OT:Jeremiah 8:4/12

Reading: 

Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return? Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD. How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them? Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

Commentary: 

When a person stumbles and falls to the ground it is natural and expected for them to stand up again. In like manner the Lord here rebukes the Israelites in that they had fallen from grace (stumbling into idolatry), yet even when God punished them (so they would return and repent) they didn't have the wisdom to repent and rise up. "Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return." Note also God's visitation and judgment. Since they remained impenitent in their wickedness, an enemy would come and take the wives away from the husbands, making such their own wives. Likewise their fields (land) would be taken away by the enemy. Such is God's justice in that they had coveted their neighbor's land, possessions, and wives. This lesson teaches us God's perfect justice and punishment of sin. We too (like the Israelites) merit the same punishment every time we covet our neighbor's property, possessions, or wives. Whatever blessings we then have today, such comes only from God's mercies through Christ, never our merits.