The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? ~ Jeremiah 17:9

Is Jeremiah making a universal statement about the condition of the heart of all people in the text above? This is a good question to address because this text is often cited in this manner, even though there are many other texts all throughout the Bible that would contradict such an interpretation of Jeremiah’s words.

Consider for example, the the words of the Psalmist: My defense is of God, which saveth the upright in heart ~ Psalm 7:10. How could the Psalmist speak of the upright in heart if the heart of every person is deceitful and desperately wicked?

Consider the words of Jesus from his sermon on the mount, Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. ~ Matthew 5:8. Jesus’s words echo the words of Psalm 24:3 – 4, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

Consider also Psalm 73:1, Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

Many other texts could be cited such as Abraham, who had integrity of heart (Genesis 20:5-6) and a faithful heart towards God (Nehemiah 9:7, 8), and David, who was a man after God’s own heart ~ 1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:32.

Indeed, there are many texts throughout the Old Testament alone, which prove that not all people have hearts that are deceitful and desperately wicked. We need to learn to allow the whole of scripture to help us interpret scriptures correctly and often times we can find the right interpretation to a text simply by looking at the surround verses, i.e., reading it in context.

So what is Jeremiah talking about in context? Jeremiah is referring to those who had abandoned the God of Israel and who were about to be thrust into captivity for their sins. Here are Jeremiah’s words in a broader context:

Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. ~ Jeremiah 17:5-10

Notice the heart that is deceitful, and desperately wicked is the heart that departs from the Lord. Notice also that Jeremiah makes a contrast between the one whose heart has departed from the Lord and the one whose heart trusts in the Lord. Right there in the context, Jeremiah speaks of the heart that trusts in the Lord and is blessed by the Lord.

A heart that is not set on the Lord (that doesn’t trust in the Lord) is a heart that can not be trusted, and that specifically is the heart that is deceitful and desperately wicked. Thus Jeremiah is not speaking of the heart of all people, but rather the heart of those who abandon the Lord and do not put their hope in him. This is why God says that he searches the heart and tries the reins to give to every man according to his ways. He is warning the people not to trust in their own devises, or to trust in men, but in the Lord alone.

The heart of man can be upright and pure if it trusts in the Lord, or it can be deceitful and desperately wicked if it abandons the Lord. The real lesson that we are to take away from Jeremiah 17:9, in its context, is that we are to trust in the Lord with all our heart because a heart that doesn’t trust in the Lord, cannot be trusted!

As he saith also in Osee (Hosea), I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. ~  Romans 9:25-26

Though often thought to be a reference to the Gentiles, Hosea is actually referring to the house of Israel in the text referenced above. Hosea was a prophet in Israel before the northern tribes of Israel were taken captive by the Assyrians and before Judah was taken captive by the Babylonians.

In chapter one of Hosea, God instructed Hosea to take a wife from among the prostitutes, so Hosea married a prostitute named Gomer. Gomer then conceived, and gave birth to a son, and the Lord told Hosea to call his name Jesreel; for God was going to cause the Kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.

Gomer then gave birth again, but this time to a daughter. God told Hosea to call her name Loruhamah, because God said, I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.

After Gomer had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare another son. God told Hosea to call his name Loammi, meaning, For ye are not my people, and I will not be your God. This was a message to the kingdom of the house of Israel as well. It is after this, in verse 10, that we find the words quoted by Paul in Romans 9:25-26. Here is how it reads in Hosea:

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

When the northern tribes of Israel (the Kingdom of the house of Israel) were overtaken by the Assyrians, they were scattered among the nations, never again to recover and become a unified nation. They had become as the Gentiles in the sight of God, for God said of them, For ye are not my people and I will not be your God (Hosea 1:9). They lost their inheritance, being scattered under the curse of the law.

However, God’s mercy remained with Judah because of his promises to David, and he caused Judah to return to the land after 70 years in captivity; but the Kingdom of Israel (the 10 tribes of the north) never recovered.

If it had not been for God’s oath to David, Judah’s punishment would have been more severe. However, God made an oath to David, and God kept his promise. In His mercy, he brought Judah back to the land in preparation for the Messiah, in whom his oath to David would be fulfilled.  Christ is the Messiah, the descendant of David who reigns forever. He is now seated as the King of Israel, enthroned at the right hand of God.

When God disinherited Israel, He said to them, Ye are not my people. Yet, he gave them the promise that it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. In Romans 9-11 Paul tells us how God fulfilled this promise to Israel.

It was not through the Law, for under the Law they fell under the curse and were disinherited as the people of God. How then, did God fulfill his promise to those he disinherited? How would they receive life from the dead as Paul says in the book of Romans?

For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? ~ Romans 11:15

How did God accomplish this?

It would come through the salvation of the Gentiles! Paul tells us in Romans, through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. ~  Romans 11:11

In Romans 10 we read the following:

But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. ~ v. 19 

Notice the language here: I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people. This terminology (no people) is the same sort of terminology used to describe Israel by Hosea in Chapter 1, and Paul in Romans 9, And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.

In Romans 11, concerning those who were not a people (whom God would use to provoke Israel to jealousy) Paul says, For as ye (Gentiles) in times past, have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their (Israel’s) unbelief: Even so have these (Israelites) also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 

Paul does not mean to say, since God showed you Gentiles mercy, he will be fair and also show them mercy as well. It is much more than that. Paul is saying the mercy you have received as, not a people (people of God), is the same mercy they have too will receive as not a people.

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. ~ Romans 10:12

In essence, God has reckoned Israel along with the Gentiles as being under sin and in need of his mercy, so that he might make salvation available to all on the grounds of his mercy and grace.

In Romans 3 Paul says, the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ is unto all and upon all them that believe: For there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God…

The mention of no difference, is a reference to Israel and Gentiles. Paul is echoing his sentiments from earlier in the chapter when he says, What then? Are we (Jews) better than they (Gentiles) ? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin… ~ Romans 3:9 

In correlation with his statements in Romans 3, that all are under sin, both Jews and Gentiles, Paul says the following in Romans 11:

For as ye (Gentiles) in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these (the Jews in unbelief) also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! ~ Romans 11:30-33God foreordained that salvation would be by grace to all who believe therefore whosoever believes in him shall not be ashamed! ~ Romans 9:33