Jeremiah 3:6-18
Lesson Focus
God calls us to own and acknowledge our sins so that we might return to God. When we do so, God will receive us with mercy and grace.
Lesson Outcomes
Through this lesson, students should:
Understand that there is much to be learned by watching the mistakes others make.
Understand that Judah suffers the consequences of their sins by not avoiding Israel’s sins.
Be encouraged to acknowledge their sins and return to God.
Catching up on the Story
In chapter three, Jeremiah compares and contrasts the behavior of the northern nation of Israel with Judah in the south. To do this, Jeremiah makes use of marriage and infidelity as a metaphor to describe the relationship God has with both nations. While Israel did not always employ marriage practices that we deem normal and just today, marriage did play a central role in society. Marriage ensured the continuance of the family line. More than that, however, fidelity was an important aspect of marriage in more ways than one. That a woman exercised fidelity was more important than if a man did. Having more than one wife was not uncommon and, at times, mandatory. The second aspect of fidelity had to do with one’s relationship to their family. If a man died before his wife could bring forth an heir, it was the closest relative’s responsibility to marry the man’s wife and produce an heir for him. The arrangement ensured that a man’s memory would not fade from history. Additionally, it protected the wife from a life of destitution, as the woman would have difficulty providing for herself, and the prospect of remarriage was unlikely. The book of Ruth is a good example of how Israel understood marriage and faithfulness.
Marriage was important for God’s people, so it became a suitable image for God’s relationship with Israel. The prophets often employed marriage as an image, and the wife/woman was always the offending party. It’s doubtless that the prophet’s use of unfaithful wives as an image of Israel’s relationship with God has led to the ill-treatment of women throughout history. While we might find the metaphor that prophets like Jeremiah and Hosea employ distasteful and the language uncomfortable, we must understand the cultural context from which it came. Israel’s unfaithfulness to God is described in the same way an adulterous wife would have been described.
At the beginning of chapter three, Jeremiah poses two rhetorical questions. Does a man divorce his wife if she goes out and becomes another man’s wife? Given the situation, would the man seek to have his wife return to him? The implied answer to both questions is no. Jeremiah goes on to charge Israel with rampant infidelity that has polluted the land, causing serious consequences. In their distress, God’s people want to return to God, but yet they refuse to amend their evil ways.
You Saw!
Today’s passage starts with verse 6 and the formulaic opening, “The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah.” Jeremiah has now turned his attention toward the southern nation of Judah. Again, Jeremiah leads with a rhetorical question, “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel…? The answer is yes, Judah had a front-row seat to Israel’s faithlessness. Jeremiah mentions high hills and green trees. These references the worship practices of the surrounding cultures and religions, specifically fertility cults. It is not just that Israel is unfaithful in their worship, but that in their worship of foreign gods, they reject and subsequently forget the guiding principles of justice and righteousness that have always played a major role in Israel’s worship of God. Worship, justice, righteousness, and mercy always go together.
Through Jeremiah, God continues recounting what has transpired between God and Israel. In a bit of self-revelation, God discloses that he believed Israel would return to him once she had her fill. God is disappointed that Israel has not returned. Israel’s failure to return is not really the point of the text. The point comes in the second half of verse seven, “…and her false sister Judah saw it.”
If younger siblings are smart, they will watch their older brothers and sisters for clues on how to behave. I learned much about what to do and not to do from watching my two older sisters. Their experiences, not just with our immediate family but in other life choices as well, had a profound impact on my life choices. Of course, learning from others what not to do is not limited to families. A lot of heartache and trouble can be avoided by watching the mistakes and failures of others. God had hoped that Judah would witness the destruction that Israel’s unfaithfulness had caused and make different choices. Sadly, for God and Judah, this was not the case.
