◄ Jeremiah 6:27 ►
"I have appointed you to examine My people like ore, so you may know and try their ways.
Study Bible
I have appointed you
This phrase indicates a divine commissioning. In the Hebrew text, the word used is "נתתיך" (natattikha), which means "I have set" or "I have given." This reflects God's sovereign authority in choosing and assigning Jeremiah a specific role. The concept of divine appointment is a recurring theme in the Bible, emphasizing that God has a purpose and plan for each individual. Jeremiah's appointment is not of his own making but is a calling from God, underscoring the importance of obedience and faithfulness to God's will.

as an assayer
The term "assayer" refers to someone who tests or examines metals to determine their quality. In the Hebrew, the word is "בחון" (bachon), which means "tester" or "examiner." This metaphor illustrates Jeremiah's role in testing the people of Judah, assessing their faithfulness and righteousness. Just as an assayer determines the purity of metal, Jeremiah is to discern the spiritual condition of the nation. This role requires wisdom, discernment, and a deep understanding of God's standards.

of My people
This phrase highlights the relationship between God and the nation of Israel. The possessive "My" indicates a covenant relationship, where God has chosen Israel as His own. The people are not just any nation; they are God's people, bound by the covenant made with their forefathers. This relationship carries both privilege and responsibility, as they are expected to live according to God's laws and reflect His character to the world.

so that you may know
The purpose of Jeremiah's appointment is for him to gain knowledge and understanding. The Hebrew word "תדע" (teda) means "to know" or "to perceive." This knowledge is not merely intellectual but experiential, gained through the process of testing and examining the people's actions and hearts. It implies a deep, intimate understanding of their spiritual state, which is necessary for Jeremiah to fulfill his prophetic role effectively.

and test their way
The phrase "test their way" involves evaluating the conduct and behavior of the people. The Hebrew word "תבחן" (tivchan) means "to test" or "to prove." This testing is not for God's benefit, as He already knows the hearts of men, but for the people to recognize their own shortcomings and need for repentance. Jeremiah's task is to reveal the true nature of their ways, urging them to return to God. This testing serves as a call to self-examination and transformation, aligning their lives with God's righteous standards.

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 deep personal struggle and unwavering commitment to God's call.

2. Judah
The southern kingdom of Israel, which was facing imminent judgment due to its persistent disobedience and idolatry.

3. God
The sovereign Lord who appoints Jeremiah as a tester of His people, illustrating His desire for them to return to righteousness.

4. Ore
A metaphor used to describe the people of Judah, indicating that they are to be tested and refined, much like metal is purified.

5. Testing
The process by which God examines the hearts and actions of His people, akin to refining metal to remove impurities.
Teaching Points
God's Sovereign Appointment
God appoints individuals for specific purposes, as He did with Jeremiah. Recognize and embrace the roles God has given you in His kingdom.

The Purpose of Testing
Testing is not meant to destroy but to purify and strengthen. Embrace trials as opportunities for growth and refinement in your faith.

The Call to Examine
Like Jeremiah, we are called to examine our own lives and the lives of others with discernment, seeking to understand and align with God's ways.

The Importance of Repentance
The testing of Judah was a call to repentance. Regularly evaluate your life and turn away from anything that separates you from God.

The Role of Scripture in Testing
Use Scripture as a tool to test and refine your thoughts and actions, ensuring they align with God's truth.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding Jeremiah's role as a tester of God's people influence your view of your own spiritual responsibilities?

2. In what ways can you apply the metaphor of refining ore to your personal spiritual growth?

3. How do the additional scriptures about refining and testing enhance your understanding of Jeremiah 6:27?

4. What practical steps can you take to examine and test your own ways in light of God's Word?

5. How can you encourage others in your community to embrace God's refining process in their lives?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Malachi 3:2-3
This passage also uses the metaphor of refining, describing God as a refiner and purifier of silver, emphasizing the process of purification and judgment.

1 Peter 1:6-7
These verses speak of trials as a means of testing faith, similar to the refining of gold, highlighting the value of genuine faith.

Proverbs 17:3
This proverb compares the refining of silver and gold to the testing of hearts by the Lord, reinforcing the theme of divine examination.
Sermons
God's Appeal for Vindication of His VengeanceS. Conway Jeremiah 6:18-30
The Prophet a Spiritual AssayerA.F. Muir Jeremiah 6:27-30
People
Benjamin, Jeremiah
Places
Beth-haccherem, Jerusalem, Sheba, Tekoa, Zion
Topics
Assay, Assayer, Fortress, Hast, Mayest, Metals, Observe, Ore, Test, Tester, Tower, Tried, Trier, Try, Watch-tower
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 6:27-29

     4336   iron

Jeremiah 6:27-30

     4351   refining
     5473   proof, through testing

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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