Jeremiah 3: 1 – 25
Shameless
1 “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, may he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,” says the LORD. 2 “Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them like an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your harlotries and your wickedness. 3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; You refuse to be ashamed. 4 Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth? 5 Will He remain angry forever? Will He keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and done evil things, as you were able.” 6 The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. 7 And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear but went and played the harlot also. 9 So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the LORD. 11 Then the LORD said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not remain angry forever. 13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the LORD. 14 “Return, O backsliding children,” says the LORD; “for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 “Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says the LORD, “that they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore. 17 “At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts. 18 “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers. 19 “But I said: ‘How can I put you among the children and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?’ “And I said: ‘You shall call Me, “My Father,” and not turn away from Me.’ 20 Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,” says the LORD. 21 A voice was heard on the desolate heights, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way; They have forgotten the LORD their God. 22 “Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” “Indeed, we do come to You, for You are the LORD our God. 23 Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; Truly, in the LORD our God Is the salvation of Israel. 24 For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth—Their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 We lie down in our shame, and our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
If you have every had to deal with a completely shameless person in your life, you know it can be a pain. They walk over, run through, embarrass, and shame those around them, without seeming to bat an eye. So how do you deal with such a person? Here are some ways to deal with a shameless person.
. Keep your cool. Shameless people are usually doing boisterous things to get attention. By not engaging in their drama, you take their power away and remove the wind from their sail. However, if you fall into the trap of whatever situation they are trying to create, you will end up the embarrassed one. By not engaging, you separate yourself from the consequences as well as the emotional turmoil.
. Avoid shaming them. Shameless people are usually full of deep shame, and their ‘I don’t care’ attitude is how they are coping with it. What that means to you, is that if you shame them deeper, you are likely to cause them to act out in a greater way. You do not want to set off a chain of events that are targeted at you.
. Get some sleep. This may seem entirely unrelated to dealing with shameless people, but not getting enough sleep makes everything and everyone harder to deal with. Sleep recharges your brain, shuffling and discarding memories while you sleep so you can wake up refreshed and clear headed. Your memory self-control, and attention span are reduced when you are tired, and sleep deprivation raises hormones causing stress even without an aggravator. So, if you are facing an obnoxious over share, or an inappropriately dressed coworker, you are going to be much more irritated than you would have been if you had slept well.
. Remember their actions. Forgiveness is important because harboring toxic feelings inside you is a recipe for disaster. But to forgive, does not mean to forget. If you forget that they have no problem yelling loudly inappropriate phrases at or about you in [public, then you will be the one stuck with egg on you face when everyone in the office is staring at you for a reaction.
. Sort out the facts from the drama. Shameless people are often perpetual liars who boldly and authoritatively spew lie after lie to draw attention to themselves. And they get away with it because no one wants to confront or embarrass them. This can be frustrating, and even confusing at times. But the more ridiculous it is, the easier it will be to sort through it all to find the fats When you ignore the added drama, and address only the hard facts, it takes away the power of the lies. And discourages that kind of behavior. It shows them that they will get attention for being truthful, and so they will want to steer more in that direction. And even if they do not, it will help you to feel more in control.
Getting caught off guard can suck you right into the trap of a shameless person. Before you know what is happening, you are angry and arguing, when you could have kept your cool. You can not stop someone from pushing our buttons, if you do not see it coming. If you are alert, you can remove yourself from the situation and take a moment to regroup. While you are alone, come up with a plan to deal with the situation, and attack it head on. In this way, you will focus more on the solution than on the problem, which will help you to alleviate some of the frustration and anger that can arise when the problem is all you can see.
So, with new knowledge on how you can handle a shameless person, I want you to think about this problem that is brought out in today’s chapter. Our Holy and Loving God is going to have to deal with a whole nation that has become shameless.
As we go through this chapter you will realize that the same horrible life styles are being displayed by half our leaders. As the leaders act so act our country.
The latter rains have failed to come because they have been faithless to YHWH, something that is evident to anyone who will look to the bare hills or the wayside resting places. For there their flagrant misbehavior is made apparent. But if they will only return to Him, calling Him Father and taking Him as the guide of their youth, He may well yet be ready to listen to them. Their answer is, however, seen in their unresponsive attitudes.
1 “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, may he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,” says the LORD.
