"Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD." (Jeremiah 2:1-3)
Yahweh says to Israel through Jeremiah the prophet that the nation were once holy unto Him. They had been, in type, espoused unto Yahweh in the day that He brought them out of Egypt when they had followed the angel of Yahweh through the wilderness (Exodus 14:19Exodus 14:19 19 ¶And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:) and had been baptised into Moses in the Red Sea (1 Corinthians 10:21 Corinthians 10:2 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;). Just as the ecclesia today is espoused to Christ "a glorious ecclesia, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27Ephesians 5:27 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.); the same should have applied unto Israel. The unfortunate position is that the past tense is used, therefore Israel at that time was a polluted nation. Further down the chapter we learn of the reason for their polluted and defiled state, a warning that we would do well to heed:
"Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." (Jeremiah 2:12-13).
They had forsaken Yahweh their God and turned unto idols, worshipping as gods the work of men's hands. As well as the usual idols of today, collectively grouped under the general term of Mammon, are the ever present apostacies that can so subtely creep into the brotherhood unnoticed by the majority. The change in the understanding of a word away from its original and intended meaning in the scriptural context means that such errors can easily be overlooked. Israel ignored the Law and commandments of Yahweh and turned unto the idols of those around them, thus becoming degenerate and alien to their own God.Similarly, a statement in a book, magazine or an address can can be so close to the truth, especially if the reader or listener is not fully concentrating, that the error is difficult to detect. Some errors on the otherhand are deliberate and intended to change the belief's of those who are perhaps new to the truth, or those whose knowledge is shaky or faith is weak, or those that simply let their guard down.
Israel were His firstfruits but because they turned their back on Yahweh they became degenerate and alien to Him. In a parable in Isaiah 5:1-7Isaiah 5:1-7 1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. Israel and Judah are Yahweh's choicest vine, but instead of bringing forth the firstfruits of the harvest, the Israel vine brings forth stinkberries (as the Hebrew translated "wild grapes" means).
"Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?… How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim?" (Jeremiah 2:21 and 23).
Despite all that Yahweh had done for Israel, figuratively having digged the vineyard and pruned the vine, previously having planted His people in a fertile land "flowing with milk and honey", and providing His Law as a hedge and a wall between them and the nations around them. The ecclesia of these last days of gentile times must thus maintain the hedge and wall about it so that the apostatising influences of pseudo-Christendom are kept without.Israel ignored the Law and commandments of Yahweh and turned unto the idols of those around them, thus becoming degenerate and alien to their own God. What is worse is that despite being alerted to the facts they were still ignorant of, or were unwilling to accept, their idolatry and paid only lip service to the worship of Yahweh.
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."
The ecclesia of these last days of gentile times must thus maintain the hedge and wall about it so that the apostatising influences of pseudo-Christendom are kept without. In writing to the Romans the Spirit through Paul used a different analogy, that of the olive tree, but the warning to the first century disciples in Rome is also a warning to us.
"Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." (Romans 11:19-22).