{"id":7695,"date":"2016-06-23T00:16:55","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T07:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=7695"},"modified":"2016-06-23T00:16:55","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T07:16:55","slug":"horny-camel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2016\/06\/23\/horny-camel\/","title":{"rendered":"Horny Camel"},"content":{"rendered":"

How can you say, \u201cI am not defiled,
\nI have not gone after the Baals\u201d?
\nLook at your way in the valley;
\nknow what you have done\u2014
\na restive young camel interlacing her tracks,
\na wild ass at home in the wilderness,
\nin her heat sniffing the wind!
\nWho can restrain her lust?
\nNone who seek her need weary themselves;
\nin her month they will find her.
\nKeep your feet from going unshod
\nand your throat from thirst.
\nBut you said, \u201cIt is hopeless,
\nfor I have loved strangers,
\nand after them I will go.\u201d
\nAs a thief is shamed when caught,
\nso the house of Israel shall be shamed\u2014
\nthey, their kings, their officials,
\ntheir priests, and their prophets,
\nwho say to a tree, \u201cYou are my father,\u201d
\nand to a stone, \u201cYou gave me birth.\u201d
\nFor they have turned their backs to me,
\nand not their faces.
\nBut in the time of their trouble they say,
\n\u201cCome and save us!\u201d
\nBut where are your gods
\nthat you made for yourself?
\nLet them come, if they can save you,
\nin your time of trouble;
\nfor you have as many gods
\nas you have towns, O Judah.
\n Why do you complain against me?
\nYou have all rebelled against me,
\nsays the LORD. (Jeremiah 2:23-29)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God compares his people to animals governed by their instincts, but the animals look more reasonable than his people do. First, the people try to pretend that they haven\u2019t forsaken God, even when the evidence is obvious. Then they claim that they can\u2019t help themselves, that they are helpless to their love for \u201cstrangers.\u201d The \u201cstrangers\u201d are the gods they have turned to instead of Yahweh. <\/p>\n

People sometimes ignore friends who have stood by them in the past, who have been there for them during previous crises. Instead, they turn to those who are actually leading them astray. But then, as soon as soon as the bottom drops out, as soon as they become desperate, they turn back again to those they had scorned. God asks his people, so why turn to me now? <\/p>\n

God is quickly blamed for the problems they caused themselves. They depended on what was undependable and so they suffered the consequences. Nevertheless, like the father with his prodigal son, God is willing to forgive. All they need do is ask.<\/p>\n

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How can you say, \u201cI am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals\u201d? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done\u2014 a restive young camel interlacing her tracks, a wild ass at home in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7695"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7695"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7697,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7695\/revisions\/7697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}