“The time is coming when the Lord will say to the people of Jerusalem, “My dear people, a burning wind is blowing in from the desert, and it’s not a gentle breeze useful for winnowing grain. It is a roaring blast sent by me! Now I will pronounce your destruction!” Jeremiah 4:11-12
A dry wind of the desolate heights blows in the wilderness toward the people: Jeremiah announced that judgment would come upon His people and upon Jerusalem, and it would be like a wind that destroys. Not to fan or to cleanse – a wind too strong for these will come, the judgment that would come like a wind would be so strong that it would not be like a fan, cooling the people; or to cleanse with a gentle wind. It would destroy and bring judgment, like a wind too strong. It is the hot breath of divine judgment, consuming good and bad alike.
Jeremiah returned to God’s announcement of the coming invasion of Judah. God compared the armies to a scorching wind that blows in from the desert. Wind affected the lives of everyone in Palestine. The refreshing breezes from the Mediterranean Sea helped the farmers in winnowing grain, and also brought the life- sustaining dew which nourished the land during the summer. However, the hot, dry, east wind, that blows in from the desert causes serious difficulties. “But when the vine is transplanted, will it thrive? No, it will wither away when the east wind blows against it. It will die in the same good soil where it had grown so well.” (Ezekiel 17:10) This wind is the attack of Babylon on Judah. This is God’s judgment for the sins of Judah. Unless America repents and turns back to God, this wind may blow on America.