Why does the Lord say that his heart will not turn towards his people even if Moses and Samuel stand before him?

The Lord now responds in Jeremiah 15:1–4 to the cry for rescue. As with the cry for salvation in the previous lament, the Lord does not offer any hope of rescue, which would be the normal pattern in biblical lament. Instead, he once again promises judgment (see Jeremiah 14:11–16). In the previous lament the Lord commanded Jeremiah not to pray for Judah and he rejected Judah’s fasting and sacrifices (Jeremiah 14:11–13). In the same way, the Lord now says that even if Moses and Samuel interceded for this people, he would not turn his heart toward them. Moses and Samuel were two of the great intercessors in Israel’s history who pleaded for mercy when the nation rebelled against the Lord (see Exodus 32:11–14, Exodus 32:30–32; Numbers 14:13–19; Deuteronomy 9:13–29 and 1 Samuel 7:8–9; 1 Samuel 12:19–25). In both cases the Lord responded positively, but the nation had now become so hardened in her rebellion that even the prayers of these two great intercessors would not bring salvation¹

The terms send them out of my sight and let them go recall language used during the exodus (see Exodus 3:10; Exodus 6:6, Exodus 8:1). Here, however, they refer to a reversal of the exodus as the Lord commands Jeremiah to speak a word that dismisses the people from his presence. They will move out from the temple and from the land as people who no longer enjoy the privileges of covenant blessing.²