Question: What is the actual relationship between God and Israel?
Answer: The book of Jeremiah portrays God’s relationship with Israel as one of immense agony and deep sympathy and empathy. God is bound to be faithful to promises made to Israel and is not genuinely free of God’s relationship with Israel. Jeremiah pictures Israel’s loyalty to God as a newly-wedded bride to her husband and wonders what has happened to his people that they have turned away from God. Israel, an Unfaithful Wife. Jeremiah 2:23-5:19 NLT
Question: What crowns the prophet’s picture of his nation’s iniquity? Answer:, It reads in Jeremiah 3::4 NKJV> Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth? It reads in Jeremiah 3:19 NKJV> “But I said: ‘How can I put you among the children. And give you a pleasant land, A beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?’ “And I said: ‘You shall call Me, “My Father,” And not turn away from Me.’It reads in Jeremiah 31:20 NKJV> Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord. It reads in Jeremiah 2:2 NKJV> “Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown.
Question: What crowns the prophet’s picture of his nation’s iniquity? Answer: It reads in NKJV>
Jeremiah 5:30-31> “An astonishing and horrible thing Has been committed in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power, And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?
Question: How does the prophet describe his nation’s ingratitude and faithlessness to its God? Answer: The prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 32:30, quotes God’s scathing indictment of the people of both Kingdoms: ” The children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil before Me from their youth.” It reads in Jeremiah 5:7 NKJV> “How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me And sworn by those that are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery And assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. It reads in Jeremiah 5:12 NKJV> They have lied about the Lord, And said, “It is not He. Neither will evil come upon us Nor shall we see sword or famine. It reads in Jeremiah 5:24 NKJV> They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”, Because of their sins, as II Kings 17:18-20 NKJV> indicates, Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. Also, Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers until He had cast them from His sight.
Question: How does the prophet picture the threatened invasion? Answer: It reads in Jeremiah 4:11 KJV> At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse. It reads in Jeremiah 4:20 KJV> Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. It reads in Jeremiah 4:31 KJV> For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
Question: What new form of circumcision is envisioned as a symbol of this repentance? Answer: Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. Jeremiah 4:4 KJV
Question: What hope is there that disaster can be averted (avoided)? Answer: If in a truthful, just, and righteous way, you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ then the nations will invoke blessings by him, and in him they will boast.” (Only if the nation repents, lives in truth, lives in justice, and in uprighteousness.) Jeremiah 4:2 NIV This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; Ask for the ancient paths, Ask where the good way is, and walk in it, And you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Jeremiah 6:16 NIV
Question: What hope of a reunion between the two kingdoms is held out? Answer: Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance. Jeremiah 3:15-18 NIV
Question: How does the southern kingdom compare with the Northern in this respect? Answer: The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. Jeremiah 3:11 NIV
Question: What picture does Jeremiah paint of Israel’s apostasy? Answer: Jeremiah returns to the ideal past from which the nation has fallen away. I remember the devotion of your youth. (Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Jeremiah 2:2 KJV) Jeremiah recounts God’s goodness to the nation. ( And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. Jeremiah 2:7 KJV) (My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit Jeremiah 2:11) (And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? Jeremiah 2:18) (A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffed up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her. Jeremiah 2:24 KJV) (As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets. Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah. Jeremiah 2:26-28 KJV) (They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 3:1 KJV) ( Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not seen it by secret search, but upon all these. Jeremiah 2:34 KJV)
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