Jeremiah Not to Marry or Participate in Judah's Social Life

Jeremiah is commanded by God not to marry and have children while in Judah. He is also forbidden from taking part in social activities such as mourning and feasting. Both were to serve as a witness against Judah. "The prophet is ordered to behave in an eccentric manner [as prophets often were]...; celibacy was extremely uncommon, refusal to participate in funerary rites ill-mannered and disrespectful. Both actions had one meaning: There is no future here" (New Bible Commentary, note on verses 1-21). "The prohibition against marriage is to underscore the coming death and destruction that will face parents and children. Even burial will be denied the dead. The theme of lament is repeated in God's refusal to allow Jeremiah to intercede on the people's behalf (Jeremiah 7:16; Jeremiah 14:11-12; Jeremiah 15:1). He is also forbidden to rejoice with them, for joy will be taken from the land during the impending destruction and exile" (HarperCollins Study Bible, note on Jeremiah 16:1-13). Jeremiah 16:9 is a repetition of Jeremiah 7:34—and will be repeated again in Jeremiah 25:10.

Moreover, the restrictions imposed on Jeremiah actually served his well-being. He would not have been able to have a normal family life anyway with his commission and the animosity it brought. Furthermore, the near future was going to be calamitous—“so severe that the single state would be then (contrary to the ordinary course of things) preferable to the married (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:8; 1 Corinthians 26:29; Matt.hew 24:19; Luke 23:29)" (Jamieson, Fausset & Brown's Commentary, note on verse 2). In times of great trial, worry over loved ones increases the pain of the circumstances. This being so, we can perhaps see how the prohibition against fraternizing in normal social contexts was also a great blessing to Jeremiah. It kept him from developing close friendships with those who were soon to suffer. Moreover, we should consider that many of the social customs of the people, such as those in Jeremiah 16:6, were derived from paganism. Jeremiah would, of course, have to separate himself from such practices.

Verses 10-13 illustrate the falsity of the people's confession of sin in chapter 14. For they here do not even know what sins they are guilty of—even though they have committed terrible idolatry worse than their ancestors! So punishment is certainly coming—they will be taken away to another land where they will learn through painful experience what it really means to be subject to paganism and cut off from the true God (Jeremiah 16:13).

Verses 14-15 (repeated in Jeremiah 23:7-8) offer a glimmer of hope about the future. God will bring Israel back in a second Exodus (compare Isaiah 11:11). This is speaking not of the Jewish return from Babylonian captivity in ancient times, but of the return of all Israel from captivity at the end of this age. This should be clear from the fact that the Jewish return from Babylonian exile never overshadowed the Mosaic Exodus from Egypt—as God said this return would.

In the next verse, Jeremiah 16:16, God seems to return to the theme of immediate punishment, as hunting and fishing are elsewhere used as metaphors for captivity by enemies (compare Ezekiel 12:13; Amos 4:2; Habakkuk 1:15; Micah 7:2). Yet perhaps God is actually using similar imagery to describe the bringing back of His people mentioned in the previous verse. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown's Commentary states: "It is remarkable, the same image is used in a good sense of the Jews' restoration, implying that just as their enemies were employed by God to take them in hand for destruction, so the same [i.e., hunters and fishers] shall be employed for their restoration. (Ezekiel 47:9-10). So spiritually... [God's ministers are "fishers of men"], employed by God to be heralds of salvation, 'catching men' for life (Matthew 4:19; Luke 5:10; Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4 ... 2 Corinthians 12:16)" (note on Jeremiah 16:16).

But before any future regathering, God's people are to receive "double" for their sins (verse 18). It is not clear exactly what is meant here. It may refer to the fact that God expects more from those to whom He gives special gifts so that Israel and Judah are to receive a more severe judgment than the rest of the nations (compare Luke 12:47-48; James 3:1). Some suggest that "double" is idiomatic for "fully" or "amply." Others maintain that the double punishment actually refers to two periods of punishment, the ancient captivity and the one to come later—just prior to the ultimate restoration promised in the preceding verses.

The point of verses 19-21 is also not exactly clear. These seem to refer to the time of Christ's return, when the relationship between God and man is restored and all nations on earth come to know God and worship Him (compare Isaiah 2:1-4; Isaiah 11:9). The word "gentiles" in verse 19 of Jeremiah 16 actually means "nations" and, in that sense, could include Israel and Judah. So the point may be the happy ending of Israel's future return, followed by all nations. However, the point may also be that while God's people have filled His land with foreign idols and are rejected (verse 18), many foreigners would come to forsake their pagan past and embrace the true God—that is, during the Church age (from apostolic times until Christ's return). This would serve as a point of shame against God's own people (see Romans 11:11). Either way, we can still be thankful for the happy ending promised in verses 14-15 of Jeremiah 16 and throughout Scripture.