their Babylonian "lovers."
God responds like a father who has finally given up trying to regulate his daughter's bad habits. He tells her, "Get out! Find out for yourself what life is like on the street!" God says, "You will drink your sister's cup, a cup large and deep; it will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much. . . . You will drink it and drain it dry; you will dash it to pieces and tear your breasts" (23:32-34). He says it in anger, but also in hope that such bitter grief will awaken Israel to the disastrous choices she made in rejecting God's care.
Life Questions: Have you ever loved someone who didn't love you back? What emotions did you feel? |
