Friday 14th August
Read Jeremiah 3:19-21
“‘I myself said,
‘“How gladly would I treat you like my children
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.”
I thought you would call me “Father”
and not turn away from following me.
20 But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,’
declares the Lord.
21 A cry is heard on the barren heights,
the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel,
because they have perverted their ways
and have forgotten the Lord their God.” (NIVUK)
Sometimes it is hard to gather what Jeremiah/Yahweh is saying! The context we have been working through in the chapter involves repeated calls for Israel to return to Yahweh and to repent of her idolatry. All asked in the context of how that is even possible given their atrocious behaviour (v1-5)!
Some commentators argue there is a single poem concerning repentance interrupted by prose upon the same theme (v6-18). Here we now return in verse to the barren heights (v2, 21) upon which Israel betrayed Yahweh. The same mixed metaphors of parent/child (v4, 19) and husband/wife (v1, 20). Yahweh’s longing for a relationship with His people is writ large in every line.
The question we ponder then is nature of their cry. Is it a cry of anguish because the consequences of their sin have been realised and they know they are lost and without hope? Does that cry lead to true repentance or is at an acknowledgement of impending doom and death? How can we know the difference given the sin within our hearts and our forgetfulness of God?
“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.” (2 Corinthians 7:10-11) (NIVUK)
