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Scripture Reading: Jer. 3:6-25; 4:1-31
In 3:6—4:31 we see that Israel could either return to Jehovah or receive His correction for her apostasy. God's correction is a matter of His chastisement.
Jeremiah 3:6-11 speaks of Israel the wife's apostasy. To commit apostasy is to leave the right way and go another way; it is to leave God and turn to idols. In this section of His holy Word, Jehovah as a Husband deals with the apostasy (unfaithfulness) of His treacherous wife.
Israel had been divided into two kingdoms: the north was called the kingdom of Israel, and the south, the kingdom of Judah.
The northern kingdom of Israel became the apostate and committed spiritual fornication (adultery) with idols (vv. 6, 9). The idols were Israel's evil lovers. Israel should have had only one husband, but instead she had many lovers, many idols.
Because of her fornication, which polluted the land, the northern kingdom of Israel was divorced by Jehovah (vv. 8a, 9).
Israel's treacherous sister, the southern kingdom of Judah, saw what Israel did and what happened to her. However, Judah did not fear but went and committed fornication also (vv. 7-8). Judah saw that her sister was punished for the evil thing she did, but Judah did not learn from this. Rather, she followed Israel to do the same thing.
In spite of all this, the treacherous southern kingdom of Judah did not return to Jehovah with all her heart, but instead falsely (v. 10).
In verse 11 Jehovah said to Jeremiah that Israel the apostate has shown herself to be more righteous than Judah the treacherous. Israel was better than Judah.
Jeremiah 3:12—4:2 covers Israel the wife's return — a loving pleading of Jehovah the Husband. What we have here is not Israel's actual return but the aspiration of Jehovah the Husband for her to return.
Jehovah sent His prophet to call to the north (referring to Assyria, to which Israel was captured) and ask Israel, His apostate wife, to return and acknowledge her iniquity — her transgression against Him in turning to strange gods under every flourishing tree (vv. 12-13).
In asking Israel to return, Jehovah made promises to her.
In verse 12 Jehovah promised that He would not drop His countenance on her; for He is merciful and will not preserve, that is not exercise, His anger forever. He may be angry temporarily but not forever.
Being a Husband to Israel, Jehovah promised to take them, one from a city and two from a family, and bring them back to Zion (v. 14). This means that He would still receive them, that He would still take them back.
Jehovah also promised to give Israel shepherds according to His own heart (v. 15). Such shepherds would feed her knowledge and understanding. Israel was foolish and did not know anything, but these shepherds would give her the proper knowledge and understanding of God.
In verses 16 through 18 we see that a revival was promised to Israel by Jehovah.
In the promised revival Israel would be multiplied and increased in the land (v. 16a).
"They will no longer say, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah! And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it or visit it; it will not be made again" (v. 16b). At that time the ark of the covenant will no longer be cared for by Israel as God's meeting place with her, as His meeting place with His people, for Christ will be present with her and reign in Jerusalem.
In Samuel's time, when the children of Israel went out to fight, they brought the ark out to fight for them. Of course, the ark was a type of Christ as the embodiment of God Jehovah. However, they became superstitious concerning the ark, and it became for them a kind of idol. They had no heart for God, yet they treasured the ark. Eventually, this ark did not help them or fight for them. They were defeated and captured, and the ark also was captured (1 Sam. 4:10-11). In their view God was defeated. Actually, He was not defeated but prevailed over Satan.
Today many Christians consider the Bible in a superstitious way, making it an idol. They treasure the Bible, yet they may care little for the very God revealed in the Bible. Such Christians have made the Bible something separate from God, when actually the Bible should be one with God. Today is a time of degradation, but a time will come when Christ, the embodiment of God, will be with us, and we will have no need for the Bible. Likewise, when Israel is revived, no one will care for the ark because Christ will be present with Israel and reign in Jerusalem.
"At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations will be gathered to it because the name of Jehovah is at Jerusalem" (Jer. 3:17a). This indicates that in this time of revival Christ will be the King reigning over her, and all the nations will be gathered to Jerusalem. This time of revival refers to the millennial kingdom.
In the revival promised by Jehovah, Israel will no longer walk after the stubbornness of her evil heart (v. 17b).
"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 which I have given to their fathers" (v. 18). This indicates that the house of Judah and the house of Israel will be recovered to a normal condition. It is not normal for them to be divided and to fight with each other. In the restoration the situation between them will become normal again. This means that in the revival the twelve tribes of Israel will no longer be divided but will be one.
