Backsliding and Treachery

Jeremiah 3:8 KJV

And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

The two parts of Jacob are here classified as "backsliding Israel" and "treacherous Judah".  It is Israel, the northern kingdom, that has backslidden. They have taken the lead in their sin and have utterly apostatized. We tend to think of backsliding as normal, typical and nearly acceptable. In fact the phrase, as found in the Bible, is a terrible sin. To turn our back upon the Lord, to give in to the leaning of the flesh, to follow instead the leadership of the prince of this world is a sin of the utmost consequence. Though God promised them mercy if they would repent their backslidden condition proved fatal for the northern kingdom as a whole.

Though the southern kingdom of Judah was in better shape than the northern, it was not by much. God's term for her was “treachery". It means "covered, deceitful, unfaithful." It speaks of betraying a trust or even worse, to violently take from another.

Neither kingdom was in a good place.

Too often we are in one place or the other; either we are in full backsliding, having turned from the truth that we know from God's word or else covering up our worldly and deceitful heart against God. Our great need is to humble ourselves and turn to the Lord. Whether we have gone fully and openly into rebellion or have merely taken to hiding from others the treachery of our hearts, we need to confess it to God, to return to Him and to allow Him to lead us into true love for Him.

Jeremiah 3:13 KJV

Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD..