Jeremiah 17:1-13. In yesterday’s reading we saw God dealing with the sin of Judah. Specifically we saw that he was dealing with their living for false gods. Because of their bad example he was going to banish them from the land. But we also saw the mercy of God because he was eventually going to bring them back and give them another chance. Today’s reading returns to the fact of their rebellion against God. It is common in the books written by the prophets for there to be this sort of back and forth; it is important for us to see that we have broken our relationship with God but it is also important to have hope. Several months ago there was a story in the news of a young man who went up to the roof of his High School jumped off into the courtyard, killing himself. He was a senior and had been a very good student but friends said his girl friend had just broken up with him. He clearly felt alone and had no hope for his future so he ended his life. That is very sad. God created each of us to have a relationship with him forever. That relationship was broken by our cheating on him, but there is hope; our relationship can be restored and even better if we allow Jesus to take care of the mess and allow the Holy Spirit to help us make less messes in the future.
In verse 1 we see that God does not just ignore our cheating though. A stylus is a tool for writing. This one is made of iron, a strong metal. It needs to be strong because it has a hard stone tip (some translations say diamond others say flint) so it can make a good permanent mark on a tablet (the word usually refers to stone, metal or wood). This is no weak pencil mark that can fade or wash off. In this case the permanent mark is on the harts of the people. What is written on their hearts is a record of their rebellion against God; their unfaithfulness to him. A second copy is written on the “horns of their altars” An altar is a place where sacrifices are made, like a table; a chopping block or place to build a fire up off the ground. The word horn can also mean “rays”; like sunshine. Maybe part of the decoration to their gods was some sort of sun rays built onto the altar (kind of like some portrayals of Jesus or the apostles or angles with a “halo”). Different words used for worship or honor in the Bible have the idea of glowing or shining so maybe that was what the altar builders tried to put here. When the people would come to their altars not only would their hearts “speak” to them about their unfaithfulness but they would be reminded by the words written on these fake halos. In verse 2 we see this is a good place to put this reminder because they were thinking about these places of false worship as much as they thought about their children.
Because of al of this unfaithfulness God was going to let the land be overtaken. He especially points out that the very center of their false religions, the high places where the altars were built, would be taken over by the invaders. The sad thing is that the people had been unfaithful for so long that they were going to willingly walk away from the great place God had given them and the great relationship he was offering too. In Leviticus 26 we see the land promised to the various tribes of the Israelite people called an inheritance. It was something permanent that each family was to own (Leviticus 26:53). In the first part of Leviticus 26 we see a description of the relationship between God and the Israelites as they live in this land. IN Leviticus 26:12 we see that God wants to “walk among them”. But there were conditions described in the surrounding verses. The Israelite people were warned about what we see going on here in Jeremiah’s time in those conditions (Leviticus 26:14-39). We see in verse 4 that God is very upset about their unfaithfulness. Don’t make the mistake of seeing God as evil and destructive though. God is upset because of how serious it is when people reject him; an eternity without the good of God in our existence is very bad and because God loves us so much it makes him very mad when he sees us walking away. It’s like a parent who sees their kids doing drugs or other destructive things, they get very mad (or should).
The people of Israel in Jeremiah’s day were not just looking to fake manmade gods for help in life. As they faced invasion they also looked to other nations for help. One place they often looked for help was Egypt. That is very ironic that they would look for help from the very nation that had made them slaves way back in the days before Moses. In verses 6-7 the people are warned that if they put their trust in men that they will be like a bush in the desert. They will not have a full good life. Their land will be like a stony field full of salt (which makes the soil unsuitable for growing plants). In contrast if they want their lives to be full and productive they need to trust in Yahweh (LORD). The idea is repeated twice and that emphasizes how important it is to trust in Yahweh and not false gods or others.
In verses 9-11 we see why we should not trust in our feelings and desires when it comes to life. Our hearts are deceitful. That word comes from a root that means to “follow at the heels” or “grab by the heel”. Both of these remind me of one of my dogs. Some dogs like to follow us very closely, in fact there is a saying for when someone is following us too closely, “Don’t dog me!” One of my dogs might be part Australian Heeler. I saw a video of one of these dogs with some cows. The dog would come up close behind the cow and bite it in the “heel” to get it moving. The cows hated it but moved. In the first case the dog really doesn’t give direction and in the other case it make us move. Our hearts are both of these, they don’t really know which way we should go but they push us in some direction or another anyway. The word can also mean crooked and that is what happens when a dog dogs you; you jump all over the place and don’t follow a very good path. The reason our hear is deceitful is because it is incurably sick, an incurable disease is one that leads to death or a lifetime of misery, our hearts lead us to both. This totally contradicts what people in our world want us to think; they insist that people are basically good, according to Jeremiah and God this is not true.
Although our ways are crooked God’s are not. Although we don’t really understand what we are doing or why God does and he is fair. Years ago ai heard of schools that gave you credit on spelling tests for words that you spelled incorrectly but in a way that was phonetically correct. We might let someone off for their good intentions (or creative spelling) but God looks at the reality of our actions and works in our lives accordingly; with God there is no deception (see James 1:17).
Although the evidence is out there for God some people ignore it, they think they can do what they want and get away with it. Jeremiah uses a saying from his days about a type of bird (it probably was a sand grouse not a partridge) that hatches eggs for other birds. As the babies grow up they realize the “mom” isn’t one of them and they leave her. We think we can get rewards without following the rules, and sometimes we do, but in the end we usually wind up broke and laughed at. Verses 12-13 really sum up the thoughts; the original one true God (here represented by his throne) is the place we need to look for help, not false gods, not other, not even our own schemes. On the other hand those who reject God will see only shame, god will keep track of those who have rejected him. God is the source of real life, in a desert climate like Israel water is very much a symbol of life, and here God is compared to spring (living) water. Make no mistake either this is not one of the fake gods this is none other than Yahweh, the one true God.
In John 4 Jesus has a conversation at a well dug by Jacob. Jacob and Israel are the same guy (see “What’s in a Name?”). This is the guy that all the tribes of Israel are named after and the one who the nation is named after, one of the big names in Israel. Jesus asks the woman (a mixed descendant of one of the tribe of the Northern Kingdom) for water she is astonished that a Jew would talk to her. Also she is surprised that a man would talk to a woman. Jesus uses her hesitation to inform her that if she knew who he really was she would have asked him for a drink and he would have given her “living water” (spring water not just well water). She is very surprised since this well was a heroic feat by one of the heroes of their past, Jacob. “Are you greater than Jacob”, she wants to know. Jesus then informs her that the “water” he has to offer will give her eternal life (an everlasting relationship of some sort). She wants the water but still doesn’t get the full picture. Jesus then shows here that he is the promised one from the Old Testament. She eventually starts to understand who Jesus is and is on the path to eternity with God (John 4:36-39). In the story the woman was distracted by the actions of others and by here own ideas and desires (she wanted water that would quench her then and there thirst while Jesus wanted to deal with her real spiritual need). It’s the same distractions we saw n today’s reading in Jeremiah. We need to look out for false gods, the ideas of other, and or own desires and trust God for how to live now and for eternity.
God thank you for being involved. Thank you for keeping my sins in front of me. Help me not ignore what you are saying to me. Help me listen to you and not others. Help me listen to you and not my own desires. Thank you for your help and your patience. Let my life honor you and help others honor you too.