God often characterized his relationship with the Israelites as a marriage. Out of all the people on earth God chose, guided, protected, and made a home for them; and then he lived with them.

He sent Moses with the Law so they would know how to live successfully, and he sent judges, generals, and kings to guide them. Finally, he sent prophets with clear messages for keeping their relationship with the Lord strong and intact.

When the Israelites betrayed the Lord and committed crimes against each other and creation, God sent Jeremiah in a final effort to reconcile with the Israelites before he had to take action against them.

Unfaithful Israel

When God first confronted Israel for their unfaithfulness and idolatry, they denied any wrongdoing.

“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals?’” Jeremiah 2:23

God had seen them practicing idolatry. They lusted after their idols and the exotic rituals that came with worshiping Baal and Asherah. When the Lord confronted them they had to confess, “I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.” Jeremiah 2:25

The Israelites wanted a relationship with God on their own terms. They wanted to betray him without consequences, and when they got into trouble, they wanted to claim a privileged relationship with him.

“They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’

“They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

“Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns.” Jeremiah 2:27-28

When God refused to bail them out of trouble, they charged him with wrongdoing. They accused him of failing to live up to the relationship they expected from him.

“Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me . . . Have you not just called to me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth, will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can.” Jeremiah 2:29, 3:4-5

The people of Israel were the worst kind of hypocrites. They actively betrayed God while demanding that he remain in a favorable relationship with them.

God’s Response

If the relationship between Israel and God was like a marriage, God had every right to divorce Israel. They broke the covenant relationship with him, betrayed him, and were not sorry for what they had done. They continued their spiritual infidelity by worshiping other gods.

But God still wanted to reconcile with his people and he pled with them to come back:

“Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt – you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree and have not obeyed me.’

‘Return, faithless people,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I am your husband. I will choose you – one from a town and two from a clan – and bring you to Zion.’” Jeremiah 3:12-14

Northern Israel had already fallen to Assyria, and now Judah was about to fall to Babylon, but God had not given up. He was willing to reconcile with whoever returned to him, even if it was just one person from an entire town.

God Knows His Own

It’s important to know that while God might punish a nation, he cared about the individuals within that nation. Judah was on an irreversible course, but God knew who was faithful to him and he maintained relationships with those individuals. When they went into exile with the rest of the nation, the Lord remained with them and was their consolation.

Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Mishach and Abednego were among the faithful whom God kept safe in Babylon. We will read their stories when we get to the book of Daniel.

Sorrows Come

Jeremiah was a faithful man who shared the sad fate of his unfaithful nation. He didn’t deserve punishment himself, but he lived in a land that was going to be punished and it made him weep for himself and his people.

“Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry. Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment . . . ‘My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.’” Jeremiah 4:19-22

Jeremiah obeyed God, but he lived among evil people who disobeyed God. As a prophet he lived through their punishment twice – first, when God told him about it and he saw it coming, and, second, when the punishment actually struck.

God Still Reached Out

“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.” Jeremiah 5:1

Jeremiah went in search of those honest people God wanted to find so he could spare Jerusalem, but they couldn’t be found. Not only were people dishonest, they didn’t care about the consequences.

“Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.

“I thought, ‘These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.’ But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.” Jeremiah 5:3-5

God’s people heard him accusing them of unfaithfulness, lying, and injustice, but the more they heard from him, the more they hardened their hearts toward him.

“They have lied about the Lord; they said, ‘He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine. The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them.” Jeremiah 5:12-13

God’s Justice Prevails

“‘Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes. People of Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I am bringing a distant nation against you – an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose speech you do not understand . . . They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and daughters; they will devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.’” Jeremiah 5:14-17

Israel was the most favored nation on earth, but in a very short time God was going to sweep them away from the land he gave them. Foreign people would devour their wealth and destroy the sources of their livelihood. Their proud cities were going to be destroyed and their land left desolate and uninhabited.

Yet, God in his mercy would not completely wipe them out.

“‘Yet even in those days,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not destroy you completely. And when people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’” Jeremiah 5:18-19

God was right in all he did with Israel. They violated the covenant he had with them, they excused themselves for their sins, and they hardened their heart against God when he spoke to them about it.

What About Today?

So does this ancient history have any relevance to us in 2020?

We would be wise to pay attention to the stories of Israel and Judah and consider our own ways. The Apostle Paul, who was an expert in Old Testament Scriptures reached this conclusion:

“These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.” 1 Corinthians 10:11

We are each responsible for our relationship with God, but our responses add up and determine the fate of our nation. If we care about our nation we will be careful to do what God asks of us.