Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

I really like the AMP version of this verse “For My people are stupid and foolish,” [says the LORD to Jeremiah]; “They do not know Me; They are foolish children And have no understanding. They are shrewd [enough] to do evil, But they do not know [how] to do good.” It clearly says what we all do from time to time rely on our own substandard understanding (stupid foolishness) instead of the Lord’s wisdom. Oh that we would mature as believers and put away our foolish pride.

CHAPTER FOUR CONTEX
Contents: Jeremiah’s second message, continued. Warning of the consequences of sin and exhortation to return to God.
Characters: God, Jeremiah.
Conclusion: It is the evil of men’s doings that kindles the fires of God’s wrath against them and brings destruction upon the land. That which is to be before He moves, which makes a way of escape for those who will sincerely turn to Him and receive His mercy.
dreaded above everything else is the wrath of God, but God always warns
Key Word: Desolations, v. 7.
Strong Verses: v.22.

Keith Brooks, Summarized Bible: Complete Summary of the Old Testament (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 168.

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Ver. 22. CONTEXT – For my people is foolish, &c.] This, as Kimchi says, is the answer of the Lord to the prophet; for not the prophet says this, but the Lord to the prophet, giving a reason why this sore destruction came upon the people of the Jews, and so reconciling his mind to the providence; seeing those whom he had chosen to be his people, above all people upon the face of the earth, and who professed themselves to be his people, had acted such a foolish part as they had done, in backsliding from him, revolting from his ways and worship, rebelling against him, and in committing such gross idolatries as they had been guilty of. So a people may be a professing people, and yet a foolish one; there are foolish professors of religion; such who take up a profession foolishly, without an experience of the grace of God; without any true faith in Christ; without having on the wedding garment of his righteousness; without laying it upon a good foundation; and without considering the cost and charge of a profession, and the difficulties and troubles attending it; and such are they who foolishly trust in it, when they have taken it up; and hold it foolishly, very remissly, and in a wavering manner; and who walk not agreeably to it, and at last foolishly drop it: they have not known me; men may be the people of God by profession, and yet not know him; not know him so as to glorify him; not know him as their God, truly and experimentally; not know him in Christ, and have communion with him through him; not know the Lord Christ himself, the worth, glory, and excellency of him; their need of him; of his blood to cleanse them from sin; of his righteousness to justify them; of his sacrifice to atone for them; and of his fulness to supply their need; nor know the way of life, peace, and salvation by him, or at most only notionally, not experimentally; whereas the only true wisdom is to know Christ, and God in him; this is real and solid knowledge; it is science truly so called; it is delightful and satisfactory; it is useful and profitable, and is what issues in eternal life; and let men know what they will else, if they know not the Lord, they are sottish children; they are children indeed in understanding; and though they may be the children of God by profession, they are not the true and genuine children of God, since they know neither the Father nor the Son: and they have no understanding; though they are not without a natural understanding, or an understanding of things natural and civil, yet they have no spiritual understanding, or an understanding of spiritual things; and at best only in a speculative, and not in an experimental way and manner: they are wise to do evil; cunning inventors of evil things, crafty schemers that way, may be full of all wicked subtlety, and expert at over-reaching and defrauding their brethren; when professors of religion especially ought to be wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil, Rom. 16:19: but to do good they have no knowledge; to do good, or to do a good thing well, is to do it according to the revealed will of God, from a principle of love to him, in the exercise of faith upon him, in the name and strength of Christ, and with a view to the glory of God; to do good in this sense, and in such a way and manner, carnal men and carnal professors have no knowledge, no practical knowledge; they have no inclination to it, but the reverse; nor do they, nor can they, perform it: if they had a knowledge how to do it, or a power to perform it, there would have been, in one age or another, some, more or fewer, that would have done it; but there is none of all Adam’s descendants that does good, no, not one, Rom. 3:9, 10, 11, 12 the grace of God is absolutely necessary to the right doing of a good work, and the knowledge of it.

John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament, vol. 5, The Baptist Commentary Series (London: Mathews and Leigh, 1810), 426.

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WISDOM, WORSHIP, AND THE WORD. JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN: “They are wise”; we are wise in other things, even to the doing of that which God prohibits. We religiously support and defend human doctrines, fictitious rites, and false religions. But to the Word of God, which is truly credible and the highest wisdom, we bring stubborn resistance. We refuse to learn so that we might know and do the will of God, which is our true foolishness and so much madness. Of which the Psalms sing, “The fool says in his heart, there is no God,” or “God is nothing,” etc. Ephesians 2: “We were without God in this world,” because we were without the Word of God. God is grasped in the Word of God in this world. If you have contempt for the Word of God, you have contempt for God and you are utterly foolish because meanwhile you imagine yourself to be a devoted worshiper of God through I don’t know what works. As Christ says from Isaiah, “In vain they worship me, teaching the doctrines and commands of humans.” COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH 4:22.

THE WICKED ARE WISE IN THE WORLD. JOHN TRAPP: Wise are the wicked in their generation, subtle and sly, but so is the serpent, or the fox. The swine that wanders can make better shift to get home than the sheep can to the fold. They have received the spirit of this world; the devil also works effectually in them as a smith in his forge. Hence, they are wise to do evil. Elymas was a very subtle fellow, but the devil’s child, and so the more dangerous. COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH 4:22.

J. Jeffery Tyler and Timothy George, eds., Jeremiah, Lamentations: Old Testament, vol. XI, Reformation Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2018), 46.