God’s Foresight and Lament

The Book of Jeremiah presents a weeping God just as much as it portrays a weeping prophet. In many instances, the tears of God and those of the prophet appear inseparable. David Bosworth identifies six passages in Jeremiah where Yahweh weeps—five of which directly address Israel—and contends that these texts reveal the tears of God, not merely those of the prophet: in 9:9, Yahweh wails and laments the impending punishment that will devastate both the land and its people; in 8:23 and 14:17, God expresses a desire for his tears to flow continuously like an unceasing fountain; in 9:17, God invites professional lamenters to join him in mourning; and in 13:17, he reveals that his weeping occurs in secret.[1]

While each instance aims to provoke Israel to repent and avoid divine wrath, they also convey more than mere dramatic persuasion. God weeps because his heart is shattered—he cannot comprehend how the very people he loved, with whom he made a covenant and whom he constantly guided, have betrayed him, taken his presence for granted, demeaned their neighbours, and mocked him. Despite his attempts to repair their broken relationship, Israel had gone so far astray beyond repair: they are so accustomed to evil that it is absorbed into their very nature (cf. Jer 2:2ff.; 13:23; 17:9). Thus, God weeps, foreseeing the full and shattering consequences of their sin, and he refuses to be comforted. He calls upon his prophet—and symbolically even the land itself—to join in his mourning.

God does not weep solely because the punishment is inevitable but because the extent of the rippling effects of the choices made by his people and their rulers will be beyond imagination. It is not easy to say that these people will be handed over to their enemies. Their enemies deal with them ruthlessly, take the victim for granted, and exercise their power to the fullest. Habakkuk knew the gravity of this. He cried out about the coming adversary: “The enemy brings all of them up with a hook… and destroys nations without mercy” (Hab 1:15-17). Yahweh knew how brutal things would turn out if his people remained hell-bent on their crookedness. His heart is overthrown in turmoil just at the imagination of the coming tragedy (Hos 11:8-9; cf. Jer 31:20). He cannot help but cry, “Your hurt is incurable, your wound is grievous… for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy…” (Jer 30:12-14; cf. Isa 40:1-2). Indeed, falling into human hands is gravely hazardous compared to falling into the hands of Yahweh (2 Sam 24:17). After all, God’s mercy endures even in the face of judgement, but humans cannot be trusted with violence and power (cf. 2 Kings 8:11-13).

As the narrative unfolds, however, Israel pays no heed to God or his prophet. Eventually, they fall to the sword of Babylon: the people are exiled, the land lies waste, the crown is overthrown, and the temple is burned down. In the aftermath, Zion weeps and wails like a young widow (cf. Lam 1:1ff.), and the cries of Rachel resound throughout, for she refuses all consolation because all her children are lost (Jer 31:15).

After these events, the focus shifts from Yahweh’s weeping to his tender compassion. He proclaims his everlasting love (Jer 31:3) and responds to the cries of those in bondage (Jer 33:3). He even bids Rachel cease her weeping by promising to bring her children back from the land of the enemy (Jer 31:16–17). In this way, God weeps in advance, foreseeing the shattering consequences of his people’s actions, and therefore he is moved with tender compassion when they cry out to him in distress—and he ultimately rejoices when they return to him and are renewed.

[1] David A. Bosworth, “The Tears of God in the Book of Jeremiah,” Biblica 94, no. 1 (2013): 24–46.