Jeremiah 4:5-8 - A lion has come out of his lair

4:5,6

Jeremiah is now ordered to sound the alarm, people were to run to the nearest fortified cities, or to go to Jerusalem, for disaster was coming from the north. This would be the Babylonians attacking the land. Verses 1-4 had been a call to repentance, but Judah failed to heed this. That would have been the only truly effective thing they could have done, but they refused. So they would have to retreat to the fortified cities (walled towns) and Jerusalem in order to find some protection, but this protection would prove to be short lived.

4:7,8

God uses graphic language to describe the rise of Babylon, and of Babylon setting out on a mission of conquest. Babylon would conquer many lands, and this would include Judah, both her towns, and Jerusalem itself. They would lie in ruins. The anger of the Lord would not turn away from Judah. To the natural eye Babylon was the greater threat, the thing they had to fear. But in truth the Lord was the One they needed to fear. Babylon was an instrument of the Lord, Babylon could be destroyed by a single word from God’s mouth. We need to make sure our fear is rightly placed.