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"Break up your fallow ground"

Text: Jeremiah 4:3

FALLOW GROUND

Jeremiah used language that the people of Judah understood without much difficulty. The concept of “fallow ground” was employed to address the people.

“For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
‘Break up your fallow ground,
And do not sow among thorns.'”
Jeremiah 4:3

1. “For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem”

a) Jeremiah was the spokesman.

b) The message was from the LORD Himself.

c) The addressees:

i) The men of Judah (the whole nation).

ii) The people who dwelt in Jerusalem in particular.

2. “Break up your fallow ground”

a) The meaning of “fallow ground”

i) The land is untilled for a period of time.

ii) It is uncultivated but it does not mean it is totally uncultivable.

b) Features of “fallow ground”

i) The ground is harder than usual.

ii) Wild thorns could be found in fallow ground.

c) “Break up your fallow ground”

i) The ground has to be tilled.

ii) Often, it has to be tilled more than once.

iii) If the field was once upon a time fertile, it could be fertile again.

iv) Breaking up the clods that are in the field would be essential.

3. “And do not sow among thorns”

a) No attempt must be made to sow any seed till the ground is fully tilled.

b) The fallow ground already has thorns.

c) Even if good seeds were sown on fallow ground, they would be choked by the thorns.

SOUND ADVICE

1. Judah must deal with the problem of thorns (sins).

2. The land had not worshipped God for so long, it had become “fallow ground”.

3. The hearts of the people must be thoroughly tilled before the good word of God could be sown and bear fruit.