The LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. – Jeremiah 3:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 21, 2017): Jeremiah 3

Donald Rumsfeld, the former United States Secretary of Defense, once commented on the challenges of taking over such an important position. According to Rumsfeld, you start with a “visit with your predecessors from previous administrations. They know the ropes and can help you see around some corners.” Then it is simple. “Try to make original mistakes, rather than needlessly repeating theirs.” Okay, maybe it isn’t that simple. It seems that that is one of the biggest challenges that we face in life. A person once commented to me that they cannot learn from others; that they have to make their own mistakes. I hope that that is an exaggeration because I am not sure that life is long enough for us to make all of our own mistakes. And it would seem that a major key to personal success is the ability to learn from the mistakes of others. Maybe a better adage is that “mistakes are meant for learning, not repeating.”

And that is the issue at the heart of this portion of Jeremiah. The people of Israel, whether they were residents of the Northern Kingdom of Israel or the Southern Kingdom of Judah, were never outside of God’s favor, but they were also not entitled to it simply on the basis of their relationship with the patriarchs. Forgiveness had always been available for them, although there is no indication that the Northern Kingdom of Israel ever walked through that door.

But according to Jeremiah, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was more righteous than the Southern Kingdom of Judah. And the reason is that while the Northern Kingdom rebelled and paid for their rebellion by being taken into exile by the Assyrians, the Southern Kingdom had the model of the Northern Kingdom to learn from and they refused to do it. They followed the mistakes of their northern brothers, which resulted in the Southern Kingdom being carried into exile by the successors to the Assyrian Empire – the Babylonians. So, while God was not pleased with Israel’s rebellion, he was also not the least bit amused by the rebellion of the Judah when they were fully aware of the price that Israel had already paid for their acts against God.

If we take these words of Jeremiah to heart, the lesson would seem to be that God expects us to be able to learn from the mistakes of others – or he expects us to make original mistakes. In fact, in the eyes of God it is a selfish and short sighted person who is not able to learn from other people's mistakes. We are never outside of the favor of God, but we are also not entitled to it. God’s expectation is that we will learn from the mistakes and sins of others. In the eyes of God, mistakes really are made for learning, not repeating.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 4