“Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,”
declares the LORD.

[Jeremiah 3:20]

In my last post in this series, I laid the Biblical foundation for Israel’s identity as the elect bride of God. God chose for Himself a covenant people from all the nations of the earth. After redeeming Israel from Egypt, she became His treasured possession and cherished bride by entering into a marriage covenant with the LORD at Sinai.

Sadly, Israel proved to be an unfaithful wife and persisted in unbelief and idolatry for generations, despite God’s extraordinary long-suffering and mercy. Even God’s mercy and patience has limits, and He finally resolved to give Israel a certificate of divorce.

A WAYWARD WIFE AND A MERCIFUL GOD

The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? 7And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.“

[Jeremiah 3:6-8]

The LORD offered Israel an exclusive covenant relationship at Sinai, and the people unanimously accepted, saying “everything you have said we will do and obey.” God offered them a life and a home. He offered protection, provision, and even His very presence. He offered them His instructions for blessings and warnings for cursing. Most of all, the LORD was offering unconditional love and covenantal faithfulness overflowing upon them with unimaginable blessing and joy for generations to come.

It did not take long, however, for Israel to break faith. Before Moses could even get back down the mountain to confirm the marriage contract, God’s chosen bride was already going after another god, provoking the LORD to anger [see Exodus 32]. Except for a few good years, Israel persistently played the whore, even though God patiently waited for her, continually calling his people to repent and return to Him.

For hundreds of years, God showed extraordinary mercy to His elect bride. Like Hosea bearing the heartbreak of being married to the likes of Gomer, the LORD knew the pain of a wayward wife.

God’s judgment and anger finally exceeded His mercy, however. He could no longer turn a blind eye to Israel’s brazen idolatry and deliberate disregard for Him as her “Husband.” So God put away Israel — writing her a certificate of divorce, expelling her from her homeland, exposing her lewdness and perversion and giving her over to her vile lovers — the gods of the nations — where she would be lost and absorbed by the nations.

“Plead with your mother, plead—
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband—
that she put away her whoring from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts.“

[Hosea 2:2]

I know Ephraim,
and Israel is not hidden from me;
for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;
Israel is defiled.
4Their deeds do not permit them
to return to their God.
For the spirit of whoredom is within them,
and they know not the LORD.

[Hosea 5:3-4]

DIVORCE and DISPERSION

Israel has been swallowed up; They are now among the nations Like a vessel in which no one delights.

[Hosea 8:8]

After the death of King Solomon (circa 932 B.C.) the Kingdom of Israel fractured into two separate nations. Ten tribes formed the northern kingdom, which retained the name Israel — otherwise known as Ephraim — and the remaining two tribes became known as Judah. One nation now divided into two houses. Both houses would prove to be unfaithful and break the covenant God made with them at Sinai.

While the LORD finally sent Ephraim away into exile, He did not fully reject Judah on account of His promise to King David. Judah would become a remnant representing God’s covenant people — the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

Gomer conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Call her name No Mercy [Lo-ruhama], for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.

[Hosea 1:6-7]

Israel, on the other hand would become exiles, wanderers among the nations.

Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their princes are rebels ...
17My God will reject them
because they have not listened to him;
they shall be wanderers among the nations.

[Hosea 9:15,17]

It’s not that the covenant God made with Israel at Sinai was deficient. God’s laws and statutes and precepts are perfect. The deficiency is not with God’s covenant, it is with the people who try — and overwhelmingly fail — to keep it. Failing to remain faithful. Failing to love the LORD our God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and body.

For he finds fault with them when he says:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, 9not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them,” declares the Lord.

[Hebrews 8:8-9]

Because the northern Kingdom of Israel refused to return to God, He punished them and put them away with a certificate of divorce to be swallowed up by the nations. Interestingly, the patriarch Jacob prophetically predicted the fate of Ephraim long before this tragic divorce and exile.

But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”

[Genesis 48:19]

This begs the question. How could Ephraim (house of Israel) become a multitude of nations when they were driven out of the land and lost to the nations? There is really only one logical solution. Although the house of Israel was scattered to the nations, God will redeem Israel by redeeming … the NATIONS! Israel may have been absorbed into the nations, losing her identity, but she will be brought back to God through a new and better covenant as the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed to all nations and Israel is reclaimed by the God of Israel in the end!

Even at the lowest point of Israel’s existence, God promised to not utterly forsake His people forever but rather to one day bring them back to Himself and to their homeland. The miracle, however, is HOW God determined to do this, which is what I will discuss in my next post. Until then, consider the words of Ezekiel.

The word of the Lord came to me: 15“Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, ‘They are far away from the Lord; this land was given to us as our possession.’ 16Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’ 17Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’ 18They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. 19I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.“

[Ezekiel 11:14-20]

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

[1 Peter 2:9]

As we have already seen through this series, Israel can be traced through a variety of theological threads and seen through a mosaic of different lenses, but none is more powerful as the covenant bond and spiritual union of marriage. The marriage metaphor communicates such vivid imagery and spiritual symmetry that is directly reflected in God’s relationship with His covenant people — Israel — His Elect — God’s chosen bride.

The LORD calls Israel elect — from the Hebrew bachar [בָּחר] — His chosen people — His cherished bride — His own treasured possession.

Of all the nations, tribes, and tongues on the earth, God chose the children of Israel to be His covenant people — and Israel too would have the responsibility to choose the LORD to be their God. After redeeming Israel from Egypt and leading her through the sea … the LORD brought Israel to the foot of God’s holy mountain. For the very first time, Israel was a free nation able to choose which God they would serve.

