by
Cherry Lee
*NARRATIVE*
Up to Lesson 5 each study in Jeremiah has emphasized God’s wrath and anger
and made clear His reasons for bringing judgment against Israel and Judah.
In lengthy and damning passage after passage scripture gives evidence of why
our heartbroken God has seen it necessary to bring destruction onto his
beloved, but disobedient, unfaithful chosen people.
While good King Josiah reigned over Judah in the south the Lord asks
Jeremiah to observe how Israel up north was worshipping other Gods, breaking
commandments…..God thought after her “fling” she would return to him, but
no!! So she is divorced by God’s decree. Yet even under Josiah’s fine
leadership and with Israel as a bad example Judah behaved in the same way as
Israel returning to God only in surface, ritualistic worship, but not in her
heart. God’s reaction? “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful
Judah.” 3:11
In Chapter 3:1-13 we again witness a God deserted by his people. The
“people” are metaphorically compared to a wife who has been brazenly and
uncaringly unfaithful. God is agonizing over a decision about what to do.
Can accepting Israel and Judah back undo the damage done to the
relationship? The Horizon’s lesson (p. 30-31, The Effectiveness of
Jeremiah’s Use of Feminine Imagery) clarifies why this metaphor is such a
powerful one for Jeremiah to use with people of his time in proclaiming
God’s anger and anguish. Marriage relations once broken were, in that
culture, irreparable. The “woman” portrayed has shown no shame, no
repentance. She has sought out and seduced lovers and flaunted her
infidelity. Then she crassly, boldly, intimately addresses God, “My father,
my friend from my youth, will your wrath continue forever?” (3:4) God’s
response to Israel’s plea is “This is how you talk but you continue to do
all the evil you can.” R.E. Clements, in his commentary on Jeremiah says,
“the marriage relationship, on which society rests cannot survive without
loyalty, trust, and steadfastness of purpose. It cannot be an occasional
affair!…the religious relationship binding Israel (and us) to God was
subject to precisely the same rules of conduct.” Similarly fatherhood and
friendship, especially friendships fashioned in youth demand a reciprocal
basis of loyalty and trust: religion could be no less dependent upon these
values than could human relationships.” p.34.
Clements states, clearly repentance and a renewed relationship with God is
possible, but not because of our human ability to reform, because of God’s
nature. For I am merciful says the Lord (v.12). According to the NIV Study
Bible the word for merciful in this instance “is used of God elsewhere only
in Ps. 145:13, 17, where it is translated as loving’. Only with honest
recognition of sin can a wounded relationship with God be healed.
“The contrast between wrath that lasts a moment and love that goes on
forever is expressed in prophetic words:
_In overflowing wrath for a moment_
_I hid My face from you,_
_But with everlasting love I will have compassion on you._
_Says the Lord, your Redeemer. _ Isaiah 54:8
Verse 14 is “in many respects the most striking of all the aspects of the
prophetic teaching on repentance.” Important at that time in history because
of the “implicit recognition that Israel has become scattered in distinct
cities and in small family groups….” The scripture emphasizes that — I
would say, then and now “an effective returning to God can be achieved only
on a personal and individual basis: ‘one from a city and two from a
family.'” (3:14)
In his series, _The Communicator’s Commentary_, p. 45, John Guest points out
that God had given Jeremiah the task in his first sermons to “afflict the
comfortable” of Israel and Judah. Now, in Chapter 3, He, in His great and
amazing mercy moves to “comfort the afflicted.” God offers four words that
could change the lives of a wretched people, 3:1,12, :14 …”Yet return to
me,”…”With God’s word, condemnation was never for its own sake, says
Guest. “His only reason for wounding them was to be able to heal them. The
second messages begin in this chapter. It was not very comfortable news, but
it had occasional threads of hope that shone against the fabric of
judgment.” “People who talk about the Old Testament being filled with
nothing but wrath and anger should look at this most tender piece of
long-suffering. God looked past the pollution, the shamelessness, and the
whoredom. He looked right into the eyes of Israel and said, “after she had
done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ p. 48-49. Why? Deut. 4:37, “Because
He loved…!” The first time in scripture we are told God loves us.
Certainly on this side of history we know of God’s faithful, unwavering,
unconditional love for his people. We are assured of that love! (Jn. 3:16,
II Peter 3:9, I Jn 1:9) God is ready to forgive if Israel comes back to him.
Only acknowledge (their) iniquity. v.13, and turn to worshipping the true
God and obey Him.
Sources:
_Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Preaching and Teaching_,
R.E. Clements
_The Communicator’s Commentary_, John Guest
_The Prophets_, Abraham J. Heschel
*PREPARING THE LESSON*
CONNECTING WITH GOD AND WITH ONE ANOTHER
Use the material in the Horizons’ Lesson.
DISCOVERING THE SCRIPTURE
Use the Group discussion time as written and add these
suggested scripture readings to the discussion.
Group 1: In contrasting Jer. 2:2 and 3:1-5, realize the word
“devotion” in 2:2, in Hebrew, “chesd” refers to the most
intimate degree of loyalty, love and faithfulness (NIV,
Study Bible). And read also Deut. 6:4-13, and Deut. 24:1-4.
Group 2: Read also Deut. 30:6 and 30:19, and Jn 14:15.
Group 3: Read also Jn 3:16, II Peter 3:9, I Jn 1:9-10.
Group 4: Since the role of women has evolved so radically in
the last 25 years and since Horizons has included in this
lesson a long section titled “Difficulties with the marriage
metaphor”, I believe a further exploration of a woman’s role
as revealed by scripture is demanded. I suggest a fourth
group be added to this study.
Remembering that use of metaphor as a literary device is not
meant to be a literal comparison will help us in pursuing a
discussion of this chapter in Jeremiah. Metaphor uses
comparisons necessarily locked into the time in which it was
written.
How do we reconcile our cultural orientation concerning
women in society with passages in scripture which come from
a time the social structure was markedly different from our
own? Does the question posed in Horizons regarding women’s
role in this metaphor encourage us to take into account the
role of women throughout the Bible? What, then, is the
relevance to women living in our culture, in our time?
In Genesis 2:18, 20b-24 the word helper is the Hebrew
“izare” (partner). The same word is used in Ps. 121:1-2.
From the beginning God’s intention is clearly of a
partnership between man and woman which involved mutual
respect and appreciation. Genesis 2:23 reveals Adam’s awe as
he is inspired upon seeing Eve to compose the first poetry
in the Bible. The NIV Study Bible notes that these verses in
Genesis provide the only full account of the creation of
woman in ancient Near Eastern literature. To further explore
the role of women through God’s eyes consider also ICor
14:34-35, Php 4:3, ITim 2:9-12, Eph 5:22-28, Tit 2:3, IPet
3:1-6, Rom 16:3,7
*EXPLORING THE SCRIPTURE*
Ask them when sharing from their group discussions to include
meaning drawn from the additional scripture.
What about us? In the church today have we deserted God and then
boldly asked His forgiveness without shame or repentance?
*CLOSING TIME TOGETHER*
Use the Horizons’ Lesson
*REFLECTING AT HOME*
Use the suggestion printed in Horizons.
Focus your meditation at home on this chapter’s dramatic
presentation of God’s readiness to forgive, if each person repents
by returning to God in his/her heart. The message is HOPE! Then and
NOW!!