Jeremiah 3:22-25

E. The Prayer of Repentance Jeremiah 3:22-25

TRANSLATION

(22b) Here we are, we have come to you because you are the LORD our God. (23) Truly the hills are a swindle, the tumult of the mountains; Truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. (24) But shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. (25) Let us lie down in our shame and let our reproach cover us, for against the LORD our God we have sinned, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day; we have not hearkened to the voice of the LORD our God.

COMMENTS

The exact nature of the verses in this section has puzzled commentators. Does this forthright confession represent the longing of the Lord? Do these verses indicate the wishful thinking on the part of the prophet? Are these words the confession of a few converted people within the nation? Is this confession predictive of a time when men would realize the folly of idolatry and turn in true allegiance to God? This much is certain! The confession gives all the appearances of being sincere and honest. The present writer feels that the prophet intended these verses to be an ideal prayer of repentance, the kind of prayer that God expected and demanded of those who would truly return to Him. It is, to use the words of Laetsch, a future ideal still far removed from the present reality.[153]

[153] Laetsch, op. cit., p. 64.

The last part of Jeremiah 3:22 depicts the eager response of the people to the gracious invitation which the Lord has just offered in the first half of the verse. The people confess that the pagan worship conducted on the hills has proved to be vain. They admit that they had been spiritually swindled by the tumult of the mountains, i.e., the wild orgies[154] which accompanied idol-worship (Jeremiah 3:23). True spiritual power is not always proportionate to the boisterousness of the religious observance. The Hebrew word translated shame in Jeremiah 3:24 is the word bosheth which often serves in the Old Testament as a euphemism for Baal.[155] For as long as these folks can remember Baal worship has devoured the resources of the nation. Their flocks and herds and even their sons and daughters had been offered as sacrifices to the pagan deities (Jeremiah 3:24). Then, too, because of their idolatry divine punishment came upon them which destroyed the labor of their hands, their animals and children. Thus the foolish people had to pay double for the worship of Baal: The initial sacrifice which the Baal demanded and the subsequent punishment which the Lord exacted. The repentant sinners are so ashamed that they resolve to prostrate themselves, an expression of the deepest sorrow. Their guilt is so intense that it seems to enshroud them. In bitter tears of shame and remorse they cry out, We have sinned against the Lord our God! This is the godly sorrow that leads to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:9-11). When one realizes the true nature of sin and the true nature of the God against who he has sinned, he cannot help but feel the agonizing shame depicted so vividly in Jeremiah 3:25.

[154] For an example of tumultuous Baal worship see 1 Kings 18. Others take the tumult of the mountains to refer to the multitudes who gathered on the mountains to worship Baal. Still others feel the word refers to the idols themselves.

[155] For examples where bosheth is substituted for Baal, see Jeremiah 11:13; Hosea 9:10; 2 Samuel 11:21; Judges 6:32; 2 Samuel 2:8 and 1 Chronicles 8:33.