eyes, but we do not see. We have ears, but we do not hear.
This is not a new problem. It is the ancient problem of the human heart, which is the central processing unit of the entire person. When the heart is broken, which is to say, when it is in rebellion against God, the entire system malfunctions. The eyes still take in light, and the ears still register sound waves, but the information is scrambled, misinterpreted, and rejected. The problem is not a lack of evidence for God; the world is screaming His name. The problem is a stubborn refusal to process that evidence correctly. Sin makes you stupid.
In our text today, the prophet Jeremiah is tasked with delivering God's formal indictment against the people of Judah. This is not a gentle suggestion or a friendly piece of advice. This is a legal summons, a declaration read in open court. God is putting His people on trial, and the evidence He presents against them is as vast as the ocean and as regular as the harvest. He calls two witnesses to the stand: His raw power displayed in creation and His faithful goodness displayed in providence. And He demonstrates that the pagan waves and the dumb dirt have more sense, more obedience, than His own covenant children. This is a cosmic rebuke, intended to shock the people out of their self-induced stupor.
The Text
Declare this in the house of Jacob And cause it to be heard in Judah, saying, 'Now hear this, O people who are simpleminded fools and without a heart of wisdom, Who have eyes but do not see, Who have ears but do not hear. Do you not fear Me?' declares Yahweh. 'Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, A perpetual statute, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their heart, "Let us now fear Yahweh our God, Who gives rain in its season, Both the early rain and the late rain, Who keeps for us The appointed weeks of the harvest." Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have withheld good from you.
(Jeremiah 5:20-25 LSB)
The Public Summons (v. 20-21)
The indictment begins with a command for it to be made public.
"Declare this in the house of Jacob And cause it to be heard in Judah, saying, 'Now hear this, O people who are simpleminded fools and without a heart of wisdom, Who have eyes but do not see, Who have ears but do not hear.'" (Jeremiah 5:20-21)
God is not whispering His displeasure. This is a formal declaration to be proclaimed throughout the entire nation. No one is to be left in ignorance of God's charge against them. And the charge is blunt. He calls them "simpleminded fools." The Hebrew is stark; it means foolish and without a heart. The word for heart, lev, refers to the center of a person's being, the seat of their intellect, will, and emotions. God's diagnosis is that their core is broken. Their central processor is malfunctioning. This is why they are fools.
The result of this heart-failure is a catastrophic sensory failure. "Who have eyes but do not see, Who have ears but do not hear." This is a recurring theme in Scripture. Isaiah was told that he would preach to a people who would be ever hearing but never understanding, ever seeing but never perceiving (Isaiah 6:9). Jesus Himself quotes that very passage to explain why He taught in parables, because the people were spiritually deaf and blind (Matthew 13:14-15). This is not a physical condition. Their eyes and ears worked just fine. They could see the Temple and hear the sacrifices. But they could not perceive the spiritual reality behind them. They were spiritually dead, and a dead man cannot respond to stimulus.
Creation's Obedience, Man's Rebellion (v. 22-23)
God then calls His first witness to the stand: the untamable sea.
"Do you not fear Me?' declares Yahweh. 'Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, A perpetual statute, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and gone away." (Jeremiah 5:22-23)
The rhetorical questions are designed to cut to the very heart of their problem: they have no fear of God. The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Because they do not fear Him, they are fools. It is that simple. And the evidence for why they should fear Him is right there at the coastline. The sea, in the ancient mindset, was the epitome of chaos, raw power, and destructive fury. It is a terrifying thing. And what does the almighty God use to contain it? Sand. He sets a boundary of tiny, weak, shifting particles and declares it a "perpetual statute."
The waves can toss and roar. They can crash against the shore with all their might, but they "cannot prevail." The sea knows its master. The inanimate creation obeys the spoken decree of God. The point is a devastating one. The chaotic ocean is more submitted to God's authority than His own covenant people. The water understands its limits. Judah does not.
