1-2 “If a man divorces a woman and she goes and marries someone else, he will not take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, so why are you trying to come back to me?” says the Lord. “Look at the shrines on every hilltop. Is there any place you have not been defiled by your adultery with other gods? You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer. You sit alone like a nomad in the desert. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and your wickedness. 3-5 That’s why even the spring rains have failed. For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless. Yet you say to me, ‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth. Surely you won’t be angry forever! Surely you can forget about it!’ So you talk, but you keep on doing all the evil you can.”

6 During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshipped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. 7-8 I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. She saw that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery - but that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution. 9-10 Israel treated it all so lightly - she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshipping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted. But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

11-13 Then the Lord said to me, “Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah! Therefore, go and give this message to Israel: this is what the Lord says: 'O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God and committed adultery against him by worshipping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to listen to my voice. I, the Lord, have spoken!'” (New Living Translation) English Standard Version link.

The Old Testament has parts that are uncomfortable to read, but they help us understand why God said and did certain things that people may think were quite harsh. In vs 1-2 God says that the people of Jerusalem (in Judah) were behaving like a woman who was put away by a husband, who then chased after many lovers, but now wanted to come back again. But what does God say about the people’s attitude in vs 3-5?

They wanted God to forgive and forget, but they were all talk. They were not really going to change their ways.

To understand vs 6-10 we must remember that many years earlier the nation had split into two groups. Israel was made up of ten tribes in the North, and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were in the South. The tribes in the North rebelled more quickly against God and set up idols to worship. So God had allowed the Assyrians to conquer them and take them into captivity. God likened these groups to two sisters. But the tribes in the South did not learn from the mistake her sister in the North made. In fact, she behaved even worse. Because of this, God actually invites the Northern tribes to return to Him and offers forgiveness to them. (vs 11-13). But what would they need to do on their part according to vs 11-13?

To make peace with God a sinner has to genuinely acknowledge their guilt and admit how they have rebelled against God. They need to confess their sins, especially the sin of refusing to follow the way that God teaches in His word. And notice how God encourages them to repent with those words: “I am merciful - I will not be angry with you forever.”

I think a big lesson for us here is how wise it is to learn from mistakes. From our own mistakes - but also from the mistakes of others. When we see how people have messed up their lives through rejecting God and His word, it ought to encourage us to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and to truly make Him the Lord of our life. And not with just words, but with all our heart.