HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 273
2.23 Way, both a road and a lifestyle.
2.26 Once again the leaders of Judah are condemned: kings, officials, priests, and prophets (see 1.18).
2.27 Tree and stone are connected with Canaanite worship. Normally, Asherah (a Canaanite goddess portrayed variously as the consort of the Canaanite storm god Baal and as the consort of El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon) is associated with a tree. Male deities like Baal are represented in cult places by a matsebah (a Hebrew term for an upright cultic stone). Jeremiah sarcastically reverses the sexual imagery. Unlike the Lord, who redeems, the Canaanite deities are idols created by their worshipers and incapable of saving them (see the idol satires in 10.1–16; Isa 40.18–20; 41.5–7, 21–29; 44.6–20; 46; Pss 115; 135).
2.29–37 Israel’s social injustice will lead to its humiliation at the hands of the very nations with whom it sought alliances. Josiah was killed by Neco II (610–594 BCE) at Megiddo in 609, when the Egyptians were marching north to join with the Assyrians at Carchemish in the futile attempt to stall the Babylonian advance.
JEREMIAH 3
Unfaithful Israel
1Ifa a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
Would not such a land be greatly polluted?
You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
says the LORD.
2Look up to the bare heights,b and see!
Where have you not been lain with?
By the waysides you have sat waiting for lovers,
like a nomad in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land
with your whoring and wickedness.
3Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have the forehead of a whore,
you refuse to be ashamed.
4Have you not just now called to me,
“My Father, you are the friend of my youth—
5will he be angry forever,
will he be indignant to the end?”
This is how you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.
A Call to Repentance
6The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and played the whore there? 7And I thought, “After she has done all this she will return to me” but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it. 8Shec saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. 9Because she took her whoredom so lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. 10Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense, says the LORD.
11Then the LORD said to me: Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah. 12Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say:
Return, faithless 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.
13Only 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.
14Return, O faithless children,
says the LORD,
for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
15I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; nor shall another one be made. 17At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no longer stubbornly follow their own evil will. 18In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your ancestors for a heritage.
19I thought
how I would set you among my children,
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful heritage of all the nations.
And I thought you would call me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
20Instead, as a faithless wife leaves her husband,
so you have been faithless to me, O house of Israel,
says the LORD.
21A voice on the bare heightsd is heard,
the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children,
because they have perverted their way,
they have forgotten the LORD their God:
22Return, O faithless children,
I will heal your faithlessness.
“Here we come to you;
for you are the LORD our God.
23Truly the hills aree a delusion,
the orgies on the mountains.
Truly in the LORD our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24“But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our ancestors had labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our ancestors, from our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
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a Q Ms Gk Syr: MT Saying, If
b Or the trails
c Q Ms Gk Mss Syr: MT I
d Or the trails
e Gk Syr Vg: Heb Truly from the hills is
3.1–4.4 Jeremiah’s call to repentance is a collection of primarily poetic oracles directing Israel to return to the Lord, i.e., “repent,” Hebrew shub. Shub occurs sixteen times in this collection and provides the key theme. The “summons to repentance” occurs four times: 3.12b; 3.14a; 3.22a; 4.1a. 3.1–5 is a continuation of the lawsuit in ch. 2, while the other poetic sections form a “call to repentance” (see Am 5.4–7, 14–15; Hos 14.2). The poetic sections include: 3.1–5 (the adulterous wife and the faithless child); 3.12b–13 (the adulterous wife); 3.14, 19–20 (faithless children);3.21–23 (faithless sons); and 4.1–4 (faithless Israel and Judah exhorted to repent). The poetic call to repentance, addressed to Israel and Judah, was most likely issued during the early stage of Jeremiah’s activity. The contingents of Israelites in Assyrian exile, those remaining in the North after the destruction of Samaria in 722 BCE, the Israelite refugees who migrated south to Judah, especially to the western hill in Jerusalem, and Judah are all addressed by Jeremiah. Using two metaphors, an unfaithful wife and rebellious children, Jeremiah urges Israel to repent, i.e., to return to God, who is both husband and father. Jeremiah’s use of these two metaphors follows Hosea. Editors, sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE, inserted three prose speeches: 3.6–12a; 3.15–18; 3.24–25. These additions indict false sister Judah (3.7) for being more guilty of religious adultery than Israel, promise a new future with faithful rulers who dwell in a Jerusalem that is the throne of God and the city to which the nations will come, and express hope for the return of a united Israel and Judah from exile in Mesopotamia.
