The Case Against Israel (Jeremiah 2)

In 1986, a young man of 20 decided it was time to visit his parents. Being a person of strong moral character, or so he believed, it was important to him that he regularly visited his aging parent’s farm in Ohio to ensure everything was going well for them. He knew there would be a day when neither his mum nor dad could tend the farm, but for their benefit, he tried to make it as long as possible before that happened. His brother was a successful business man in the city and rarely found time to return home.

On this particular visit, the young man was walking through his dining room when he spotted his father crouching on the ground outside in the garden. His first thought was he was having a heart attack. He raced outside and crouched down next to his dad. Without saying a word, his father thrust the day’s newspaper in his hand.

He immediately spotted his brother’s picture with the words ‘Fraud Scandal’ printed underneath in large letters. His father encouraged him to never get into any trouble like his brother had. The man promised he would stay on the right side of the law.

Over the next twenty years, he developed his talent for finances and opened his own mortgage loan company in the early 90s. It proved to be a highly successful company with a big reputation for looking out for the ‘little’ people. Employees loved working for him and he started making a good income from it.

However, he soon got a taste for money and started spending the company’s income. He bought the finest things, a large house with large grounds where he hosted numerous parties with young women and bought a fleet of fancy cars. But to the outside world, everything appeared above board.

He had, however stopped visiting his parents who had now moved out of their farm due to their age. That did not mean his father stopped sending a letter each month reminding him of his love for his son.

For close to a decade, the man was the top of his game, or so he thought. However, whilst he enjoyed his life to the max, he did not realise how much debt he was amounting through his company.

In 2006, Toby Groves was arrested by the FBI for a multi-million dollar bank fraud. He had acquired a loan under false pretences to cover the company debt, a loan that had caused the closure of two other companies and the loss of hundreds of jobs. The judge who presided over his case was the same judge who had presided over his brother for the same crime more than 20 years before.

Shortly after his incarceration, his father sent him another letter. In it, Groves was reminded of the promise he had made to his father and of everything he had done since. He learned how proud his father was for the successful mortgage company, and the disappointment in the fraudulent loan and Toby’s chosen lifestyle. He was about to throw the letter away in anger, when the final phrase caught his attention… “Despite all this, I still love you.”

I wonder how Toby’s life would have turned out, if he had only remembered his father’s love for him? If he had remembered the promise he had made as a young man, how would he have done things differently? If he had continued to visit his father regularly, would he still have gone down the same route? Whatever the motives were behind Toby’s actions in 2006, the story serves as a stark reminder that nothing much has changed today.

I don’t know about you, but I am encouraged that words written more than 2600 years ago during the reigns of Kings of Judah, such as, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, are almost a clear reflection of today. OK, perhaps ‘encouragement’ is the wrong word, perhaps I should say, I am deeply ashamed, because reading this oracle from Jeremiah chapter 2, reminds me of everything I have done wrong.

We all know the history of God’s chosen people, the Israelites. The book of Exodus details the journey they took out of Egypt through the wilderness with God as their lead. We know how the people continually turned from God during the 40-year journey leading to God having to regularly punish them, the people sought repentance and God forgave them. A cycle that repeated many times during the 40 years.

When they eventually entered the Promised Land, we know their history continued to be wrought with frivolities, licentiousness (that is, sexual immorality) and forsaking God and God bringing judgement upon them and the people crying out for deliverance. In fact, a large section of the Old Testament details this recurrent cycle of sinning, judgement, repentance and forgiveness. From Judges through to Kings, time and time again, God sent a messenger to share His Word with His people, reminding them of His love for them, they were His people after all and he their father, he has a strong will to save the repentant sinner. The people would begin to obey for a short time and then forget everything their God had done for them and slip into their evil and wicked ways they were more comfortable with.

Jeremiah chapter 2 is one such message. The scope for the whole chapter is to show God’s people their transgressions, even the house of Jacob their sins. The whole chapter deals with how the people are committing two sins (v13); forsaking their God, either by worshiping idols (vv5-13 & 20-32) or instead of trusting God alone, by making political treaties with other nations (vv14-19 & 33-37).

Vv1-3 sets the scene, the covenant between God and his people.

The Lord here declares his eternal protection and deliverance of his people, what life was like in the beginning; an idyllic picture of a blossoming love between God and his people.

Despite how faithful God has been to them since their deliverance from Egypt, they became so ungrateful and forsook him (v5).

Vv5 to 8 form a chiastic structure, starting with ‘They followed worthless idols…’ in verse 5 and ending with ‘The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols…’ in verse 8. And in case you cannot see or know who is actually in the blame here, take a look at verse 7 again.

Verse 8 shows how deeply rooted the evil had become does this not sound familiar? A society without God?

Grace Naessens, in her popular poem, No Time To Pray, pictures what happens when we forget or are too busy to spend time with God in the morning – a day of disasters! We’ve all had those days, we have so much to accomplish there is not enough time in the day to do it all, and how do we try and fix the problem? By throwing even more time at it and before we know it, that practice becomes the norm.

Reading verse 8 challenged me to the core. You see, with recent events at my school, the onslaught of negativity from the media and teaching unions, the up and coming strike action from my colleagues and the terrifying Special Measures judgement from Ofsted, I have been extremely busy every day to get my faculty in shape for the next inspection. I have been working all hours God sends me every day to ensure that I complete all the work I need to complete. I arrive at school at 7:30am and don’t leave until 6pm. I have three whiteboards in my office with to do lists and deadlines. When I return home, I spend hours working, either planning lessons, marking books or planning faculty improvements.

