◄ Jeremiah 6:17 ►
I appointed watchmen over you and said, 'Listen for the sound of the ram's horn.' But they answered, 'We will not listen!'
Study Bible
I appointed watchmen over you
In this phrase, the term "watchmen" is derived from the Hebrew word "צֹפִים" (tsophim), which refers to those who are vigilant and alert, tasked with the responsibility of warning the people of impending danger. In ancient times, watchmen were stationed on city walls or towers to observe and report any approaching threats. Spiritually, this role is often associated with prophets or spiritual leaders who are appointed by God to guide and warn His people. The appointment of watchmen signifies God's proactive care and concern for His people, ensuring they have guidance and protection.

and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’
The "sound of the trumpet" is a metaphorical expression rooted in the Hebrew word "שׁוֹפָר" (shofar), a ram's horn used in ancient Israel for various purposes, including calling people to worship, signaling the start of a battle, or warning of danger. Biblically, the trumpet is often associated with divine revelation and the call to repentance. Here, it symbolizes God's urgent call to His people to heed the warnings given by the watchmen. The trumpet's sound is a clarion call to awaken from spiritual complacency and return to God.

But you said, ‘We will not listen.’
This phrase highlights the people's obstinate refusal to heed God's warnings. The Hebrew word for "listen" is "שָׁמַע" (shama), which implies not just hearing but also obeying and responding appropriately. The people's response, "We will not listen," indicates a deliberate choice to ignore God's call, reflecting a hardened heart and rebellion against divine authority. This refusal to listen is a recurring theme in the prophetic literature, illustrating the persistent challenge of human disobedience and the consequences that follow. It serves as a sobering reminder of the importance of being receptive to God's voice and the guidance of His appointed watchmen.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jeremiah
A prophet called by God to deliver messages of warning and judgment to the people of Judah. His ministry was marked by a call to repentance and a forewarning of impending disaster due to the people's disobedience.

2. Watchmen
In ancient times, watchmen were stationed on city walls to alert the inhabitants of approaching danger. Spiritually, they represent prophets or leaders appointed by God to warn His people.

3. Judah
The southern kingdom of Israel, which was facing imminent judgment due to its persistent idolatry and rebellion against God.

4. Trumpet
A shofar or horn used in biblical times to signal important events, such as the call to battle or a warning of danger. It symbolizes the urgent call to heed God's warnings.

5. Rebellion
The people's refusal to listen to God's appointed watchmen, representing a broader theme of disobedience and spiritual deafness.
Teaching Points
The Role of Spiritual Watchmen
God appoints leaders and prophets to guide and warn His people. We must recognize and respect their role in our spiritual lives.

The Importance of Listening
Spiritual deafness leads to destruction. We must cultivate a heart that is open and responsive to God's warnings and guidance.

Consequences of Rebellion
Ignoring God's warnings has serious consequences. Reflect on areas of life where you may be resisting God's voice.

Urgency of the Message
The trumpet signifies urgency. We should treat God's messages with the seriousness and immediacy they deserve.

Personal Reflection and Repentance
Regularly examine your life for areas of disobedience and be quick to repent and realign with God's will.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the role of a watchman in ancient times relate to spiritual leaders today?

2. In what ways can we ensure we are listening to God's warnings in our lives?

3. What are some modern "trumpets" or signals that God might use to get our attention?

4. How can we guard against spiritual deafness and ensure our hearts remain open to God's voice?

5. Reflect on a time when you ignored a warning from God. What were the consequences, and what did you learn from the experience?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Ezekiel 33
This chapter discusses the role of a watchman and the responsibility to warn the people. It parallels Jeremiah's message about the importance of heeding God's warnings.

Isaiah 58
This passage calls for a loud proclamation of truth, similar to the trumpet sound in Jeremiah, urging the people to recognize their transgressions.

Hebrews 3
This New Testament passage warns against hardening one's heart, echoing the refusal to listen seen in Jeremiah.
Sermons
The Preacher's Bitter CryS. Conway Jeremiah 6:9-17
People
Benjamin, Jeremiah
Places
Beth-haccherem, Jerusalem, Sheba, Tekoa, Zion
Topics
Attend, Attention, Hearken, Heed, Horn, Listen, Raised, Saying, Trumpet, Voice, Watchmen
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 6:17

     5595   trumpet
     5611   watchman

Library
Stedfastness in the Old Paths.
"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."--Jer. vi. 16. Reverence for the old paths is a chief Christian duty. We look to the future indeed with hope; yet this need not stand in the way of our dwelling on the past days of the Church with affection and deference. This is the feeling of our own Church, as continually expressed in the Prayer Book;--not to slight what has gone before, …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

