Jeremiah 5:21
"Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
Hear this
The Hebrew word for "hear" is "שָׁמַע" (shama), which implies not just the act of hearing but also understanding and obeying. In the biblical context, hearing is often associated with obedience to God's commands. This call to "hear" is a divine summons, urging the people to pay attention to the message of the prophet Jeremiah. It is a reminder that God’s words are not to be taken lightly, but are to be internalized and acted upon.

O foolish and senseless people
The term "foolish" in Hebrew is "אֱוִיל" (ewil), which refers to someone who is morally deficient, not just lacking in intelligence. "Senseless" is translated from "לֹא־לֵב" (lo-lev), meaning without heart or understanding. This phrase highlights the spiritual and moral decay of the people. Despite having the capacity for wisdom and understanding, they have chosen to ignore God’s guidance, rendering themselves spiritually blind and deaf.

who have eyes but do not see
This phrase echoes the spiritual blindness of the people. The eyes are a metaphor for perception and insight. In the Hebrew context, seeing is often linked with understanding and recognizing God’s truth. The people of Judah had physical sight but were blind to the spiritual realities and the consequences of their disobedience. This blindness is a result of their hardened hearts and refusal to acknowledge God’s sovereignty.

who have ears but do not hear
Similarly, the ears symbolize the ability to listen and comprehend. The Hebrew word for "hear" again is "שָׁמַע" (shama), reinforcing the idea of listening with the intent to obey. The people’s inability to hear is not due to a physical defect but a willful rejection of God’s word. This deafness is a metaphor for their stubbornness and rebellion against God’s covenant, leading to their spiritual downfall.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jeremiah
A major prophet in the Old Testament, called by God to deliver messages of warning and hope to the people of Judah.

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

3. God
The sovereign Lord who speaks through Jeremiah, calling His people to repentance and warning them of the consequences of their spiritual blindness and deafness.
Teaching Points
Spiritual Awareness
Just as physical senses are vital for navigating the world, spiritual senses are crucial for understanding God's will. We must cultivate a sensitivity to God's voice and presence.

Consequences of Spiritual Blindness
Ignoring God's warnings leads to judgment. The people of Judah faced destruction because they refused to heed God's call to repentance.

Call to Repentance
God’s message through Jeremiah is a call to turn back to Him. Repentance is not just about feeling sorry but involves a change of heart and action.

The Role of Prophets
Prophets like Jeremiah serve as God's mouthpiece, reminding us of His truth and calling us back to faithfulness. We should be attentive to the messages God sends through His Word and His messengers today.

Self-Examination
We must regularly examine our own spiritual condition. Are we truly listening to God, or are we spiritually blind and deaf?
Bible Study Questions
1. In what ways can we become spiritually blind or deaf in our daily lives, and how can we guard against this?

2. How does the message of Jeremiah 5:21 challenge us to examine our own responsiveness to God's Word?

3. What are some practical steps we can take to ensure we are not just hearers of the Word, but doers as well?

4. How do the themes of spiritual blindness and deafness in Jeremiah 5:21 connect with Jesus' teachings in the New Testament?

5. Reflect on a time when you felt God was speaking to you through His Word or through others. How did you respond, and what was the outcome?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Isaiah 6:9-10
This passage also speaks of people who hear but do not understand and see but do not perceive, highlighting a recurring theme of spiritual insensitivity.

Matthew 13:13-15
Jesus references the prophecy of Isaiah, explaining why He speaks in parables to those who are spiritually blind and deaf.

Ezekiel 12:2
God describes the people of Israel as having eyes to see but not seeing, and ears to hear but not hearing, emphasizing their rebellious nature.

Romans 11:8
Paul speaks of God giving a spirit of stupor to Israel, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, as a consequence of their unbelief.
Nature's Witness Against Blind Eyes and Rebellious HeartsJ. Waite Jeremiah 5:20-24
Adoration of God in NatureJ. Garbett, M. A.Jeremiah 5:20-25
God the Ruler of the WavesJohn Newton.Jeremiah 5:20-25
God's Barriers Against Man's SinJeremiah 5:20-25
God's Government of the Sea and Man's Revolting TendenciesHomilistJeremiah 5:20-25
God's Judgment of Self-WillJ. Parker, D. D.Jeremiah 5:20-25
IndifferenceJ. Burns, D. D.Jeremiah 5:20-25
Persuasives to the Fear of GodJeremiah 5:20-25
Sea and Soil; Divine ProvidenceC. Clarkson, B. A.Jeremiah 5:20-25
Solemn Reasons for Fearing the LordBp. Heber.Jeremiah 5:20-25
The Sand BarrierHomiletic MagazineJeremiah 5:20-25
People
Jacob, Jeremiah
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Ear, Ears, Foolish, Hearing, Heart, Heartless, Nothing, O, Power, Sense, Senseless, Understanding
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 5:21

     5135   blindness, spiritual
     5885   indifference
     8355   understanding
     8760   fools, characteristics

