What is the meaning of Jeremiah 5:21? Hear this Jeremiah opens with a summons: “Hear this” (Jeremiah 5:21). The Lord is not offering a suggestion; He is commanding attention. • Just as “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One” (Deuteronomy 6:4) gathered the nation to covenant loyalty, so here God demands undivided listening. • Isaiah echoed the same urgency: “Listen and hear My voice; pay attention and hear what I say” (Isaiah 28:23). • The pattern continues to the churches: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says” (Revelation 2:7). God’s first concern is whether His people will quiet every competing voice and let His word break through. O foolish The next phrase lays bare the heart problem: “O foolish.” In Scripture “foolish” is never a mere lack of IQ; it is a moral refusal to live by revealed truth. • “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’ ” (Psalm 14:1); the issue is rebellion, not intelligence. • “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7). • Jesus Himself lamented, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe” (Luke 24:25). Jeremiah calls Judah foolish because they know the covenant but act as though God is not watching. And senseless people “Senseless” (literally “without understanding”) underscores spiritual dullness. • Earlier God said, “My people are fools; they have no understanding” (Jeremiah 4:22). • Paul describes the same slide: “Their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21); “They are darkened in their understanding” (Ephesians 4:18). Judah’s senses are dulled by sin; what should be obvious about God’s character and their own unfaithfulness no longer registers. Who have eyes but do not see Physical eyesight was intact, but spiritual perception was gone. • “They have eyes to see but do not see … for they are a rebellious house” (Ezekiel 12:2). • Jesus quoted Isaiah to explain hardened crowds: “This people’s heart has grown callous … they have closed their eyes” (Matthew 13:15). • “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4). • When Jesus healed the man born blind He declared, “So that the blind may see and those who see may become blind” (John 9:39-41). The picture is tragic: light is blazing, but they keep the shutters of the heart closed. Who have ears but do not hear The companion ailment to blindness is deafness toward God’s word. • Isaiah’s commission anticipated it: “Be ever hearing but never understanding” (Isaiah 6:9-10). • Jesus repeated, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:9). • Paul applied Isaiah to stubborn listeners in Rome: “Ever hearing but never understanding” (Acts 28:26-27). • Even the risen Christ warns the churches: “He who has an ear, let him hear” (Revelation 3:22). Refusal to hear is not a sensory defect but a willful resistance that blocks repentance and blessing. summary Jeremiah 5:21 exposes a people who physically see and hear yet choose not to perceive or obey God’s clear revelation. The Lord commands attention, labels the moral condition as foolishness and senselessness, and diagnoses spiritual blindness and deafness brought on by rebellion. The verse is a sober reminder that knowledge of God’s word must lead to responsive faith; otherwise, the heart grows calloused, and the senses God gave for fellowship with Him become dull tools of self-deception. |
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