Why Jews Abandon God

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

Haftorah of Masai:

Hear the word of God, O House of Jacob, every clan of the House of Israel!  Thus said God: “What wrong did your ancestors find in Me that they abandoned Me and went after delusion and were deluded? They never asked themselves, ‘Where is God, Who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land nobody had traversed, where no human being had dwelt?’  I brought you to this country of farmland to enjoy its fruit and its bounty. But you came and defiled My land. You made My possession abhorrent.  The priests never asked themselves, ‘Where is  God?’ The guardians of the Teaching ignored Me; the rulers rebelled against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and followed what cannot help.  Oh, I will go on accusing you”—declares God—“and I will accuse your children’s children! Just cross over to the isles of the Kittim and look, send to Kedar and send and ponder carefully. See if anything like this has ever happened: Has any nation changed its gods? Even though they are not gods. But My people has exchanged its glory (true God) for what can do no good. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be horrified, utterly dazed!”—says God. “For My people have done a twofold wrong: they have forsaken Me, the fount of living waters, and hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that cannot even hold water” (Jer. 2:4-13).

Jeremiah accused the Jews of abandoning God. But he does not openly tell us why they abandoned Him. However, Torah does not hide matters, but shares clues. It teaches us truths, including exposing human flaw so we can repair our false notions and behaviors and return to God. Where is the lesson here? 

The priests never asked themselves, “Where is  God?” The guardians of the Teaching ignored Me.

Jeremiah says the Jews failed to inquire, they also rejected Torah. 

Send to Kedar and send and ponder carefully. Has any nation changed its gods?

Can God actually credit idolaters for loyalty to idolatry?

Fantasy is emotionally appealing. Despite God saving us from Egypt and protecting us 40 years in the desert, the Jews rejected God. Once Moses was ostensibly delayed on Sinai, the Jews panicked and created a Gold Calf, as they said, “The man Moses who took us out of Egypt, we don’t know what happened to him” (Exod. 32;1). This teaches that they were attached to the “man” of Moses. Even at Sinai witnessing God’s intervention, the need for a tangible leader forced the Jews to create a molten image. 

Here too during Jeremiah’s era, the Jews abandoned an intelligent approach to life: “The priests never asked themselves, “Where is  God?” The guardians of the Teaching ignored Me.” They did not engage their minds; they ignored Torah. “The priests never asked themselves, “Where is  God?” means God is intangible and needs to be found through the mind, but the Jews chose their emotions instead.

They ignored God’s Exodus and safe desert travels 40 years. They caved to the idolatrous need for tangible religiosity. “They have forsaken Me, the fount of living waters, and hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that cannot even hold water.” They sought emotional satisfaction despite its practical failure to provide. 

When God says that the other nations never betrayed their gods, it is not a praise, as He continues with His rejection: “and they are not gods.”  Despite their gods’ lifelessness, the nations didn’t abandon their gods. But the Jews experienced God’s goodness: “Who brought us up from the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, etc.” and yet, they abandoned God! In other words, the Jews are more to blame than others, as God benefitted them. “For My people have done a twofold wrong: they have forsaken Me, the fount of living waters, and hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that cannot even hold water.”  The Jews abandoned a benefitting God while the nations were loyal to lifeless gods. 

Thus, Jeremiah does in fact reveal the Jews’ sin of rejecting God: “They abandoned Me and went after delusions.”