Jeremiah 5:21-24

     8702   agnosticism

Jeremiah 5:21-25

     8757   folly, effects of
     8761   fools, in teaching of Christ

Library
A Question for the Beginning
'What will ye do in the end?'--JER. v. 31. I find that I preached to the young from this text just thirty years since--nearly a generation ago. How few of my then congregation are here to-night! how changed they and I are! and how much nearer the close we have drifted! How many of the young men and women of that evening have gone to meet the end, and how many of them have wrecked their lives because they would not face and answer this question! Ah, dear young friends, if I could bring some of the
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Storming the Battlements
Jerusalem had sinned against God; she had rebelled against the most High, had set up for herself false gods, and bowed before them; and when God threatened her with chastisement, she built around herself strong battlements and bastions. She said "I am safe and secure. What though Jehovah hath gone away, I will trust in the gods of nations. Though the Temple is cast down, yet we will rely upon these bulwarks and strong fortifications that we have erected." "Ah!" says God, "Jerusalem, I will punish
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

God's Barriers against Man's Sin
I am slowly rallying. My great struggle now is with weakness. I feel as if my frail bark had weathered a heavy storm which has made every timber creak. Do not attribute this illness to my having laboured too hard for my Master. For his dear sake, I would that I may yet be able to labour more. Such toils as might be hardly noticed in the ramp for the service of one's country, would excite astonishment in the church for the service of our God. And now, I entreat you for love's sake to continue in prayer
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

Tithing
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal. 3:10). Down deep in the heart of every Christian there is undoubtedly the conviction that he ought to tithe. There is an uneasy feeling that this is a duty which has been neglected, or, if you prefer it, a privilege that has not been
Arthur W. Pink—Tithing

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

The Purpose in the Coming of Jesus.
God Spelling Himself out in Jesus: change in the original language--bother in spelling Jesus out--sticklers for the old forms--Jesus' new spelling of old words. Jesus is God following us up: God heart-broken--man's native air--bad choice affected man's will--the wrong lane--God following us up. The Early Eden Picture, Genesis 1:26-31. 2:7-25: unfallen man--like God--the breath of God in man--a spirit, infinite, eternal--love--holy--wise--sovereign over creation, Psalm 8:5-8--in his own will--summary--God's
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Purposes of God.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What I understand by the purposes of God. Purposes, in this discussion, I shall use as synonymous with design, intention. The purposes of God must be ultimate and proximate. That is, God has and must have an ultimate end. He must purpose to accomplish something by his works and providence, which he regards as a good in itself, or as valuable to himself, and to being in general. This I call his ultimate end. That God has such an end or purpose,
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

"And Hereby we do Know that we Know Him, if we Keep his Commandments. "
1 John ii. 3.--"And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." This age pretends to much knowledge beyond former ages, knowledge, I say, not only in other natural arts and sciences, but especially in religion. Whether there be any great advancement in other knowledge, and improvement of that which was, to a further extent and clearness, I cannot judge, but I believe there is not much of it in this nation, nor do we so much pretend to it. But, we talk of the enlargements of
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Medes and the Second Chaldaean Empire
THE FALL OF NINEVEH AND THE RISE OF THE CHALDAEAN AND MEDIAN EMPIRES--THE XXVIth EGYPTIAN DYNASTY: CYAXARES, ALYATTES, AND NEBUCHADREZZAR. The legendary history of the kings of Media and the first contact of the Medes with the Assyrians: the alleged Iranian migrations of the Avesta--Media-proper, its fauna and flora; Phraortes and the beginning of the Median empire--Persia proper and the Persians; conquest of Persia by the Medes--The last monuments of Assur-bani-pal: the library of Kouyunjik--Phraortes
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8

"If So be that the Spirit of God Dwell in You. Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ, He is None of His. "
Rom. viii. 9.--"If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" 2 Chron. vi. 18. It was the wonder of one of the wisest of men, and indeed, considering his infinite highness above the height of heavens, his immense and incomprehensible greatness, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, and then the baseness, emptiness, and worthlessness of man, it may be a wonder to the
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Acceptable Sacrifice;
OR, THE EXCELLENCY OF A BROKEN HEART: SHOWING THE NATURE, SIGNS, AND PROPER EFFECTS OF A CONTRITE SPIRIT. BEING THE LAST WORKS OF THAT EMINENT PREACHER AND FAITHFUL MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST, MR. JOHN BUNYAN, OF BEDFORD. WITH A PREFACE PREFIXED THEREUNTO BY AN EMINENT MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN LONDON. London: Sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgates, 1692. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The very excellent preface to this treatise, written by George Cokayn, will inform the reader of
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Of the Nature of Regeneration, and Particularly of the Change it Produces in Men's Apprehensions.
2 COR. v. 17. 2 COR. v. 17. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new. THE knowledge of our true state in religion, is at once a matter of so great importance, and so great difficulty that, in order to obtain it, it is necessary we should have line upon line and precept upon precept. The plain discourse, which you before heard, was intended to lead you into it; and I question not but I then said enough to convince many, that they were
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

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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