Israel & Adam

Israel was set apart to the Lord; they were like the firstfruits of a harvest to Him. – Jeremiah 2:3a (NET)

There are interesting similarities to be found between Adam (and Eve) and Israel. Adam, of course, was the first of humankind. Israel was chosen out of all humankind, beginning with Abraham, to be special, covenant people for the Lord. As Adam strayed from the Lord in the matter of the fruit and the rebellion, the actions of God’s chosen, special covenant people would later cause God to ask why “they strayed so far from Me” (2:5b). That straying was marked by the fact that “They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to Me” (2:5c). Essentially, they were following the path of Adam, who paid attention (allegiance) to the words of the serpent, through his wife, and thereby relinquished the responsibilities that had been given to Him by God, bringing a curse upon the earth. It could be said that Adam became worthless to God, and humankind became a liability in creation.

God said to Israel through His prophet Jeremiah: “I brought you into a fertile land so you could enjoy its fruits and its rich bounty” (2:7a). Likewise, humankind had been delivered into a perfect creation, a fertile land, given responsibility for stewardship and dominion over that creation, and instructed to enjoy all but one part of its fruits and its rich bounty. Because Adam could not restrict himself to that which God had offered for Him to enjoy, that perfect creation of God “was ruined in the sight of God; the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11). Because of Adam’s actions, “God saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful” (6:12), that is, they had been subjected to corruption and decay because of humankind’s rebellion and faithlessness. Israel had been delivered into the bountiful land but God said that they had “defiled it,” adding that “you made the land I call My own loathsome to Me” (Jeremiah 2:7b).

The Lord goes on to ask, “Has a nation ever changed its gods (even though they are not really gods at all)? But My people have exchanged Me, their glorious God, for a god that cannot help them all!” (2:11). The question that is asked and answered concerning Israel, can equally apply to all of humankind. Just as Israel stooped and fell to the worship of other gods, so did Adam. For whom did Adam exchange his allegiance? First, to his wife, and secondly to the serpent, for the one that could effectively countermand the directives of their Creator, causing humankind to break faith with their God, is the one that is trusted and so worshiped.

Can we even imagine at the providential and creative God’s response to being rejected by Adam? We get a sense of it through God’s response at having been rejected by Israel, as we read, “Be amazed at this, O heavens! Be shocked and dumbfounded…Do so because My people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected Me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water” (2:12-13). As humankind rejected their life-giver, turning their trust away from God and looking elsewhere for support, ultimately, to other creatures now marred and cursed and corrupted, so too did Israel reject their covenant God that had redeemed them from Egypt and carried them through all their years.

God says, “You have brought all this on yourself, Israel, by deserting the Lord your God when He was leading you along the right path” (2:17). Effectively, this bears little difference to what God would have said to Adam. Did he not desert the Lord and His path, bringing a curse upon all creation through not heeding the warning promise? Israel failed to heed the warning promises, and as a result, the faithful God was going to bring a curse upon His people. We go on to read “Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment” (2:19a). For Israel, the punishment was going to be the curses of siege, destruction, exile, captivity, and oppression. For humankind, we know that “cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:17b). Continuing, God says, “Your unfaithful acts will bring about your punishment. Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you” (2:19b). Israel’s unfaithfulness was to the covenant, and God’s requirements that they do not engage in idolatry, that they reverence the sanctuary, and that they keep His Sabbaths. Their punishment and their discipline was God’s faithfulness to His covenant, in response to His people’s lack thereof. Adam fared no better. His unfaithful act most certainly brought about punishment, as it carried death into the world for Himself and all living things. As the second Adam to come, Jesus reverses this, to carry death out of the world.

To Israel, to Adam, and to His covenant people from all nations and generations, God says, “Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful it was for you to reject Me, the Lord your God, to show no respect for Me” (2:19c). This is what is spoken by “the Lord God Who rules over all” (2:19d). The rejection, by Adam, of God’s singular command, brought the curse; and the rejection by Israel of God’s covenant laws and responsibilities that brought exile and captivity, in this day, is manifested in the rejection of Jesus as God’s anointed, crucified, and resurrected King and Lord of all creation. Submission to His rule means being brought into a fertile land, as were Adam and Israel, so as to enjoy its fruits and its rich bounty in eternal life and a renewal of God’s good creation. Rejection means a continued march into the bonds of death, under that curse forever.