Jeremiah 3:6 The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.” 11 And the Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
Historically, when the kingdom divided, the southern kingdom of Judah has been much more faithful to the Lord than the northern tribes of Israel, but neither was faithful. It just took Judah longer to fall. But when she fell, her fall was greater and harder. Judah had watched everything that happened to Israel, yet not learned her lesson. It is never good for us to live by comparison with others, thinking we are better as they suffer for sin. We need to beware the "I would never do that" attitude. As the apostle Paul tells us: "Take heed, lest you fall."
No comments:
Post a Comment