Playing favourites: Israel and Judah in the marriage metaphor of Jeremiah 3

Abstract

The depiction of Yhwh’s marriage to Rebellious Israel and Treacherous Judah in Jeremiah 3 has resisted interpretation in terms that cohere with the text’s surroundings or our wider historical and theological understanding of the entities named by the text. Though commentators consistently identify the sisters as the northern and southern kingdoms, they are obliged to engage in interpretive gymnastics to explain the text’s preference for Israel, the northern kingdom. This article examines recent interpretations and their underlying assumptions, then reviews immediate and wider evidence for the entities called Israel and Judah, en route to a new proposal for their identification and significance in this passage. It proposes that the apparent incoherence of the allegory and its relationship with the surrounding material may be resolved by the recognition that Israel is meant to signify the community exiled to Babylonia, while Judah represents those left behind in the land.