Jeremiah 4-6

[wolfpurplemoon]

The best reason God can come up with for Israel to follow his demands is because otherwise he'll unleash his wrath on them. This is not a good reason to do what someone says, not a healthy one anyway.

Comments

Reasons

[zteccc.livejournal.com]

God and the people of Israel had a covenant, a contract, entered into willingly by both parties, that stipulated what would happen if the contract was breached (the penalty section of the contract). By the time of Jeremiah, the Israelites had repeatedly breached the contract for over 1,000 years. Even at this point, they could decide to return to the covenant and would be forgiven. Jeremiah, as a prophet, was telling them exactly what would happen if they didn't return to the covenant (the penalty section of the contract would come into play).

Re: Reasons

[wolfpurplemoon]

That covenant never seemed very mutual to me. More like God telling Israel they would follow him or bad things would happen. In reality it was of course just the leaders telling their people that they had to obey the man in the sky in order to keep them under control.

Re: Reasons

[zteccc.livejournal.com]

Israel gained much from the covenant. When they held up their side, they grew in numbers, they prospered greatly, their crops flourished, they had military success disproportionate to the size and skill of their military, etc.

When they broke from the covenant, they did not receive these benefits. Much of the Old Testament relates this pattern repeatedly.

[(Anonymous)]

Because God had not yet sent His son to be sacrificed for all sins on the cross as the greatest portrayal of Love (what does that word even mean to a "non-believer"?) there was no ability for them to make right what they had done wrong. This is why God had to deal with them harshly but in Proverbs 3 it also reminds us that " God gives correction to those he loves just like a father corrects his child that he loves." After the death of Christ on the cross there is no more mention of Gods wrath until the second coming. Because. Jesus paid our price. God still intends to teach humans right from wrong, but we never truly get the punishment we deserve unless we die without believing that Christ came to save us from this corrupt earth.