Jeremiah 3
OGCREVIEW OF CHAPTER FIVE
I. Facts to Master.
The time of these sermons (Jeremiah 3:6).
The great act in the past that demonstrated God’s special favor (Jeremiah 2:6-7).
Places which Jeremiah challenges the people to look for similar examples of apostasy (Jeremiah 2:10).
Something that foreign nations had never done (Jeremiah 2:11).
What the people had substituted for the Fountain of Living Waters (Jeremiah 2:13).
The two cities representative of Egypt (Jeremiah 2:16).
The identity of the waters of Sihor and the River (Jeremiah 2:18).
The significance of the term harlotry in Jeremiah’s preaching.
A key word in Jeremiah: Your children have received no______________ (Jeremiah 2:30).
The law which Jeremiah cites in Jeremiah 3:1.
The two faithless sisters mentioned in Jeremiah 3:6-10.
That which would no longer be missed in the Messianic Age (Jeremiah 3:16).
The name that Jerusalem would have in the Messianic Age (Jeremiah 3:17).
The great reunion in the Messianic age.
The name by which God desired to be called (Jeremiah 3:19).
Questions to Ponder.
How would you compare and contrast Jeremiah’s reference to living water with Jesus-’ use of the term in John 4:5-26?
What are some of the broken cisterns which men have hewed out for themselves today?
In what ways does Jeremiah indicate the worthlessness of idols in chapter 2?
Should Jeremiah 3:1-5 be regarded as an appeal to the people or as a rejection of Israel? Are these verses a plea or a protest?
Should the call for repentance in Jeremiah 3:6-10 be dated before or after the reformation of Josiah in 621 B.C..? See the hint in Jeremiah 3:10.
What lesson of history had Judah failed to learn? See Jeremiah 3:8. Why is it important for a citizen to know the history of his country?
What is repentance? What are the idols from which men need to turn in our days?
What principle was the prophet employing when he declared in Jeremiah 3:11 that Israel (Northern King dom) was more righteous than Judah?
What role does confession play in repentance? What should the sinner confess? Why should he confess if God already knows all the sin that he has committed? See Jeremiah 3:13; Jeremiah 3:23-25.
Who are the shepherds that God promises to give to his restored people? Why are they necessary? See Jeremiah 3:15. Do you think that enough emphasis is put on conserving those who are converted to Christ today?
Is it legitimate to regard Jerusalem in Jeremiah 3:17 as a prophetic reference to the church and the re unification of Judah and Israel as prophetic of the union of Jew and Gentile in the church?
What are the various conditions which the people were to meet if they were to enjoy the blessings of God? Jeremiah 4:1-2.
Jeremiah 3:1-5
II. GOD’S APPEAL To HIS PEOPLE Jeremiah 3:1 to Jeremiah 4:4
After the blistering indictment of his inaugural sermon Jeremiah takes up the subject of repentance. He speaks here of (1) the possibility of repentance (Jeremiah 3:1-5); (2) the need for repentance (Jeremiah 3:6-10); (3) the call to repentance (Jeremiah 3:11-15); (4) the blessings of repentance (Jeremiah 3:16-22 a); (5) The prayer of repentance (Jeremiah 3:22b-25) and (6) the rewards of repentance (Jeremiah 4:1-4).
A. The Possibility of Repentance Jeremiah 3:1-5
TRANSLATION
(1) They say if a man divorce his wife and she shall go from him and shall become another man’S, may he return unto her again? Would not that land become greatly polluted? But you have committed harlotry with many lovers; yet return unto Me (oracle of the LORD). (2) Lift up your eyes unto the high hills and look! Where have you not been lain with? Along the ways you have sat for them as an Arabian in the desert; you have polluted a land with your harlotry and with your iniquity. (3) So the showers were withheld and there was no latter rain; yet the forehead of a harlot you possessed, you refused to be ashamed. (4) Will you not right now call to Me, My Father! You are the Husband of my youth! (5) Will He keep His anger forever? Will He keep it always? Behold, you have spoken but you have done evil things and you have succeeded.
COMMENTS
Is it possible for Judah after years of spiritual harlotry to return to the Lord? According to the law of Moses a woman who had been divorced and who had married another could not be reclaimed by the original husband (Deuteronomy 24:1-4). In the light of this law is it legally possible for the Lord to take Judah back again? The answer is No! Judah’s case is much worse than that envisaged in the divorce law. In the law of Moses the woman who has been legally married to a second husband could not be reclaimed. But Judah has cavorted around with many lovers, i.e. false gods, and therefore no longer had any legal claim on the Lord. But grace triumphs over law. In spite of the legal impossibility of repentance and reconciliation God calls upon Judah to return to Him (Jeremiah 3:1).
