Turning, Not Burning

May 13, 2020 at 10:18 am | Posted in Jeremiah | 4 Comments
Tags: Biblical repentance, commentary on Jeremiah, idolatry, Jeremiah 3, King James Version, repentance, Shakespeare, Sunday School lessons on Jeremiah, true repentance

They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 3:1

God never condoned divorce, but in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 He allowed Moses to regulate its practice among the people, and one of rules was that if a divorce did happen, the husband was not allowed to take back the wife again. He was not allowed to remarry the same woman. In Jeremiah 3:1 God used the word “return,” which is one of the key words in Chapter 3, along with the words “turn” and “backsliding,” to describe the how God viewed the people’s attitude.

It was as if God’s wife had run off – and not just for another man – but to pursue vain physical relations with MANY lovers. But He is God, after all; He delights in forgiveness. Why would He balk at welcoming back His repentant bride? All Jeremiah had to do to answer this question was to wave his arm up at the surrounding groves on the hills.

Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

Jeremiah 3:2

Jeremiah was demonstrating the difference between outward repentance (which is really not repentance at all) and true repentance, which starts in the heart and results – invariably – in outward evidence of changed ways and hatred of the idolatry that led the sinner astray in the first place.

This is a good test of repentance and true faith toward God: Do we now hate what we – in our sin and idolatry – used to love? Or are we still trying make some sort of compromise or trying to negotiate with God (or our own hearts)? False repentance is more offensive to God than no repentance.

Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

Jeremiah 3:3

Because of the historical period in which it was translated and because of the poetic and dramatic brilliance of some of its language, various scholars have from time to time argued that Shakespeare was secretly in charge of the English translation of the Bible that we know as the King James Version. I believe that this theory, while certainly intriguing, has been pretty well debunked. However, for those familiar with Shakespeare’s ability to turn a phrase, I will admit that there are times when certain terms do jump out with a certain Shakespearean flavor. Jeremiah 3:3 is one such example. When Jeremiah accused the nation of Judah of brazenly calling upon God without showing any shame over their ongoing idolatry, he said that they had a “whore’s forehead.” Shakespeare, who had a penchant for having his characters use insults like “a toad’s liver” or “an eel’s skin,” would have most likely approved.

People in Jeremiah’s day called upon Yahweh when it wouldn’t rain – as a last resort – but they didn’t really “turn” back to Him. True repentance is always a 180 degree turn. The Deuteronomic Covenant warned against turning to the left or the right when it came to strictly obeying God’s commands.

The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

Jeremiah 3:6-7

Israel’s sin and idolatry was certainly wicked, there was no disputing that, but the difference was that Judah had the well-known and obvious example of what happened to Israel, and what happened when she refused to repent – to “turn.”

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

Jeremiah 3:8-9

This reminds us of the reference to the people calling sticks and stones their father in Chapter 2. God made sticks and stones: they could be used to glorify him or they could be used to defile the land. I wonder how many of our luxurious possessions today were given to us to be used for God’s glory, but are instead being used by us to defile the land. Sticks and stones could be used for building, for warfare, for altars for family worship, for all manner of Godly endeavours, but the people were using them for places to sacrifice their livestock and their children to false gods, and to commit fornication and idolatry. The Book of Jeremiah shouldn’t be taught as one long spiritual beatdown, but we do need to make application, and remember to use things and to love people, not vice versa. We wouldn’t intentionally worship our sectional sofa or our family pet, but if we’re not using those possessions to love and serve God and others, we will love and worship the possessions themselves by default.

And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 3:10 (emphasis added)

Feignedly means fake – things done with “dissimulation” like in Romans 12. Jeremiah 3:10 is the first time that the word “heart” appears in the Book of Jeremiah. I believe that the theme of the “heart” is a a key – possibly THE key – to really understanding the whole book, and when Jeremiah attacked the hearts of the people here, he specifically addressed two problems:
1. A divided heart
2. A fake heart

“Turning” without really turning is not turning, and spiritually turning with half a heart is not really turning either. I don’t think feelings should be our guide for progressing or regressing in the Christian life, but we do need to frequently – maybe constantly – be guarding our hearts, examining our hearts, asking God to unify our hearts, and preaching the Gospel to our hearts. This would be a much more Biblical approach than asking God to “set our hearts on fire.”

And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

Jeremiah 3:11

Backsliding seems to imply “moving away from,” without “turning away from,” and this is another description of what angers and grieves God: paying homage to Him in appearance only – and even with our words and our posture – while slyly “walking away” from Him and walking after vanity.