Truly in vain [is salvation looked for] from the hills, [and] the multitude of mountains; truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.
In Jeremiah 3, God pleads with a nation that has abandoned Him. Verse 23 is the answer He puts in their mouths. It is a confession with two halves: the hills were worthless, and the LORD alone saves.
These words are not God's accusation. They are the people's own admission, and the prophet voices it for them. One writer sets the closing verses in that frame. He also gives a hard verdict on the religious reform under King Josiah, then under way in Jeremiah's day.
The end of the chapter dwells, in a very moving way, on the spirit that grace will produce in Israel when God brings them back. It also dwells on the way the Lord will receive them. In verses 23-25 the prophet confesses the people's condition at the time in which he spoke. This chapter gives us the solemn revelation that, as far as the people were concerned, the reform under Josiah was only hypocrisy.
The hills here are not scenery. The ESV calls what went on there "the orgies on the mountains". They were the sites of Israel's idol worship, spread across the whole country.
God had rescued them from Egypt, and they had promised, at Sinai, not to transgress. Sadly, they set up the golden calf before the law even reached the camp. The long list of later idolatries told how they had broken the covenant. "High places" for idol worship had dotted the whole land. In the shade of every green tree they practised the detestable rites of the pagan nations. Both spiritually and literally, these unholy and unclean rites deserved the name of prostitution that the prophets so often give them. What could God do with such a nation but put them away?
Such worship rarely announces itself as idolatry. It starts with something that still carries God's name.
At first they claimed the high places were for the worship of God. But this very soon turned into the worship of idols. In the same way, we can crave high recognition from people in our outward worship of God. That desire very easily becomes idolatry in all but name. Satan's counterfeit will displace God and take His place.
Mountains look unshakeable. Older translations put this verse as salvation hoped for in vain from the hills. Psalm 121 opens with the same need: "From where does my help come?" One writer pictures the man who asks it.
Mountains surround him, and they look strong, imposing, and immovable. In the same way, some people in the world seem firmly established in power, and beyond the reach of an enemy. But can we trust in any fellow creature? … Realising his need of help, and that the help of man is in vain, the godly man turns from the creature to the Creator.
Israel had already tried this. The result was worse than disappointment.
The mountains had once been Israel's trust. In their day of pride they had leaned upon the creature more than the Creator. But that help had only been a pitfall of destruction to them. They had stumbled and fallen, and been trapped and broken. And now they are waking from the long and dishonoured sleep of their night of blindness. They turn to seek Israel's Saviour in the only Maker of heaven and earth.
Commentators read the second half of the verse — salvation in the LORD — as a prophecy. It points to a repentance Israel has not yet made. One writer traces the chapter forward to the day the King returns.
This has never yet taken place, as we know. It supposes the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to Israel as David's greater Son. Their conscience will be truly reached then, and they will return to the One they had forsaken and forgotten. "Behold, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God", they say (v. 22). They confess their sin, owning that the salvation of Israel is in Him alone (v. 23).
This confession does not come from threats. It comes when God's grace meets people at their lowest.
In Jeremiah 3 we have the Lord pleading with them. He shows them that, bad as Israel might have been, Judah would turn out no better. Judah had held out for a time, and gave fair promises under Josiah. The crisis would surely come; but when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.
- The hills deceived. They were real places of idol worship, not innocent high ground.
- The hills looked solid. Mountains seem strong, imposing and immovable. To lean on them is to lean on the creature, not the Creator.
- The hills destroyed. What Israel leaned on in their pride became a pitfall. They stumbled, fell, and it broke them.
- The LORD saves. Waking from their blindness, they turn to Israel's Saviour, the only Maker of heaven and earth. Salvation is in Him alone.
- Grace speaks first. God Himself supplies this confession. When a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.
But shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Jeremiah 3 ends in confession, and this verse is its heart: a shameful thing has eaten up all that the fathers worked for. So what was that shameful thing, why does the reckoning reach back to their youth, and who is speaking here?
These are not the people's own words at the time. The prophet speaks the confession for them.
The end of the chapter dwells, in a very moving way, on the spirit that grace will produce in Israel when God brings them back. It also dwells on how the Lord will receive them. In verses 23-25 the prophet confesses the people's condition at the time when he spoke.
The devourer is never named. The verse simply calls it a shame; older translations read, "shame has devoured the labour of our fathers." That word swap has a history in Israel. One writer traces it in names from Saul's family, where "shame" took the place of the idol's name, Baal.
Ishbosheth means "man of shame." People might easily suppose that name came from his history, rather than being his original one. We know from Chronicles that his original name was Esh-baal. We have a similar change in Jonathan's son Meribbaal, changed into Mephibosheth. In Hosea 9:10 Baal himself is called "that shame." There is no real doubt that this sense of the shameful character of idolatry led to these changes.
The idol did not just offend God. It ate what generations had built. One writer comments on a similar complaint in Lamentations: Judah now had to pay for its own water and wood. He counts up what leaving God really costs.
It may seem that there is much to gain by taking your own way and putting the fear of God out of mind. Satan will suggest, too, that it costs too much to live for God. He offers tempting bait to the unhappy heart that has begun to crave other things. But in the end it only proves that disobedience to God is a costly indulgence — an unholy luxury that nobody can really afford... Departure from God is the most foolish and worst investment any child of grace ever made.
