Jeremiah 2:4-13 2025 Commentary

Kicked When You Are Down

Immediately, in chapter two, Jeremiah seems to be working counter one of MLK’s principles of non-violent resistance. That resistance “seeks to win friendship and understanding.” Instead, against the backdrop of Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah seems to be standing over the people saying, “you know, if you think about it, this is kind of your fault.”  The textbook definition of victim-blaming or kicking someone when they are already down.  What could be the point of this seeming unkindness?

The accusation forming in chapter two is a familiar trope, that of a jilted lover, partner to an unfaithful spouse.  Israel and Hosea notably use the same trope. God is betrayed and, in the text, God is made vulnerable by the betrayal of God’s people, who has smashed the covenant in favor of idols and pagan forms of worship.  This, then, almost turns the metaphor on its head because, who is, in fact, being victimized? Who is the one “down” and who is doing the “kicking”? Is it not a strange thing for the Creator God, Hebrew Scriptures powerful YHWH, to be in the place of a victim? Of course, in Christian interpretation of this text, we are not so surprised that God is made victim, since that is the essence of Christ’s work on the cross.

The CEB Study Bible observes this very dynamic, when it writes that this text “reveals God’s vulnerability and grief over unfaithfulness. The poetry that follows is erratic, mirroring the uncontrollable pain of a spurned lover. In an extended lament, God hurls at Israel a series of accusatory questions, al leading to the same conclusion: Israel has broken the covenant, mocked God’s kindness, and worshipped other gods.”

All of this comes to a head when God declares “I will take you to court and charge even your descendants” in verse 9.  While we know that God’s faithfulness prevails in the end, here it seems God is even willing to consider divorce proceedings.  The betrayal of covenant is so severe that this is a reasonable consideration on God’s part.  In fact, the application of mercy and forgiveness only carry the weight they have *because* choosing otherwise is a reasonable option.

Drawing Up Charges

Beginning in verse 4, we know what is coming is addressed to “all the clans of the House of Israel.”  Some commentators want to use this to narrow the scope of those under indictment to mean only those in the northern kingdoms, called “Israel,” as opposed to the southern kingdoms known as “Judah.” In a way, this would be a relief because the northern kingdoms have already been exiled into Assyria.  So Judah could just be listening in, like I (as a younger sister) used to do when my older brother would get in trouble.  I remember pressing my ear to the door to figure out what he’d done wrong, mostly so I could avoid doing that wrong thing myself but also (if I’m being honest) so that I could tuck away some ammunition against my brother for a later argument.

Instead, the author is using the more general designation of Israel, depriving all the way back to Jacob their shared ancestor.  “All the clans of…” demonstrate that the southern kingdom is also implicated. To draw out the tortured metaphor further, in this case, my brother and I have gotten into trouble together and we are about to hear about it equally.

Interpretation: Jeremiah says about the same thing when the author writes, “From the broad and general nature of the indictment of Israel’s sin in 2:5–37 it becomes evident that this was directed at the entire people in all its politically and geographically separated parts. Such a comprehensive condemnation of Israel stretched laterally across separated communities and extended vertically through Israel’s history, going back to the nation’s beginning in the wilderness.”

Some biblical scholars observe that this series of charges are being drawn together into a single indictment but that does not mean Israel is being charged with just one crime.  The accusation is that this behavior is not a singular lapse in judgment or fall into temptation. Again, from Interpretation, “Israel’s unfaithfulness towards God goes back to the very beginning of its national existence when its ancestors first entered the land. They abandoned the Lord, the God who had delivered them from Egypt, and worshiped instead the gods of the land—the detested forms of Baal.” Israel’s unfaithfulness is, by this point, a habit of character, a persistent decision by God’s people to act against covenant, against God and, ultimately, even against their own interests.  And yet, all these charges are brought up to provoke a change of heart and direction. There is still time. This is a call to repentance.

Illustration:

In The Africana Bible: Reading Israel’s Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora, Madipoane Masenya makes an intriguing analogy from this text to her own experience growing up Black under South Africa’s apartheid government. More specifically, she looks to the experience of Afrikaner Christians after the 1994 liberation/dismantling of apartheid government and practices.  What is it like when you assume not just the superiority—but the chosenness—of your people (however you define that — racially, economically, nationally, religiously, etc.) and then find yourself having to share power with those you lorded over or, perhaps even, having to submit to their governance?  What happens to your beliefs about God then? Were you wrong to claim God’s partiality? What about God’s love? This is the disorientation on display in Jeremiah.

In the South African case study, we would hope the Afrikaner Christians would reassess their beliefs as they have, in large measure, done … and much credit to them for it!  But how does that translate to other settings?

In my own US context, The Underground Railroad was met with Runaway Slave Acts. Southern Reconstruction was set back by Jim Crow legislation. De-segregation was met with one version of the private Christian school movement, intended to maintain segregation. Efforts to name our country’s complicated legacy are slandered by misappropriated terms like “woke,” “critical race theory” and “DEI.” All because we are eager to avoid the kind of reckoning relayed to us in Jeremiah 2 and, in South African history, through Truth and Reconciliation Commission work.

Our discomfort with Jeremiah’s accusations are an invitation to consider how we might be trying to side-step our own culpability in injustice, which is always rooted in false worship.