That the guilt of Judah might clearly be established Jeremiah calls upon the people to lift up their eyes to the high places where their illicit religion was being practiced. One cannot find a prominent noll in all the land which had not been defiled by the licentious rites of Baal. Like a lonely Arab in the midst of the desert who eagerly joins himself to any caravans or passers-by, Israel has embraced every form of idolatry which has come along. This iniquitous spiritual harlotry has polluted the land (Jeremiah 3:2). Therefore God has punished them by withholding the showers and especially the latter rain of early spring which was so essential to an abundant harvest. Yet no amount of divine discipline could make Israel feel the shame of her wantonness. As a prostitute remains brazen and shameless when confronted with her deeds, so Israel gave no evidence of shame even when suffering the consequences of her sin (Jeremiah 3:3).
The past can be forgotten and forgiven if Israel right now, at this very moment, will acknowledge the Lord as God. Instead of calling the idols of wood and stone my father will you not give that appellation to Me?, the Lord pleads. Will you not acknowledge Me as the husband of your youth? (Jeremiah 3:4). The translation husband here is justified on the basis of Pro 2:17 where the same word is used. The word can also mean intimate friend and even guide as in the American Standard and King James versions. As a matter of fact, according to Jeremiah 3:5 Judah had spoken the things which God had requested in the previous verse. At the same time, however; they had continued to do evil things thus indicating that their words were insincere and hypocritical. So far they had gotten by with this hypocrisy but God will not keep His anger for ever (Jeremiah 3:5). Shortly they will face the God of judgment.
Jeremiah 3:6-10
B. The Need for Repentance Jeremiah 3:6-10
TRANSLATION
(6) And the LORD said unto me in the days of Josiah the king: Have You seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She continuously goes upon every high mountain and under every green tree and you commit harlotry there. (7) And I said, After she has done all these things, she will return unto Me; but she did not return. And the faithless one, her sister Judah, saw it. (8) And I saw, when, because of the fact that Backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I put her away and gave a writing of divorcement unto her, yet the Treacherous One, Judah her sister, did not fear but she went and committed harlotry. (9) And it came to pass that because of the lightness of her harlotry she polluted the land and she committed adultery with stones and stocks. (10) And even in all of this her treacherous sister Judah did not return unto Me with all her heart, but deceitfully (oracle of the LORD).
COMMENTS
The need for repentance in Judah was made manifest by what had happened in the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel was Backsliding personified. Throughout her history Israel had recklessly pursued the false gods upon every prominent noll where they would feel closer to the deities and under every green tree which would furnish welcome shade for the practice of their lustful desires. The last clause of verse six is actually in the second person though this has been obscured in the standard English translations: and you commit harlotry there. This is either a parenthetical direct address to the northern tribes which are presently in exile or else the prophet points to his hearers and declares you too have engaged in such licentious acts.
Through the two hundred years of the history of the northern kingdom God waited patiently for His foolhardy people to tire of roving from Him. God is not willing that any should perish. He was hopeful, even anxious, that wayward Israel would return to Him. But if God knows the future did He not know Israel would refuse to repent? Jeremiah does not bother to deal with this question. He has no interest in working out a systematic theology. He is not concerned with questions of omniscience and foreknowledge in this passage. Jeremiah is not attempting to be a logician but an artist. He is painting a picture of a loving and gracious God on the one hand and a stubborn and rebellious people on the other. Judah saw what transpired in the north and yet refused to profit from that experience (Jeremiah 3:7). Even when God divorced His adulterous wife Israel by sending her into Assyrian captivity Judah did not fear but continued in her own harlotry (Jeremiah 3:8). Apostasy in Judah was regarded rather lightly and consequently the land was polluted. Judah forsook her Bridegroom and committed adultery with gods of wood and stone (Jeremiah 3:9). The wickedness of idolatry is only exceeded by the folly of it. Like an adulterous wife who promises to be faithful to her husband while at the same time perpetuating liaison with her lover, so Judah deceitfully pledged herself to the Lord. The Treacherous One had not returned to the Lord with her whole heart. Some scholars think that in Jeremiah 3:10 Jeremiah is giving his assessment of the reformation of Josiah, that it was not sincere but hypocritical. It is not certain, of course, that this paragraph should be dated after the reform.
