Why are You Like This?

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Lord God, You are not only good, but You are great. I praise You for the slow, steady wonder of Your creation and Your providence.

Read Jeremiah 2:1-22

^[1] The word of the LORD came to me: ^[2] “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “This is what the LORD says: “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown. ^[3] Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,'” declares the LORD. ^[4] Hear the word of the LORD, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel. ^[5] This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. ^[6] They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’ ^[7] I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. ^[8] The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. ^[9] “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the LORD. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children. ^[10] Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: ^[11] Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. ^[12] Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD. ^[13] “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. ^[14] Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder? ^[15] Lions have roared; they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted. ^[16] Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked your skull. ^[17] Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the LORD your God when he led you in the way? ^[18] Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Nile? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates? ^[19] Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty. ^[20] “Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute. ^[21] I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine? ^[22] Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign LORD.

Meditate

“Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst … [It] will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). If we are not careful, we can become like Israel, drifting to “false waters” (13,18,19) to satisfy our thirst for meaning.

Think Further

Look at how many questions God asks his people–and the people’s non-questions. Almost half the verses! Can you sense God’s anguish at the people’s forgetting both his generosity and their own early response of devotion and love (2,6-8,11,13,21,32)? Jeremiah had been told to “uproot and tear down” (Jer. 1:10). Surface renovation was impossible with every area of society distorted and perverted. All forms of leadership (8, 26) and all generations (9) are implicated.

When people turn from the living God (13,20) they turn both to other gods and to other people for prosperity and security. The picture of marriage (2,32) changes to sex-craved following of “foreign gods” (20-25) and flagrant pursuing of foreign alliances (31-33). From a context of ministry in New York, Tim Keller explores ways in which today “money, sex and power…are vying to be counterfeit gods.” Alongside is intense reliance on structures that individuals, communities and nations make for themselves (27,28), whether in areas of economics, security or defense–or in daily relationships.

The image of water likewise embraces the totality of relationships. Delineation of water sources relevant to the hearers vividly contrasts Jerusalem’s Gihon (“gushing”) spring and the running (“living”) water that flows from it, with cisterns dug in rock for storing water from elsewhere and the rivers of Egypt and Assyria (13-19). Verse 13 is taken up in Christ’s words (John 7:37-39). Today millions have inadequate clean water while others quarrel over water resources, a situation paralleling people’s access and response to knowledge of Christ, “the spring of living water” (13). Jeremiah’s holistic analysis forces us to face the disastrous results of continuing misuse and misdistribution of God-given resources that result from turning from God.

Apply

In what ways do you see God’s appeal to his people in Jeremiah’s day, with its imagery, speaking to the Christian church today? Talk this over with others.

Closing prayer

Loving Father, I know at times I disappoint You. Help me to refocus today and make it a new resolve to please You at all times.

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