Jeremiah 3:1-5--Israel Forsakes the LORD

Jeremiah 3:1-5
English Standard Version

3 “If a man divorces his wife
    and she goes from him
and becomes another man's wife,
    will he return to her?
Would not that land be greatly polluted?
You have played the whore with many lovers;
    and would you return to me?
declares the LORD.
2 Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see!
    Where have you not been ravished?
By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
    like an Arab in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land
    with your vile whoredom.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
    and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have the forehead of a whore;
    you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now called to me,
    ‘My father, you are the friend of my youth--
5 will he be angry forever,
    will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
    but you have done all the evil that you could.”

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This is a continuation of the last passage where the LORD is laying out how He has been wronged, His Bride, Israel, has broken covenant with Him and that He has every right to execute judgment against them for breaking covenant (and to seek a divorce from them).  They have not only acted as if they have divorced Him (a divorce He never agreed to), but they have already wed themselves to the pagan god of the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Jebusites, Philistines and every other pagan group that was around them or even powerful nations that were some distance away (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, etc.).  They are like a prostitute that sells herself for a "flash in the pan" with many men--there is nothing lasting or truly satisfying about it.  It can't compare to the true covenant relationship of marriage that it is a cheap imitation of, and yet, people return it like a dog returns to its vomit.

The physical destruction that is going to eventually come upon the people of Israel will be an outward showing of what has already happened to them internally.  They are ravaged and their defenses are broken down.  Their Land will become as polluted as their lives are--full of all kinds of unclean things.  They will be intermixed with the Gentiles, and many will lose their identity as they choose to become one with them. 

God compares them to a rebellious child that has sown his wild oats and is facing the consequences of his actions and cries out to the father he has cursed and abandoned when he wants someone to take the consequences of his actions away.  The LORD will make them face the consequences of their actions so that they will learn that the Law is good and that there is blessing in keeping the covenant and choosing to be the LORD's covenant people.  It will be a hard lesson for them that they will not want to repeat.  Yet, by the time of Jesus, they have tried to retell their history like it never even happened.  They spoke of Moses and God leading them to the Promised Land, but they did not speak of their rebellious, stiff-necked ancestors that didn't want the blessings God had for them.  They refused to speak of the Exile and pretended that they had been slaves to no one even as they were currently occupied by the Romans.  This kind of revisionist history is dangerous as we should try to learn from the mistakes of the past that have been recorded for us so that we do not make them again. Now people simply refuse to read the history that is there in front of them.  It's just as dangerous.  Times may have changed a bit, but God has not, and, for the most part, humans have not changed either.  Therefore, there is much that we can still learn from the Old Testament about God and the people He wants to be in covenant with.