Jeremiah 3:11-14
C. The Call to Repentance Jeremiah 3:11-14
TRANSLATION
(11) And the LORD said unto me, More righteous is Backsliding Israel than Treacherous Judah. (12) Go and call these words to the north and say, Return, O Backsliding Israel (oracle of the LORD). I will not frown on you for I am kind (oracle of the LORD): I will not keep anger for ever. (13) But realize your iniquity, that against the LORD your God you have transgressed and you scattered your ways to strangers under every green tree and you did not obey My voice (oracle of the LORD). (14) Return, O Backsliding sons (oracle of the LORD), for I am married to you and I will take you one of a city and two from a family and I will bring you to Zion.
COMMENTS
The present paragraph indicates that Jeremiah had a warm regard for the exiles of the northern kingdom, The sins of Israel though considerable were less than those of Judah (Jeremiah 3:11). Why does God regard Judah as more guilty? Because Judah had before her the example of Israel. More light brings greater responsibility in the sight of God. Furthermore, Judah was guilty of hypocrisy in her dealings with God (see Jeremiah 3:10). God still yearns for Israel’s repentance and return even after a hundred years of punishment in exile. So the prophet is instructed to cry out toward the north i.e., Assyria where the ten tribes had been deported (2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11). The word return in the Old Testament carries the idea of going back to the original point of departure.[147] If Israel repents they will find that God is kind and anxious to receive them. He will not frown upon them and continue to be angry with them if they will but repent (Jeremiah 3:12).
[147] W. L. Holladay, The Root Subh in the Old Testament (Leiden: Brill, 1958).
The return to God must be accompanied by sincere confession and acknowledgement of sin. Confession, which always precedes forgiveness, is telling God what He already knows about us. In the present case the confession was to involve acknowledgement of iniquity, transgression and disobedience. They had scattered their ways in the sense of wandering in every direction seeking gods whose service was deemed more enjoyable and beneficial than the service of the Lord (Jeremiah 3:13).
In Jeremiah 3:1 LI the Lord, first as a Father and then as an Husband, pleads with Backsliding Israel to return. The marriage relationship to the nation Israel may have been severed (Jeremiah 3:8) but God is still the husband of every individual Israelite, The you in this verse is plural in the Hebrew referring to individuals. Not many will accept the gracious invitation to repent. Mass conversion was no longer a live option. God knew that most of those exiled Israelites would not return to Him. But if only one from a whole city or two from a whole clan or tribe repents the Lord will not overlook those individuals. He will bring back to Zion everyone who turns to Him in sincere repentance (Jeremiah 3:14). The verse clearly underlines the fact that God is concerned with individuals and that only a few from the northern tribes would actually return to Palestine. The post-exilic records in Ezra and Nehemiah reveal that a few, but only a few, of the exiles from the northern tribes did return after the collapse of Babylon in 539 B.C. But the prophecy has a higher fulfillment. Zion in prophecy frequently represents the Messianic kingdom. Zion is not a geographical location but a spiritual condition. The passage then speaks of the conversion of sinners and the incorporation of the redeemed into the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah 3:15-22
D. The Blessings of Repentance Jeremiah 3:15-22 a
TRANSLATION
(15) And I will give you shepherds according to My heart who shall feed you with knowledge and wisdom. (16) And it shall come to pass when you have multi plied and grown numerous in the land in those days (oracle of the LORD) they will no longer say, The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD! It will not enter the mind; they will neither remember it nor miss it, nor shall one be made again. (17) In that time they shall call Jerusalem The throne of the LORD and all nations shall be gathered unto it, to the Name of the LORD and to Jerusalem; and they shall not go any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. (18) In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel and they shall come together from the land of the north unto the land which I caused your fathers to inherit. (19) But I said, How can I put you among the sons, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations? Then I said, You must call me my Father and you must not turn back from after Me. (20) Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband thus you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel (oracle of the LORD). (21) A voice is heard upon the bare heights, weeping supplications of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their ways, they have forsaken the LORD their God. (22) Return, O backsliding sons, I will heal your backsliding.
COMMENTS
If individuals of the ten northern tribes truly repent and are brought by God into spiritual Zion they will experience many wonderful blessings. First, they will be blessed with a new leadership (Jeremiah 3:15). After evangelism must come education and conservation. God is not just concerned to win back His people but also to preserve them in the faith. Thus He will provide for them shepherds, spiritual leaders who will be in harmony with His will and who will impart to the converts wisdom and knowledge of God. One thinks of Christ, the Good Shepherd (John 6:35-63), and the faithful men of God who have fed the flock through the centuries.