It was there at Sinai that the Bridegroom God entered spacetime and came down on the mountain as an all-consuming fire — yet coming near in order to offer Israel the chance to start over and have a new life. The LORD formally proposed to the people speaking through Moses with language of betrothal and covenant relationship. The marriage contract was written in stone by the finger of God and cut with blood. Moses was the priest mediator between God and Israel. The people said, “I do,” and the betrothal became forever binding.

God’s betrothal at Sinai was at the complete exclusion of all other gods yet ironically would lead to the full inclusion of the nations under the authority of those gods. In other words, the elect of God are always chosen to be a blessing and a benefit to all people. Israel was always intended to be a light to the nations and to proclaim the good news to the ends of earth [Isaiah 49:6]. Her election was not for the exclusion of the nations but for their blessing.

Yet like all of us … Israel did not always live up to her potential or keep her covenant promises.

The sordid past of ancient Israel is no secret. Tragically she has spent many more years estranged from God than in covenant faithfulness to Him — an adulterous wife chasing after other gods. Hers is a story of tragedy but also of triumph, life and loss, heart-ache and healing, exile and redemption. No matter how far God’s covenant people have strayed, two things have remained true.

• God always preserves for Himself a faithful remnant [see Romans 11:1-5]
• God will forever remain faithful to keep His covenant promises to His chosen people Israel. [Jeremiah 31:31-37]

The Apostle Paul understood God’s relationship to His covenant people as well as anyone. He knew Israel was God’s elect bride from the very beginning and that God is resolved to keep His promises and remain faithful to the end, even when we are faithless.

Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
13if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.

[2 Timothy 2:10-13]

As we are about to discover, the story of God’s relationship to Israel — His elect bride — is the story of the gospel — how the Bridegroom God was willing to give His very life in order to ransom His wayward wife from her bondage and bring her back to Himself and present her as a pure virgin bride in the end — clothed in the radiant righteousness of Christ! The story of Israel is God’s great love story of redemption and restoration.

Before we can appreciate how the story ends — at a royal wedding by a glassy sea — we first must go back to it’s very beginning — where Israel first found grace in the wilderness.

THE WILDERNESS — WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”.

[Exodus 19:5-6]

It is fascinating to discover how many times God leads us into the wilderness — into the dry and barren lands, the dark and dangerous deserts — only to meet us where we are and remind us that He is all we truly have. He is all we will ever have. That is what we learn in the wilderness.

The Scriptures emphasize the significance of the wilderness in man’s journey from exile to the promised land. How the heroes of the faith often met God in the desert. Whether the patriarchs or prophets like Abraham or Jacob or Moses or David or Elijah, the LORD often uses the wilderness journey to radically reveal Himself in a personal and powerful way.

Of course this was true of that Exodus generation that was first redeemed out of Egypt and brought to the wilderness of Sinai and there entered into a covenant with the Most High — the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. The covenant at Sinai is the prophetic template and sets the pattern for the rest of Scripture.

Consider how John the Baptizer came as a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, preparing the way for the Lord. Remember how our Lord Jesus was willing to face — and pass — His own 40-day testing in the wilderness. How John the beloved disciple spent years in exile on the desolate island of Patmos, only to see the Risen Lord revealed in all His glory!

And the prophets understood that this present age would end as it has already been — in the wilderness, in exile, in a desolate land, in a time of great trouble. And like before, it is in the wilderness that we will meet God face to face and we will know that He is God and that there is no other. What’s been done will be done again.

The Covenant of Betrothal at Sinai

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

[Jeremiah 31:31-33]

Almost everything about the covenant God made with Israel at Sinai was conveyed in terms of a betrothal — or in Hebrew thought a “Ketubah”. The Ketubah is a legally binding agreement and conditional covenant between a husband and his betrothed wife — who promise to faithfully commit to one another in an exclusively binding relationship. The betrothal is considered a legal marriage only awaiting the official consummation through physical union on the wedding night. To learn more about this amazing connection, feel free to check out Joel Richardson’s book Sinai to Zion.

Just consider the language at Sina that God conveyed through His commandments. They read just like marriage vows.

1. You shall have no other gods besides Me — the LORD demands an exclusive covenant relationship. No adulterating. Forsaking all others until death do us part. The LORD is Jealous for His people!
2. You shall not serve or worship anything before Me — the LORD is the supreme priority before all other things. No idolatry. To love and to cherish above all else.
3. You shall not take the Name of the LORD in vain — the LORD has attached His name to His people and His people now represent His Name and Character. No disgracing His Name. Like a wife takes her husband’s last name and now is directly and intimately connected to him — a reflection and representation of her husband.
4. Keep the Sabbath holy — the LORD desires regular, intentional, quality time with His people — continue investing in the marriage and keeping it alive in the spirit of a weekly time to reconnect with and reorient toward one another.

It is clear in God’s own testimony that He took on the metaphorical role of a “Husband” to Israel, bound by His promise to care for and nurture and provide for His betrothed. Israel was betrothed to the LORD as His chosen bride, which also bound God to forever remain faithful to Israel — even though she would perpetually break the covenant and likewise break God’s heart.

As we will see in the next installment, God spent generations calling His chosen bride — Israel — back from her idolatry, but she persisted in her adulteries until finally the LORD reached a breaking point and sent her away into exile with a certificate of divorce.

All hope seemed lost as God gave Israel up to the gods of other nations, and yet in the midst of His judgment — the LORD always reaffirmed His promise never to utterly forsake His people. No! He had another plan in mind. A new and better covenant. It’s just that it would take an extreme sacrifice by the Bridegroom God to make the way to bring Israel back and restore her as a pure and faithful bride in the end.

For your Maker is your Husband,
the LORD of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.
6For the LORD has called you
like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
says your God.
7For a brief moment I deserted you,
but with great compassion I will gather you.
8In overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
says the LORD, your Redeemer.

[Isaiah 54:5-8]