1 “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And
becomes another man’s, May he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly
polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,”
says the Lord.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds
no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he
writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of
his house, 2 when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another
man’s wife, 3 if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of
divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter
husband dies who took her as his wife, 4 then her former husband who divorced
her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that
is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land
which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Jeremiah is quoting from the law
of God. God married All of Israel. The houses split up, and divided themselves
into the Northern and the Southern houses. He then says here in Jeremiah they
have went out of their way to play the harlot, basically breaking the covenant
in which they had made together, and then they run back to YHWH.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not
lain with men? By the road you have sat for them Like an Arabian in the
wilderness; And you have polluted the land With your harlotries and your
wickedness.
Again, we see YHWH calling out
Israel for the misdeeds and whoredom.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no
latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; You refuse to be ashamed.
YHWH does not allow rain for His people’s
crops. He goes as far as to say they are not even ashamed for what they do.
4 Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide
of my youth?
5 Will He remain angry forever? Will He keep it to the end?’ Behold,
you have spoken and done evil things, As you were able.”
YHWH is proclaiming what the
people will say and then comes right out and says, you people did this evil and
said this evil, I gave you the free will to do it and this is what you chose to
do.
6 The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you
seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain
and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.
Again, YHWH is saying the House
of Israel has been whoring around.
7 And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But
she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
Israel continued to do these
things, and even after YHWH told them to come back, they refused. Judah saw
what was going on as well.
8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had
committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce;
yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot
also.
Here we have YHWH stating
outright that He gave the Northern Kingdom of Israel a written certificate of
divorce due to her adultery. It is as this point we have to understand there
was a true separation of the Northern Kingdom from YHWH. This is the reason the
Jews eventually would not allow any gentiles to eat with them, or be associated
with them. Many of the rules the Pharisees came up with was to keep the the
Northern Kingdom out. They had been divorced and could not come back. Even YHWH
says outright they are no longer His wife.
Hosea 2:2
“Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her
harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts;
Judah eventually went ahead and
did the very same things, even to a worse extent. However, YHWH could not
divorce them because He had made a promise with David.
9 So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the
land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to
Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the Lord.
Israel continued in their ways,
even after the divorce, and Judah still did not come back, at least not fully,
but rather only partially, as in, they deceptively tried to return to YHWH,
adding to His word, but not really keeping His commands.
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more
righteous than treacherous Judah.
Even the divorced Northern
Kingdom was doing better at keeping YHWH’s commands than Judah.
12 Go and proclaim these words
toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; ‘I will
not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will
not remain angry forever.
This is YHWH’s call out for those
He divorced. He says He will not be angry forever, and wants them back. There
is a problem. How can He take them back without breaking His own given law?
Some say it is different for Him, the marriage covenant doesn’t work the same
between man and woman as it does between man and God. I dismiss this idea on
the grounds that YHWH gives us a way to live in which He deemed to be correct.
There is no reason to think He would hold Himself to a different standard. He
already holds us to a standard of living a sinless life, so why do we think He
would give Himself a different set of marriage rules?
13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against
the Lord your God, And have scattered your charms To alien deities under every
green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.
Here is the kicker. The first
thing needing to be done is an acknowledgement of sin. Israel must admit their wrongdoings,
and disobedience to YHWH’s law.
14 “Return, O backsliding children,” says the Lord; “for I am married
to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will
bring you to Zion.
This is the verse in which seem
to indicate there was no divorce. However, that does not fit with the rest of
scripture. As shown earlier, Hosea shows YHWH claiming the Northern Kingdom is
NOT His wife. Therefore, this is a switch back to discussing Judah. Judah is
the backsliding children. Notice, it does not say Israel here. He divorced the
Northern kingdom, but was still married to Judah.
Some other supporting verses
discussing how YHWH no longer kept Northern Israel as a wife include 2 Kings 17:
18, 20-23
2 Kings 17: 18, 20-23
Therefore the Lord was very
angry with Israel, and removed them
from His sight; there was none left
but the tribe of Judah alone.
And the Lord rejected all the
descendants of Israel, afflicted
them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them
from His sight. For He tore Israel
from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then
Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great
sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he
did; they did not depart from them, until the
Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried
away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.
These verses seriously cannot be
ignored when we are studying the Tanakh. They point directly to a separation
between YHWH and the Northern Kingdom.
15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed
you with knowledge and understanding.
If they do this, they will be
given shepherds to help guide them with understanding from YHWH Himself.
16 “Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased
in the land in those days,” says the Lord, “that they will say no more, ‘The
ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they
remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore.
17 “At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the Lord, and
all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem.
No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.
18 “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of
Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land
that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.
These three verses are all set in
an after tribulation era. Notice, it is at this time when the house of Israel
joins with the house of Judah.
19 “But I said: ‘How can I put you among the children And give you a
pleasant land, A beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?’ “And I said: ‘You
shall call Me, “My Father,” And not turn away from Me.’
Simply turning back to the Father
and following His commands without turning away from Him is the first step for
all of Israel. YHWH never wanted a divorce. He gave the Northern Kingdom what
it wanted.
20 Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, So have you
dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,” says the Lord.
YHWH making the claim again that
the house of Israel committed adultery against Him.
21 A voice was heard on the desolate heights, Weeping and supplications
of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way; They have
forgotten the Lord their God.
Israel forgot who YHWH was, they
were submersed in pagan traditions and worship of false gods.
22 “Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your
backslidings.” “Indeed we do come to You, For You are the Lord our God.
YHWH does want Israel to return,
there is no question there. Again, I submit the issue is how. Of course, YHWH
always had a plan to deal with this situation.
23 Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, And from the
multitude of mountains; Truly, in the Lord our God Is the salvation of Israel.
All of Israel only have one
chance at salvation, and that is through YHWH.
24 For shame has devoured The labor of our fathers from our youth—
Their flocks and their herds, Their sons and their daughters.
25 We lie down in our shame, And our reproach covers us. For we have sinned
against the Lord our God, We and our fathers, From our youth even to this day, And
have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”
These two verses show Jeremiah acknowledging
the sins of his people in the presence of YHWH.