The second blessing is that of prosperity and growth. The rapid increase of the spiritual Israel of God is one of the characteristic traits of Messianic prophecy.[148] The Book of Acts contains the record of the thrilling fulfillment of this prediction. The number of the New Israel of God grew from 120 souls (Acts 1:15) to 3,000 souls (Acts 2:41) to 5,000 souls (Acts 4:4). And that was only the beginning! Surely God has kept His promise and blessed the New Israel numerically.
[148] See Genesis 15:5-6; Genesis 17:2; Genesis 28:14; Jeremiah 23:3; Ezekiel 36:11; Hosea 1:10; Hosea 2:23.
In the Messianic age a new covenant will replace the cherished Ark of the Covenant (Jeremiah 3:16). The Ark of the Covenant was vital to the religious life in Old Testament times. It must have come as a shock to even the most devout Jew to hear for the first time the announcement that the Ark would not play any role whatsoever in the New Israel. After all, the God-ordained worship of the Old Testament centered around the Sanctuary and around the Ark. The Ark is represented in the law of Moses as the throne of the Lord. It was the tangible, visible symbol of God’s presence. But worship of the New Israel would be internalized and spiritual. A symbol of God’s presence would no longer be needed when God Himself in the person of His Son would dwell in the midst of His people. The once for all time sacrifice on Calvary would make unnecessary and superfluous the mercy seat upon which blood was sprinkled annually for the sins of the people. The Ark will disappear, says the prophet. So it did. When the Jews returned from Babylon to rebuild their Temple they had no Ark to place in the Holy of Holies. The absence of that Ark was an evident token to those who were spiritually wise that the Old Covenant was ready to vanish away and make way for the New.
In years to come a new city would replace earthly Jerusalem (Jeremiah 3:17). The throne of God will no longer be the Ark of the Covenant[149] but rather the holy city, the new Jerusalem. The New Covenant Jerusalem is none other than the New Testament Church. The Apostle Paul calls it the Jerusalem which is above i.e., spiritual Jerusalem of which all believers are citizens (Galatians 4:24-31). Jesus Christ sits on the throne of God and rules over His church and in the midst of His church (Ephesians 1:20-23). Ezekiel speaks of that same city when he says the name of the city from that day shall be, -the LORD is there-’ (Ezekiel 48:35).
[149] The Ark of the Covenant is never called in the Old Testament the throne of God, yet it was in fact no less than that.
In the Messianic age Jerusalem will be blessed with a new attractiveness. Jerusalem shall become the spiritual center of the world and all nations shall gather there. The gathering of Gentiles into the Church of Christ is another frequent theme in Messianic prophecy (e.g., Isaiah 60; Isaiah 62). Because they have experienced genuine conversion these Gentiles no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart. But what is it that attracts these Gentiles to the New Covenant Jerusalem, the Church? The verse seems to suggest that it is the Name of the Lord which attracts them. The name of God in the Old Testament was very significant. It revealed something of the character and nature of God. The Name of God in this verse is not an abstract idea or even a personification but a person.[150] It is the Lord Jesus Christ who came into the world to reveal to men the character and nature of God. The Name here is virtually equivalent to the Logos or Word of John 1.
[150] Note the language of Isa 30:27; Isaiah 26:8; Isaiah 59:19 where the name of God is personalized.
A new fellowship shall characterize the Israel of the future. Israel and Judah shall be reunited for the first time since the great schism of 931 B.C. The reunion of these two estranged sister nations is also a major theme in the Messianic prophecy of the Old Testament.[151] The Israelites and Jews are depicted returning together from the land of the north, i.e., Assyria and Babylonia, to the land of Canaan which God had given to their fathers centuries earlier. The Apostle Paul quotes a similar reunion passage from Hosea and applies it to the unity of believers that exists in the Church of Christ (Romans 9:25-26). Therefore while the present passage may have had a prefillment in the days of the restoration from Babylon, its fulfillment came in the Messianic age.
[151] Jeremiah 2:4; Isaiah 11:12; Ezekiel 37:16 ff.; Hosea 2:2; Hosea 1:11.
