Today's Bible

The prophet Jeremiah prophesied to the southern kingdom, Judah, from 626-586 B.C. – the last 40 years of the country’s existence before Babylonia defeated and deported the survivors. When Jeremiah first realized that the Lord was calling him to prophesy, the Lord said He had known Jeremiah before he was even conceived. The Lord was still forming Jeremiah in his mother’s womb when He set him apart to be a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah was afraid the Lord would be disappointed in choosing one so young and without public speaking skills. But the Lord insisted. Jeremiah was to go to whoever the Lord sent him, and to say whatever the Lord commanded him. The Lord would interpret messages from visions He would show Jeremiah. In this way, Jeremiah was appointed power to bind and loose things he would not have access to under normal circumstances. Jeremiah was warned that the message recipients would fight against him, but the Lord would rescue him, being with him. The Lord was ready to judge his people because of their wickedness of forsaking Him to follow man-made gods.

Israel (Judah) started out as a bride of the Lord, but eventually lost interest and wandered off. The Lord had done what He promised, giving Israel water in the deserts and choice, fertile land as an inheritance. But when Israel broke the covenant agreement and defiled the land, even the priests didn’t sense the Lord’s displeasure and growing distance from His chosen people. So the Lord brought his case against Judah – they had forsaken the Lord Almighty and chosen idols as substitute gods. They didn’t want to serve the Lord. But when in trouble, they come back to ask the Lord to save them. Apparently their foreign idol gods are just for good times, for daily life, for pursuing love, for avoiding morals and justice.

“We’re innocent!” Judah says. “We haven’t sinned!”

And yet, Judah continued to change their ways, their lifestyles, their habits – away from the Lord’s laws and conditions. They want to make alliances with other countries, not with the Lord Almighty.

Judah wanted a divorce from the Lord and freedom to pursue other love interests, but she also wanted help from Him if trouble came. Judah says she doesn’t want the Lord to be mad at her, but she keeps on doing things that anger Him. When Israel, the northern country, did this same thing to the Lord, He thought she would eventually return to Him. Not only didn’t Israel return, but Judah saw Israel escape from the Lord’s demands, and thought that kind of freedom looked good.

Eventually, Judah will please the Lord and return to Him. How?

First, some will return and experience His merciful nature.

Then they will acknowledge their guilt.

The Lord will choose them,
bring them to Zion,
give them shepherds to lead them.

The ark of the covenant will be forgotten and never remade. Jerusalem will be the Throne of the Lord, and all nations will honor the Name of the Lord there. Judah and Israel will join together, no longer stubborn with evil hearts.

But for now, Judah has perverted the Way and forgotten the Lord their God, who had thought they would call him Father and always follow Him and His way. Faithless people can be cured of backsliding by returning to the Lord and confessing their repentance, as in Jeremiah 3:22b-25.