God is so merciful... Even after all the sins they have committed, God still calling out to them saying he will accept them when they come back to him and wash them off their sins. That shows us that the love God has for us is so that and we should always do what is right by God.

Judah was probably judging Isreal while GOD was trying to use Isreal to teach Judah a lesson about “what sin does to a nation”.— when things are happening to people, I think we should learn to reflect and learn from them not just judge them and miss the point. E.g someone you don’t expect got pregnant out of wedlock, we should not focus on shaming them or judging them but rather that’s a possibility of what the end would look like if we don’t stop fornication.! GOD gave the Romans 10:10 framework in Vs. 13; first acknowledge your iniquity; repentance starts from knowing you’ve done something wrong, don’t add “But”, then that would lead us to confessing those sins— but now for power over sin, you need someone who has overcome it to teach you and that’s what GOD promised them in Vs.15 “A shepherd after His heart who will feed us with knowledge and understanding” then there would be nothing like “Ark of the covenant” because we (Jerusalem) will be a MOBILE ALTAR. On a final note: GOD does not only promised us forgiveness, Vs.22 says “And I will heal your backsliding/wayward hearts” so that addiction, that lust that caused backsliding, GOD wants to heal them that you never have to worry about it again. Remember we are married to GOD, we are His Living altar and He’s always ready to fix us no matter what, all we have to do is come.

Another thing stood out to me is in Verse 12-13 God is merciful Father Full of love and compassion His mercy endures forever. This place is telling us what we need to do to return to our Love, our first love who is ready to take you back only if you acknowledge your iniquity(Sin). Which is the first step to reconciliation with God. (The word acknowledge there is from the Hebrew word “nakar”which means recognition and confession of wrongdoing). So first you recognize your sin and then you make a confession, they will open door for forgiveness of sin. Because that act shows you are sorry, and you are remorseful.

During the time of Josiah the king of Judah, they witnessed a reform like never before. Josiah really tried everything to bring the nation back to God, but the people were adamant in their own folly even after seeing the example of Israel but they probably thought it would never happen to them too.