And the contrast is drawn immediately in verse 23. "But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart." The sea roars but cannot cross the line. This people, however, has a heart that is set on rebellion. They have "turned aside and gone away." This is the language of apostasy. They have willfully crossed every boundary God has set for their good. They are more chaotic than the sea, more untamable than the waves, because their rebellion is not a matter of physics but of a wicked will.
Providence's Goodness, Man's Ingratitude (v. 24)
Next, God calls His second witness: the faithful pattern of the seasons.
"They do not say in their heart, 'Let us now fear Yahweh our God, Who gives rain in its season, Both the early rain and the late rain, Who keeps for us The appointed weeks of the harvest.'" (Jeremiah 5:24)
Here God exposes their internal monologue, or rather, the lack of one. A wise and righteous heart looks at the world and reasons from the effect back to the Cause. But their foolish hearts do not. They do not connect the blessings of God's providence with the God of providence. God faithfully provides the "early rain" after the dry summer to soften the ground for plowing and planting. He faithfully provides the "late rain" in the spring to swell the grain before the harvest. He ensures the "appointed weeks of the harvest" arrive on schedule. Their entire agricultural calendar, their food supply, their very lives, depend on this rhythmic, predictable goodness of God.
This is a constant, steady stream of evidence of God's covenant faithfulness. And what is their response? Nothing. They do not say in their hearts, "Let us fear Yahweh our God." They eat His food, drink His water, and enjoy His seasons, all while ignoring Him or, worse, attributing His blessings to some powerless idol. This is the height of ingratitude. To be the recipient of such consistent goodness and refuse to acknowledge the Giver is a profound form of rebellion.
The Inevitable Consequence (v. 25)
Finally, God connects their sin to their suffering. The consequences are not arbitrary; they are woven into the fabric of the covenant.
"Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have withheld good from you." (Jeremiah 5:25)
When the rains fail and the harvest withers, they are not to look at the sky and blame bad luck. They are to look in the mirror. "Your iniquities have turned these away." The natural order is tied to the moral order. When God's people walk in obedience, the covenant promises blessings, including rain and bountiful harvests (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). When they walk in rebellion, the covenant promises curses, including drought and famine (Deuteronomy 28:23-24).
Their sins have acted as a barrier, a dam that has "withheld good" from them. God is the source of all good, but sin interrupts the flow. This is not God being vindictive; it is God being just. It is the universe operating according to the manufacturer's specifications. They have chosen the path of rebellion, and that path leads to desolation. They are simply reaping what they have sown.
The Heart of the Matter
The diagnosis in this passage is timeless. The problem with man is not a lack of evidence. The power of God thunders in the waves, and the goodness of God shines in the sunlight that ripens the grain. The problem is a heart that is stubborn and rebellious, a heart that produces functional blindness and deafness.
And this is precisely the diagnosis Jesus gave to the Pharisees. He stood before them, the very Word who set the boundaries for the sea, the very one who commanded the rain to fall, and they could not see Him. He healed the blind, and they called Him a devil. He was the ultimate revelation of God, and they crucified Him.
What is the cure for such a heart? It is not more information. It is not a better argument. The cure for a heart of stone is a heart transplant. This is the great promise of the new covenant that Jeremiah himself would later prophesy: "I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am Yahweh; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart" (Jeremiah 24:7). And as Ezekiel says, "I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26).
This is the work that God accomplishes through the gospel. At the cross, the chaotic sea of our sin and God's righteous wrath met, and that wrath was fully absorbed by Christ. On the cross, God demonstrated His ultimate goodness, giving His only Son so that the blessings of eternal life might rain down upon us. When the Holy Spirit applies that work to us, He performs spiritual heart surgery. He gives us a new heart, a heart that can finally see and hear. He opens our eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and He unstops our ears to hear His word of grace. And with that new heart, we can look at the ocean and tremble with awe, we can receive the harvest with gratitude, and we can say from a true and living faith, "Let us now fear Yahweh our God."