Context No. 2609 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 25:1-6: in context

1The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (this was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 3From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the LORD’s word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened. 4The LORD has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear), 5saying, “Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even forever more. 6Don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don’t provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; then I will do you no harm.”

Jeremiah stands before Judah and does the math out loud. For twenty-three years, he says, from the thirteenth year of Josiah until now, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you, and you have not listened. Nor is it only him; God has sent all his servants the prophets, rising up early to send them, and still the people would not incline their ear. The message was always the same and always simple: turn from your evil ways, and you may stay in the land.

Twenty-three years of pleading. God did not give up after the first refusal, or the tenth; he kept sending the word, rising up early, calling the people to return, year after year after year. That is a staggering patience, and it is also a sober warning, because a heart can grow deaf to a call it has been tuning out for decades. The very length of God's patience can lull us into thinking the call is not serious. But the repeated invitation, return, dwell in the land, do yourself no harm, is mercy, not indifference. God's patience is time given to turn, not proof that turning does not matter.

Is there a call from God I have been tuning out for years, and do I still hear his patient, repeated invitation to return?

Sources

Jeremiah 25:3: these twenty-three years, the LORD's word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened.
Jeremiah 25:4: The LORD has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them.
Jeremiah 25:5: Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land.