In Jeremiah, chapter nine, verses one to twenty-six, beginning from the first verse, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” Jeremiah continues to express his anguish over God’s rebellious people and their refusal to repent, and thereby escape from the coming destruction. He wanted to weep, but his pain was too deep for tears. Cries of woe, charges of guilt, and warnings of inescapable judgment are interspersed throughout the chapter. Jeremiah is often called the “weeping prophet,” as in chapter fourteen, verse seventeen, weeping night and day for a people too hardhearted to realize the impending doom coming upon them. Because of his intense emotions of sorrow, Jeremiah is traditionally considered to be the author of the Book of Lamentations.
Jeremiah wept much, yet wished he could weep more, that he might rouse the people to a due sense of the hand of God. But even the desert, without communion with God, through Christ Jesus, and the influences of the Holy Spirit, must be a place for temptation and evil; while, with these blessings, we may live in holiness in crowded cities. The people accustomed their tongues to lies. So false were they that a brother could not be trusted. In trading and bargaining, they said anything for their own advantage, though they knew it to be false. But God marked their sin. Where no knowledge of God is, what good can be expected? He has many ways of turning a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwell therein.
“Eyes a fountain of tears” is the theme title that many have experienced due to diappointment, loss, or from a broken heart that God knows.