TWO GREAT SINS OF JERUSALEM

Jeremiah 2:1-19 / Keywords 2:13

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.

 

Israel Forsakes God

2:1 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[a] 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[b]?

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.

Footnotes

a. Jeremiah 2:10 In the Syro-Arabian desert

b. Jeremiah 2:18 Hebrew Shihor; that is, a branch of the Nile

1. Jeremiah was called to deliver the message of God’s judgment. The first words that came to Jeremiah showed the sin Jerusalem committed. They did not live up to keeping God’s command. They abandoned God and replaced the position with idols. They foolishly turned away from the streams of living water and built a cistern that could not even hold stale water (13).

 

2. In contrast, God reminds them of the early days in their history when they devoted themselves fully to God. They were disciplined in the wilderness for many years, learning to depend on God only (2,3). They did grumble, yet they always turned to God, knowing his protection and provision for them.

 

3. However, in the Promised Land, where they received all promised blessings and comfort, they rebelled against God and turned toward worthless idols (7,8). That was the reason for the punishment they were facing. Are you looking for your salvation from anything other than our sovereign God? Remember your first love and turn to him.

 

Prayer Father, you brought me out of the power of sin and death. You have been with me when I was too weak to stand alone and raised me, protecting and providing. Please be with me and help me to hold to you in times of blessing or trouble with a humble heart.

One Word Remember God and do not turn away