Jeremiah’s lament changes from expressing sorrow and agony because of what his people are going to suffer because of the Lord’s judgment to expressing what he feels when he views the people from the Lord’s perspective. The agony he feels because of the coming judgment does not hide or lessen his understanding of just how wicked his people are.1
Jeremiah longs to have a place in the desert to which he can escape. The Hebrew phrase melon orehim is translated as a travelers’ lodge
and it describes a simple shelter where no one lived permanently. It provided the basics to those passing through on their journey.2 Jeremiah is not expressing a desire to run away and live the life of a hermit. Rather, he is saying that living in a simple shelter would be better than having to witness his people who were adulterers, a company of treacherous men.
It is not that he wants to hide away and be on his own, but that he wants to be away from his people. As he witnesses the stubborn rebellion of his people, Jeremiah is dreaming of a life where he no longer has the responsibility of being a prophet to such a disobedient people. However, expressing this desire does not mean that Jeremiah ever gave up on his task as the Lord’s prophet. The Lord had told him it would be a long and difficult task, but he had promised to be with him (Jeremiah 1:1–9), and Jeremiah remained committed to his ministry for over forty years.3
2 Oh that I had in the desert a travelers’ lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men.