Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"A swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways"
Text: Jeremiah 2:23
DENIAL OF SIN
The faithful prophets of the Lord were sent to Israel/Judah again and again to speak to them about the problem of their iniquity. But both Israel and Judah denied that they were sinful. This was a problem that Jeremiah was sent to address as well.
“How can you say, ‘I am not polluted,
I have not gone after the Baals’?
See your way in the valley;
Know what you have done:
You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways.”
Jeremiah 2:23
1. “How can you say, ‘I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals’?”
a) What was sin?
i) Trespasses/ transgression of God’s law.
ii) Evil and wickedness in the heart.
b) Sin and pollution
i) Sin was also “pollution”.
ii) Israel/Judah’s major problem was that of idolatry.
iii) This was “pollution” to God.
c) “Baals”
i) This word means “lord” or “owner”.
ii) The cult of Baal worship was dominant in the Near East
(today, called “The Middle East”).
iii) Israel and Judah pursued the practice of Baal worship.
iv) Sometimes, they were mixed up with their worship of the LORD.
v) Baals were regarded as fertility gods.
When worshiped they would ensure good crops.
d) Israel/Judah
Both denied that they were into Baal worship.
2. “See your way in the valley; know what you have done”
a) “The Valley”
i) This may not be stated as plainly as we like.
ii) But “the valley” is probably the Hinnom Valley (Jeremiah 7:31).
iii) Gehenna or Tophet were places found in the Hinnom Valley.
b) “Know what you have done”
i) This was where the cult of Baal worship was very strong.
ii) They even burned their children as a sacrifice (Jeremiah 7:31).
3. “You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways”
a) Dromedaries are distinguished from the two-humped camel (Bactrian camel).
b) They have only one hump.
i) The hump does not store any water at all.
ii) It stores fat that the dromedary can use in times of famine.
c) Dromedaries can be very wild and aggressive in the mating season.
d) They are virtually uncontrollable during this period.
e) Judah was compared to a wild dromedary in seeking Baals.
i) It was a very disparaging imagery that was employed.
ii) Judah was not only compared to an alien (wild) vine.
iii) It was compared to a wild dromedary that was governed by its animal instinct.