THE WICKEDNESS OF SPIRITUAL ADULTERY ~ ON HIGH PLACES AND UNDER GREEN TREES ~ A Study of Jeremiah

Nobody likes to be used. It is even worse when we know we’re being used. We might feel indignant toward the 5,000 whom Jesus fed when we realize that they didn’t want Him—they only wanted the food He could provide them. Yet, the whole time Jesus was blessing them by meeting their great physical need, He knew what was in their hearts. Jesus told them that they sought Him, not because they saw signs, but because they ate of the loaves and were filled. He filled the need of their physical hunger temporarily. They were going to get hungry in another few hours! Jesus was not intent on meeting their physical desires as much as He was in meeting their spiritual needs. They followed Him wherever He went to get their bellies filled. He tells them not to work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, that food He was more than willing to give them. He was the very bread of God that came down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Their minds go back to the manna that came from heaven which their fathers ate in the wilderness. They were basically inferring that feeding 5,000 is nothing compared to what Moses did for the whole nation in the wilderness. If they were going to believe in Jesus, they were going to see a bigger miracle than this.

 

We see it time and time again throughout the gospel accounts of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The people, for the most part, exclusively focused on carnal and material blessings, not spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessings are always going to be where the emphasis of our hearts need to be. Why? Eternity is forever. As finite, human beings, we cannot grasp that reality; it must be held onto and kept in plain view with the eyes of faith.

 

When Jesus kept His finger on the spiritual, many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. Jesus turns to the twelve and asks, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” (Again, Jesus knew what was in their hearts. When Jesus asks a question like this, He wants us to know what is in our hearts.) Their answer is the only right answer that any of us who know Him and love Him could give: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

 

God had delivered the children of Israel from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. I don’t know what that statement brings to your mind; but to mine, it is vivid. Having served time in prison, I have a small understanding of the effects of physical bondage. A Christian, however, does not have to experience prison to understand bondage and slavery. We see this terminology describing the hold sin has over mankind from Genesis to Revelation.

 

Israel’s redemption from Egypt is a picture of our deliverance from sin and death through faith in Jesus Christ. New Testament believers look at Egypt as a representation of our old life of slavery to sin. By nature, all men are born as slaves of sin, and Satan is their harsh taskmaster. Just like when God called the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, He calls us, as His children, to come out of the world and be separate living holy lives as part of His kingdom.

 

Israel was led by the Redeemer’s hand from physical bondage and slavery in Egypt. She, in return, promised to follow the Lord. Yet, she worships other gods every chance she gets. “For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds; but you said, ‘I will not serve!’ For on every high hill and under every green tree you have lain down as a harlot.” (Jeremiah 2:20) “High places” in Scripture came to be known as places of worship on elevated pieces of ground dedicated to idol worship of different gods. Worship there included the offering of sacrifices, burning incense, and holding feasts or festivals. Altars, graven images, and shrines were often found on these sites. Shrines often included sacred objects such as a stone pillar or wooden pole in various shapes such as animals, goddesses, and fertility deities) to support their worship practices. The Canaanites who worshiped Baal as their chief deity, also used them. Canaanite idols worshiped by the Israelites were nothing more than sex cults centered around ritual prostitution. Sexual immorality was a big factor in their worship practices. Derek Kidner’s comments regarding this verse shows us the staggering parallels to our day: “…the ‘sexual revolution’ introduced in the 1960s is not only permissive: it has its own propaganda to create a view of sex as virtually life’s chief concern and most authoritative voice—certainly one that can override the voice of God.”

 

In Jeremiah 32:35 the Israelites were found to be practicing Molech worship on high places they had built for Baal. Jeremiah 32:35—They build the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire of Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

 

We do see instances in Scripture where faithful men of God worshipped on high places. Like everything else Satan distorts, people who turn from God often return in different degrees to what they once knew and try to mix worship of God with false gods. When the Israelites first entered the promised land, they were told to destroy the high places, idols, and molten images of Canaanite inhabitants. Numbers 33:51-52—“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places…” God through Moses told the people that they were not to worship the Lord their God on the high places that were Canaanite sites. (Deuteronomy 12:2-3) God wanted them to worship another way. They were to seek the place that the Lord God would choose out of all their tribes to put His name and make His habitation there. (Deuteronomy 12:4-5) When Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, this ushered in a new period of Israelite worship. With the temple being the place where God dwelt, there was no longer any need for other centers of worship. Despite the new temple, God’s people are still found worshiping at high places.

 

While I was trying to find the symbolism of the green tree, I came across the word grove. My mind started going to something in prison. Every inmate knows the phrase, “Gay for the stay.” Lesbianism was prevalent in prison. As a Christian, one of the things that struck me almost immediately is how there was a strong link to the religious system of Wicca among those who practiced lesbianism. The site where my prison was located was situated on a high hill. Right outside the chapel was a grove of tall trees. It was there that the Wiccans practiced their religion, including ‘marriage’ ceremonies. I was blown away when I stumbled upon some interesting thoughts on the word grove.

 

Grove relates to the exact kind of idolatry being promoted by New Age pagans, particularly the false gods of Wicca and Druid worshipers. I couldn’t find the word grove in the NASB, but if you look at the word Asherah, the definition is: groves for idol worship; a Babylonian (Astarte) – Canaanite goddess of fortune and happiness, the supposed consort of Baal, her images, sacred trees or poles set up near an altar. If you look up Judges 6:25-32 in the KJV and the NASB, you will see what I’m talking about. New Age arms of false religion have infiltrated so many facets of our culture, even Environmentalism. This is one reason they get upset when someone cuts down trees.  

 

I’m not an advocate of the KJV only debate, but I believe modern translations have erred when they replaced this word grove(s) in passages that deal with idolatry. They use ‘Asherah pole’, ‘sacred pole’, and ‘wooden image’. New Age ‘spiral goddess worshippers talk about their ‘Grove of Remembrance’, ‘Rainbow Heart Grove,’ and ‘Green Man Grove’, not their ‘Asherah poles’. Wiccans use terminology like ‘Gods’ Grove,’ The Mystical Grove,’ ‘The Grove of the Green Cobra’. The Druids speak of ‘Hearthfire Grove,’ ‘Peachtree Grove,’ and ‘Virtual Grove’ which is a grove brought into your home via the computer.

 

Hosea 4:13—They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. Therefore, your daughters play the harlot and your brides commit adultery. Isaiah 1:29—Surely you will be ashamed of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be embarrassed by the gardens that you have chosen.

 

Luke 23:27-31—And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us; and to the hills, cover us. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”

 

Ezekiel 20:46-48 –"…speak out against the south and prophesy against the forest land of the Negev, and say to the forest of the Negev, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am about to kindle a fire in you, and it will consume every green tree in you, as well as every dry tree; the blazing flame will not be quenched and the whole surface from the south to north will be burned by it. All flesh will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.’”

 

The passage in Luke 23 is speaking of judgment that is coming for Jerusalem. Jesus was speaking about His crucifixion of which the “daughters of Jerusalem” were weeping. The ‘they’ of whom He speaks are the Jews. What they are doing in the “green wood” is crucifying Jesus. Jesus, the green wood, is not (by nature) ready for the fires of judgment. Yet, the Jews crucified Him still. The dry wood, the Jews, are sinners with no life in them, are ready and deserving of the fires of judgment, and by extension, the sinners of every other nation as well. In other words, if this is what was done to the green wood, what would be done to the dry wood in judgment?