Jeremiah 2e: When apostasy becomes addiction.

We are in a courtroom, and God is conducting a cross-examination. His questions are more rhetorical than real. God does not expect an answer because Israel’s follies have been exposed. The response should be shame and repentance. 

 God shifts metaphors to talk about their relationship and Israel’s perfidy. This one makes sense to people who live in the country with both domestic and wild animals around.  

2: 23-25. How can you say,

“I am not defiled;   

I have not gone after the Baals”?

Look at your way in the valley;   

know what you have done:

a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,

a wild ass at home in the wilderness in her heat sniffing the wind!   

Who can restrain her lust?

None who seek her need weary themselves;   

in her month they will find her.

Keep your feet from going bare   

and your throat from thirst.

But you said, “It is no use,   

for I have loved strangers,   

and after them I will go.”

 Is God putting words in Judah’s mouth? Would God do that? If not, then these must be the things Israel is thinking and doing, and the excuses they are trying to give for their unfaithful behavior. 

 In the face of the covenant that God made with their ancestors, Israel can still pretend that going after Ba’als, that is, other gods who claim to be masters of nature’s forces or destinies, is not covenant-breaking behavior. However, it clearly is. Have they deluded themselves? Whose is to blame?

 From God’s perspective, Israel, including Judah, reminds him of female camels or donkeys in heat. They run back and forth, retracing their own paths, sniffing the wind, hoping to find some stray male to mate. With such frenetic behavior, males will surely find her. Watch nature shows some time and see what elk and mountain goats do. 

 Notice the aimless and useless wandering. God has laid out a clear path for them to follow, and God has promised to walk that path with them. But, what path do they choose? The path where their shoes may wear out if dehydration doesn’t get them first. 

 At first, Israel denies doing this. Then they admit it but deny responsibility. They can’t help it, it’s too late to do anything about it. Addicted to idolatry. Remember that idolatry includes more than seeking something carved out of wood or chiseled out of stone to adore; idolatry includes pursuing sinful goals and believing hurtful ideologies. There is no separation between religion and politics here. Commitments intertwine what we imagine is separate. Israel is addicted to their news feed, doom-scrolling their way to Hell.

2: 26-28.  As a thief is shamed when caught,   

so the house of Israel shall be shamed:

they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets,

who say to a tree, “You are my father,”   

and to a stone, “You gave me birth.”

For they have turned their backs to me   

and not their faces.

But in the time of their trouble they say,   

“Come and save us!”

But where are your gods   

that you made for yourself?

Let them come,

if they can save you,   

in your time of trouble,

for you have as many gods   

as you have towns, O Judah.

Why do you complain against me?   

You have all rebelled against me,           

says the LORD.

 Israel has expressed no shame over their addictive behavior, running after other gods and ideologies for profit and security. They only show shame when they are caught, like an unrepentant thief who only looks sorry when he is caught red-handed. 

 Israel has fashioned their own idols and ideologies. They have put their faith in economic schemes and political maneuvers designed to enrich themselves and to hurt others, including the poor and marginalized in their own society. They no longer come before God with their faces bowed out of respect for the difference between a righteous and just God and their own behavior. Instead, they turn their back on God and seek affirmation elsewhere. But all human theologies and theories ultimately fail to secure and satisfy. 

 Then, during times of trouble, which Judah faced then and the world faces now, some come running back to God crying, “Save us!” What is God’s response? Not a grandfatherly “Oh, all right. Here.” 

 Rather God displays what some might call “tough love.” God refers them to their idol ideologies. Let those who have gained people’s allegiance come and save them. What idols and ideologies? Any number of them, to name them would take too long for there are as many as there are towns and regions in the country. 

 Talk about “tough love,” God has tried to disciple the nation. God sent messengers, the prophets to warn the people. When prophets spoke the truth, the people shouted them down, cancelled them, and disposed of them. Such violence in society is a sign of failed beliefs, but no one seems to get the point.

2: 30-31a. In vain I have struck down your children;   

they accepted no correction.

Your own sword devoured your prophets   

like a ravening lion.

And you, O generation,

behold the word of the LORD!