Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holiness to the Lord, the firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him will offend; disaster will come upon them,” says the Lord.’” Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, have followed idols, and have become idolaters? Neither did they say, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed and where no one dwelt?’ I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.” verses 1-8
We took a careful look at the Israelites through the Bible, and we learned that through their history we could find an image of ourselves as individuals.
The Bible says, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1), but what happened before David appeared within the history of Israel. God made a covenant with Abraham, and as a result one particular nation came into being in this world. As these people returned to their land and they were passing through the time of the judges, and they rejected God and asked for a king. Then Saul, tall and handsome, was established as their king, but through him the Israelites made a great mistake. After that, a person by the name of David, who was born into the household of Jesse, arose. That was about three thousand years ago, and one thousand years before Jesus came to this world.
There are prophecies that God made through the history of the Israelites. When Jacob prophesied about his twelve sons, he said of Judah, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people,” and he said that “Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; and as a lion, who shall rouse him?” (see Genesis 49:9-10). He compared him to a lion.
In the book of Revelation, however, Jesus is referred to in this exact same way where it says, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed” (5:5). God let us know that Jacob’s prophecy would be fulfilled in Genesis chapter 49. David rose up to be king of Israel in the place of Saul as a shadow of Jesus when He comes as King of kings.
David was the king who was originally prophesied in the genealogy of Judah. The Bible says, “the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” Historically, God revealed through Abraham His intention to save mankind, He then carried out the work of saving mankind, and then through David we can look ahead to the time when Jesus comes again as King of kings.
The passage we read above from the book of Jeremiah is very closely related to the actions of those who had sovereign power over Israel. It also points out clearly the insubordination of the prophets and priests.
The book of Jeremiah was recorded around the time when the seventh century was passing into the sixth century BC. Ezekiel and Jeremiah lived at about the same time, but the book of Jeremiah was written a few years earlier than the book of Ezekiel. The book of Jeremiah begins when the prophet Jeremiah was living in Israel and also presents an image of the Israelites as they were taken as captives to Babylon. The book of Ezekiel was recorded in Babylon.
Why were the Israelites taken as captives to Babylon? In Deuteronomy chapter 28 it says that when they obeyed God’s commandments, they would be a nation greater than any other and would receive all the blessings of God (see verses 1-2). If, however, they broke God’s commandments and ignored His word, God said “all these curses will come upon you and overtake you” (verse 15).
David became king, and after him, Solomon, and then at the time of King Rehoboam the nation became divided, with the kingdom of Israel in the north and the kingdom of Judah in the south. Many of the incidents that occurred during about four hundred years of their history are recorded carefully in the books of Kings and Chronicles. The kings practiced idolatry, setting up wooden images of Asherah. Time and again in First and Second Kings we see how the Israelites looked to their kings and were corrupted and led astray by them. Each time, God reprimanded and punished them.
Amongst these kings, there was one by the name of Manasseh. He lived a short time before the prophet Jeremiah began his work. He was a king of Judah in the south and he was extremely evil. In the Bible we find that because of the wickedness of Manasseh, God said He would scatter Judah and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. (see 2 Kings 21:11-16)
The kingdom of Israel in the north had already been destroyed. Why was that? At that time, a careful description of the sacrifices that the Israelites had to carry out without question is to be found in the Bible beginning in the book of Exodus. The laws governing sacrifices stipulated that the Levites were to be the ones who were to offer sacrifices to God for the sins of the people. After the reign of King Solomon, the nation became divided in two, and since the temple was in Jerusalem in the south, the kings of Israel in the north developed their own system of sacrifices. Because they committed these terrible sins before God (see 1 kings 12:25-33), the northern kingdom of Israel was invaded and destroyed by the Assyrians in 720BC, 150 years before the Babylonians invaded the kingdom of Judah.
The time of Jeremiah began about 150 years after the attack of the Assyrians. His writings included the prophecy that the Babylonian Empire would invade and completely destroy Judah. At some point in time before Abraham was born, in Ur or the Chaldeans—the land of Abraham’s father that he was told to leave, and the land that is now called Iraq—the people gathered together in the land of Shinar and constructed a huge city that was called Babel. In the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, we find many prophecies of the invasion and destruction of Israel by the Babylonian Empire from the land of Shinar. This is a historical fact that is also recorded precisely in other historical texts.
