What is the meaning of Jeremiah 17:23? Yet they would not listen Jeremiah has just relayed God’s gracious command to “bring no load out of your houses on the Sabbath” (Jeremiah 17:22). The very next words expose Judah’s response: “Yet they would not listen.” •To “listen” in Scripture is not passive; it means hearing with the intent to obey (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). •Jeremiah earlier lamented, “Yet they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts” (Jeremiah 7:24). •The pattern stretches back generations: “The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again… but they mocked God’s messengers” (2 Chronicles 36:15-16). Refusal to listen is the first step toward every subsequent act of rebellion. Nor incline their ear “Inclining the ear” pictures a deliberate leaning in, a posture of eagerness. •God pleads, “Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, that your soul may live” (Isaiah 55:3). •When the prophets rose early to speak, the people “did not incline their ear to listen” (Jeremiah 34:14). Ignoring God is therefore not accidental; it is a conscious choice to stay unmoved by His voice. But they stiffened their necks The imagery shifts from hearing to posture. A stiff neck belongs to an ox that refuses the yoke. •In the wilderness God said, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people” (Exodus 32:9). •Stephen echoed the charge: “You stiff-necked people… you always resist the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51). Stiff-necked hearts resist God’s rightful claim of lordship, preferring self-rule to humble submission. Would not listen The phrase repeats, driving home the willful pattern. •“Yet they did not listen or turn their ear, but walked in the stubbornness of their hearts” (Jeremiah 11:8). •Repetition signals that the issue is not lack of information; it is hardened wills. God’s Word was clear, the covenant terms plain, the prophets persistent—still the nation dug in. Or receive My discipline Discipline is evidence of covenant love (Proverbs 3:11-12; Hebrews 12:5-6). Judah treats it as an intrusion instead of mercy. •Jeremiah cries, “O LORD, You struck them, but they felt no pain; You crushed them, but they refused correction” (Jeremiah 5:3). •Zephaniah says, “She heeded no voice, she accepted no correction” (Zephaniah 3:2). Rejecting discipline leaves only judgment, because God will not perpetually endure contempt for His holiness. summary Jeremiah 17:23 lays out a tragic chain: refusal to listen, unwillingness to lean in, stubborn resistance, repeated deafness, and rejection of loving correction. Each phrase intensifies the indictment, revealing sin as deliberate, persistent rebellion against a patient and holy God. The verse warns that when people close their ears and stiffen their necks, they cut themselves off from the life, rest, and protection the Lord longs to give. |
    |