Jeremiah 3:12-18, God’s Appeal for Exiled Israel’s and Judah’s Repentance

Having said that faithless Israel was more righteous than faithless Judah, Yahweh makes an appeal to the exiled people of Israel in Assyria to repent and return to Him. This is indirectly also an appeal to Judah.

¹² Go, proclaim this message toward the north:

“‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares Yahweh,
    ‘I will look in anger on you no longer,
for I am merciful,’ declares Yahweh,
    ‘I will not be angry forever.
¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt—that
    you have rebelled against Yahweh your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods
    under every spreading tree,
    and have not obeyed My voice,’”
declares Yahweh.

¹⁴ “Return, faithless children,” declares Yahweh, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you back to Zion. ¹⁵ Then I will give you shepherd-rulers after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶ In those days, when your population has multiplied and you have been fruitful in the land,” declares Yahweh, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ They will not call it to mind, or remember it, or miss it, nor will another one be made. ¹⁷ At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of Yahweh, and all nations will gather to her to honor the name of Yahweh. They will no longer stubbornly follow their evil hearts. ¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and they will come together from that northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance. (Jeremiah 3:12-18)

This answers the question Yahweh has posed in 3:1, whether a husband who has divorced his wife should remarry her (Deuteronomy 24:1-4 says no). In this case, Yahweh will remarry Israel, He will be merciful and abandon His anger and take her back, if she will confess her guilt, acknowledge her unfaithfulness to Him.

Mixing metaphors, Yahweh appeals to His children, His wife, Israel, to repent. He still considers Himself her husband, her ba’al. Baal is not her husband (the word ba’al means husband or master), the one she was unfaithful with, whom she worshiped on every hilltop. Yahweh is her husband if she will return.

Yahweh then foretells that Israel will indeed return, not every member of the nation, but some from every place where she had been resettled in exile. Yahweh, in that day, will give her righteous rulers who will lead her in the right path, and she will prosper in every way. Whereas before she had worshiped at the temple in Jerusalem which housed the ark of the covenant (where Yahweh was figuratively enthroned, 1 Samuel 4:4), no thought will be given to the ark because Yahweh’s throne will be Jerusalem, and all the nations will come to Jerusalem to honor Yahweh. In that day no one will follow their evil inclinations but will follow Yahweh and live in harmony. Israel and Judah will become one nation again.

It is apparent that Yahweh is speaking of the Messianic era, the kingdom of God on earth. And included in that kingdom is a repentant Judah. Judah-ites hearing this message have a vision cast for them of their own repentance and return to Yahweh, who has charged them with adultery and justified divorcing them, as He did Israel.

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Discussion Questions:

1. What seems odd to you about Yahweh being a divorcé?
2. What feelings do you think Yahweh is trying to arouse in Judah as He speaks of restoring Israel as His wife?
3. What implications are there here, if any, about the question of whether there is a legitimate cause for divorce, and/or remarriage?
4. What motivations have you seen God use to draw His people to repentance?