Jeremiah 19:5-9 - Valley of Slaughter

19:5,6

We now get the true horror of what was going on, and the reasons for God’s actions. “They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal”. This is what was going on. We can read the judgement passages in the Bible and sometimes think that God is being harsh or even vindictive. This is not the case. Terrible things were going on, and the same applied to the other nations as well. Likewise, at the end of time when there is the final judgement no one will think that any of God’s judgements are wrong, but will see the justice of it all. This child sacrifice was not a command of God, and was something He never even considered. So judgement was coming, and with good reason.

19:7-9

God would ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, for their plans were full of evil and would result in evil. The same applies to the nations of the West. We are deserting God and can expect nothing good to come of it. Jerusalem would become a place of derision. People would “scoff because of all its wounds”. So again we see wounds associated with the sinfulness of the nation. During the siege of Jerusalem things would get so bad that they would even eat their children. A terrible siege was coming upon them.