From the time I brought your ancestors up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, "Obey me." But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.'" Therefore this is what the Lord says: 'I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. (Jeremiah 11:7, 8, 11 NIV)
I will not disagree with those who say it is hard to read the Old Testament sometimes ( though Gods wrath is unleashed in the New Testament also) God seems angry and jealous.
Yet I imagine that if their society truly was as bad as it is described then it is better to be destroyed and sent to exile than live in Israel. It is better for the poor and widow to be dead or in exile than live under corrupt rulers who do not hold to justice. It is better for the children of Israel to grow up in captivity even as orphans than to be raised by sexually immoral, child sacrificing( to Baal and other man made Gods) and unjust jewish fathers and mothers in the land of Israel.
It is hard to imagine a society that bad, that corrupt. But then sometimes under the trend of the world: divorce, power, corruption, sex, and drugs and I think maybe it is not that far off.
God says
"Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem,
look around and consider,
search through her squares.
If you can find but one person
who deals honestly and seeks the truth,
I will forgive this city.
(Jeremiah 5:1 NIV)
There is not one person who is just and honest and holding to the truth in this whole city. God doesn't even mention that they have to be strong believers in him. If there were even one person who is close to righteous then God would forgive the city and turn his wrath.
That sounds like a city that needs to be destroyed to be humbled. To be destroyed in order to save even a few people.
God I don't understand you or your plans or your wrath. But God I thank you for your words in Jeremiah and what you are teaching me and bringing good to me even by the hardship and exile of Israel as they turned from you and we're utterly evil and unjust.
I hope in you and your goodness.
That you save us from our sin and death and your wrath.
Thank you Jesus for your justice and mercy.
Amen
Although they say, 'As surely as the Lord lives,'
ReplyDeletestill they are swearing falsely." (Jeremiah 5:2 NIV)
God does not desire empty worship or belief with words alone and no heart or actions which come out of true faith love and trust in God
Here is the sexual immorality:
ReplyDelete"Why should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken me
and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I supplied all their needs,
yet they committed adultery
and thronged to the houses of prostitutes. They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
each neighing for another man's wife. Should I not punish them for this?"
declares the Lord.
"Should I not avenge myself
on such a nation as this? (Jeremiah 5:7-9 NIV)
For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.'" (Jeremiah 19:4, 5, 15 NIV)
ReplyDelete