Jeremiah 2:1-13. Today’s reading is pretty interesting. Several things stood out to me. First this is God’s word that Jeremiah is communicating. Now of course anyone can say that they are speaking for God but the authors of the Bible back up what they are saying. I mentioned in a recent post that the job of a prophet was to apply God’s words to the life of the people that they were speaking to, not in a “hey if you happen to get into this situation then…” sort of way, but in a “don’t you know what God thinks about what you are doing sort of way”. Prophets were like the moral conscience of the people and most of their messages were warnings. But they also did do what we think of when we think of prophets; they foretold the future. It is that part of their message that really tells us that they were speaking from God. There is enough predictive prophecy in the Old Testament to give certain scholars who don’t want to believe in God fits. They are constantly trying to tell us that the person who wrote this book or that must have live very late, most of them after 450 BC, because their predictions are so accurate. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for us the evidence doesn’t support their anti-God, anti-supernatural bias.
The beginning of verse 2 seemed pretty abrupt to me, kind of a “get in their face” instruction for Jeremiah. In verses 2-3 God remembers the early history of Israel. They had been a family that had grown into a nation, the descendants of twelve brothers, all sons of Jacob (who’s name was changed to Israel, see “What’s in a Name”). they grew from the immediate families of the twelve into that nation of people over a 400 year period while living in Egypt. They had started out as a favored group but by the end of the 400 years they had become slave in that land and the people of Egypt hated them. God hear their sighs (Exodus 2:23-25) and put his plan for them into action, leading them out of the land toward the land he had promised to their ancestor Abraham.
Jeremiah (or God rather) saw that they were devoted to him and compares the relationship to that of newlyweds. God also describes them as “first fruits”. That term carries with it two ideas. I like to grow vegetables in a garden, especially tomatoes. I love to see the plants grow up and get flowers, then little fruit, but I especially like it when I go out and discover ripe fruit; ripe vegetable. May of those “first fruits” never make it into the house, especially tomatoes, because I pick them and eat them right then and there, and I love it! So the first idea is that God is very pleased with them; they are precious to him. But the second idea contained in the comparison is that there will be more to come. This year I got some tomatoes several of which I did not get to eat (I tell you more in a minute) but then the vines stopped producing, and I was doubly disappointed. Israel was the “first fruit” spiritually of larger group that God intends to bring back to him; a group that includes people from “every tribe, tongue, people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). Verse 3 also contains a warning of the consequences of messing with God’s garden. The reason I missed out on a lot of tomatoes this year was just when one would become ripe I would go out to pick it and find that it had been eaten (actually half eaten so I would think it was there until I turned it around and found a big hole with little teeth marks). I hate mice and rats and they were guilty and my wrath came upon them (unfortunately I’m not as good at wrath as God). Eventually several were killed, though I have to give my pets more credit than I can take, unfortunately for me it was too late. Anyway God sent evil on those who dared touch his first fruits.
It was not just outsiders who spoiled the honeymoon or the harvest though; most of the trouble came from within Israel. Verse 5 tells us that they deserted God. In verse 5 we find God asking the Israelites of Jeremiah’s day, what he did wrong that caused their ancestors to defect. The question is to get them thinking, God had done nothing wrong, that is clear from the questions he continues to ask. God wants them to think about the unfaithfulness of their ancestors and about God’s faithfulness and then apply it to their own unfaithful lives. In the New Testament Jesus is confronting some religious leaders about their rules. They made up all sorts of rules to the point that they actually interfered with people obeying God. The Old Testament teaches children to honor their parents. One rule the leaders made up was that if you had something that your parents needed you could neglect them and not give it to them if you gave it to God instead (Mark 7:6-11). I’m sure those parents might have wanted to say, “Why are you neglecting me? Is it because I cared for you all those years? Fed you? Clothed you? Gave you a place to sleep? Bought you a car, I mean sandals?”. That is what God is doing here in Jeremiah in verses 5-6.
One thing struck me that I hadn’t thought about before. If you have read “The Old Testament Connection” you know that I think that the history retold in the Old Testament tells us a story of man’s failure to live for God; we need God’s help in living for him. As I read this passage I got the same feeling about the time that the Israelites spent wandering around in the wilderness before they got to enter the land God promised them. If you don’t know the story, the Israelites turned on God pretty quickly and actually wanted to go back to Egypt. They got a little thirsty, took one look at the desert they were in and wanted to go back. They went from “believing in God because of his great power (in parting the Red Sea)” in Exodus 14 to grumbling and complaining three days later because they got to an oasis and the water was bad. God fixed the water and also challenged them to be faithful to him. He also implied that if they were unfaithful that there would be consequences (Exodus 15:22-27). In Jeremiah 2:7-8 instead of remembering and looking to God the people, the priests, the leaders and the prophets turned to false gods, like Baal, the god of the people in the land that they took over.
Clearly Jeremiah’s readers were guilty in the same way and in verses 9-11 he “gets in their ears”. God challenges the Israelites of Jeremiah’s day to travel around a little and see if anyone else is like them; do people in other countries treat their gods like Israel has treated Him? They are faithful to their gods who really are powerless. The gods of the world do not cause their people to profit in any way. In verses 12-13 god or Jeremiah calls all of creation to be shocked and horrified at the way Israel has treated him. In verse 13 God tells us that the actions of the Israelites is doubly evil. First they have forgotten that God provides in the best way possible. The idea behind “living water” is a fresh spring bubbling up out of the earth, the beginning of a great river before it has had a change to pick up all the slime and muck of a riverbed. And second, they have exchanged this pure water for water from a dirty old cistern. In many parts of the world water is collected and stored. In ancient time people would build or carve a storage pool. I have a pool and, if I do not filter it and keep chlorine in it, it can get pretty nasty pretty fast all filled with algae. These guys would build storage pools that didn’t have the chemicals and filters and drink and use the water. In this example their cisterns aren’t even very efficient because they leak. Not only is the water nasty there isn’t very much of it. What a contrast with a flowing spring.
In Isaiah 41:18 God tells the people that in a future day he will fulfill his promises to Abraham and the people of Israel and will “make rivers on the barren heights (by the way that’s a miracle because most rivers are from springs and runoff and are in valleys), springs in the valleys, he will turn the desert into pools, and springs will flow up from the dry ground.” God provided in the past, he will provide in the future, and we need to believe he will take care of us today too. When he does we need to take note and remember it so that when troubling times come we can not see a wilderness with no water but we can see another opportunity for God to get the credit he deserves.
God help me see and understand the great things you do for me each day. Every aspect of my existence whether it be “miraculously” provided like the water at Marah (Exodus 16:25-26) or there where you put it waiting for my arrival like the water and dates at Elim (Exodus 16:27) is really a miracle from you. All the universe is your handiwork and declares your existence and I need to recognize you and your care for me in it. So help me see and understand and then honor you with my life. Thank you for revealing yourself in history and in my life, let me remember, let me remember, let me remember. Thank you God.