Refusal to be Shamed
Jeremiah’s opening section in chapter 3 is again quite blunt. Jeremiah says it like it is. The Hebrew people have lusted after other
gods. They’ve turned to nation after
nation in a quest for help against the invading Assyrians and the soon to be
invading Babylonians. They have turned
everywhere but the Lord, and it shows.
It is this last point where Jeremiah comes out and says, “You have
the forehead of a whore.” {If you prefer
softer language, you could say harlot or prostitute there.} This is what is called cultural
indoctrination. People who grow up in a
certain culture typically behave in the mannerisms of that culture. They learn behavior and more often than not
refuse to change because it’s “not how it’s done.”
Generational poverty is a great example of this. People learn how to live off of the system
and generations will continue to do so until something – or someone – comes
along to change it. Alcoholism is
another case. Alcoholism is often passed
generationally from parent to child to grandchild even though everybody can see
the negative side effects of such behavior.
Spousal abuse is yet another example.
Young girls see their mother being abused {and perhaps experience the abuse themselves} and although they
know it isn’t right they also wrongly learn to see it as “normal.” Young men see their fathers being abusive and
learn how to do it themselves even though they see the negative effects upon
their mother and other children in the house – perhaps even themselves. In truth, you could make this case for all
sin. How much of the sin in my life is
learned behavior from others? How much
has my example contributed to the sin in the lives of others?
This same sociological dynamic in human culture is what Jeremiah
is attacking in this opening section.
The Hebrew people try to rely upon one nation {and their gods} for help and the help fails. They try to rely upon another nation {and their gods} and the help
fails. Rather than learning to quit
running from God, they simply go to another nation and another set of gods and
try to find something that will work for them.
It’s too hard to change, so they continue the same pattern of behavior
in a different direction hoping for different results. You know what they say about a person who
tries the same thing over and over but expects different results each time,
right?
The underlying question for me is this: why did the Hebrew people
behave this way? Or perhaps more
importantly, why do humans in general behave this way? To make it really personal, why do I behave
this way? Why do we so readily follow
ruts of behavior that are simply no good for us rather than turning to
God?
Look at the end of verse 3.
“You refuse to be shamed.” We as
human beings refuse to admit we’re wrong.
We refuse to admit the sin in the things that we’ve done against God’s
will that we’ve also enjoyed. When we
refuse to be shamed, we can never be healed.
When we refuse to see the error in our ways, we will never be able to
rightly live in truth.
Stones and Trees
Really quickly, you might be wondering what it is about Jeremiah
that he keeps using the word “whore” in connection with stones and trees. Let me explain that really quickly. As the Hebrew people chased after foreign
gods, those gods typically required altars in “holy places.” Those holy places were usually on the tops of
mountains and hills or in specific natural settings like groves of trees. A stone altar would be erected to the foreign
god. Wooden poles would be set up to
mark the location – perhaps even to carve into the pole a name or an image of
the god.
From God’s perspective, when people who profess to follow God
chase after other “gods” – whether they be actual gods or things we make into
gods like popularity and wealth and power – God sees that as adultery. Since the Hebrew people (both Judah and
Israel) were doing this a lot at the time of Jeremiah, God called it as He saw
it. From God’s perspective, the Hebrew
people were prostituting themselves with stone altars and wooden poles meant to
be favors to other gods.
The fun question is … with what does God consider that we
prostitute ourselves?
Israel vs. Judah
In verse 10 we have an interesting comment. God says that in all of the chasing after
false gods, Israel was more righteous than Judah. First things first. This comment is like saying that charcoal
gray is more white than black is white.
It’s true. But it doesn’t mean
charcoal gray is anywhere near white.
God is not praising Israel here.
God is slamming Judah.
Why was Judah less faithful?
Well, because Israel didn’t try to hide her unfaithfulness. The Israelites never claimed to be faithful
to God. They abandoned God quickly after
Solomon was king and they never looked back.
Judah, on the other hand, claimed to be faithful to God but they seldom
were. Their claim was only a
pretense. Both Israel and Judah were
unfaithful. But Judah lied about it.
Compassion
After all is said and done, we get to see God’s compassionate
side. After all the talk of
unfaithfulness, God still wants Israel back.
{And Judah, too, eventually.} God pleads with them to simply repent. God knows our complete faithfulness is not
possible. But if we repent, God is
willing to look past it! Honestly,
that’s more grace than we give one another.
But God does more than just forgive. He promises to send shepherds once more to
them. He promises to welcome them, care
for them, and protect them. God’s love
is simply astounding. After all that
Israel did to bring about His wrath, God still wants them back.
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