3.1–5 Israel and Judah are presented as both the Lord’s faithless wife, who has become a prostitute, and his disobedient child. The lawsuit draws on the legal case of divorce in Deut 24.1–4 and its application in Hos 2. The case in Deuteronomy forbids a man who divorces his wife to remarry her, even if her second husband has died or
divorced her. Jeremiah replaces the law in Deut 24.1–4 with two rhetorical questions: Will he (the husband) return to her? Would not such a land be greatly polluted? (v. 1). Although the Lord has not divorced his people, they have forsaken the marriage by having many lovers (false gods). For Jeremiah divine grace allows a repentant people to return. This sets the stage for the four “summons to repentance” that follow. Immoral actions pollute the land, i.e., desecrate the holiness of the land, which God both gave to Israel and Judah and blesses with divine presence and fertility (see Lev 19.29; Num 35.33–34). Desecration leads to God’s withholding the rain. Forehead of a whore may allude to a phylactery or crown of cord worn around the head by prostitutes.
3.6–11 A prose commentary on vv. 1–5 set in the reign of Josiah. Israel did not return and is divorced by the Lord, i.e., sent into Assyrian exile. False sister Judah (v. 8) did not learn from Israel’s experience. She too became a prostitute by following false gods. Judah also did not return. Indeed, Israel was judged less guilty than Judah. This commentary explains the Babylonian exile.
3.8–9 Decree of divorce. See Deut 24.1–4. Adultery with stone and tree. See note on 2.27.
3.12–13 Merciful (Hebrew chasid). The loyalty between two covenant partners includes divine grace as the basis for forgiveness and reconciliation.
3.14, 19–21 A second “summons to repentance,” addressed to Israel. The faithful refugees from the former Northern Kingdom will return to Zion as a part of the new people of God.
3.15–18 A prose speech by later editors that comments on v. 14. In the restoration, new and faithful rulers will guide a reunited Israel and Judah, Jerusalem will be the center of divine rule, all nations shall come to Jerusalem, and all will follow the will of God.
3.15 Shepherds, a figurative expression for kings (see 10.21; 22.22; 23.1–4; 25.34–38; Ps 78.70–72; Isa 44.28; Ezek 34.1–10). God was the true shepherd of Israel (Ps 23; Ezek 34).
3.16 Ark of the covenant, a chest that was originally a portable shrine signifying divine presence and considered the throne of God (cf. Ex 25.10–15; Deut 10.8). Originally kept in the tent of meeting (2 Sam 6.17), it contained the two tablets of the law (Deut 10.2, 5) and perhaps the sacred lots (Urim and Thummim, Judg 20.27; 1 Sam 14.17–18). David brought the ark to Jerusalem, signifying the unification of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms (2 Sam 6), and Solomon placed it in the holy of holies of the new temple (1 Kings 8.4–7). Here it was considered a throne, guarded by two cherubim (2 Kings 19.15). The ark was captured or destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BCE.
3.22–23 The third “summons to repentance,” also addressed to Israel. Hills and mountains were important locations for shrines and temples. These sacred sites are sometimes identified as “high places” (Hebrew bamot; see 1 Kings 3.2; 2 Kings 12.4). Orgies, lit. “noise,” the sounds made during illegitimate worship at the high places. Many scholars think that such worship involved sexual activity.
