What was Israel's sin in Jeremiah?

Answer 1

The kingdom of "Israel" was some 150 years GONE FROM THE SCENE when Jeremiah was born. The only kingdom left when Jeremiah was recruited by God for his mission was the kingdom of JUDAH... or the JEWS.

This deceived world doesn't know [or much care] that the name "Israel" was NEVER NAMED ON THE JEWS, but on JOSEPH and the descendants of his two sons EPHRAIM and MANASSEH:

"And he [the dying Jacob, who was renamed ISRAEL] BLESSED JOSEPH, and said... 'the angel which redeemed me from all evil, BLESS THE LADS [Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh]; and LET MY NAME [Israel] BE NAMED ON THEM, and THE NAME OF MY FATHERS ABRAHAM and ISAAC; and let them GROW INTO A MULTITUDE IN THE MIDST OF THE EARTH.'" (Gen.48:15-16)

It was the Jews [the descendants of JUDAH] who received God's SPIRITUAL promise to Abraham for the Salvation of mankind and the earth through the Christ or Messiah, who would trace His lineage through the Jews [Gen.49:9-11].

"...for SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS." (John 4:22)

The world fails to know and understand the distinction between "the kingdom or house of Israel" [who received God's MATERIAL Promise of NATIONAL GREATNESS AND PROSPERITY] and the "kingdom or house of Judah, the Jews" [who received the SPIRITUAL Promise of SALVATION]... the fact that they are TWO DIFFERENT AND SEPARATE HOUSES or KINGDOMS... and that not all Israelites are Jews, even though all Jews are Israelites [just like all native-born Ohioans are Americans, but not all Americans are Ohioans].

So, when Jeremiah lived, the House of Israel had been long scattered among the Gentile nations some 150 years previously [powerless. with no identity, and no longer a recognizable people or kingdom], and only the House of Judah [or the Jews] were the visible remnant of the once combined nation of Israel left for the world to see.

The question SHOULD read, therefore: "What was JUDAH'Ssin in Jeremiah?"

This probably sounds like nit-picking to most folks, but understanding this little known and understood Truth of the Scriptures makes all the difference in the world in knowing to which modern nations extant in the world today, that God's latter day prophecies regarding Israel and Judah apply.

That said: it is also true that the sins of Judah in Jeremiah's day were EXACTLY THE SAME SINS OF ISRAEL, whom God scattered among the nations by Assyria more than a century prior to Jeremiah's birth:

"I will pronounce Judgment on My people for ALL THEIR EVIL - for DESERTING ME and WORSHIPING OTHER GODS. Yes, THEY WORSHIP IDOLS THAT THEY THEMSELVES HAVE MADE!" (Jer.1:16)

Satan-worshiping mankind understands and cares little about his Creator and his Creator's Commandments; the first and most important of which is: "THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME." So, ALL OF mankind [truth be known; not just Israel and Judah] doesn't even realize how far astray he is from his Creator's Mercy and Salvation. Therefore are the thousands of false gods man has made for himself [under Satan's deceptive influence and guidance] preferable to obeying the Laws of his Creator -- which commands man to love Him and one another.

But THAT'S WHAT SIN IS! DISOBEYING THE LORD'S COMMANDMENTS! Always has been... always will be:

"...for SIN IS the TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW." (I John 3:4)

"What shall we say then? IS THE LAW SIN? GOD FORBID. Nay, I had not known sin, but BY THE LAW: for I had not known LUST, except THE LAW HAD SAID, 'Thou shalt not covet.' [which is the TENTH COMMANDMENT]." (Rom.7:7)

This world doesn't realize that Israel's and Judah's sins were and are the same sins that the WHOLE WORLD has been committing from the beginning, when the two people God created BROKE THE FIRST COMMANDMENT [and thereby, all the rest of them - see James 2:10] CHOSE THE WRONG GOD TO WORSHIP AND OBEY!

This Satan-worshiping world DOESN'T CARE about sin... first of all because it doesn't know what sin is. It just doesn't think about it. And the houses of Israel and Judah [also being unconverted PEOPLE like any other without the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in them] DIDN'T CARE EITHER. At least, until their nation began to crumble around them, and their godless government leaders led them so far astray from the Laws of God, that only lawlessness and anarchy remained.

The question isn't entirely off base regarding "Israel," however... because Jeremiah's testimony has been recorded in these latter days FOR THE DESCENDANTS OF THE SCATTERED HOUSE OF ISRAEL to read today; as well as any Jew [or Gentile] who may also read the detrimental testimony against ALL OF MANKIND.

Jeremiah's one small testimony among all of the books of The Bible will in the Last Great Day of Judgment be opened to testify against ALL OF MANKIND. [Rev.20:12]

"This is what the LORD says: 'What sins did your ancestors find in Me that led them to stray so far? They worshiped FOOLISH IDOLS, only to BECOME FOOLISH THEMSELVES." (Jer.2:5)

Because God does tell Jeremiah to address part of his testimony against the long-ago-scattered house of Israel... and not just against Judah:

"Listen to the Word of the LORD, PEOPLE OF JACOB - ALL YOU FAMILIES OF ISRAEL!" (Jer.2:4 NLT New Living Translation)

Israel's sins are the same sins of Judah... and of ALL OF MANKIND. We don't obey the laws of our Creator -- WE DON'T LOVE HIM AND ONE ANOTHER with the GRACIOUS, MERCIFUL, SELFLESS LOVE of THE ONE WHO MADE US, Jesus Christ:

"He created everything there is. Nothing exists that He didn't make." (John 1:3 NLT)

But in a deceived world that teaches that creation is an abysmal cosmic accident, and that God is a myth... can anyone really be expected to be concerned about "sinning" [whatever that may be]?

Answer 2

The chief sin to which Jeremiah refers is idolatry, which in turn led to (or directly "justified") other sins, major and minor.See also the Related Link.

Israelite monotheism, and their sins