God, through the mouth of His prophet, speaks about the "treachery" because of which the people around the prophet do not want to know Him. What is this about? Treachery certainly makes a person turn away from God even when the matter concerns...
God, through the mouth of His prophet, speaks about the "treachery" because of which the people around the prophet do not want to know Him. What is this about? Treachery certainly makes a person turn away from God even when the matter concerns his relations with other people: treachery toward one's neighbor is always a kind of deception, and therefore a violation of the ninth commandment. A person who openly violates the commandment, of course, cannot turn to God, who gave that commandment, at least not sincerely.
But this is only one side of the problem. The other is that treachery, like every lie to which a person becomes accustomed, becomes his second nature. And in the end, in the life of a person accustomed to treachery and lies, a moment inevitably comes when he is no longer able to turn to God, no longer able to repent, at least without special efforts, which in this case usually require more than usual. A person accustomed to deception begins involuntarily to deceive himself; he himself ceases to distinguish truth from falsehood, and if he does not stop, sooner or later he inevitably comes to the point where he begins to believe his own lie and treats it as the most genuine reality.
God then begins to appear to the liar as a terrible and dangerous enemy, an encounter with whom must be avoided in every possible way. In a certain sense this is true: after all, an encounter with God, conversion, and repentance will inevitably destroy the lie that for the liar has become a substitute for real life. The spiritual reaction on his part in this case will resemble the physiological and psychological reaction of an addict from whom his drug has been taken away: a kind of spiritual withdrawal is inevitable here. And many, in order to avoid it, prefer to remain with their lie, avoiding God. Thus the circle closes, cutting off the person accustomed to treachery and lies from God and from the Kingdom.
9 The prophet's lamentation continues over their adultery, deceit, idolatry, which God would certainly punish, and they should be laid waste, when they should sufficiently lament, Jer 9:1-22.
No trust in ourselves, but in God, who will punish all nations, Jer 9:23-26.