Jeremiah 1:16

"And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands."

The boiling caldron was poised to spill all of its devastating consequences upon the Once Chosen People, but such drastic action was not due to caprice or accident on the part of the Lord. The people of Judah deserved the frightful punishment which fell upon them. When the wickedness of any people or nation has reached a certain point, God will no longer tolerate it. That fact lies behind the fact that the ancient peoples of Canaan were conquered and destroyed by Israel under Joshua. Let anyone read the record of the ruthless destruction by which Israel, under the blessing of God, wrested Palestine away from those who once lived there; and why? Their wickedness had gone beyond the suffering limits of the grace of God. Now, when Israel herself had become even worse than Sodom and Gomorrah (Ezekiel 16), it was righteous and just that the same punishment should fall upon them.

When Israel entered Canaan, they had been commanded to destroy all of the shrines, pillars, and images erected to the honor of pagan gods and to exterminate their evil worship; but Israel had not done this. Instead, they had revived all of the old pagan debaucheries and even expanded them; and under such circumstances, judgment, of necessity, fell upon the apostate people, only a `righteous remnant,' continuing in the worship of the true God.