For a person who is a repeat offender in the adultery department with a spouse that absolutely loved them, what is their just consequences? No one forced them into marriage or to make a covenant with their spouse of fidelity, they willingly took their vows. And then willingly violated them.
No matter how Hollywood folks try to proclaim open marriages, adultery is always a stake to the heart. It a violation at the core levels and a desecration of the sacred.
Now imagine a people and a nation that willingly entered into that covenant with God. He tells them plainly and repeatedly that if they keep their marriage vows, he will bless them abundantly. But if they persist in adultery, he will give them over to their lovers and remove his protection.
God waited so patiently for Israel to return and for so long that they stopped believing God would do anything. Worse, they didn’t want to hear his warnings.
The Lord told Jeremiah to tell them to return to their first love, their covenant with him.
“Obey the words of this covenant” (v. 3)
“Obey the words of this covenant” (v. 6)
He then reminds them that the Israelites who came out of Egypt were straying and God called them back.
‘Obey my voice.’ Yet they would not obey or pay attention, each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded them to do.” (v. 7-8).
Assyria had already sacked the northern kingdom. The Lord had handed them over to their enemies. Now God was warning the city of Jerusalem in the region of Judah. They thought they were safe as they had God’s temple and the sacrifices. But it wasn’t these that God was after. It was their hearts.
“What right does My beloved have to be in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can holy meat prevent your disaster so you can rejoice?” (v. 15).
The LORD isn’t after our rituals, our sacrifices, our tithes and offerings. He wants first and foremost hearts. But they didn’t want Him. Nor his messenger–Jeremiah.
They plotted against Jeremiah but the Lord warned him.
“Therefore, here is what the LORD says concerning the people of Anathoth who want to take your life. They warn, “You must not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, or you will certainly die at our hand.” Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine. They will have no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth in the year of their punishment” (v. 21-23).
As you read they are trying to kill him, you then read its by “the people of Anathoth.” Anathoth was a town of priests. Of which Jeremiah was one. It was his hometown. His friends. His relatives. His neighbors.
And they wanted to kill him because he was warning them.
There’s nothing more painful than having those you love want to kill you. And yet they didn’t understand that what he was doing was a great act of love.
Perhaps in this small way Jeremiah began to grasp the broken heart of God.
