The damage we do to ourselves (Jer 2:1-19)

It is common to hear non-Christians say that they cannot believe in a God who would bar them from ‘heaven’ just because they do not acknowledge Him or live up to His expectations. However, this is a serious misunderstanding. The Bible talks of a relationship with God (not going to heaven) that leads to a full life, even eternal life, of a different quality from everyday existence. We have this kind of LIFE if we are connected to the source, God, and it is not earned, but a gift offered to all.[1] Thus, there is no place separate from God where goodies and happiness await us irrespective of a connection to Him. Neither is it God who bars us from ‘heaven’, but we ourselves when we refuse a relationship with Him. It is like wanting marital bliss without the marriage or tap water without a pipe linking the house to the mains.

The gifts of relationship

A similar point is made in our reading where Israel’s blessings flow from their relationship with God. The people are compared to the first produce of the harvest that was offered to God in recognition of all that He has given (Deut 26:9-11). As such, they belonged to Him and were protected from anyone who unlawfully tried to consume them (Jer 2:3).[2] God led them out of slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness of pitfalls, lack of water and ‘the shadow of death’ (NASB ‘deep darkness’, same word as in Ps 23:4; Jer 2:6) and brought them into a land of plenty (Jer 2:7).

When God’s people walk away

Having tasted such goodness from God, however, Israel chose to walk away and worship what was insubstantial, empty and nothing and became empty and nothing in turn (Jer 2:4; cf. Ps 115:4-8). The priests did not seek or know God, even though they were to study and teach God’s instructions on how to live, and likewise, the prophets sought inspiration for their messages from other gods (Jer 2:8). One would not find such an attitude of abandoning the national gods anywhere going from east to west, from the tribes of the Arabian desert (Kedar) to the trading centre of Cyprus (Kittim) and their gods were not even real (Jer 2:10-11)! Isn’t this overall picture familiar in our time, when even ministers no longer know Scripture, nor teach it at depth? Likewise, how much preaching today is guided by the messages and sensitivities of our culture’s ‘gods’ rather than by the Word of God? There is something bizarre about the allure of sin, how it can draw us in with its appeal when, like a broken cistern that cannot hold water, it will not satisfy our thirst (Jer 2:13). No wonder that many churches, even when not lacking attendance, are empty shells without substance and meaning.

Have you not done this to yourself?

The key point is that Israel have done it to themselves when they turned away from God (Jer 2:17). They moved out from under His protection and were ravaged by the Assyrian and later the Babylonian conquest (Jer 2:14-15; see Introduction to Jeremiah). Even Egypt caused them harm (Memphis was the former Egyptian capital just south of Cairo and Tahpanhes a garrison town in the Nile Delta; Jer 2:16).[3] Regardless, instead of God, the fountain of living waters, His people sought out the rivers of Egypt (Nile) and Assyria/Babylon (Euphrates), i.e. sought help and alliance from these superpowers and possibly took over the worship of their gods (Jer 2:18).[4]

The corrective to sin

Yet the very consequences of their sin were going to provide the corrective to the evil they had done (Jer 2:19). It is only when they reaped what they had sown (ultimately in exile) and tasted the fruit of their wrongdoing that they could finally understand how bitter it was to forsake the Lord. Like the prodigal son awakened to the truth by the pigsty (Luke 15:17-18), the catastrophe that is of our own making may help us turn around and seek God. Even better if we keep our heart sensitive and come to the Lord in repentance before we must drink the bitter brew we have made. By God’s help we can recognise that sin leads to emptiness, that it is nothing but a broken cistern, while with the Lord is the fountain of living waters.

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[1] There is, of course, the difficult question of what happens to those who have never heard of the Christian God or never had a chance to accept or reject Him. The Bible does not answer this question, but it does present the Lord as just and loving, much more aware of any extenuating circumstances than we will ever be. We can confidently rely on His character and know that the Judge of all the earth will be both fair and kind in His judgment.

[2] Terence E. Fretheim notes that Israel being the first fruits of a larger harvest implies God’s ultimate interest in all nations, His concern for the whole world. The choice of Israel is only the beginning in that grand plan to bring all humanity to Himself. Jeremiah (Macon, GA: Smyth and Helwys, 2002), 62.

[3] The oblique reference may be to Josiah’s death in a battle against the Egyptian army in 609 BC. The Egyptians were at the time marching up to join forces with Assyria against Babylon, the emerging power in the region. Josiah tried – unsuccessfully – to stop Egypt from helping Assyria and died tragically at Megiddo (2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chron 35:20-25).

[4] Military alliances with foreign nations were frowned upon in the OT because it showed a lack of trust in the Lord. Since the strength of an empire was seen as a reflection of the power of their gods, such an alliance could also involve the worship of the stronger ally’s gods (see e.g. 2 Kings 16:7, 10-16, where King Ahaz allied himself with Assyria, made a copy of the Assyrian’s altar and had it set up in the Jerusalem temple to use in worship).