It was against this background situation that Jeremiah, as God’s prophet, wrote down the word of God and warned the Israelites. Let’s turn now to Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 4.
Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel.
He said, “house of Jacob,” and, “house of Israel,” addressing Israel, which had already been destroyed at that time. Following the verses, it says “Judah” and “Israel,” calling on the names of this nation when it had been divided into two and was in the process of being destroyed. At times, Israel is also addressed as Ephraim in the Bible. Reuben had lost his birthright as the firstborn son, and the tribe of Ephraim (Joseph’s second son) was elevated to the first position. Consequently, there are times when Israel is referred to as Ephraim in the Bible.
Thus says the Lord: “What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, have followed idols, and have become idolaters?”
Jeremiah 2:5
God was asking them what on earth He had done wrong to them to make them act in this way.
But is God addressing these words to Israelites alone? This question is also for us who sit now with our Bibles open before us. We need to be able to answer God when He asks, “What have I done to you to cause you to stray so far from me?” Ask yourself what wrong God has done to you to cause you to live as you have been doing until now.
“I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination.” Jeremiah 2:7
This is what God said of the lifestyle of the Israelites when they entered the land of Canaan, abandoned God who was their king, demanded a king like the kings of other nations, and worshiped idols.
The historical facts of this nation, present us with a precise image of the sins we commit in the course of our lives.
“The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.” Jeremiah 2:8
In this way, Jeremiah pointed out the faults of those who dealt with the law, the priests, and the prophets—in other words, those who held power in Israel—right before the Israelites were taken as captives to Babylon because of the sins of their kings.
There were kings in Israel, and it was the prophets who anointed the kings. The prophets communicated the word of God to the kings and the children of Israel. Then there were the priests who enabled the connection between God and the Israelites. This is similar to the separation of powers that we see in governments today. It was the strained polarity between these three powers of king, priest, and prophet that shaped and managed the nation of Israel.
But the kings were rebellious, the priests did not seek God, and the prophets prophesied in the name of Baal. We come across this many times in First and Second Kings. Many similar things happened that were the same as what the prophet Jeremiah experienced. It was because the Israelites committed such sins that God sent them to Babylon and destroyed Israel. Yet, this nation returned to their land decades later. Then, because they rejected Jesus and crucified Him, they were scattered again, but two thousand years later, they have returned to their land, and in 1948 they became an independent nation. And now they are waiting for Jesus who will return to this world.
Through this image of the sinful Israelites, we are able to see a precise image of ourselves.
“Therefore I will yet bring charges against you,” says the Lord, “And against your children’s children I will bring charges. For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see, send to Kedar and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be very desolate,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 2:9-12
Here, God asks if you have ever come across any other nation that has exchanged their gods for something that is not even a god. Even people who worship idols do not exchange them for other idols, and yet the Israelites had done this. They had abandoned God and neglected the sanctuary. They had built altars in high places and there burned incense to Gentile gods.
In the Bible, there is a passage in which God points out that there are people who are just like this. Let’s turn to Romans chapter 1 verse 18.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. verses 18-19
Since this passage refers to those “who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” you may think this is talking about other people who teach strange doctrines, but this is talking about those who do not like to look to God because of the idols they have in their hearts. These words are, of course, also addressed to those vociferous religious people in this world who take phrases from the Bible like, “if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch” (Matthew 15:14), and on the basis of these words come up with their own ridiculous doctrines that do not appear in the Bible. Yet, are these words, “who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” only talking about these people? We need to be able to ask ourselves if we ourselves have ever disregarded God because of something in our hearts that we think is right.
Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:19-20
We cannot see God, and neither can we see His eternal power and Godhead with our eyes, but this is saying that God’s eternal power and Godhead can be seen clearly through all the things He has made.
How can we tell the powers of design and planning of the architect of a building? It is when we look around a building outside and in that we can recognize the style of the architect. If you were to lay out all the materials for a building and wait for t
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