Judah saw all of Israel’s adulteries. Judah saw God’s rejection of Israel as an unfaithful lover. Yet, Judah begins to tread the same path. Again, the language of adultery and unfaithfulness is employed to describe Judah’s behavior. Again, the reference to “stone and tree” alludes to the surrounding fertility cults. And again, it’s not just that Judah was unfaithful, but that despite seeing the consequences of Israel’s actions, Judah engaged in their infidelity so casually. Judah’s relationship with God meant so little that it could be discarded easily.
As God always does, God calls Judah back, and Judah returns, but only halfheartedly. Judah will eventually suffer the same fate as Israel.
For I am Merciful
The bad news of the first portion of today’s text is balanced with verses 11-8. As God has judged and weighed Israel and Judah, God has found that of the two, Judah is more guilty. So, God sends Jeremiah north to proclaim good news to Israel.
Once again, God calls Israel back to fidelity. The call is not just for the restoration of faithfulness but includes the gracious offer of mercy. Forgiveness is possible, and so is return, if only Israel would acknowledge their guilt. Humanity has not changed much since Jeremiah’s day. We are reluctant to acknowledge our sin and guilt. We are masters at deceiving ourselves concerning the actions that we take and the true objects of our worship. Even when we do become convinced that we have errored, our pride gets in the way of owning it. Our refusal to seriously evaluate our unfaithfulness to God and to others is partially fueled by fear of the reception we would get if we were to do so.
We have images and ideas of what God will think of us if we own up to our sinfulness, but these images and ideas are inaccurate. While we may still have to suffer the consequences of our behavior, God has promised not to look at us in anger. God’s initial anger over our unfaithfulness will not linger.
Instead of anger, God wants to provide a homecoming for Israel from exile. Verses 15-18 depict God’s desires. Israel will be gathered home to Jerusalem, and God will appoint leaders who will guide and direct Israel in knowledge and understanding so that they might once again be faithful. God never calls us to obedience without leading us to it and equipping us for the journey.
As God gathers Israel, and eventually faithless Judah, home, God will take up residence there. It will be the presence of God that will continue to mold and shape God’s people into faithful followers.
So What?
God’s desire for our relationship transcends our unfaithfulness. While we might bask in God’s great mercy and grace that covers us when we fall short of our true calling, we cannot take advantage of it. That we will fail in our faithfulness toward God, doing so constantly and spectacularly is not a foregone conclusion. Why? Because we have the advantage of witnessing the failures of those who have gone before us. We will never be Israel or Judah, but we can look to them as examples of what to do and what not to do.
As much as the Bible reveals to us the character and nature of God, it also often serves as a cautionary tale, highlighting and magnifying the pitfalls into which others have so clumsy fallen. The prophets, including Jeremiah, serve to point out what not to do. At the same time, the prophets also always chart a return path to God. As today’s passage made clear, our return to God is possible only when we own our sin, acknowledging and confessing it.
So, let us continue to reflect on our lives, asking God to reveal to us our unfaithfulness. Let us then own those sins so that we might receive God’s mercy and grace. Let our prayer also be that God would grant us the eyes to see and the wisdom to learn from the mistakes of others so that we might not make the same mistakes.
Discussion Questions
Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.
Why does Jeremiah use a marriage metaphor to describe God and Israel’s relationship? How does that make you feel?
What does “How she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and played the whore there” mean?
Why would God admit that he thought Israel would return to him after they were done with their shenanigans?
Jeremiah refers to Judy as Israel’s “false sister.” What does he mean by that?
God clearly believed that Judah would see Israel’s behavior and its consequences and refrain from making the same mistakes. Why do you think Judah didn’t change when they saw Israel destroyed and carried off into exile?
Describe a time when you learned from someone else’s sin or mistake.
Verse 10 says, “Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense, says the Lord.” What does returning “only in pretense” look like for Judah? What might it look like for us?
In verse 11, the passage shifts from Judah to Israel. In the previous few verses, it seems like God has given up on Israel; only now, God calls Israel to return because he is merciful and won’t remain angry. Why the change?
In verse 15, God makes some promises to Israel. What are they?
Why would Israel say that Israel will no longer need to remember the Ark of the Covenant?
What might this passage say about how we should live?
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