What ‘they said’ was strictly in accordance with the Law. See Deuteronomy 24.1-4. Once a man had put away his wife and she had belonged to another, he was not allowed to take her back again. And yet YHWH’s compassion was such that He was prepared, as it were, to set aside that Law and accept His people back from their lovers if only they would return to Him again. The door of mercy was still open, and this was to be the dictate of YHWH. It was not, of course, a breaking of the Law because no individual woman was involved, nor was an earthly marriage. Besides even on the facts Judah had not remarried. She had instead had many lovers. The real point is that God’s covenant love was so great that He was willing to receive Judah back if only she will truly return to Him with all her heart.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them like an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your harlotries and your wickedness.
He charges them to look at the bare heights where they have been carrying out their lewd activities and point out any place which was free from the taint of their sexual misbehavior. There was none. And He calls on them to consider the resting places by the way where they have awaited prostitutes, in the same way as an Arabian in the wilderness (who, because they lived in the wilderness had to wait for their favors in places where prostitutes might be found) would do. Thus, had they polluted the land by their irresponsible sexual activities and by their wicked ways.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; You refuse to be ashamed.
And it was because they had polluted the land that the showers had been withheld and that there had been no latter rain (the March/April rain on which the final harvest depended). Yet even when they had become aware of this they were so hardened in sin that they had refused to be ashamed. ‘You have a harlot’s forehead.’ Unlike other women who were discreet and pure, covering their heads from the eyes of men, harlots brazenly bared their foreheads so that the men whom they sought would know that they were available. It was a sign that they too, like Judah, were hardened in sin.
4 Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth?
But YHWH, ever patient in His faithfulness and compassion, still wants His people to turn to Him, so He asks them whether they will not from this time call to Him, saying, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth’. He wants them to look back to earlier days in the wilderness when they had initially sought the truth of YHWH, before they had become so hardened. If they will once again respond to Him as their Father on a continuing basis, He will gladly take them up.
5 Will He remain angry forever? Will He keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and done evil things, as you were able.”
Jeremiah then adds the final words. Will YHWH retain His anger forever? Will He keep it to the end? The answer, if only they will truly repent and turn to Him as their Father, is ‘No’, but if they remain as they are it is ‘Yes’. For Jeremiah recognizes that they are so steeped in sin that it is preventing their response. They have ‘spoken and done evil things’ and have ‘continually had their own way’. It will not be easy for them to relinquish those ways and respond to God as their Father. So like Jesus would after him Jeremiah calls on his countrymen to respond to God as their heavenly Father, but similarly to Jesus He makes clear to them that it will depend on a true and obedient response. They cannot call Him Father and not do what He says.
YHWH now gives a solemn warning to Judah based on what had happened to the northern tribes (‘the ten tribes’) as a result of their behavior towards YHWH, thereby facing Judah up to the certainty of coming judgment if they do not amend their ways, a judgment that would come in the form of a ravaged land and exile for its people (3.6-6.30). Included, however, within this warning, almost as an appetizer, is a brief glimpse of the everlasting kingdom, which was being offered to Israel, when YHWH will be seated on His throne, and all His people will look to Him as Father (3.12-18). Like Hosea, Isaiah, and other prophets before him Jeremiah balances his message of doom with promises of future blessing. Whatever Israel and Judah did, he knew that God’s purposes would not fail in the end.
In the words found in 3.6-6.30 we have now come to the only passage in chapters 1-20 which is specifically said to have been a revelation given, at least in part, during the days of a particular king, and in this case, it is in the days of King Josiah. This is probably intended to underline the fact that Jeremiah’s early teaching, while giving an overall coverage, includes words spoken during that reign, and it is thus of prime importance as continually stressing that even during Josiah’s reign things were not well in Judah.
Because of what they had done Israel were in exile, and were ashamed of their ways, but if only they would turn to Him in their exile they would be restored. For them there was hope. It was very different with ‘treacherous Judah’. They were without shame and without repentance.
YHWH here refers Judah back to consideration of the behavior of Israel, her erstwhile northern neighbor whose land had been devastated and had by now been taken over by strangers. Because backsliding Israel had herself ‘played the harlot’ on every high hill and every green tree, and had subsequently refused to turn back to YHWH, she had been punished and sent into exile. This was now intended to be an object lesson to ‘treacherous Judah’. For it was YHWH Who had given Israel a bill of divorce which had resulted in her exile among the nations. And yet even now it appeared that Judah had not learned her lesson and was demonstrating by her behaviour that Israel had been more righteous than ‘treacherous Judah’, in that, while following in the ways of Israel, Judah was feigning a response to YHWH that was not genuine. This will then later lead on to the question as to what that would mean for Judah (4.3 ff.), but first the issue must be pressed home, accompanied by a remarkable promise of future hope.
