“Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Then he said, ‘Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.’ He answered, ‘For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.’”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭18‬:‭32‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God said He would spare the depraved city of Sodom if He could find just 10 righteous people there; (which would scarcely have been more than Lot and his immediate family.) When it comes to Jerusalem, the LORD is searching for even 1 man who does justice and seeks the truth.

In this chapter, Yahweh makes a case against His people.

• Section 1, verses 1-9
  • The people say, “as the LORD lives.”This is a way of taking an oath. But it’s a lie. They don’t mean it. They swear by other gods in their idolatrous worship (v7).
  • They refuse to admit they have done any wrong. Even after national hardship (correction) they have no remorse over their sin (v3).
• Section 2, verses 10-29
  • The people say, “God won’t do anything. Disaster isn’t coming,” (v12-13). They are going to have to eat their words (v14-17),
  • One day they will finally ask, “Why did God do this?” And the answer is:
    • You served foreign God’s in Yahweh’s land, now…
    • You’re serving foreigners in a foreign land

At the end of each section there are identical verses, (9 & 29). God asks,

“Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭5‬:‭29‬ ‭ESV‬‬

That’s a very fair question. God’s people have taken His blessings, spit in His face, and then had the nerve to claim they had not done anything wrong and would face no judgement, (v12-13). (“Those are just scary stories made up by the prophets to try to control and oppress us.” – Sound familiar?)

So you bet He’s going to punish them. And, as He usually does, He is going to make sure the punishment fits the crime.

Remember how the children of Israel whined and complained in the desert? They got tired of manna and they wanted meat. They wanted it REALLY bad. And God gave them meat until they were sick of it. The psalmist wrote this about it:

“And they craved intensely in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. So he gave to them their request, but he sent leanness into their souls.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭106‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭LEB‬‬

Sometimes God punishes people by giving them what they want.

(Let that sink in. You may want to pause and reflect for a moment)

If you had an especially strong-willed child who kept wanting and trying to touch a hot stove even though you had repeatedly told him it would hurt, if he persists, sometimes letting him experience the pain of his own foolishness can help him understand that “No” is there to protect; and not (as he might suspect) to withhold some privilege.

That’s what Paul is driving at in Romans 1:24-32. It’s not capitulation when God “gives them over” to do whatever depraved things they want to do. It’s judgment.

Judah just loves serving their foreign gods SO much, Yahweh is going to turn up the volume and give them so much serving the foreign gods (by being forced to serve to foreign people in foreign lands), until it’s coming out their ears and they’re sick of it. The LORD is going to force them to live in the lands of their foreign gods and see how “great” it is to serve them.