Two more Pictures from Jeremiah 2:9-14

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/25/2014 10:04 AM

My Worship Time                                     Focus:  PT-2 of Rebellion: God Sees His People’s Sins

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Jeremiah 2:9-19

            Message of the verses:  We will try to look at two more of the ten sub-points in this rather long chapter two of Jeremiah, which are two more of the pictures that Jeremiah uses to expose the sins of the people he is ministering to in the Southern Kingdom.

            Broken Cisterns (Jeremiah 2:9-13):  “9 “Therefore I will yet contend with you," declares the LORD, "And with your sons’ sons I will contend. 10 "For cross to the coastlands of Kittim and see, And send to Kedar and observe closely And see if there has been such a thing as this! 11 "Has a nation changed gods When they were not gods? But My people have changed their glory For that which does not profit. 12 "Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD. 13 "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.”

            Jeremiah is telling the people of Judah that there has never been a people that have changed gods, especially when the nation of Israel had a relationship with the one true God.  When Jeremiah lists different nations he is actually saying “God from west to east” and see if this has happened.  Israel had the opportunity to drink from the fresh waters, but chose to drink from the muddy cisterns that could not hold fresh waters.

            A Plundered Slave (Jeremiah 2:14-19):  “14 “Is Israel a slave? Or is he a homeborn servant? Why has he become a prey? 15 “The young lions have roared at him, They have roared loudly. And they have made his land a waste; His cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant. 16 “Also the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes Have shaved the crown of your head. 17 “Have you not done this to yourself By your forsaking the LORD your God When He led you in the way? 18 “But now what are you doing on the road to Egypt, To drink the waters of the Nile? Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria, To drink the waters of the Euphrates? 19  "Your own wickedness will correct you, And your apostasies will reprove you; Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter For you to forsake the LORD your God, And the dread of Me is not in you," declares the Lord GOD of hosts.”

            I want to make three points here from these verses:  First God brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt and put them in the Promised Land.  Now they want to rely upon Egypt and Assyria to give them help, and this was a big mistake on their part for they should have trusted the Lord who had brought them into their land years earlier.

            Next I want to quote verse nineteen from the KJV:  “19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.”  We see that the KJV uses the word “backsliding” in this verse while NASB uses the word “apostasies.”  The dictionary that I have in my Online Bible Program says the following about this word:  “1) turning away, turning back, apostasy, backsliding.”  The word is not found in the NT, but we see evidences of it in different books in the NT like Gal. 5:4 and others.

            The last point I want to make from this section is what God is saying to Judah in verse nineteen, and that is if they were not going to trust Him he would let them go their way and there sin would find them out.  In other words the consequences of their sins would be their punishment. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have seen times in my life when people I know have had their sin find them out and it was not a pretty picture for them either.  God says in His Word that He will work all thing out for believers to bring glory to Himself and to be good for us.  I believe this but I would just like to do things right.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible Question:  “Into the Red Sea” (Exodus 10:19)

Today’s Bible Question:  “Unto the Jews Paul became as a Jew, that he might gain whom?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/25/2014 11:06 AM