6 The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.
During the days when Josiah the king was on the throne YHWH, with a view to giving a message to Judah, asked Jeremiah whether he had noted what backsliding Israel had done. She had gone up on every high hill and under every green tree where she had ‘played the harlot’. (the same was then true of Judah). In other words, the whole of Israel, apart from the few who had heeded the teaching of the prophets like Hosea and Amos, had been following idolatrous practices.
7 And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
But YHWH then informed Jeremiah that He had consoled Himself with the thought that Israel would eventually realize their folly and return to Him. Once they had sated themselves with these things surely, they would return! But the truth had turned out to be that they did not return. And not only did they not return but the fact was observed by their treacherous sister Judah (many of whom probably visited the shrines at Bethel and Gilgal for the syncretistic feasts). The description of Judah as ‘treacherous’ (it will be repeated three times) indicates that what He is now saying is really aimed at Judah.
8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear but went and played the harlot also.
But although Judah had observed what Israel had done in committing adultery against YHWH and had noted that as a result YHWH had given to Israel a certificate of divorce (sending her into exile), ‘treacherous Judah’ did not learn from it and become faithful to YHWH, but instead, she also went and ‘played the harlot’. She too committed adultery against YHWH.
9 So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
The result of Israel’s light-hearted attitude towards her ‘whoredom’ (that is, to her seeking to Baal and Asherah through ritual sexual misbehavior) was that the land was polluted, and ‘she committed adultery with stones and trees’. The reference is seemingly to the fact that the sacred prostitutes with whom they mated represented Baal and Asherah who in turn were represented by stone pillars and wooden images.
10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the LORD.
And yet even with this vivid example before her, treacherous sister Judah also did not genuinely return to YHWH, but only pretended to do so - and this was stated to be so on ‘the word of YHWH’.
11 Then the LORD said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
YHWH sums up the situation by declaring that ‘backsliding Israel had showed herself to be more righteous than treacherous Judah’. Better an honest sinner than a hypocrite! And Judah’s failure was made all the worse because they had already had the warning which Israel’s fate should have brought home to them, and because they had experienced the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah. Note the threefold description of Judah as ‘treacherous’ demonstrating the completeness of her treachery.
Having established that Judah was even more guilty than Israel YHWH now breaks into the message of gloom by demonstrating hope for the future for Israel. Based on His great mercy He called through Jeremiah for Israel’s return to the land. This was a flash-forward into the future. While at present she was in exile, if she would only admit her backsliding and repent He promises that He will bring her back and will once again be a husband to her (compare the inference in 2.2, and Hosea 1-3). Then He will give to her shepherds according to His own heart who will feed her in knowledge and understanding. And in that day Israel will no more be dependent on the presence of the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH (which was seen by them as the throne of YHWH), nor will they even think of it or miss it, because the whole of Jerusalem will have become (will ‘be called’) ‘The Throne of YHWH’. Then all nations will gather to Jerusalem, and Israel will no longer walk in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, but will rather be one with Judah, something which will be made possible by their looking to YHWH as their Father and truly following Him.
In these words, YHWH makes clear His future intentions for His people, and seeks to arouse Judah to jealousy. Initially His words were a call to return accompanied by glowing promises, but when that call failed to achieve its purpose it became a prophetic indication of what the future would hold.
12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say:
‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not remain angry forever.
Jeremiah is commanded to go and ‘proclaim words towards the north’ for it was to the north that Israel had been taken captive (2 Kings 17.6). Such proclamations to a far-off people are found regularly in the prophets, for the prophets were acting in the Name of YHWH and could therefore be sure that their words would eventually be fulfilled because they were His word which went forth from His mouth and would prosper in the way to which He sent it (Isaiah 55.10-13). And this proclamation to Israel was to be that they should return from their backsliding with the assurance that if they did so YHWH would no longer look on them with anger, which would be because of His great compassion. As the Merciful One He would not retain His anger forever.
13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the LORD.
Nevertheless, their return was conditional on their acknowledging their iniquity, and admitting that they had transgressed against YHWH, and had had sexual relationships with (‘scattered their ways to’) strangers under every green tree, thus failing to be obedient to His voice. There could be no return without repentance and a full admission of guilt. This again was ‘the word of YHWH’.
