NOTES for Jer 6:1-30
The enemy is already very close, so it is no longer safe to remain in Jerusalem, on Zion. Yet even this circumstance cannot bring the capital’s inhabitants to their senses. Evil continues to pour forth: violence, robbery, insults, and wounds are everywhere. It seems that God’s forbearance has run out and that no time remains for repentance either—His wrath is about to overflow upon the Jews. Yet the Lord still does not abandon His attempts to bring His people to their senses. He still tries to guide them onto the “ancient way,” the “good way,” where peace can be found.
But everything is in vain: no one wants to hear the prophet’s voice, no one wants to take the path of truth. Jeremiah now gives his conclusion, which sounds like a sentence: “The refiner refined in vain, for the wicked were not separated; they shall be called rejected silver, for the Lord has rejected them.” This means that the righteous people for whose sake God might have saved Jerusalem were not found, and it will be destroyed.