Jeremiah 3:19-25, A Further Appeal to Israel and Judah

God is speaking now to all Israel, Judah and Israel viewed as one nation. Though He has used the metaphor of Israel and Judah as His wives, Yahweh now speaks of the nation as one He would like to give the inheritance of the firstborn son, something, of course, that was not done for wives in this culture.

¹⁹ “I said to Myself, “‘How gladly would I treat you like my son and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful inheritance among the nations.’ I thought you would call me ‘my Father’ and not turn away from following me. ²⁰ But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me,” declares Yahweh.

²¹ A voice is heard on the hilltops, the weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten Yahweh their God. ²² “Return, faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.”

Say, “We will come to you, for you are Yahweh our God. ²³ Surely our idolatrous orgies on the hills and mountains is a delusion; surely in Yahweh our God is the salvation of Israel. ²⁴ From our youth shameful Baal has consumed the fruits of our ancestors’ labor—their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters. ²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We and our ancestors have sinned against Yahweh our God; from our youth till this day, we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.” (Jeremiah 3:19-25)

Yahweh would love to bless Israel and Judah with the land He made theirs, the land promised to Abraham and acquired in the conquest under Joshua and extended under the reign of Solomon. It would be like the double portion given to the firstborn son by his father. But they have not been sons to their Father. They have not been a faithful wife to their husband. They have been cavorting with other gods on the hilltops, weeping and pleading to Baal instead of the God they forgot, Yahweh.

But Yahweh pleads with them to return to Him, and if they do so, He will heal their proneness to wander. What He needs from them is their repentance, and He frames for them the words of repentance that He would want to hear.

It is a confession He wants, a confession of their sin. A recognition of how they have been deluded by the sexualized worship of Baal, how it has depleted their wealth and destroyed their sons and daughters. He wants them to feel the weight of their shame and disgrace, to lie down in it and let it cover them. He wants them to acknowledge their failure to listen to His voice.

Forgiveness does not come without true and sincere confession, really acknowledging the sin committed. It is not, “I’m sorry if you are offended,” rather it is “I’m sorry I was offensive.”

—

Discussion Questions:

1. What inheritance would we want to give our children if they refused to acknowledge us as their parents?
2. How have you found sin in your life or the lives of others to be destructive?
3. Are there victimless crimes?
4. What do you see as the model for confession in this passage?