14 “Return, O backsliding children,” says the LORD; “for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
So YHWH calls for the return of Israel, His backsliding children in exile, on the grounds that He is their ‘husband’, a word expressing His tender love and concern for them (Hosea 1.3). They are not being called back to slavery, but to a loving family relationship. Yet He recognizes that all will not return, and He informs them that He will therefore call from among them a remnant, one from a city, two from a family, and will bring them to Zion, and there He would give them shepherds after His own heart who would provide them with true knowledge and understanding. The idea would appear to be to arouse Judah to jealousy.
This prophecy was in fact initially fulfilled in that many Israelites would have made their way back to Palestine in ones and twos once Cyrus’s policies had made it possible and would have united with the men of Judah in re-establishing the land.
16 “Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says the LORD, “that they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore.
As always with the prophets, Jeremiah spoke of the coming eternity in terms connected with this earth. God’s promises were to be firmly rooted, and not in some world of the gods beyond the skies.
This verse has within it the ring of eternity. In that future day earthly symbols will no longer be required but will be gone forever. And that would be true even of the holy ‘Ark of the Covenant of YHWH’ which was YHWH’s earthly throne (and disappeared at the time of the Babylonian captivity). It would neither come to mind, or be remembered or be missed, or have reference made to it, because (as verse 17 makes clear) they would be enjoying something even more glorious, the real presence of YHWH upon His throne in the new Jerusalem where they would walk in His light and see His face (Revelation 21.22-23; 22.3-5). ‘There will be no curse any more, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it --’ (Revelation 22.3), and His people will be there as His bride.
We must always remember that the prophets as they looked forward saw heavenly realities in terms of this earth. They had no concept of a Heaven beyond to which human beings could go. That was something that had not yet been revealed and was outside the range of their thinking, and it was well that it was so, for had they enunciated such an idea it would immediately have been mixed up in men’s minds with polytheistic ideas about the world of the gods and have been supporting Baalism. Thus, their ideas were firmly rooted in terms of this earth but would eventually develop into the idea of ‘the new Heaven and the new earth’ (Isaiah 65.17; 2. Peter 3.13; Revelation 21.1). It was there that the promises to Abraham would be fulfilled (Hebrews 11.10-14). For the coming of an everlasting kingdom required an everlasting environment.
As we look back on history we can see how the promises made through the prophets were slowly being fulfilled. Initial fulfilment came in the return of the people of Israel/Judah back to the land and the re-establishment of the Davidic rule and of God’s Law. This was then followed, once that Israel had once again failed, by the establishment of the church by Jesus Christ, the son of David (John 15.1-6) proclaiming truth and understanding. And that, as Jesus made clear, would achieve its final fulfilment in the new Heaven and the new earth. That is why we are to set our minds on things above and build up treasure in Heaven (Colossians 1.1-3; Matthew 6.19).
17 “At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.
And at that time there will be a new Jerusalem, a heavenly Jerusalem, which will be called ‘The Throne of YHWH’ (Revelation 22.3). This was something already clearly depicted by Isaiah 2.2-4, none of which could be literally fulfilled on this earth. And to this new Jerusalem will be gathered men and women of all nations, gathered to the Name of YHWH, and they will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their own hearts (Revelation 21.24, 27).
18 “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.
In that day there will no longer be division and disunity. Israel and Judah will once again be united, and they will come again out of the land of the north to which they had been exiled (Judah’s exile is already in mind) to the land given as an inheritance to their fathers. This certainly happened when, once Cyrus was on the throne, exiles were allowed to return to their own lands, and the Jews became one people, so much so that by the time of Jesus most could not be sure of their tribal connections, which were lost in antiquity (with the result that those who could make those connections saw themselves as superior to the others). But as previously YHWH’s deliverance would fail to achieve its purpose because of man’s rebellion, with the result that the promises were transferred to the new Heaven and the new earth, to the new land given to their fathers for an inheritance (Hebrews 11.10-14; Revelation 21).
19 “But I said: ‘How can I put you among the children and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?’ “And I said: ‘You shall call Me, “My Father,” and not turn away from Me.’
YHWH’s intentions for them were good. They would be set among the people of the world
One point being established here was that God as Creator was the Father of all the people in the world (they were His children), but that the nations had turned away from Him and had refused to follow Him. Israel were to be different. They were to call Him ‘my Father’ and were to follow Him and walk in obedience to Him (as children were expected to be obedient to their fathers).
And there, He said, ‘You will call Me ‘My Father’ and will not turn away from following Me.’ It is hardly necessary to point out that this was precisely the message that Jesus Christ came to bring, arriving in the land to which they had gathered and laying great emphasis on God as the heavenly Father of His believing people. And those who did respond did not turn away from following Him, even in the most adverse circumstances of severe persecution. But again its final fulfilment awaits the new Heaven and the new earth ‘wherein dwells righteousness’ (2 Peter 3.13), for only there will sin be finally done away.
