Jeremiah: Third Chapter (In light of Dt. 24:4)

The issue in this chapter is God's call for repentance among his people. They were committing spiritual fornication, adultery with “stones and with stocks” (v. 9), looking unto other gods, and not unto God himself. Judah, due to her pretense and hypocrisy (v. 10, 11) was worse than Israel.

Jeremiah 3.1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. (KJV)

The verse reminds the people of God what constitutes marital establishment and what is pollution of morality. The law is the authoritative source of direction for mankind, and the reference to Deuteronomy, chapter 24, is made. God shows himself to have greater ability to forgive and accept than man. Even though it is not permitted for a man to accept a defiled, former wife, God reinforces the validity of the commandment and shows his greatness of mercy through his willingness to accept a defiled people under the condition that they repent, a people that was formerly married to him but left for other gods (in relative comparison, another husband or master so to speak).

The Christian people of God are noted as the bride of Christ in the New Testament. The church is represented by a term denoting the female gender--a wife, as a bride of a husband. It is also represented as one person, a bride or wife--one body, rather than as multiple and various personalities. The Lord referred to himself as a husband to a wife with his people, as is seen in this chapter. He demonstrates to them that he is willing to accept repentance of the people and allow them to return. However, this in itself does not mean that He annulled the law of Dt. 24.4, pertaining to a disallowance of the return of a defiled wife to a former husband.

Not at all! God gave the marital sanctity law for the benefit of his people. He made man and gave him dominion over the earth. The man ruled over the woman after the original sin. Without God's law, chaos and uncleanness would be rampant. For example, there are allegedly tribes in Africa and South America that do not know or adhere to God's law. Their women are tolerated to have sex with multiple men without moral argument. Without adherence to God's law of sexual cleanliness (including Dt. 24:4), they are defiled. Their communities are defiled. Their lifestyle is an abomination.

However, Christians trying to correct this filthiness reach out to heathen and people that do not know God's way of salvation and His rules for sexual cleanliness. The easy way to do this is teach the marital law for female virgins, and the Ten Commandments.

Now, back to the verse in Jer. 3:1, it is reinforcing the idea of pollution concerning a woman's defilement and her moral ineligibility to return to a husband afterward. This example demonstrates how filthy (after being defiled due to chasing after other gods) the people of God were in his eyes. Nevertheless, He is still pleading unto them to repent and return to Him. Repentance, forgiveness and acceptance unto God should always be a goal or at least on the mind of a sinner. They were not reprobate and He could still reach them, if only they would listen.

Nevertheless, the hope that God's call for his people to come unto him should never be misconstrued so as to destroy or make void his law and commandments. If a woman has been defiled, she should seek forgiveness and acceptance from God of course, and recovery from her fornication, but she must not go back and make the situation worse through returning to a former husband (Dt. 24.4). This would pollute the whole house, the husband, the children and the defiled woman. She should not be like the heathen of Africa and South America, who do not understand God's sanctity laws and pollute their families, communities and land. God's marital law and its fulfillment must be obeyed. Singleness after marriage is the only resolve once female defilement occurs. God can still accept the repentance of a single, defiled woman, but if she ignores His law of sanctity and non-return restoration (Dt 24.4), she would not be truly repenting. Fornication has its costs, and damage control is necessary for reason of family sanctity. Therefore, a defiled wife must remain single.

My friend, do not learn the ways of the heathen (Jer. 10). Do not accept the allowance-heresy of the return of a defiled wife to a husband (misconstrued as forgiveness obligation), or any other uncleanness. We live in a depraved world and must meet people that do not have Christian cultures. There are many false religions and heresies that attempt to deceive even the elect Christian! We must stand against marital defilement and uncleanness as well as nudity and nakedness. God did not annul his holy law against nakedness and he did not annul Dt. 24.4.

The video below is for positive critique; however, it has graphic scenes that young people under 21 years of age without parental discretion are not recommended to see. It gives an idea of how ignorant people are of God's morality and covering laws. Comparatively disgusting, the people of God ignored worship laws and committed spiritual fornication in Jeremiah 3.

HYPOCRITICAL MEDIA IMPLYING NAKEDNESS AS "GOD FEARING"