Living Room Study

Jeremiah 2

“Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? (but they were not gods!)  Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.  Be horrified at this, heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled.  This is the Lord’s declaration.  For My people have committed a double evil: they abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:11-13

The first time I read through the New Testament, I noticed a group of people called the “Samaritans”.  Later, I learned that Samaritans were “half-breeds”…part Jewish, and part Gentile.  When Israel returned, (from the exile Jeremiah prophesied), the Samarians were not considered “Jewish”.  Therefore, they were prohibited to worship at the Temple, and were the living proof of Israel’s past apostasy.  That is why the Jews hated them so much.  The Samaritans were a constant reminder of Israel’s national sin of inter-marrying, which led to their idolatry.  Today’s chapter is very similar to the first half of John, chapter 4: The Samaritan woman at the well.  I suggest you read the whole story, yourself.  Compare Jeremiah’s (above) “living water” with Jesus’ use of the same imagery.  

“A woman from Samaria came to draw water.  ‘Give Me a drink,’ Jesus said to her, for His disciples had gone into town to buy food.  ‘How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’, she asked Him.  For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.  Jesus answered, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and Who is saying to you, “Give Me a drink,” you would ask Him and He would give you living water.’” John 4:7-10

Furthermore, consider Jeremiah’s imagery of “Virgin-turned-harlot” Israel, in relation to Jesus’ revelation of the Samaritan woman’s 5 husbands…the same number of nations who had controlled Israel between Jeremiah and Jesus.

“Can a young woman forget her jewelry or a bride her sash?  Yet My people have forgotten me for countless days.  How skillfully you pursue love; you also teach evil women your ways.” Jeremiah 2:32-33

 “‘Go call your husband,’ He told her, ‘and come back here.’  ‘I don’t have a husband,’ she answered.  ‘You have correctly said, “I don’t have a husband.”’ Jesis said.  ‘For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.  What you have said is true.’”  John 4:16-17 

Furthermore, Jesus and this woman have a verbal exchange (John 4:19-24) about the Samaritan forefathers’ digging the well and commanding them to worship on a mountain other than Mt. Zion in Jerusalem.  But Jesus tells her how in the future, it won’t matter what mountain people worship on…rather they should worship in “spirit and in truth”.

“The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming.  When He comes He will explain everything to us.’  ‘I Am He’, Jesus told her, ‘the One you are speaking of.’” John 4:25-26

Blessings.

Steve Wiggins