Daily Devotional | Enemies of God

When does God become our enemy? First Samuel 2:25 tells us how Eli, the priest, warned his sons about their immoral behavior while serving at the Tabernacle. Eli said: “If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the LORD, who will intercede for them?” Jeremiah’s second poem points to the truth of Samuel’s words. The prophet not only describes Jerusalem’s suffering but also explains how Daughter Zion became the enemy of God.

Zion found itself at enmity with God when the Lord “cut off every horn of Israel” and withdrew “his right hand at the approach of the enemy” (v. 3). This figurative language speaks of weakening. Many animals use horns to defend themselves. A horn is a symbol of strength, and to have one’s horns cut off is to be defenseless. In the same way, a person’s right hand is considered their strongest. Instead of defending Jerusalem from its enemies, God withdrew His right hand (v. 3). The Lord strung His bow “like an enemy” and “like a foe” destroyed “all who were pleasing to the eye” (v. 4).

The images in these verses are both vivid and terrifying. The destruction of the city was like a burning tent, a possible allusion to the destruction of the Temple (v. 4). Jeremiah says Israel and all her palaces “were swallowed up,” perhaps a veiled reference to the rebels who were judged by God in the wilderness (see Ex. 15:12; Num. 16:32; 26:10; Deut. 11:6). In our modern culture, we prefer to think of God as a friend, not an enemy. Yet Scripture warns us that this is sin’s terrible result. “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?”—James 4:4 warns. “Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”