6:27
God now addresses Jeremiah, telling him his God-given role. He is a tester of metals. That means that he will test the true quality and nature of the nation. Jeremiah was the tester, the nation was the object being tested. So often people say “do not judge”, well Jeremiah was told to judge! He was to observe the ways of the nation, and to pass judgement on their ways.
6:28-30
Jeremiah was unlikely to find favourable results! The people were “hardened rebels”, they all acted corruptly. Various things had been done to seek to refine the nation, but all this had been in vain, it had had little or no effect. “They are called rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them.” So the testing was not to tell God anything new, He already knew the state of His people. Rather it was to make it clear to them, to the world, and to future generations what the state of the nation was, so that they could learn. Some might object that God should have done something to change the nation, but this line of thinking takes away human responsibility. God has created us as responsible beings.
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