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“You have committed adultery with many shepherds” (Jer. 3:1), that is, you have worshiped the idols of many nations. If a wife, having left her husband and entered into an alliance with another, wanted to return to her first husband, he would not accept her; however, I do not turn My face away from you and raise you to your former dignity. What God here promises in His word to the soul that turns to Him with repentance is confirmed by the example of the prophet Hosea, commanding him: “Go and love a wife... a fornicator and take him for a wife” (Hosea 3:1). Both arouse in the sinner the hope of receiving forgiveness and call him to repentance. “You sat on the paths like a special enemy” (Jer. 3:2). The prophet either means shameless women who are waiting by the roadside with whom to commit adultery, or he denounces the entire people of Judah for the fact that every Jew, secluded in the desert, serves his own idol. And therefore the prophet seems to say: it is not enough for you to worship idols in cities and on hills before the eyes of many; You are looking for deserts, the dwellings of unclean birds and wild beasts, and you are building churches along the paths, and you are calling all those who pass by to wicked demands. In this very same thing, the prophet Hosea reproaches and denounces the Samaritans, saying: “As the guard was quick, and as the wild land was spread out on Itabiriya (Tabora), even the fishers of the south were struck down” (Hos. 5:1-2). The Prophet says: You laid out a snare (round) and a net (mrezhu) for the travelers going to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to Me in My church, laid out in order to turn them to the churches of Bethel, to worship the calf there, “The face of a harlot’s wife will appear to you” (Jer. 3:3). Your face is not that of a fornicator, to whom you were once likened, but of a harlot’s wife who has lost all shame; and in everything you became like your sister Samaria. “Will the food endure forever, or be preserved forever?” Will God always be angry? By this the prophet shows that God will not keep His anger forever, but just as He previously spared us who sinned and delivered us from captivity, so now He will save us who have sinned and given ourselves over to wickedness, will have mercy on us and forgive our guilt when He sees our repentance. “This is what you said, and this is what you did that was evil, and this is what you can do” (Jer. 3:5). Behold, everything that could be done that was bad was done by you without any fear or shame. “And the Lord spoke to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what you have done to the house of Israel? “You went to every high mountain and under every leafy tree and committed the harlot there” (Jer. 3:6). This is a Canaanite custom; the Israelites learned this from the Canaanites. Therefore, God clearly commanded them to offer sacrifices not in every place, but only in one of His tabernacles (Deut. 12:5), in order to thereby remove them from the rituals observed among foreign peoples, who were accustomed to dedicating high mountains and oak groves to their gods, for which they planted branchy and beautiful trees, and under them they made their sacrifices to vain gods. “And the Lord said to me: The house of Israel will justify their lives rather than the transgressor” (Jer. 3:11). This is similar to what the prophet Ezekiel said in one of his sermons, where he likens the daughter of Jerusalem (the city of Jerusalem) to Gomorrah and Samaria, and says to her: “thou hast surpassed thy sister in wickedness, in... thy iniquities she has defiled herself more than they, and has justified them more than thee” (Ezek. 16:47, 51–52). The prophets say that the madness of Judea is greater than the wickedness of Samaria, firstly, because the Jews saw the grave judgment of God over the Samaritans, and knew that God hated the worship of idols, but they did not honor the greatness of God, who forbade them such wickedness, and did not fear the righteousness of God, which strictly punishes the wicked; secondly, because they not only rejected God’s benefits shown to them, but also repaid their Lord with evil for good. For the Lord did not show as many bounties to the other tribes as he showed them to the Jews, especially under faithful and pious kings. At the same time, the Jews did not have the opportunity to forget about God and His many benefits, because they were taught by the Levites, who, after the separation of the two kingdoms, moved to Judea and remained there constantly, and in addition to the Levites, they also listened to the prophets, who always proclaimed to them the law of the Lord. “And read the words to the north.” Proclaim this message to the children