The whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart. (Jeremiah 9:26)God's message delivered by Jeremiah to Judah is an indictment of its arrogance and stubbornness. Even animals know to whom they are accountable for the seasons and their sustenance (8:7). But of Judah it is said the people are too stiffnecked to know when they are beaten (7:26), following the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts (7:24).
According to Rabbi Abraham Heschel, God's anger is always measured and for a purpose. There is no divine anger for anger's sake. Its meaning is . . . instrumental: to bring about repentance; its purpose and consummation is its own disappearance. [1]
The point is that people should have the good sense when confronted by God's anger or discipline to change their ways. But a lesson we can take from Jeremiah is that too often we doggedly march on to our own destruction when a simple change of course would make all the difference. We may be lost but we're making good time.
Physical circumcision was supposed to be a symbol of the inward circumcision of the heart - resulting in submission of the whole person to the sovereignty of God.
When you try to be the boss, how's that work out for you?
[1] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets (New York: Harper and Row, 1962), 286.
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