The confession reaches across generations. The fathers worked, and the loss has run on "from our youth." In Lamentations the people say the same thing: their fathers sinned, and they carry it. One writer shows what is wrong with using that as a complaint.
For if fathers and children are alike sinful, the punishment is due either way — for the fathers or for the children. If God judges, it must come. How much better, then, to repent than to complain and murmur! That only makes the evil worse and ensures vengeance on such growing rebellion against God.
Israel has not yet made this confession. One writer places it in a day still ahead.
The call that follows, to return and confess to the One who is married to them, looks on to a future day... Their conscience will be truly reached then, and they will return to the One they had forsaken and forgotten.
An idol need not carry a foreign name to devour what a life has gathered. The warning is carried straight over to readers who would never bow to a carved image.
Such is the result of departure from God, a sorrowful result that is not limited to God's ancient people, Israel. If we get away from the Lord and seek the things of this present world, we expose ourselves to the enemy. Someone might say, surely Christians would not choose new gods? But the apostle John writes to us, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21). Everything that would challenge Christ's right to fill the heart is an idol!
- Shame named. The devourer is idolatry. Scripture gives it the name it deserves: in Hosea, Baal himself is called "that shame." Israel even reworked personal names to avoid honouring him.
- Shame devours. What the idol promised to give, it ate instead — the fathers' labour, and the next generation with it. Disobedience is a luxury nobody can afford.
- Shame inherited. The loss runs from the fathers down through "our youth." Fathers and children are alike guilty, so judgment is due either way. Repenting beats complaining.
- Shame confessed. The prophet speaks the confession before the people ever feel it. The chapter shows the spirit grace will produce in them when God brings them back.
- Shame answered. For Israel, that return is still future. And any heart that lets something else hold Christ's place owes the same account.
We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah our God.
The chapter does not end with God speaking. It ends with the people speaking — a confession of shame that covers their whole history. Is such shame a mark of repentance, or only a guilty conscience? And when are these words spoken?
These closing words are not a report of what Israel said in Jeremiah's day. The prophet makes this confession on their behalf, in a chapter about restoration.
Jeremiah 3 gives details of how Israel and Judah behaved. It proclaims the restoration of Israel by God's sovereign goodness, and the blessing of the last days when they return to God. The end of the chapter dwells, in a deeply moving way, on the spirit that grace will produce in Israel when God brings them back, and on the way the Lord will receive them. It is in this chapter that we have the solemn revelation that, as far as the people were concerned, the reformation under Josiah was only hypocrisy. In verses 23-25 the prophet confesses the people's condition at the time in which he spoke.
This confession comes at the chapter's lowest point. That is where God's kindness appears.
In Jeremiah 3 we have a pleading of the Lord with them. He shows them that Israel may have been bad, but Judah would turn out no better. Judah had held out for a time and made fair promises under king Josiah. The crisis would surely come. But when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.
Earlier in the chapter God calls the people to return. Writers read the answer that follows, including this admission of shame, as still future.
The call which follows tells them to return and confess to the One who is married to them. It looks on to a future day… This has never yet taken place, as we know. It supposes the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to Israel as David's greater Son. Their conscience will be truly reached then, and they will return to the One they had forsaken and forgotten. "Behold we come to You", they say, "for You are the LORD our God" (v. 22). They confess their sin, owning that the salvation of Israel is in Him alone (v. 23).
The confession does not stop at personal failure. It reaches back through generations — "we and our fathers." A faithful few make the same admission in the same order in Jeremiah's Lamentations.
Here it is the confession of the remnant. First they confess their own sins. Then they add, "Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities" (Lamentations 5:7). Even in the days of Jeremiah there was a godly remnant, and the prophet speaks for them. There will be others like them in the last days. They will cry to God while they suffer, as the nation suffers, before the Lord comes to act for them.
Lying down in shame sounds like the deepest sorrow. But shame by itself can drive a person away from God rather than back to Him.
This is no proof of conversion. It is only the main proof that man has got into a bad conscience, and cannot get out of it… But do not mistake this for repentance. Shame merely drives them to hide from, and excuse themselves to, God. And so with us: as long as the shame of sin lasts, we try to hide it and get away from it. But it only drives us farther and farther from God. It is not a conscience taught by God, because we care more about the shame before men than about the sinfulness before God… our sense of the guilt of sin should always be deeper than our sense of its shame.
The shame here is spoken to God, out loud, with nothing hidden. That changes everything.
Truth may cover our faces with "shame and confusion" as we feel our shortcomings deeply. But grace restores the paths, and restores souls to walk in them. "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is the only true place for a wounded conscience to stand. Here, and here alone, we gain a complete victory over all our sad failures. It happens when we confess all our sins and shortcomings in full, and cast ourselves on the boundless grace of our God.
- Grace speaks first. The prophet makes this confession for the people, in a chapter that proclaims restoration by God's own goodness.
- Grace waits for the bottom. Outward reform under king Josiah promised much and failed. When a person has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.
- Grace produces the confession. The shame is the spirit grace creates in a people brought back, not the price they pay to be brought back.
- Grace reaches the whole record. The confession owns present sin first, then the fathers' — a whole history admitted, not one incident.
- Grace, not shame, restores. Shame by itself only drives us into hiding. Pour it out to God in confession, and He forgives and cleanses.