Jeremiah 3:1: Yet return to Me.

Fady Andraws
Jul 20, 2017 · 8 min read

Today’s passage is about how willing God is to offer us repentance. A few years back at a conference, I remember a priest holding up a $5 bill and asking the youth in front of him how much the bill was worth. A girl raised her hand and answered ‘5 dollars,’ slightly perplexed at the question. He crumpled it up in a ball. And now? Still 5 dollars. He spit on it, and threw it on the floor and stepped on it. And now? Still 5 dollars. Your worth, he told us, never changes in the eyes of God, and to think that He won’t take you back when you’ve made a mistake, is one of the most detrimental thoughts to the struggling Christian. God will always offer you forgiveness when you seek it. Today in Jeremiah 3, God provides Judah and Israel with that chance of repentance. He doesn’t care about their past. He doesn’t care that they will continue to sin. He only sees the inveterate value given to us from birth.


God wants our repentance …

God begins chapter 3 with an incredible depiction of the extent of His repentance:

They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife,
And she goes from him
And becomes another man’s,
May he return to her again?’
Would not that land be greatly polluted?
But you have played the harlot with many lovers;
Yet return to Me,” says the Lord. — Jeremiah 3:1

Jeremiah presents a simple situation to Judah. Imagine a husband and wife who fight because one of them is unfaithful. The fights get worse and worse, and the unfaithful spouse continues seeing their lover in secret. But if the unfaithfulness continues, there isn’t a human on this planet that has enough forgiveness to continue the relationship. Eventually they get divorced. Is it often in modern society that these two can make amends and get remarried?

More so, here Jeremiah refers to a law that the people of Judah know well. In Deuteronomy 24:1–4 the same situation is laid out and God gives the people a clear law: 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. God tells them that this is simply not permitted. Not only that, but it would defile the land. The image God depicts to His people doesn’t just appeal to human senses and reason, it is literally the law that the citizens of Judah abide by.

This may seem like quite a harsh law from God, but He seemed to want to instate the seriousness of marriage and divorce. This isn’t some frivolous relationship where you can change spouses without consequence. Once you pick a spouse, or choose to divorce them, that is a commitment. God would not allow the casual treatment of these sacred unions. So when God asks may he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly polluted? The answer to the people of Judah is a foregone conclusion: of course not!

Now here is the beautiful part. God goes on to say yet return to me. Return to me anyways. God has every right to abandon the people of Judah because they had broken the law. God could justly refuse to ever receive them again. But He doesn’t do that because of His infinite, everlasting and unconditional love. Yet return to me! It seems that God is able to do what no earthly husband can do: God can take back a defiled bride. God is not like men, who have petty disputes.

More so, Israel didn’t leave God for just one lover, but many lovers, and in such a careless and casual way: So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees (Jeremiah 3:9). Let us quickly meet these lovers, the stones and trees, that the people of Judah turned to.

The first was Baal, who was worshiped by the Canaanites, as the most powerful of the gods. In the mythology of Canaan, Baal, the god of life and fertility, was locked in mortal combat with Mot, the god of death and sterility. If Baal triumphed, a seven-year cycle of fertility would ensue; but, if he were vanquished by Mot, seven years of drought and famine would ensue. This god was chased by Israel since the time of Ahab (see 1 Kings 16:31–33) in hopes of fertile soils and good crops. His temples usually contained a stone or massabeh (see 2 Kings 3:2).

Asherah, goddess of the sea

The second common god was Asherah, a goddess of the sea. She was the principle mother god and was usually carved into wood. These were both gods that were thought to bring fertility and prosperity to Israel. So in Jeremiah 3:3 when God says Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain, He reasons with the people. The gods Israel worships don’t even provide them with prosperity! God pleads with them to show them that only He has control over the rains.

The people were so lost and so confused. Saying to a tree, ‘You are my father’ and to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me’ (Jeremiah 2:27). The people were so disoriented that they called Asherah their father, and Baal their mother. They confused the genders of the gods they chased. Despite the people’s confusion, and despite worshiping many other gods, God wanted their repentance. Yet return to me.

… But we need to want our repentance

However, although God yearns for our return, He granted us freewill, and it is our choice. This chapter of Jeremiah compares Israel and Judah. 100 years earlier, before the time of Jeremiah, Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians because of their idol worship and evil ways in front of God. Judah having seen the judgement that fell on Israel, did not fear God. They did not change their ways. They continued playing the harlot with many gods. So God calls them back:

‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord. ‘I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the Lord your God, and scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree, and have not obeyed my voice,’ says the Lord. — Jeremiah 3:12–13

This passage indicates one of the reasons that God considers Judah as more treacherous than Israel. Judah had more righteous kings like Josiah, Judah was closer to the temple, and Judah had the example of Israel to learn from. Judah’s problem was that they didn’t want to acknowledge their sin, and God offers them the most simple way to reunite with Him: Only acknowledge your guilt. It is really that easy. We repent our sins to reunite with Him, and that’s all we have to do.

2 Kings 5:1–14 is a really simple story of a commander of the Syrian army, called Naaman. Naaman had leprosy. On one of the Syrian raids they had captured a young girl from Israel, and she became a servant in Naaman’s house. Eventually, she mentioned Elisha, and said that he had the power from God to heal Naaman of the leprosy. Naaman went to Elisha, and Elisha tells him to go wash in the Jordan seven times, and Naaman becomes furious. Here is someone who is given the opportunity to be healed by jumping in some water, and instead of taking it, he becomes angry. His servants respond very powerfully in verse 13, just to get Naaman to agree: My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you wash and be clean? God gives us this incredibly simple path to living a life with Him and often times we don’t even want to use it!

Take a look at Luke 23:39–42 for a second. Israel was blatantly and openly doing wrong by following their desires to worship idols, but Judah was more grave in the eyes of the Lord because they tried to cover up their wrong doings. Compare these to the two criminals that were crucified on either side of Jesus. The first thief challenges Him and says: Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us! Often times we are this thief. Are you not God? Remove my sin. Make me successful, make me holy, make me wise, make me… You’re God aren’t you? If you’re God than prove it. Win me over. If you are God than why am I going through all this trouble?

Jesus doesn’t even respond to this thief, and instead the other criminal speaks up and says: Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds. These are two thieves, who have always been criminals in society, who have never done a good deed. And one of them has the realization that he deserves to be hanging on the cross. It is just, that we get the tribulation in our lives. It is just, that we experience death’s in the family. It is just, that we lose our jobs. It is just. And as an after thought, almost a feeble plea, with nothing to offer, the thief asks Jesus to remember him. He acknowledges his sin, and just stands in front of God, exposed. It is this man that Jesus offers repentance: Today, you will be with me in my Kingdom.

God tells the people of Israel that all they need to do is repent. And sometimes like Namaan, we want to aggrandize ourselves in the eyes of God and people by making up ways to be healed and come to Him. But it is simple. Other times we challenge God with the tribulations in our life like the right hand thief. However, when we come to God in humility, knowing that we deserve the injustice in our life, and that we need Him, we can acknowledge our sin and have true repentance. And know that God wants nothing in the world, more than you.

Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

~Romans 2:4

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Fady Andraws

Written by

Religion | Culture | Romans 7:15

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