Jeremiah 3:5, commentary and pictures

The verse pictures the Lord as married to His people in tender love, so that to be joined to Him and bear His name is to belong to Him alone and to stand under His protection. Within that marriage the espoused church becomes an unfaithful harlot when she turns from God to the nations and worldly powers for friendship, security and help, a course that brings confusion and ruin. Its opening questions hold out hope that He will not reserve His anger forever and keep it to the end, yet against that hope stands the charge that the people have spoken and done evil to the full, as much as they could. In that setting of backsliding it is God's pleading call to acknowledge iniquity and return with all the heart, for He delights in mercy and promises to heal unfaithfulness and receive even the thousandth return. That same departure is spiritual fornication and apostasy, the church's unlawful union with the world and with kings and powers of earth, above all in rejecting His law and His seventh-day Sabbath to seek civil power for a false sabbath, which makes her Babylon fallen.

Unfaithful Wife Imagery

Jeremiah 3 portrays the Lord as married to His people in tender love, with His church as His wife lawfully united to Him alone. To be joined to Him and to bear His name means far more than merely being called by it, for it gives title to His protection and to all that His name represents. Any union of that church with the world is therefore fornication and adultery against God, because she belongs in marriage to the Lord only.

Within that marriage picture the espoused Jewish church, Zion, becomes unfaithful like a harlot when she turns from God to the nations, the world, and worldly powers. She seeks from them friendship, security, and help, entering unlawful connection with the world and joining herself to others as a harlot does. That course promises security but brings confusion and ruin. Even while persisting in it she asks whether God will remain angry forever, continuing to do as much evil as she can.

Israel's backsliding in seeking salvation and refuge among the nations went by stages. At first she built altars to Jehovah upon the high places on every high hill and mountain and under green trees, then became associated with false worship and accustomed to look upon it leniently, then came fellowship. Then altars were built to Milcom and Chemosh and Baal and Ashtoreth and a multitude of gods, till at last altars to false gods were erected in the very house of Jehovah. Looking to the hills and to the mountains for help was looking to the worship of false gods and hoping for help from false gods, whereas help comes from Jehovah who made heaven and earth.

Anger Mercy and Return

The two opening questions ask whether anger will be reserved forever and kept to the end, and they carry the hope that anger will not last without end. Against that hope stands the charge that the people have both spoken and done evil persistently, willingly and wickedly, doing all the evil they could to the full. Their contradiction is that they ask about the continuance of anger while still doing evil to the utmost, and their evil is even described as worse than that of the heathen.

In the setting of the backsliding of Judah and Israel, the verse belongs to a pleading call to backsliders to acknowledge iniquity and return with all the heart. He who delights in mercy promises not to let anger fall upon those who return, promises to heal unfaithfulness, and welcomes the sinner who longs to come back to Him. Departure does not make restoration impossible, for whoever gives up cherished sin and returns, even for the thousandth time, will find a loving Father who receives him, because by giving Himself Christ has already redeemed the world.

The chapter's denunciation of sin and appeal to return brought the prophet sorrow, because the mass of the people did not respond to the messages given them. Anger comes to an end and does not continue forever, so the wicked do not remain under wrath eternally.

Babylon and Spiritual Adultery

The whore, harlot, whoredom, and fornication of Babylon mean spiritual fornication, not a church conforming to the laws of civil government for regulation of temporal concerns. They mean apostasy, departure from the law and the testimony and the worship of Jehovah to unlawful connection with idolatrous sects and false religious sects of every kind, and that departure is what makes a church Babylon, an apostate church.

That same departure is the church's union with the world, holding communion with another power instead of remaining lawfully united to the Lord alone to whom she is married as His wife. It is the apostate church seeking the support of earthly powers instead of seeking the Lord, uniting with kings of the earth in their idolatry, errors, and power. She asks whether God will remain angry forever while continuing to do as much evil as she can, turning from God to worldly powers for security in a course of spiritual unfaithfulness that promises help but leads to ruin. From all such union of church and state comes persecution of the people of God, since the only legitimate union for the church is with Jesus Christ.

When the backsliding wife leaves her Husband she has spoken and done evil, for the Lord is married to His people in tender love. She leaves Him by rejecting His law in refusing to return to His seventh-day Sabbath, and joins herself to another by adopting the ways of the world and seeking civil power to enforce a false sabbath, Sunday. God calls her a harlot for that illicit connection and regards it with repugnance as shameless perfidy, and that apostasy is what makes Babylon fallen and deserted of God.