←Jeremiah 3→BSB

In This Chapter 4 people 9 places 71 terms

People

Israel 12 Josiah Jacob (Patriarch) Jeshurun (Israel)

Places

    Key Terms

    Play the Prostitute (Idiom) 10 Defection 7 Guilt (State) 3 Rebel (Against Authority) 3 Covenant 3 Justify 2 Transgression 2 Have Insight 2 Supplication 2 Plea for Mercy 2 Salvation (Deliverance) 2 Fear Fear (State) Awe (State) Fear (Terror) Fear (Reverence) Fear (Awe) Fearful Respect Respect (Among People) Be (Or Show Oneself) Just Acquit Justice (Right) Righteousness (Standard) Righteousness (Act) Just Put Right With Make Righteous Deserved Justify (Vindicate) Justly Justice Righteousness (Quality) Loyal Person To Sin Sin Sin (Act) Sin (Incur Guilt) Guilty (Responsible) Guilt (Consequence) Guiltiness Trespass (Sin) Sinful Sin (Offense) To Stand Guilty Sin (Guilty) Sin (Wrongdoing) Guilty Considered Guilty Guilty Of Sin Previously Sin Against Rebel (Act) Rebellion (Offense) Be Rebellious Rebellion Rebelliousness Covenant (NT) Covenant of Salt Possession To Cause to Possess Possession Salvation Save (Help) Salvation (State) Save (Restore) Salvation (Physical) Salvation (Rescuer) Save (Rescue) Salvation (Means) Saving (Means)

    The Wages of the Harlot

    ⓘ Adultery was a valid reason for divorce (Deuteronomy...

    Adultery was a valid reason for divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1–2; Hosea 2:1–5; 9:1). Judah committed spiritual adultery, arrogantly assuming that God would not object (Ezekiel 16:26; Zechariah 1:3).
    1“If a man divorces his wifeand she leaves him to marry another,can he ever return to her?Would not such a land be completely defiled?But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?”declares the LORD.2“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see.Is there any place where you have not been violated?You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers,like a nomad in the desert.You have defiled the landwith your prostitution and wickedness.3Therefore the showers have been withheld,and no spring rains have fallen.Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;you refuse to be ashamed.
    ⓘ Instead of confessing their sins, the people tried...

    Instead of confessing their sins, the people tried to hide them with sweet talk. However, God saw through their deception. They were right that he would not be angry forever (Psalm 103:9; Isaiah 57:16; Malachi 1:6), but he promised to show his wrath (Jeremiah 4:7).
    4Have you not just called to Me,‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.5Will He be angry forever?Will He be indignant to the end?’This you have spoken,but you keep doing all the evil you can.”

    Judah Follows Israel’s Example

    ⓘ The Lord had been calling the kingdom of...

    • The Lord had been calling the kingdom of Judah "Israel" (Jeremiah 2:1–3:5), highlighting their identity as His people. Now, the Lord differentiates between Israel, the northern kingdom that was destroyed (2 Kings 17), and the kingdom of Judah. The people of the southern kingdom did not learn from the northern kingdom's downfall, so they were destined to face the same fate.

    • Josiah, who reigned from 640 to 609 BC, encouraged a return to traditional faith and practices in 621 BC (2 Chronicles 34:29–33).

    6Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there.

    ⓘ King Josiah's reforms did not impact many common...

    King Josiah's reforms did not impact many common people. Idol worship, popular in northern Israel, also persisted among Judah's farmers and shepherds. They did not learn from the northern tribes' fate and even exceeded their practice of adultery (see Ezekiel 16:47–48).

    7I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.

    8She saw† that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. 9Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.

    A Call to Repentance

    (Hosea 14:1–3; Zechariah 1:1–6)

    ⓘ The Lord asked Israel to repent, return, and...

    The Lord asked Israel to repent, return, and reconcile with him (contrast Jeremiah 2:1–3:10). Israel had sinned and faced punishment. Now, the people of Judah sinned even more openly than their northern relatives, ignoring the lesson the Lord taught Israel (Ezekiel 16:51–52). However, it was still not too late to repent and become the blessing to the nations (Jeremiah 4:1–2) that God intended them to be (Genesis 12:3).

    11And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah. 12Go, proclaim this message toward the north:

    ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD.‘I will no longer look on you with anger,for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD.‘I will not be angry forever.13Only acknowledge your guilt,that you have rebelled against the LORD your God.You have scattered your favors to foreign godsunder every green treeand have not obeyed My voice,’”declares the LORD.

    14“Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion. 15Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

    16“In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.

    17At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance.

    ⓘ But: this transitional word highlights the difference between...

    But: this transitional word highlights the difference between what the Lord desired and the real situation. The Lord wanted to treat his people as his precious children, but he could not. The covenant marriage between God and his people was broken by the unfaithful wife. The Lord could not ignore this sin (Isaiah 48:8).
    19Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sonsand give you a desirable land,the most beautiful inheritanceof all the nations!’I thought you would call Me ‘Father’and never turn away from following Me.20But as a woman may betray her husband,so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,”declares the LORD.
    ⓘ The people, held captive in Assyria, claimed they...

    The people, held captive in Assyria, claimed they had repented of their sins. However, their words were insincere, and the Lord rejected their plea. God told his people that if they truly wanted to return to him, they had to abandon the hilltop altars where they worshiped idols and remove all traces of idolatry from their religion.
    21A voice is heard on the barren heights,the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,because they have perverted their waysand forgotten the LORD their God.
    ⓘ The Lord heard the heartfelt prayer of devotion,...

    • The Lord heard the heartfelt prayer of devotion, and the people confirmed their acceptance of the Lord as their God (Jeremiah 31:7; Psalms 38:18; 121:1–2).

    • The people confessed to worshiping idols and participating in religious ceremonies. They admitted these actions were misguided (Jeremiah 11:13; 14:20; Hosea 9:10) and recognized that salvation comes only from the Lord. Their ancestors wasted their wealth by sacrificing animals and children to honor Baal.
    22“Return, O faithless children,and I will heal your faithlessness.”
    “Here we are. We come to You,for You are the LORD our God.23Surely deception comes from the hills,and commotion from the mountains.Surely the salvation of Israelis in the LORD our God.24From our youth, that shameful godhas consumed what our fathers have worked for—their flocks and herds,their sons and daughters.25Let us lie down in our shame;let our disgrace cover us.We have sinned against the LORD our God,both we and our fathers;from our youth even to this daywe have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”