Lessons From Jeremiah – Part 10 – Two Treacherous Sisters Polluted The Land Series

LESSONS FROM JEREMIAH – PART 10 – TWO TREACHEROUS SISTERS POLLUTED THE LAND

PART 10 - Jeremiah 3:5 – 3:13

CHAPTER 3

[A]. TREACHEROUS ISRAEL INFLUENCED TREACHEROUS JUDAH TO IDOLATARY

{{Jeremiah 3:6-7 Then the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what FAITHLESS ISRAEL did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there, and I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to Me’, but she did not return, and HER TREACHEROUS SISTER JUDAH SAW IT.”}}

This is an extraordinary passage of tenderness and forgiveness. God asked Jeremiah a question about Israel, drawing his attention to the idolatrous state of that nation. The picture is of a wife having an illicit love affair and with her lover/lovers, she went to chosen places there to engage in adulterous acts. Israel chose the greenest trees and raised heights to practise her unfaithfulness as she engaged herself with all the gods and goddesses of the surrounding nations. She prostituted herself openly in every place showing deep devotion and allegiance to all the idolatrous practices she could sate herself with. Her devotion was to be to the Lord, her Deliverer and Protector but she abandoned Jehovah for the alluring delicacies of sinfulness. The adulterous wife of a husband abandoned her husband and engaged in acts of prostitution, while at the same time, showing a false acknowledgement of her husband. She joined in whatever took her fancy.

This prostitution was a spiritual one, an apostate one, as Israel abandoned God and adopted all the idols of surrounding nations. In the Old Testament books of history it frequently spoke about the high places, and these were ones on raised up ground like a small hill or rocky outcrop. A place under a green tree was usually chosen and an altar or/and a shrine was built to that specific god. Sacrifices were made and for some of the heathen gods such as Moloch, human sacrifices were made of children. All these high places were detestable in the sight of the Lord God, but when the nation He redeemed from Egypt and blessed, did all these same things, the Lord was angry and strong judgement was about to fall. It already had on Israel when overthrown by Assyria, and Judah was right of the verge of judgement by Babylon. Our world today is on the edge of judgement in the Tribulation. We are that close. God tolerates sin for a period but the cut off time comes quickly.

The thing with Israel is that she did it over and over again. God punished her and she returned momentarily, but departed again. That was her sad history. There was nothing concrete or enduring with the nation and all her foundation was on sandy ground for she moved the goalposts to a godless oval. During all the paramour episodes of Israel, God waited patiently, waiting for her return. Like the prodigal son, He waited for conviction and realisation to take hold, and for the offender to return home. Most men would have blown up and kicked the wife out, even after one offence. The union would have been finished. It was bad enough, I suppose, if your wife had been caught up in adultery with one man but there was a multitude of lovers involved in Israel’s case. No god was missed, no extravagance spared.

Often a marriage partner is not aware of an affair when it happens, but here we are clearly told God knew all about Israel. How many men would forgive their wives and wait for their return, wait for them to come to their senses? Some would but I suggest very few. In our world some of the men are doing the same. I suspect it all depends on the depth of love the man has for his wife. God’s love is utterly so deep. The world looks at affairs as normal behaviour today with an incredible number having affairs. It seems to be a modern acceptance in some countries. It is the spawning ground for crime writers who turn affairs into murder novels and all the rest of today’s entertainment. God waited for Israel and sent many prophets to call the nation to repentance, but the prophets were persecuted and killed.

The heart of God is revealed in verse 7 – “and I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to Me’, but she did not return”, which shows a God of prolonged longsuffering, a God who endures the shame and the loss for the return of the nation He loves. Like a self-willed and wayward donkey, Israel wandered all over the land after having thrown off the tethering bond of love that connected her with God. What was bought and ransomed by God, and had made her healthy and secure, was rejected. Now the nation was determined to go its own way but God was ever waiting for the people to return. All they had to do was to reconsider their current state compared with their past one, and see that the new Baals or masters were oppressive and exacting and hateful.