The Salty Shrub and the Fruitful Tree Text: Jeremiah 17:5-8
Introduction: The Anatomy of Trust
Every man, every society, every civilization is defined by what it trusts. Trust is the foundation upon which everything else is built. You cannot avoid trusting in something. The only question is whether the foundation you have chosen is solid rock or shifting sand. Our modern world, in its high rebellion against God, has made its choice with a defiant roar. It has chosen to trust in man. It trusts in our technology, our political processes, our therapeutic techniques, and our own supposed goodness. The gospel of our age is the gospel of self-trust. "You are enough." "Follow your heart." "Believe in yourself." This is the oldest lie in the book, whispered in the Garden, and it is the central creed of humanism.
But God, through the prophet Jeremiah, rips the mask off this delusion. He does not offer a gentle critique or a polite suggestion. He draws a line in the sand as stark and absolute as the line between Heaven and Hell. He presents us with two ways, and only two. There is no middle ground, no third option. You are either a cursed man or a blessed man. You are either a barren shrub in a salt flat, or you are a fruitful tree by a river. Your destiny is determined entirely by the object of your trust.
This passage is a diagnostic tool for the soul. It reveals the true state of our hearts. And it is also a prophetic declaration of the end of all things. Every system built on the sandy foundation of human self-reliance will become a desolate wasteland. Every person, family, and nation rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ will flourish and bear fruit, world without end. This is not a sentimental poem; it is the fixed law of the universe.
The Text
Thus says Yahweh,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from Yahweh.
And he will be like a juniper in the desert
And will not see when prosperity comes,
But will dwell in stony wastes in the wilderness,
A land of salt which is not inhabited.
Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh
And whose trust is Yahweh.
And he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That sends forth its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor refrain from yielding fruit.”
(Jeremiah 17:5-8 LSB)
The Cursed Man: The Folly of Humanism (vv. 5-6)
We begin with God's solemn pronouncement of a curse. This is not a wish; it is a statement of fact, a declaration of the way things are.
"Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from Yahweh." (Jeremiah 17:5 LSB)
The curse falls on the man who commits three interrelated sins. First, he "trusts in mankind." This is the essence of humanism. It is the decision to rely on human wisdom, human institutions, and human power as the ultimate reality. Second, he "makes flesh his strength." Flesh here means man in his weakness, his mortality, his fallenness. To make flesh your strength is to build your house on that which is decaying. It is to lean on a staff that is already broken and will only pierce your hand. It is the folly of relying on political saviors, economic forecasts, or your own resume.
But these first two are symptoms of the third, which is the root disease: "whose heart turns away from Yahweh." This is the core of the matter. Trust in man is not a neutral philosophical choice; it is an act of spiritual treason. It is a turning of the heart's allegiance away from the living God to the dying creature. You cannot face two directions at once. A heart that turns toward man for its ultimate security is a heart that has, by definition, turned its back on God.
And what is the result of this cursed choice? Verse 6 paints a grim, dusty picture.
"And he will be like a juniper in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will dwell in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt which is not inhabited." (Jeremiah 17:6 LSB)
The man who trusts in man becomes a stunted, brittle, pathetic shrub in the desert. He is isolated, unproductive, and just barely surviving. Notice the profound spiritual blindness described here: he "will not see when prosperity comes." God may pour out His common grace all around him, the sun may shine, the rain may fall, but the cursed man is incapable of receiving it as a blessing. He is so curved in on himself, so reliant on his own pathetic resources, that he cannot recognize a gift when it comes. He sees only what his own hands have achieved, which is next to nothing.
His final destination is a "land of salt." In the Bible, salt is a symbol of judgment and barrenness. Think of Sodom and Gomorrah. A salt flat is a place where nothing can grow. This is the end-game of all humanism. A society that turns its heart from Yahweh will inevitably become a sterile, desolate, uninhabitable wasteland, no matter how advanced its technology or how sophisticated its philosophy.
The Blessed Man: The Foundation of Faith (vv. 7-8)
In glorious contrast, God describes the blessed man. This is the man whose life is defined by a different trust.
"Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh And whose trust is Yahweh." (Jeremiah 17:7 LSB)
The structure here is a beautiful Hebrew parallelism that intensifies the meaning. This man doesn't just trust in the Lord as one might trust in a stock tip. His trust is the Lord. Yahweh Himself has become his confidence, his security, his entire foundation. His identity is not found in his own strength or accomplishments, but in the character of the covenant-keeping God.
This is the life of faith. It is a radical dependence, a complete transfer of trust from the visible realm of the flesh to the invisible reality of God. And just as the cursed life has its inevitable consequences, so does this blessed life.
Verse 8 gives us one of the most beautiful pictures of spiritual health in all of Scripture.
"And he will be like a tree planted by the water, That sends forth its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor refrain from yielding fruit." (Jeremiah 17:8 LSB)
This man is not a wild shrub, but a "tree planted." This implies a planter. God sovereignly places His people in a position to thrive. He is the divine husbandman. This tree is not dependent on the fickle circumstances of the weather; it sends its roots down deep to a constant, life-giving source, the stream. This is a picture of a life nourished by the Word of God and the Spirit of God.
Because its source is constant, its condition is stable. "It will not fear when the heat comes." Notice, the heat does come. The Christian life is not a life free of trials. Droughts happen. The difference is not the absence of affliction, but the presence of an unshakeable resource. While the self-reliant shrub is scorched and withered by trials, the God-reliant tree remains green and vibrant. It is not "anxious in a year of drought." Why? Because its life does not depend on the drought, but on the river.
And the ultimate purpose of this stability is not mere survival. It is fruitfulness. It does not "refrain from yielding fruit." The blessed life is a productive life. It is a life that glorifies God by bearing the fruit of righteousness, joy, peace, and gospel advance. This is the opposite of the sterile salt flat. This is the picture of the kingdom of God advancing, turning the desert of this world into a watered garden.
The True Tree
As with all such contrasts in Scripture, we must ask who the ultimate fulfillment of this blessed man is. Who is the one man who trusted Yahweh perfectly? Who is the one whose trust was Yahweh? The Lord Jesus Christ. He is the true and better tree, planted by the Father. In the heat of God's wrath on the cross, His leaves did not wither. In the drought of temptation in the wilderness, He was not anxious. And He has borne the fruit of salvation for all who will trust in Him.
When we, by faith, are united to Christ, we are grafted into this true tree. We are planted in Him. The curse described in verse 5, the curse that we all deserved for our self-trust and rebellion, was placed upon Him. He became a curse for us, so that we might become the blessedness of God in Him.
Therefore, the call of this passage is a call to repentance and faith. It is a call to turn away from the brittle, cursed life of trusting in the flesh, in yourself, in your politics, in your bank account. It is a call to sink the roots of your faith deep into the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the living water. He is the source that never runs dry. In a world that is becoming more and more like a desert, a land of salt, God is calling His people to be a great and mighty forest of fruitful trees, demonstrating to a watching world the goodness and stability that comes only from trusting in Him.