of Israel, scattered in migration throughout the northern regions conquered by the Assyrians, call them to repentance, bring them times of peace, and preach the change of sorrow into joy. “I am merciful, says the Lord, and I will not be angry... forever” (Jer. 3:12). I am good, I am not angry forever, and I do not harbor indignation against those who hate Me, but I comfort those who mourn and help the downtrodden, I pacify My anger, and I give peace and remission of sins to those who seek Me. “Turn back, you backsliding sons,” because there is an opportunity for you to repent and change your bad morals. “For I am well pleased with you, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a nation, and I will bring you into Zion” (Jer. 3:14). Thus says the Lord to the Israelites, but not to everyone equally. For although, by the decree of Cyrus, all the tribes that were under his dominion were allowed to return to their land, yet many of those resettled did not take advantage of this permission. Therefore, what was said was fulfilled only on those who themselves wished to return. “And I will give you shepherds according to My heart” (Jer. 3:15). In the literal sense, Zerubbabel, Jesus and Nehemiah were meant here, and in the mysterious sense, the prophet obviously foretells the coming Messiah, because with His coming everything that was predicted about the conversion of the pagans and the abolition of the law of Moses was fulfilled and accomplished. “In those days... saith the Lord... they shall not say to anyone, The ark of the covenant... of the Lord: it shall not enter into the heart, nor be remembered, nor shall it be visited, nor shall it be done to anyone" (Jer. 3:16). This word was fulfilled after the coming of Christ and after the preaching of the Gospel; then the ark of the covenant was no longer there, because the Jews accepted the law of Christ and could not keep the Mosaic commandments written in the book and placed in the ark, without being condemned for this. And the memory of the ark “will not come to the heart,” that is, the thought will not come to observe the rituals, because the Jews are no longer obliged to perform the rite established by their leader Moses during their sacrifices and services. “Neither shall it be done,” that is, the priests of the people of Judah will no longer wear the ark on their shoulders, or, “below shall it be done,” anything that the Jews were obliged to do and observe according to the law of Moses. “And I decided... that I will make you a child and give you a chosen land, the heritage of the stronghold of the nations” (Jer. 3:19), that is, the land of the thirty kings of Canaan. In a mysterious sense, this was fulfilled in Christ, because our Lord is “the hope of the nations” (Gen. 49:10). In the Lord, everything that the prophet also speaks about was fulfilled: “and all nations will hope... the name of the Lord, and no one will follow the lusts of his evil heart" (Jer. 3:17). And our Lord Himself says in the book of Psalms: “I have already attacked My mighty ones: for My mighty inheritance is mine” (Ps. 15:6). Christ and those who preached the Gospel to the whole universe, joined them to their people, and thus, as it were, accepted them through Christ into their inheritance. For Christ is told: “And I will give You the tongues of Your inheritance, and Your inheritance, the ends of the earth” (Ps. 2:8). , - and not her husband, - thus turning away from Me. The synagogue of Judea thought that it was permissible for her to leave Me, because she reasoned that I was not her husband and not her God. The prophet denounces the synagogue for its attachment to idols and for the fact that it has abandoned its Lord, who was its God and the Lord of its youth. “The voice... of weeping and supplication of the house of Israel is... on the way" (Jer. 3:21). The reason for the crying is that the Israelites are captive and are going into exile. “Return, you returning sons, and I will heal your afflictions.” And they say to Him: “Behold, we are Yours, for You are the Lord our God. Truly the hills and many mountains were lies” (Jer. 3:22–23). Our hope in idols, which we left on the hills and on many mountains, deceived us. “The cold devoured the labors of our fathers” (Jer. 3:24), that is, those who, from the time of the exodus from Egypt, began to worship idols, and sacrificed their hard-earned property to them, and even gave up their sons as burnt offerings. “We have fallen asleep in our shame, and our dishonor has covered us” (Jer. 3:25). We sinned before God, and for this His righteousness was angry. But with patience we will bear the punishment, we will endure humiliation, ridicule, shame and dishonor in Babylon, which will cover us for seventy years. You might be interested in: