Jeremiah 3a: Where are we in the story?

 Where are we in the story? The scribe Baruch wrote down on a scroll the prophecies of Jeremiah for the king and people of Judah in the last days of their freedom. The king cut the scroll in pieces and burned it. So much for a prophetic warning. Later, Baruch took dictation from Jeremiah and wrote another scroll that survived for the exiles of Judah in Babylon to read, to their dismay. That scroll has been preserved for all Jews after that to read, and it now exists as the Book of Jeremiah, which we are reading. It is a book of warning for all Christians as well. If there is any order in the composition of the story that is told, then it is that the first six chapters of the book probably represent the earliest prophecies of Jeremiah. So these prophecies are spoken while the Kingdom of Judah still exists.

 Who were these prophecies originally spoken to? Jeremiah received his call and began to prophesy during the second half of the reign of King Josiah, that is, beginning in 627 and on to 609 BC when Josiah was killed in battle. This may seem ironic since Josiah was the last good king and the agenda for his reign was to reform Judah’s worship, to recenter the proper worship of YHWH. Yet not everyone heeded the king’s reforms. Jeremiah was on Josiah’s side; he charged Judah to quit their wicked ways and come back to God. But they were addicted to sin.

3: 1-5. If a man divorces his wife   

and she goes from him

and becomes another man’s wife,   

will he return to her?

Would not such a land be greatly polluted?

You have prostituted yourself with many lovers,   

and would you return to me?           

says the LORD.

Look up to the bare heights and see!   

Where have you not been lain with?

By the waysides you sat waiting for lovers,   

like a nomad in the wilderness.

You have polluted the land   

with your prostitutions and wickedness.

Therefore the showers have been withheld,   

and the spring rain has not come,

yet you have the forehead of a prostitute;   

you refuse to be ashamed. 

Have you not just now called to me,   

“My Father, you are the friend of my youth—

will he be angry forever, 

will he be indignant to the end?”

This is how you have spoken,   

but you have done all the evil that you could.

 God begins with a rhetorical question. We may not know the answer, but the people of Judah sure would have. The scenario God presents here is clearly prohibited by the Law and, of course, God knows that. That is why it is a rhetorical question. Can a woman that a man has divorced, find new lovers, and then return to her husband? What does the Law say?

Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; she then leaves his house and goes off to become another man’s wife. Then suppose the second man dislikes her, writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house (or the second man who married her dies): her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled, for that would be abhorrent to the LORD, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession (Deuteronomy 24: 1-4).

 That’s pretty clear, even if we object that it seems to place all the blame on the woman. But remember, in Jeremiah’s prophecies, the woman represents Jerusalem. The people know the law, so how should they answer God’s question? According to the Law, the wife, in this case Judah itself, has no right to even ask to come back to YHWH. No right.

 God asks whether such behavior, sustained over a long time, will pollute the land. Then, God answers his own question: “You have polluted the land.” What does that mean? It means that their constant wicked behavior has ruined any chance of redemption; they have gone too far to simply say “I’m sorry.” They’ve crossed the red line. That way is shut. 

 God challenges Judah to “look up to the bare heights,’ that is, look to the hill tops or the ‘high places’. Goldingay says that this is a call to Judah “to look facts in the face and own them” (The Book of Jeremiah, 2021. Page 147). The people are to admit what happens in the ‘high places’ where they go to worship Ba’al and they visit the prostitutes. Such behavior pollutes the country.  

 God puts it another way in the Law. 

 But you shall keep my statutes and my ordinances and commit none of these abominations, either the native-born or the alien who resides among you (for the inhabitants of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled); otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. For whoever commits any of these abominations shall be cut off from their people. So keep my charge not to commit any of these abominations that were done before you and not to defile yourselves by them: I am the LORD your God (Leviticus 18:26-29; see also Leviticus 20:22). 

 God says that, in their worship, Judah puts on a show. They say things like: “My Father, you are the friend of my youth.” Maybe they even sing the praise and worship songs with great gusto. Then, with a wink and a nod to their neighbor, they grin maliciously ask, “Will he be angry forever, will he be indignant to the end?”  

 God hears the heart, not the mouth. These words do not come from the heart. God says, “That is how you have spoken,” but your actions speak louder than your words. Such behavior has polluted the land. Judah’s worship of other gods leads to despicable behavior and then, the rain is held back. There is drought instead of a bountiful harvest.

 Judah is like a proud prostitute who admits no shame. Judah does not know what it is doing, because they say YHWH but they mean the god of greed, violence, and lust–and that god is Ba’al, not YHWH. They say ‘love’ and ‘forgiveness’, but they do ‘hate’ and ‘revenge’. Then, when the rains do not come, they come back and look for sympathy from YHWH as if they were faithful children all along. 

 It is ironic in one way. Ba’al was thought to be the god of thunder, lightning, and rain; the god of fertility. In Ba’al worship, there were temple prostitutes. Go visit one and your sexual intercourse would, by magic, bring fertility to the crops. It was a self-serving worship that the men had going on there. Men still do. Reach the top and you can abuse women as you please. In Judah’s case, it is ironic because the activity that was meant to bring fertility actually brought drought and famine. Did they quit then? No. Sin is an addiction. 

 Is this God’s last word? There is no coming back after a red line has been crossed. Maybe. 

 Where are 'we' in the story? Anything here for Americans who call themselves 'Christians'? Certainly. A lot of people talk big about worshipping God the Father and Jesus the Son, but many of those people behave in ways that reflect nothing of the love, grace, righteousness, and justice of the God revealed in the Bible. So, who are those actually worshipping when hate, revenge, wickedness, and injustice are on display?