Chapters 1--20 of the Book of Jeremiah contain what is often called Sermons. Sermon 1 could be called "Sin of the Nation" (chapters 2:1--3:5); Sermon 2 is known as "Devastation from the North" (chapters 3:6--6:30); and today we read Sermon 3, "Threat of Exile" (chapters 7--10). This message, like the two preceding ones, was a stern rebuke, warning and exhortation, but centered in the religious conditions in Judah.
It might also be interesting to note here that the very same year in which Jeremiah was called, immense swarms of Barbarians from the north struck terror to the nations of southwest Asia. They dealt a terrific blow to the tottering Assyrian power. On they came, like a flight of locusts--countless, irresistible, finding the land before them like a garden, leaving behind them a howling wilderness. Neither age nor sex would be spared. Inhabitants would be ruthlessly massacred by the invaders or, at best, forced to become slaves. The crops would be consumed, herds swept off or destroyed, the villages or homesteads burned, and the whole country made a scene of desolation.
Chapter 7 records Jeremiah's heart-rendering appeals for repentance, but again we see the people refusing to heed his warnings. Even though Jeremiah was trying to give the nation the only remedy for their sin, they rejected and even hated him for his message.
The first part of chapter 8 contains further warnings of judgment against the nation of Israel. All classes of God's people were corrupted, with the prophets and priests as bad as the rest of the people. Jeremiah's heart was broken and, in chapter 9, he is again weeping over the nation of Israel.
