Jeremiah 6:27

In this chapter, as before, we have, I. A prophecy of the invading of the land of Judah and the besieging of Jerusalem by the Chaldean army (Jer 6:1-6), with the spoils they should make of the country (Jer 6:9) and the terror which all should be seized with on that occasion (Jer 6:22-26). II. An account of those sins of Judah and Jerusalem which provoked God to bring this desolating judgment upon them. Their oppression (Jer 6:7), their contempt of the word of God (Jer 6:10-12), their worldliness (Jer 6:13), the treachery of their prophets (Jer 6:14), their impudence in sin (Jer 6:15), their obstinacy against reproofs (Jer 6:18, Jer 6:19), which made their sacrifices unacceptable to him (Jer 6:20), and for which he gave them up to ruin (Jer 6:21), but tried them first (Jer 6:27) and then rejected them as irreclaimable (Jer 6:28-30). III. Good counsel given them in the midst of all this, but in vain (Jer 6:8, Jer 6:16, Jer 6:17).

6:27-30 The Lord interrupted Jeremiah’s lamentation and brought him back to his commissioned task. God depicted the prophet as a silversmith working with raw ore. The refining process was going to reveal that the silver content of the ore was so small as to be worthless. 6:27 Jeremiah’s prophetic task was at odds with the empathy that he felt for his people. Like a metalworker, he was to direct the fire of criticism on the people to determine their quality in the light of God’s standards.