Jeremiah 11
Judah must be reminded of the covenant made at Sinai (Exodus 24:3-8), which required the fullest obedience, Israel had indeed never kept it, so that its commandments only condemned them, but the curses of Deuteronomy 38:15-69 were now in process of fulfilment, as Daniel in chapter 9:11 Said in his confession of the nation's sins.
The case of Judah was now equal to that of the ten tribes which had been carried off by the Assyrians a hundred years earlier; it was beyond remedy. God had protected Judah from enemies mint about, but to no avail; they would not walk in His ways. Now they must suffer the fruit of their own ways. They would not be able to escape from the powerful young nation of Babylonia whose king would shortly send his army against Judah and Jerusalem. Then would the cry to Jehovah for help as of old, He promises that He will not hearken to them (verse 11).
They would then go and cry unto the gods unto whom they had burned incense, but there would be no help there. That their gods were as numerous as their cities was said in chapter 2:28; now it is added (verse 13) that altars for burning incense to Baal were as many as the streets in Jerusalem.
Jeremiah is no longer to pray for Judah; forbearance is impossible now (verse 14). Yet were they loved by God, "My beloved" is still His name for them, We marvel at the love and mercy of God as we read so much in the prophets of the hard hearted unbelief of His earthly people, and their wicked ways, and at. His unwillingness to give them up.
Yet His dealings with the Gentiles during the present day of grace are equally marvelous. Why, we may ask, does God forbear to execute summary judgment upon a world that daily shows it has little regard for His Son? that after nineteen centuries remains indifferent to the offer of salvation through the atoning death of Christ? Who can measure the depth of His love to man, His patience, His reluctance to take vengeance upon His creatures? Yet there is a limit; once He said, "The end of all flesh is come before Me!", and shortly destroyed the world that then was with a flood. Again, there came a day When Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown, not one escaping except Lot and his two daughters. And the day is Fixed when the present world of the ungodly shall meet their Judge (Acts 17:30, 31).
Israel was Jehovah's olive tree of promise, green, fair and of goodly fruit, but its branches were broken because of unbelief and sin (verse 16, 17). See 'Romans 11:16-36, where the subject is connected with the present place of the Gentiles, soon to be given back to Israel.
Jeremiah's grief over the state of his people was great, but now he had to add to his sorrows the threat of the men of Anathoth, his home town, to kill him if he persisted in prophesying in Jehovah's name. He looks, and not in vain, to God to deal with them (verses 18-23).
Messages of God’s Love 9/9/1934