In Jeremiah 3:19 a God asks,[152] in effect, How shall I give you this wonderful heritage of which I have been speaking in view of the fact that you have rejected Me? God then answers His own question, I can thus bless you if you will call Me -my Father-’ and not turn away from Me. The most wonderful inheritance that can befall a man is to be part of the kingdom of heaven. That, says Jeremiah, is the most beautiful inheritance of the nations. One is only entitled to that inheritance when he is able by virtue of the New Birth to call God my Father. One can only claim that inheritance when he has been faithful unto death.
[152] The American Standard Version and a number of commentators prefer to render the first half of Jer 3:19 as an exclamation instead of a question. Either rendering is possible.
From an idealistic view of the distant future the prophet returns in Jeremiah 3:20 to a realistic view of the present. As God looks upon the nation all he presently sees in the whole house of Israel i.e., the whole nation, is unfaithfulness and apostasy. Just as a faithless wife departs from her husband so has the covenant nation departed from the divine Husband (Jeremiah 3:20). The sad description of the present state of affairs ends abruptly and the prophet moves on to a graphic description of the repentance for which God yearns. Like a father listening for the faintest cry of a lost child, so God listens for some sign that the long apostasy has ended. Finally, He hears it. On the high places where once their boisterous idolatrous festivities were conducted now comes forth lamentation and mourning, and prayers pleading for forgiveness for having perverted their ways and having forsaken the Lord (Jeremiah 3:21). Lest they feel that their sin is too grievous and their repentance futile the Lord immediately offers them words of encouragement. He addresses them as sons and calls upon them to return to Him. He, the Great physician, will heal them of their spiritual maladies and restore them to spiritual health if they will but come unto Him (Jeremiah 3:22 a).
Jeremiah 3:22-25
E. The Prayer of Repentance Jeremiah 3:22b-25
TRANSLATION
(22b) Here we are, we have come to you because you are the LORD our God. (23) Truly the hills are a swindle, the tumult of the mountains; Truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. (24) But shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. (25) Let us lie down in our shame and let our reproach cover us, for against the LORD our God we have sinned, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day; we have not hearkened to the voice of the LORD our God.
COMMENTS
The exact nature of the verses in this section has puzzled commentators. Does this forthright confession represent the longing of the Lord? Do these verses indicate the wishful thinking on the part of the prophet? Are these words the confession of a few converted people within the nation? Is this confession predictive of a time when men would realize the folly of idolatry and turn in true allegiance to God? This much is certain! The confession gives all the appearances of being sincere and honest. The present writer feels that the prophet intended these verses to be an ideal prayer of repentance, the kind of prayer that God expected and demanded of those who would truly return to Him. It is, to use the words of Laetsch, a future ideal still far removed from the present reality.[153]
[153] Laetsch, op. cit., p. 64.
The last part of Jer 3:22 depicts the eager response of the people to the gracious invitation which the Lord has just offered in the first half of the verse. The people confess that the pagan worship conducted on the hills has proved to be vain. They admit that they had been spiritually swindled by the tumult of the mountains, i.e., the wild orgies[154] which accompanied idol-worship (Jeremiah 3:23). True spiritual power is not always proportionate to the boisterousness of the religious observance. The Hebrew word translated shame in Jeremiah 3:24 is the word bosheth which often serves in the Old Testament as a euphemism for Baal.[155] For as long as these folks can remember Baal worship has devoured the resources of the nation. Their flocks and herds and even their sons and daughters had been offered as sacrifices to the pagan deities (Jeremiah 3:24). Then, too, because of their idolatry divine punishment came upon them which destroyed the labor of their hands, their animals and children. Thus the foolish people had to pay double for the worship of Baal: The initial sacrifice which the Baal demanded and the subsequent punishment which the Lord exacted. The repentant sinners are so ashamed that they resolve to prostrate themselves, an expression of the deepest sorrow. Their guilt is so intense that it seems to enshroud them. In bitter tears of shame and remorse they cry out, We have sinned against the Lord our God! This is the godly sorrow that leads to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:9-11). When one realizes the true nature of sin and the true nature of the God against who he has sinned, he cannot help but feel the agonizing shame depicted so vividly in Jeremiah 3:25.
[154] For an example of tumultuous Baal worship see 1Kings 18. Others take the tumult of the mountains to refer to the multitudes who gathered on the mountains to worship Baal. Still others feel the word refers to the idols themselves.
[155] For examples where bosheth is substituted for Baal, see Jeremiah 11:13; Hosea 9:10; 2 Samuel 11:21; Judges 6:32; 2 Samuel 2:8 and 1 Chronicles 8:33.