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"Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit"

Text: Jeremiah 11:16

AFFECTION OF THE LORD

God’s affection for His people was expressed in many ways. One of them was by the endearments He employed.

“The LORD called your name,
Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit.
With the noise of a great tumult
He has kindled fire on it,
And its branches are broken.
For the LORD of hosts, who planted you,
has pronounced doom against you
for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah,
which they have done against themselves
to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”
Jeremiah 11:16-17

1. “The LORD called your name, Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit”

a) A farmer has his own special love for some of his trees.

b) This Farmer was the LORD.

c) He had a special love for Israel and He called it by a special endearing term
“Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit”.

d) What this endearment represents:

i) That Israel was “promising”.

ii) It was “lovely” in His sight.

iii) He saw it as capable of bringing forth “good fruit”.

e) King David described himself as

“A green olive tree in the house of God”
Psalm 52:8

He understood and appreciated how God loved him.

f) But all the love showered upon this green olive tree was wasted!

2. “With the noise of a great tumult He has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken”

a) This was what God would do to the tree of Israel.

b) The “great tumult” is a reference to the war that would destroy Judah.

c) The branches are broken. The cities of Judah would be broken.

d) Fire would destroy the nation.

3. “For the LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal”

a) It was the LORD of hosts who had planted.

i) The house of Israel

ii) The house of Judah

b) He has now pronounced doom against them.

c) Reason highlighted:

i) They provoked God to anger.

ii) They burned incense to Baal.

d) The doom of both nations. They caused their own doom!