Lenten Readings -- Jeremiah 3

Introduction to Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1
Jeremiah 2
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1. The relationship between Jeremiah and King Josiah is curious. Given that Josiah is the hero of the books of the Kings (e.g., 1 Kings 13:1-2), we would expect Jeremiah to praise Josiah and his reforms. But we get almost nothing directly about Josiah -- mostly prophecies against Judah during his reign. It almost makes me wonder if critiques of Josiah were not included in the collection of Jeremiah's prophecies as they were put into their current form. Any praise for Josiah would surely have been preserved since that was the view of the historical "winners." But what we get is largely silence on Josiah and only rebuke of Judah during his reign. [1]

It's perhaps a reminder that not every thought that Jeremiah or Paul had was inspired. We consider inspired the ones that ended up in Scripture in a mature form.

So, Jeremiah 3 continues the critique of Judah during the days of Josiah's reign. Jeremiah prophesies against Judah for worshiping other gods on every high hill (Ba'al) and under every green tree (Asherah). 2 Kings indicates that Josiah's father, Manasseh, had reversed the reforms of his father Hezekiah and promoted Baal and Asherah worship in Judah (2 Kings 21:2-9). Since Manasseh ruled for fifty-five years, worship of these other gods no doubt had gained a very strong foothold in the land by the time of Jeremiah.

2. Once again, Jeremiah uses the image of a wife who has run around with other men. Judah is like a prostitute that has slept with many other gods -- stone and tree (3:9). 

Here's the storyline of the metaphor. Israel, the northern kingdom, ran around with other gods first. So, God divorced her. This is a metaphor for Yahweh letting the Assyrians destroy the northern kingdom.

Then, Yahweh says, he expected Israel to come back to him, like a divorced wife who comes back to her first husband. Jeremiah alludes to the sentiment of Deuteronomy 24:1-4 -- it was considered wrong for the first husband to take her back because she had been defiled. Perhaps Jeremiah is alluding to this legislation in the newly discovered Book of the Law.

Nevertheless, Jeremiah says that Yahweh was willing to take Israel back (Jer. 3:7). [2] But she didn't return. This raises some interesting questions. For example, most Christians do not consider Deuteronomy 24 to be binding today. In fact, some conservatives think that a remarried woman should go back to her first husband because they see her as still married to the first husband in God's eyes. Clearly, they have misinterpreted Scripture on this score. 

I would say that the view of her defilement relates closely to purity laws that connected with the Ancient Near East and that the New Testament did not continue. Even more, the woman in Deuteronomy 24 is tossed around -- she doesn't really have any agency in the things that are happening to her. This suggests that the issue in Deuteronomy is not one of her moral choices but of uncleanness, a system that the New Testament largely does not continue.

As usual, Jesus pulls the rug out from under the whole discussion by "fulfilling" the Law and getting to the heart of the matter -- don't divorce her in the first place so you can go after some other woman legally.

3. Back to Jeremiah. Jeremiah says that Judah's guilt is even greater because it saw what happened to her sister Israel, yet she did exactly the same thing, going after Baal and Asherah (3:7-11).

But now, Jeremiah says, because there is no rain, Judah is calling out to Yahweh (3:3). Just now, Jeremiah says, you have called to me (3:4-5). "Father, will you be angry with me forever?" After all the evil Judah has done, dare she call out to Yahweh to take her back?

It's tempting to see here the beginnings of Josiah's reforms, which date to around the year 621BC. Judah is beginning to call out to Yahweh. In Jeremiah's view, she has not yet earned a hearing.

4. Interestingly, Yahweh calls to the remnant left in the northern kingdom. He calls lone individuals and members of families to come to Jerusalem and return to Yahweh (3:14). God will take them back if they repent. This sounds a little like Josiah's call for Israel to come worship Yahweh in Jerusalem.

There is still hope. Jeremiah does not yet see the inevitable destruction of Jerusalem. He sees a picture of Jerusalem as a place where both Israel and Judah have returned to serve the Lord and all the nations come there to worship Yahweh (3:17). Jerusalem becomes the "throne of the nations."

Interestingly, Jeremiah sees no need in that future day for an Ark of the Covenant (3:16). Is this a blurring of Jeremiah's later prophecies with his earlier ones? Presumably, the Ark was still in the temple in the days of Josiah. But Jeremiah sees no need for one in the restored kingdom, presumably after the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 is established.

This is the first hint of something we will see in full form in Jeremiah 7. Jeremiah has strongly negative views of the temple as it is currently run. While Josiah restored and strengthened the place of the temple in the life of Judah, Jeremiah has little time for it or the sacrificial system (7:22).

Rather, he calls them back to the pure worship of Yahweh -- their true husband, their sole God. 

[1] Although see 2 Chronicles 35:25.

[2] Note also that in Hosea 1-3, God is willing to take his "wife" back as well.