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Daily Devotions

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 31

"I have broken your yoke"

Text: Jeremiah 2:20

A TERRIBLE YOKE

There were many times when Israel was under heavy yokes and bonds. The following may be cited:

1. In Egypt (Exodus)

2. In the days of the Judges (Judges)

God had mercifully delivered Israel from cruel taskmasters! But Israel had not reciprocated appropriately!

“For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds;
And you said, ‘I will not transgress,’
When on every high hill and under every green tree
You lay down, playing the harlot.”
Jeremiah 2:20

1. “For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds”

a) “For of old”
i) A general reference to the past.
ii) No specific period of time was in mind.
b) “I have broken your yoke”
i) There was the Egyptian yoke.
ii) The Philistines put a heavy yoke on Israel too.
iii) But God stepped in and He broke the yoke placed on Israel.
c) “And burst your bonds”
i) There were other oppressors.
ii) Midian was another dreaded enemy who confined Israel with bonds.
iii) Again, God came into the picture and the bonds of the enemies were broken and taken away.

2. The appropriate response should have at least been:

a) Gratitude
b) Faithfulness

But this was not the case!

3. “And you said, ‘I will not transgress'”

a) In the time of the Judges, Israel cried out to God for deliverance.
b) Without fail, God took pity and showed mercy.
c) For the period of time when the deliverer-judge was alive
Israel did not sin as much; but the nation never stopped sinning.
d) It was as if Israel had said, “I will not transgress”.
e) This turned out to be an empty phrase!

4. “When on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down, playing the harlot”

a) One of the most abhorrent sins to the LORD was the problem of idolatry.
b) The worship of foreign and false deities was called “harlotry”.
c) Israel worship idols throughout the whole land:
i) On every high hill.
ii) Under every green tree.
d) This became an idiom to describe Israel’s idolatrous ways.
“On every hill and under every green tree.”