Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Jeremiah 3: I will heal your faithlessness.

 In Jeremiah 3 we read:

1 God [a]says, “If a husband divorces his wife
And she leaves him
And becomes another man’s wife,
Will he return to her again?
Would that land not be completely defiled?
But you are a prostitute with many [b]lovers;
Yet you turn to Me,” declares the Lord.

No man would openly receive a wife that had sexual relation with other men because she humiliated her husband. If she pretends that nothing happened she is behaving like a prostitute. The reconciliation should begin with repentance that would manifest in words and actions. The Lord says that Israel and Judah behaves like a prostitute because they worshiped false gods.

3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
And there has been no spring rain.
Yet you had a prostitute’s [c]forehead;
You refused to be ashamed.

The sin lead to lack of rain, but Israel and Judah refused to be ashamed, even worse, Judah asks the Lord:

4 ... Will He be angry forever,
Or keep His anger to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken
And have done evil things,
And you have [d]had your own way.”

Despite all this, the Lord wants the reconciliation:

12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say,
‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not [h]look at you in anger.
For I am gracious,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not be angry forever.
13 Only [i]acknowledge your wrongdoing,
That you have revolted against the Lord your God,
And have scattered your [j]favors to the strangers under every leafy tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.
14 ‘Return, you faithless sons,’ declares the Lord;
‘For I am a master to you,
And I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
And bring you to Zion.’


The Lord promisses prosperity after the reconciliation:

15 “Then I will give you shepherds [k]after My own heart, who will feed you knowledge and understanding. 16 And it shall be in those days when you become numerous and are fruitful in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor miss it, nor will it be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the Lord,’ and all the nations will assemble at it, at Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord; and they will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In 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 your fathers as an inheritance.

...

21 A voice is heard on the bare heights,
The weeping, the pleading of the sons of Israel.
Because they have perverted their way,
They have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Return, you faithless sons,
I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to You;
For You are the Lord our God.
23 Certainly the hills are a deception,
[m]Commotion on the mountains.
Certainly in the Lord our God
Is the salvation of Israel.

The Lord wants the reconciliation. In v22 the Lord says "I will heal your faithlessness". The one who receives the message says: "“Behold, we come to You;
For You are the Lord our God.".

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