A Blast of the Trumpet against False Peace
The motive with these false prophets is an abominable one. Jeremiah tells us it was an evil covetousness. They preached smooth things because the people would have it so, because they thus brought grist to their own mill, and glory to their own names. Their design was abominable, and without doubt, their end shall be desperate--cast away with the refuse of mankind. These who professed to be the precious sons of God, comparable to fine gold, shall be esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

Whitefield -- the Method of Grace
George Whitefield, evangelist and leader of Calvinistic Methodists, who has been called the Demosthenes of the pulpit, was born at Gloucester, England, in 1714. He was an impassioned pulpit orator of the popular type, and his power over immense congregations was largely due to his histrionic talent and his exquisitely modulated voice, which has been described as "an organ, a flute, a harp, all in one," and which at times became stentorian. He had a most expressive face, and altho he squinted, in …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

Reprobation.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What the true doctrine of reprobation is not. 1. It is not that the ultimate end of God in the creation of any was their damnation. Neither reason nor revelation confirms, but both contradict the assumption, that God has created or can create any being for the purpose of rendering him miserable as an ultimate end. God is love, or he is benevolent, and cannot therefore will the misery of any being as an ultimate end, or for its own sake. It is …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

Prefatory Scripture Passages.
To the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.-- Isa. viii. 20. Thus saith the Lord; Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.--Jer. vi. 16. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

Jesus Raises the Widow's Son.
(at Nain in Galilee.) ^C Luke VII. 11-17. ^c 11 And it came to pass soon afterwards [many ancient authorities read on the next day], that he went into a city called Nain; and his disciples went with him, and a great multitude. [We find that Jesus had been thronged with multitudes pretty continuously since the choosing of his twelve apostles. Nain lies on the northern slope of the mountain, which the Crusaders called Little Hermon, between twenty and twenty-five miles south of Capernaum, and about …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Backsliding.
"I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away."--Hosea xiv. 4. There are two kinds of backsliders. Some have never been converted: they have gone through the form of joining a Christian community and claim to be backsliders; but they never have, if I may use the expression, "slid forward." They may talk of backsliding; but they have never really been born again. They need to be treated differently from real back-sliders--those who have been born of the incorruptible …
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

An Obscured vision
(Preached at the opening of the Winona Lake Bible Conference.) TEXT: "Where there is no vision, the people perish."--Proverbs 29:18. It is not altogether an easy matter to secure a text for such an occasion as this; not because the texts are so few in number but rather because they are so many, for one has only to turn over the pages of the Bible in the most casual way to find them facing him at every reading. Feeling the need of advice for such a time as this, I asked a number of my friends who …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

Sin Charged Upon the Surety
All we like sheep have gone astray: we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. C omparisons, in the Scripture, are frequently to be understood with great limitation: perhaps, out of many circumstances, only one is justly applicable to the case. Thus, when our Lord says, Behold, I come as a thief (Revelation 16:15) , --common sense will fix the resemblance to a single point, that He will come suddenly, and unexpectedly. So when wandering sinners …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

An Address to the Regenerate, Founded on the Preceding Discourses.
James I. 18. James I. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. I INTEND the words which I have now been reading, only as an introduction to that address to the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, with which I am now to conclude these lectures; and therefore shall not enter into any critical discussion, either of them, or of the context. I hope God has made the series of these discourses, in some measure, useful to those …
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men.
Scriptures Showing The Sin And Danger Of Joining With Wicked And Ungodly Men. When the Lord is punishing such a people against whom he hath a controversy, and a notable controversy, every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one joined with them shall fall, Isa. xiii. 15. They partake in their judgment, not only because in a common calamity all shares, (as in Ezek. xxi. 3.) but chiefly because joined with and partakers with these whom God is pursuing; even as the strangers that join …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

How those who Fear Scourges and those who Contemn them are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 14.) Differently to be admonished are those who fear scourges, and on that account live innocently, and those who have grown so hard in wickedness as not to be corrected even by scourges. For those who fear scourges are to be told by no means to desire temporal goods as being of great account, seeing that bad men also have them, and by no means to shun present evils as intolerable, seeing they are not ignorant how for the most part good men also are touched by them. They are to be admonished …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Christian Meekness
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth Matthew 5:5 We are now got to the third step leading in the way to blessedness, Christian meekness. Blessed are the meek'. See how the Spirit of God adorns the hidden man of the heart, with multiplicity of graces! The workmanship of the Holy Ghost is not only curious, but various. It makes the heart meek, pure, peaceable etc. The graces therefore are compared to needlework, which is different and various in its flowers and colours (Psalm 45:14). …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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