The beautiful vision just revealed of YHWH’s intentions for His people is in deliberate and stark contrast to the reality. For far from turning to Him in repentance Israel are set in their evil ways. They are like a wife who has treacherously deserted her husband, and in their perverted way are weeping and praying on the bare heights to gods who will not profit, because they have forgotten YHWH their God. This may refer to the exiles, or to the remnants who had remained in the land, or to both.
Nevertheless unfailingly He still offers them the opportunity of repentance. They are, however depicted as seeing themselves as beyond repentance, superficially recognizing that YHWH is indeed the only Savior, but being filled with deep shame because their penchant for idolatry (‘the shameful thing’) has resulted in the loss of everything that they had previously possessed, with the result that they feel that they can only lie down in shame and allow their confusion to cover them because of the depths of their sin against YHWH. They feel totally lost and without hope.
But YHWH then promises that if only they will truly come to Him in true repentance, putting away their idols, they can be delivered from their helpless state and become established in YHWH in truth and righteousness and a blessing to the nations. God’s mercy is still being offered to smitten Israel. There is in this a wonderful picture of the continuing graciousness of God towards those who have rejected Him, and to those who backslide. And it includes us, for had it not been for His continuing mercy in the face of our sin, where would we have been?
20 Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,” says the LORD.
Israel’s true state is made clear. They have dealt treacherously with God like a wife who has treacherously deserted her husband (which was why they were now in exile). Note therefore that it is not only Judah who are treacherous. It was just that Judah were more treacherous both in their hypocritical double standards and in their ignoring, what had happened to Israel.
21 A voice was heard on the desolate heights, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way; They have forgotten the LORD their God.
In a vivid picture the truth about them is made clear. On the bare heights where they had always gone to meet with their idolatrous gods they are still weeping before them and making supplication to them, and this was clear evidence that they had perverted their way and had forgotten YHWH. They were totally taken up with their idols. Or the idea may be that the remnants of Israel still in the land were weeping there in desperation for their stricken land. Not all of Israel had been taken into exile. A remnant still struggled on in the land.
Some see their weeping as directed at YHWH, but that would hardly have been on the bare heights where the false sanctuaries were, and had they so wept they would have been received back and forgiven.
22 “Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” “Indeed we do come to You, for You are the LORD our God. 23 Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; Truly, in the LORD our God Is the salvation of Israel.
So YHWH calls on Israel (this chapter is all about Northern Israel, being held up as an example to Judah) as His backsliding (turning away) children to return back so that He may ‘heal their backslidings (turnings away)’, by forgiving them and restoring them to the true path, and then restoring to them all that they have lost. The term backsliding (turning) includes the thoughts of falling away, turning away from Him, going far from Him and stubborn resistance to YHWH’s call. To bring out the force of the Hebrew we might translate as, ‘Turn back you are turning away people, and I will heal your turnings away’.
Israel are then portrayed as ostentatiously and hypocritically acknowledging their folly and coming to Him. In doing so they profess to recognize that YHWH is their true God, and that all their attempts to look for help from the hills and to persuade the gods to act by all their tumultuous rituals and activities had been in vain. They profess to recognize that in truth YHWH alone is their God and is the only One Who can bring about the salvation of Israel. But it was not from the heart. They were simply oscillating in their despair between YHWH and their idols, assuring first one and then the other of their loyalty. (This is paralleled by the way that nations seek God at a time of national crisis with all kinds of expressions of submission, and then subsequently once again forget Him).
24 For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth—Their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
But then they must recognize the realities of the situation. They have lost everything. For ‘the shameful thing’ (their idolatrous behavior) has devoured everything that their fathers had worked for and had produced from their youth. This may signify the centuries of wasted sacrifices, or that now they had lost their flocks and their herds, and many had lost their sons and their daughters, to the invader. And they were in exile among the nations. It had been a bitter price to pay (but brings out how seriously God treats sin, seeing it as no light matter).
25 We lie down in our shame, and our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
Thus, they feel that they can only lie down in their shame and let their confusion cover them. For they recognize that they have sinned against YHWH their God, both them and their fathers, from their youth (just as they had worked from their youth (verse 24) to build up their herds and flocks while ignoring YHWH) and even to this day. And they had not obeyed YHWH their God. It is a true summary of Israel’s state. But their repentance was not deep enough to genuinely bring them back to Him.