3.24–25 A third editorial addition that places a liturgical confession of sin in the mouth of the exilic or postexilic community; it is a ritual response to the prophetic “summons to repentance.”
JEREMIAH 4
1If you return, O Israel,
says the LORD,
if you return to me, if you remove your abominations from my presence,
and do not waver,
2and if you swear, “As the LORD lives!”
in truth, in justice, and in uprightness,
then nations shall be blesseda by him,
and by him they shall boast.
3For thus says the LORD to the people of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
Break up your fallow ground,
and do not sow among thorns.
4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
or else my wrath will go forth like fire,
and burn with no one to quench it,
because of the evil of your doings.
Invasion and Desolation of Judah Threatened
5Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:
Blow the trumpet through the land;
shout aloudb and say,
“Gather together, and let us go
into the fortified cities!”
6Raise a standard toward Zion,
flee for safety, do not delay,
for I am bringing evil from the north,
and a great destruction.
7A lion has gone up from its thicket,
a destroyer of nations has set out;
he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
your cities will be ruins
without inhabitant.
8Because of this put on sackcloth,
lament and wail:
“The fierce anger of the LORD
has not turned away from us.”
9On that day, says the LORD, courage shall fail the king and the officials; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded. 10Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how utterly you have deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ even while the sword is at the throat!”
11At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heightsc in the desert toward my poor people, not to winnow or cleanse—12a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.
13Look! He comes up like clouds,
his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are swifter than eagles—
woe to us, for we are ruined!
14O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness
so that you may be saved.
How long shall your evil schemes
lodge within you?
15For a voice declares from Dan
and proclaims disaster from Mount Ephraim.
16Tell the nations, “Here they are!”
Proclaim against Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come from a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.
17They have closed in around her like watchers of a field,
because she has rebelled against me,
says the LORD.
18Your ways and your doings
have brought this upon you.
This is your doom; how bitter it is!
It has reached your very heart.”
Sorrow for a Doomed Nation
19My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
I cannot keep silent;
for Id hear the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.
20Disaster overtakes disaster,
the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
my curtains in a moment.
21How long must I see the standard,
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22“For my people are foolish,
they do not know me;
they are stupid children,
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
but do not know how to do good.”
23I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void;
and to the heavens, and they had no light.
24I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
25I looked, and lo, there was no one at all,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
26I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the LORD, before his fierce anger.
27For thus says the LORD: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
28Because of this the earth shall mourn,
and the heavens abov
e grow black;
for I have spoken, I have purposed;
I have not relented nor will I turn back.
29At the noise of horseman and archer
every town takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
all the towns are forsaken,
and no one lives in them.
30And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in crimson,
that you deck yourself with ornaments of gold,
that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
Your lovers despise you;
they seek your life.
31For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,
anguish as of one bringing forth her first child,
the cry of daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before killers!”
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a Or shall bless themselves
b Or shout, take your weapons: Heb shout, fill (your hand)
c Or the trails
d Another reading is for you, O my soul,
4.1–4 The final poem in the section 3.1–4.4 is also a “summons to repentance,” though shaped as a conditional clause (if you return…) to conform to the opening line of the unit (3.1, if a man…). This provides an inclusio (a repetition signaling the beginning and end of a unit) for the entire section.
4.1 Abominations, idols and practices associated with idol worship (7.30;13.27; 16.18; Deut 29.17).
4.2 Swear. In oaths that either begin with or imply the use of the phrase as the LORD lives, the Lord is the guarantor of the oath, and lies or broken oaths would receive divine punishment. This oath is probably the ritual swearing during occasions of covenant renewal (Gen 26.28). Oaths are sacred words of promise, and to violate them is to take God’s name in vain (Ex 20.7; Lev 19.12). Blessed, also sacred language. A blessing is a ritual pronouncement, usually by God through a priest, that effects good fortune or well-being for the recipient. This may include life, health, longevity, children, fertility, prosperity, and peace. Both swearing and blessing are power-laden forms of language; they enact the content of the words they contain.