Browse Bible Study Resources

Daily Devotions

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 
Day 
Day 36

"Withhold your foot from being unshod"

Text: Jeremiah 2:25

A GREAT OFFER DECLINED

The Lord made a great offer to Judah knowing its sinful ways. The language is a little archaic and needs a bit of explanation. It was a wonderful offer from God, but it was declined.

“Withhold your foot from being unshod,
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘There is no hope.
No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.'”
Jeremiah 2:25

1. “Withhold your foot from being unshod”

a) To be unshod
i) The person wears no footwear.
ii) This was the plight of a slave/ servant.
iii) Slaves go about barefooted.
iv) Walking endless distances barefoot will bring added suffering.
b) “Withhold”
i) God offers a chance not to end up being enslaved.
ii) He offered deliverance from powerful enemies.
iii) Judah could have prayed for the Lord’s deliverance.

2. “And your throat from thirst”

a) A master or a free man can quench his thirst at any time.
b) A slave cannot easily quench his thirst.
c) Imagine a slave, barefoot, forced to march to a designated place far away.
i) He is weary.
ii) His feet are bleeding because he is unshod.
iii) He is thirsty, walking the whole day through under the hot sun.
iv) This is a description of a weary, thirsty slave.
d) “Withhold”
i) Judah could ask the Lord for mercy and deliverance.
ii) The nation could have been spared.

3. “But you said, ‘There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.'”

a) Judah’s response was astonishing.
b) The reply to the Lord reflects the spiritual state of the nation.
c) “There is no hope”
i) To some, “hope” was not real.
ii) It was just not possible.
iii) Life could not change!
iv) The despair was palpable.
d) “No!”
This was just outright rejection!
e) “Aliens” (foreigners)
i) Judah had loved the ways of the Gentile nations.
ii) This included their worship of idols.
f) “After them I will go”
i) This was a deliberate choice.
ii) This reflected stubbornness like a wild donkey!