Jeremiah 2:14-28. Today’s reading continues the ideas and thoughts from yesterday’s reading. In yesterday’s reading God spoke to the Israelite people about their unfaithfulness to him. He reminded them of how much he had love and cared for them; bringing them out of slavery in the land of Egypt and providing for them during their time in the wilderness. In spite of his love for them they had turned to false gods.
Today’s reading returns to the idea of slavery and God asks if Israel has become a slave. If you notice the question at the beginning of verse 14 you might think it kind of repeats itself. Some people see a reference here to two different ways to become a slave, be conquered (either militarily or financially) and put into slavery or to be born into it. Some of Jeremiah is written in a poetic style. In Old Testament times poetry in Hebrew (the language that the Old Testament was written in) poetry was more about structure that things like rhyming. Often in poetry in the Old Testament parallelism is used; an idea is repeated twice (or sometimes contrasted). This may be what is going on here, Jeremiah may be writing in a poetic style and repeating his idea as part of the structure.
Verse 14 asks another question, “Why has Israel become prey?” Depending on the translation you are reading that last word may be “spoil”. Spoil is the stuff an army gets when in conquers people or cities. After the battle the winners take what they want (including living humans as slaves). Prey is what an animal gets after it hunts down another animal. It’s the same idea in both cases, but I think spoil is the better idea here. We see in the next two verses that Israel has been attacked. Although the first verse mentions lions that is just a poetic way of talking about the people or army that conquered them and left their land empty or wasted. Often in ancient times a nation was associated with a particular type of animal (Daniel describes different nations as a lion, leopard, and bear (Daniel 7:1-6)). That may or may not be what is happening here but the lion probably represents Assyria. Remember that about 100 years earlier Assyria conquered the northern half of the nation of Israel; the kingdom of Israel, and had destroyed many cities. Also Assyria had attacked the southern kingdom of Judah and destroyed cities there also but had not conquered Jerusalem, the capital. Judah was still under the control of the Assyrians and under Josiah they had to pay taxes to honor the Assyrians. At various times Israel and Judah would look to alliances with other nations or kingdoms in hopes of becoming free. One such nation was Egypt, represented here by two of it’s main cities, Memphis and Tahpanhes. But that situation is no better because Judah would be trading one master for another. Shaving the head was one way a master identified his slaves. So we see here Israel and Judah as slaves of Egypt.
God (or Jeremiah) informs the people that it is really their fault because they have walked away from God. God is more than powerful enough to deal with any nation and did in the days of Hezekiah when the Assyrians besieged Jerusalem and God destroyed 185,000 troops in one night (Isaiah 37). But the people of Judah looked to Egypt and others for help instead of God. In verse 18Jeremiah returns to the idea of water from yesterday’s reading and asks why they are looking to Assyria or Egypt for a drink (don’t they remember that it is God who can care for their needs the best). So we see now that Assyrian and Egypt are specifically named and the idea of looking to them for help is made more clear.
In verse 19 Jeremiah calls their actions wickedness, apostasy, evil, and bitter. The word apostasy means “turning away”. It is interesting that the way God deals with this turning away and this wickedness is that he lets Judah suffer the “natural” consequences of their actions. Their alliances with these nations will come at a price and it will be evil and bitter. I think that last word is interesting because you may remember yesterday that I mentioned that God had provided water for the Israelites at a place called Marah right after he brought them out of slavery in Egypt. At that place they had been thirsty and found that the water in the spring or pool was bitter. God transformed the water through a miracle so that they could drink. Here the bitterness returns because they have turned away from God. God also describes their attitude toward him as a lack of “fear” or “dread”. The idea here is a recognition of God’s great power.
In verses 20-28 Jeremiah uses three examples to describe how God sees the actions of the people of Judah. First he compares the people to a vine. He chose the best type of vine to plant, one that should have produced a good harvest and yet the people of Judah had become like an unfruitful wild vine. The way that they became this “bad” vine was by turning to the false gods of he Canaanite people, specifically Baal. In verse 25 the reference to “the valley” is probably to the Kidron Valley near Jerusalem where they had burned their children in worship to these foreign gods. No matter how much they wash and they cannot remove this evil from themselves.
In verses 24-25 Jeremiah compares the Israelites to a wild donkey in heat (ready to get pregnant). Evidently the female donkey acts quite wild and finds many male donkeys ready to take advantage of her. In verse 25 Jeremiah identifies the desires of the Israelites as freedom and care. The freedom is represented by being “unshod” that term is talking about the shoes that are put on domestic donkeys but not on wild ones. The lack of thirst represents having their physical needs met. Their situation is hopeless though because they have followed after gods that cannot help them.
Finally the Israelites are compared to a thief who has been caught. As they sit there in handcuffs with the news cameras rolling they are quite embarrassed or ashamed. The idea Jeremiah wants to communicate is actions that make us ashamed. In the case of Judah they should be ashamed because their leaders (who should have known better) along with all the people have bowed down to trees and rocks and have turned their backs on God. Of course when things go wrong they will call out to God. It’s like children who want to blow off their parents until they need something and they come back asking with no apology. The sad conclusion to today’s reading is God’s answer, “Hey, where are those gods that you made for yourselves?” And we learn that this is not small problem, there are at least as man false gods as there are cities in the land.
It’s amazing that God takes the time to talk to us when we cheat on him and turn our backs toward him. He sent Jeremiah to talk in their ears. That’s very direct. It’s also amazing how stupid we are trading the freedom god gives us for slavery to our own passions, passions that leave us thirsty and otherwise empty and in trouble. Sure living for God has limits too, like shoes. I know some people like to go barefoot, but shoes really are a good thing. I think of pictures of people with rags around their feet walking in the snow. Or think about Indians in the jungles of South America stepping on long thorns. Or just the times I have gone barefoot on my won grass and stepped on a little thorn. I’m glad I have shoes and I’m glad God has taken the time to show me what is best for me in the world he created for me. But God will allow us to suffer the consequences of violating the rules he set up for us. Adam and Eve brought a lot of trouble into their own lives and we do the same thing. We really need to listen to God and turn our faces bcck to him. We will be ashamed but I have the feeling that in the end we will have joy and peace that make that shame a distant memory. Not so distant I hope that we forget and turn away again though.
God thank you for continuing to talk to me even when I am cheating on you. Thank you for loving me so much and pursuing me. Yesterday I saw the talking in the ear as a getting in my face but today I wonder if it is a loving whisper. Maybe it’s both, maybe you whisper in my ear and it causes me such great shame because I know my own guilt. Whether it’s a whisper of a shout I’m glad you are here. Help me listen and return. Let me not be stupid and make up my own gods. Help me appreciate your care and respect your power. And thank you for providing the one cleanser that can clean me from all my sins, the blood of Jesus. Thank you for the truth that sets me free from my sins.