Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

3:6 God speaks to Jeremiah in the days of King Josiah (after 627 b.c.; see 1:1-3; and Dates of Events in Jeremiah) concerning the faithlessness of Israel, the northern kingdom. Israel played the whore by worshiping idols everywhere possible (2:20).

3:7 Despite God's centuries-long patience, she did not return to God. The same word (Hb. shub) may be translated "return" or "repent," depending on the context. Israel's failure "to return" was a refusal "to repent." Sadly, her treacherous sister Judah learned to behave as she did.

3:8 Judah saw that God sent Israel away with a decree of divorce, which here refers to the exiling that began in 732 b.c. and accelerated in 722 with the fall of Samaria. Undaunted, Judah went and played the whore anyway.

3:9-10 Judah did not return (repent). Rather, she only acted as if she had (2:26-29; 3:4-5). None of her prayers and sacrifices were offered in genuine repentance and trust.

3:11 God declares faithless Israel . . . more righteous than treacherous Judah. At least Israel was honest about her faithlessness. Judah tried to hide her adultery.

3:12 God commissions Jeremiah to make an extraordinary offer of grace to the fallen, exiled northern tribes, now scattered in the north. They should repent, since he will not deal with them angrily, for he is merciful (see Hos. 3:5 for a similar hope for the north). The word translated "merciful" (Hb. hasid) is used of God only here and in Ps. 145:17, where it is translated "kind." The one who is hasid extends hesed, the Hebrew term for covenant kindness and faithfulness, to others (see note on Jer. 2:1-2).

3:13 Israel must acknowledge her guilt and rebellion in committing idolatry with the gods of the nations. Repentance will lead to acceptance and renewal (Deut. 30:1-10).

3:14 God asks the faithless children (lit., "the turning-away ones") to turn, or return, to him. He claims to be their master, or their "husband." The Hebrew word for "master" (or "husband") in this verse is ba‘al, the verb from the same root as the name of the god Baal. Historically, Israel followed Baal as her master rather than following her true husband, Yahweh (Hos. 2:16-17). If she will return to this true Husband, he will take Israel one from a city and two from a family . . . to Zion. This minority, this "remnant" of ones and twos, will be the true people of God (Isa. 6:11-13; 10:20-23).

3:15 God will give this remnant (see note on v. 14) shepherds after his own heart, that is, leaders (like David) who are kings in whom God takes delight (1 Sam. 13:14). These shepherds will feed the people with knowledge and understanding, the very qualities they lacked when they turned away from God and followed false teachers and priests (Hos. 4:1-3). The shepherds are a recurring theme in Jeremiah (Jer. 2:8; 3:15; 10:21; 23:1-4; 50:6; cf. Ezekiel 34). The term can refer specifically to civil leaders, such as the king (2 Sam. 5:2), or to leaders more generally (civil and religious): all were charged with the responsibility of leading God's people to show forth his holiness in their personal and corporate lives. The people need faithful shepherds, and God will supply them after the exile.

3:16 God will multiply the remnant into larger numbers in those days (i.e., the days when he leads Israel to Zion). Israel's exiles long for the ark of the covenant of the Lord in the temple at Jerusalem, for they consider it God's symbolic throne (2 Kings 19:15). In the days of restoration it will not come to mind and it shall not be made again. Whatever happens to the ark, it will no longer be essential to godly worship.

3:17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, thereby replacing the ark in symbolic function. Then all nations shall gather to it (Jerusalem) (Isa. 2:1-5), and those who live there will be faithful to God (Isa. 4:2-6). This Jerusalem is ultimately the new Jerusalem where God's people will live with him forever in the total absence of sin (Isa. 65:17-25; Rev. 21:1-8).

3:18 In those days the house of Judah and Israel will be united again in service to God. They shall come to the land of promise from all the places where their sins have driven them (Isa. 11:10-16). Their renewal will be complete.

3:19-20 God reiterates that Israel's treacherous, adulterous ways have kept him from blessing her with a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations, something he longed to give.

3:21 Suddenly, a sound of the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons arises from the bare heights. Israel's sons finally recognize they have perverted their way and have forgotten the Lord their God.

3:22 God counsels the Israelites to return (repent) so he can heal their faithlessness, their worship of other gods. Here forgiveness is compared to physical healing (30:17; 33:6; Hos. 6:1; 14:4). Behold, we come to you. Israel responds positively by confessing that the Lord is their God.

3:23 The Israelites also confess that the hills (the places of idol worship) and the orgies (the worship services for the idols) are a delusion, falsehood, and hollow nothingness. Only God is the salvation of Israel. They further confess sole loyalty to their covenant husband, as he asked in vv. 11-18.

3:24 The Israelites admit that their idols (the shameful thing) have cost them their homes, land, and freedom, just as Lev. 26:27-33 and Deut. 28:64-68 warned.

3:25 The Israelites complete their confession by saying they merit shame and dishonor (Ps. 51:4). God was just in punishing them. They and their fathers sinned from their youth, from the nation's earliest days, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord (cf. Neh. 9:1-38; Dan. 9:1-19) by following his teaching.

4:1 God stresses that true repentance includes removing detestable things (idols) from his presence (Gen. 35:1-4) and not wavering in this decision. Israel must not try to serve both God and idols as Judah is currently doing (Jer. 2:23-37).

4:2 True repentance includes swearing that the Lord alone lives, and doing so with a commitment to live in truth (or in faithfulness), in justice, and in righteousness with God and neighbor (Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:4-9). Grace leads to changed living. Israel's full repentance will glorify God, leading the nations to bless themselves in him--thus fulfilling God's promise to Abraham concerning the nations (Gen. 12:3)--and to glory (or "exult" as in Ps. 63:11) in him. God called Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nations (Jer. 1:5-10), and here he fulfills that calling.

4:3 God addresses the men of Judah and Jerusalem. Like wise farmers, they must plow their fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Serving other gods amounts to farming the wrong spiritual soil.

4:4 Changing the image, God tells the people of Judah to circumcise themselves to the Lord by removing the foreskin of their hearts (Deut. 10:16). The heart symbolizes the totality of one's will and emotions. Loving God with all one's heart is the essence of faith (Deut. 6:4-9; Mark 12:28-32). True circumcision is of the heart, not simply the flesh (Gen. 17:10-14), and makes the Israelites followers of God (Rom. 2:28-29 articulates this OT principle). The lack of a changed heart leads to disobedience, which leads to God's wrath burning like unquenchable fire (Isa. 1:31; Jer. 7:20; 17:27; 21:12; Amos 5:6).