It was not until I read verse 8 several times, I was hit by the lack of prayer in my daily routine. I have pushed the most important part of my day out to make way of less profitable tasks – how deep is our wickedness? You see, it’s not about the lack of time that makes our work unprofitable, but because without God in our work, it is fruitless and inefficient. We must focus our time and effort on deepening our relationship with God rather than spending more time on tasks that do not profit.

Vv9-13 would have struck a major chord with the people of Israel and hopefully it does with us. The people of Israel have made a spectacle of themselves. They have shown how fickle they really are. They turn to the next big thing with the slightest of ease. They yield to temptation without a second thought.

Verse 11 shows how unprecedented it is for any nation, any one to change its god so easily. Kittam (or Cyprus) and Kedar in verse 10 were about equal distance from Jerusalem in opposite directions and signify the whole world. Even the most devout pagan, no matter where they are in the world doesn’t change his or her god so easily. Jeremiah points out that God’s people have, indeed done just that, forsaken their true God for worthless idols.

But are we not all guilty of that. I know I have forsaken God and sought after worldly devices or practices to fill the gaping hole. A hole that I created, by turning from God. These are my broken cisterns in v13.  God is the spring of living water, yet we try time and time again to substitute him for anything and everything.

Vv14-19 we read how Israel flirts with other nations, seeking to build political treaties with Egypt and Assyria, but end up being plundered and enslaved. Indeed, in 2 Kings 23 and 24, the kings of Egypt and Assyria’s successor, Babylon, killed four of the kings of Judah. In verse 37, from our passage, Israel is told their LORD had rejected these two enemies and Israel will not be helped by them.

So far, Jeremiah has reminded the Israelites of what life should have been like if only they had obeyed their God, pointed out who is to blame for the problems they’re experiencing and declared the fickleness of their behaviour changing from one God to others so easily.

He now turns to the case in question. If you picture a court case with God as the prosecutor painting a picture of why He is bringing judgement, you would not be far from understanding vv20-36. God is, through Jeremiah, painting images of the people of Israel.

Verse 20 – A restless wife, who finds the bonds of true love as slavery but the lure of the forbidden irresistible. Although sex is implied through the mention of prostitutes, it is likely only a secondary reason for Jeremiah’s outcry here.

Verse 21 – The choice vine is now corrupted and wild.

Verse 22 – The vain washing of the unmovable stain from v34, also from 2 Kings 21:16.

“Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord”

Verse 23 -25 – The mindless, untamed animal succumbing to natural desires.

Verse 26-28 – The disgraced thief who is caught.  If they continue on this path, no one will come to rescue them. They have rejected the true God and trusted wood and stone.

Verse 30 – The broken family who tears each other apart.

Verse 32 – The forgetful bride.

Verse 33 – The sex expert.

Verse 34 – The murderer of the innocent.

Verse 35 – The self-righteous.

Verse 36 – The fickle.

You see, God’s judgement is not coming out of the blue. He doesn’t chose one day to pass judgement on his people without giving reasons first. God has provided the thorough and detailed account of his case for the prosecution, just as the FBI did with Toby Groves.

But it is not all doom and gloom for the people of Israel. Despite the atrocities and despicable behaviour of the Israelites throughout history up to and including the time of Jeremiah. Despite the idolatrous practices and constant turning from the one true God and their seemingly predisposition to never learn from the mistakes of their ancestors, God still gives hope. Tucked away throughout the whole chapter are little pockets of loving, gracious hope.

Look at verse 11, verse 13, verse 31 and verse 32, what does God call these idolatrous, evil, wicked, sinful and back-stabbing people?

My people … v11

My people … v13

My people … v31 and in case they didn’t get it the first, second or third time … in verse 32

My people …

Despite all they have done to God, despite them forgetting him, despite them turning to worthless idols, He still calls them ‘My people!’

What a tremendous and wonderful thought! That even though we turn away from the living waters in favour of worldly pleasures, money, desires, fame and power, and any other cracked cisterns we put in the place of God. God still considers us his people, his children.

He has such a strong desire and will to bring even the vilest offender who truly repents into his bosom. To the point of sending his only son, Jesus Christ as the one and only true sacrifice for our sins. Such is his love for us. Such is his wonderful grace.

As Paul wrote to the Galatians in chapter 2:21, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

He didn’t die for nothing. Therefore, I am going to make a pact with everyone gathered here and to all those who listen online with the hope that everyone who agrees will want to follow suit. This is not an instruction for you to follow but a request. You see as a Christian Fellowship, we have to look out for each other. We must hold each other accountable for our behaviour or else we fall into the same downward spiral the Israelites constantly found themselves in and that Jeremiah spoke out against in chapter 2.

I am going to spend the first 15 minutes of my day at work, each day in prayer with God. I am an extremely busy man. It seems to be a teacher’s work is never done. But, I make this pact that for the first 15 minutes of each day, before I start any kind of work, I will spend it with God in prayer.

I refuse to accept society’s ruling that ‘Christ died for nothing’. I refuse to continue living like the Israelites did in Jeremiah 2, always looking for the next big fad and never being satisfied. But I am weak. I am fickle. I struggle with sin every day. Will you help me and spend time in prayer with me every morning? So we can uplift each other, daily?