"But I said, / How I will put you among the sons, / And give you a pleasant land, / An inheritance of the most ornate of the nations! / And I said, You will call Me, My Father, / And will not turn away from Me" (v. 19). The word ornate here means beauty upon beauty or beauty added to beauty. This indicates that the holy land is the most beautiful land. In His heart God considers the holy land the land above all lands.
According to this verse, Jehovah considers that Israel will call Him, "My Father." How could a wife do this? The Bible reveals that God is our Husband and that we are His counterpart. The Bible also reveals that we were created by God to be His creatures but that, as believers, we were regenerated by God to be His sons. Hence, God is not only our Creator but also our Father. Israel was a female, Jehovah's wife. But she did not keep her position and was not faithful. She left her Husband and went to many lovers, all of whom were her Husband's enemies, yet her Husband begged her to come back to Him. Instead of giving her up, her Husband did many things to bring her back. When she does return, she is not able to repent to Him as His wife, so she considers Him not as her Husband but as her Father. This is not positive, for it indicates that she is still stubborn. For a wife to repent to her husband for her unchastity is a very difficult thing. Israel would repent to God as her Father but not as her Husband. This is the significance of her saying to God, "My Father."
As a woman acts treacherously by departing from her husband, so the house of Israel dealt treacherously with Jehovah (v. 20). Her children wept and supplicated (prayed particularly) on the bare (indicating without any man) heights, for they perverted their way and forgot Jehovah their God (v. 21).
Jehovah the Husband was pleading by calling, "Return, O apostate children; / I will heal you of your apostasies" (v. 22a).
Eventually, her children came to Jehovah, confessing that He, Jehovah, is their God, admitting that their worship on the hills and mountains in a tumult was in vain and that their salvation surely is in Jehovah their God, and feeling shameful for the sins of their fathers and for their sinning against Jehovah their God since the beginning of their relationship with God (vv. 22b-25).
Jehovah promised her that if she returns to Him, if she puts away her abominations from His presence and does not move freely, and if she swears, "As Jehovah lives, in truth and in justice and in righteousness," then the nations will bless themselves in Him and in Him they will glory (4:1-2).
Jehovah the Husband's correction is found in 4:3-31.
Jehovah admonished her to break up her fallow ground and not to sow among thorns (v. 3); He also admonished her to circumcise herself to Jehovah and remove the foreskins of her heart (v. 4a). This indicates that as they were busy worshipping idols, they were sowing among thorns. But the proper land, the land in which they should have been sowing, remained fallow, untouched. They should sow everything in the presence of God, with God, and for God. This is to use the land properly. Instead they worshipped idols and sowed among thorns. Thus, God advised them to stop that kind of sowing and return to the fallow ground.
In verses 4b through 31 Jehovah warned them with evils (calamities), woes, and afflictions. He warned them with all kinds of sufferings.
In 4b Jehovah spoke of His wrath going forth like a fire and burning Israel. Such a fire would bring in calamities.
Jehovah said that He was bringing evil and great destruction from the north, referring to Babylon (v. 6b).
"A lion has come up from his thicket, / And a destroyer of nations has set out. / He has gone forth from his place / To make your land a waste; / Your cities will be ruins, / Without an inhabitant" (v. 7). The lion here refers to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar was a destroyer of nations and he would make Israel's cities ruins.
The heart of the king and of the princes will fail; the priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be astounded (v. 9).
In verse 10 Jehovah says that the sword reaches to the soul.
A hot wind, a wind too strong for winnowing or for purging, will come from Jehovah (vv. 11-12). This is another indication that God will send all kinds of calamities to chastise rebellious Israel.
The enemy comes up like clouds, and his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles (v. 13). This is a description of the swiftness of the Babylonian army.
According to verse 16b, besiegers are coming from a distant land, giving out their voice against the cities of Judah.
In verse 19b Jehovah tells them that they hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Destruction upon destruction will devastate the whole land (v. 20). What calamities there will be!
The fruitful land becomes a wilderness, and all its cities are torn down. The whole land is a desolation (vv. 26-27). This desolation is caused by the Babylonian army.
Israel becomes the desolate one. Although she dresses in scarlet, is adorned with ornaments of gold, and enlarges her eyes with paint, she beautifies herself in vain. Her lovers despise her; they seek her life (v. 30).
Israel's cry will be like that of a woman in travail, and her anguish like that of a woman bringing forth her first child. Her voice will gasp for breath, and she will stretch out her hands, saying, "Woe is me, / For my soul is fainting before murderers" (v. 31).
Jehovah the Husband's correction is His reaction to His wife Israel's wickedness (vv. 4, 17-18, 22). His chastisement is His reaction to her sinfulness.
