And she will actually chase after her passionate lovers, but she will not overtake them; and she will certainly look for them, but she will not find them. And she will have to say, ‘I want to go and return to my husband, the first one, for I had it better at that time than now.’

10. How did the “passionate lovers” of the kingdom of Israel fall her, but who could benefit from Jehovah’s disciplinary action?

¹⁰ Although the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel sought help from worldly nations that had been her passionate lovers, Jehovah’s time for holding an accounting with Israel came mercilessly upon her. She could find none of her eagerly sought “lovers” capable of helping her. As if by an impenetrable thornbush thicket, she was hedged off from procuring efficient help. The one-time lovers proved to be unable to get the needed aid to Israel, even though they wanted to do so. After three years of siege by the Assyrians, Israel’s capital city Samaria fell in 740 B.C.E. The surviving Israelites were deported to the land of their captors. That kingdom of ten Israelite tribes was never restored in its God-given land. Who, then, could benefit from Jehovah’s disciplinary action? Only individuals from among the deported exiles in Assyria. They would reflect on matters. They would recall how good things had been when their forefathers served Jehovah as Heavenly Husband and God. Realizing now what was the better state of affairs, they would turn away from Baal worship and seek renewed covenant relationship with Jehovah.

11, 12. When was the opportunity offered to the Israelite exiles in Assyria to return to Jehovah’s worship at Jerusalem, and how did this come about?

¹¹ When was the opportunity offered for those Israelite exiles in Assyria to return unitedly to Jehovah’s worship at his appointed place? First in 537 B.C.E., under a new world power. How so? Well, about the year 632 B.C.E., Assyria’s capital Nineveh fell to the Babylonians, and the Babylonian World Power gained the topmost position. So Assyria’s provinces with their Israelite exiles became provinces of the Babylonian Empire. About twenty-five years later Jehovah’s penal judgment was executed upon the now renegade kingdom of Judah. Thus, in 607 B.C.E., he let Jerusalem and her temple of worship be destroyed. Thousands of surviving Jews were deported to Babylonia, to join the Israelite exiles in the erstwhile Assyrian provinces.

¹² In the seventieth year afterward, Jehovah saw that sufficient discipline had been administered to his wayward wifelike organization on earth. In his mercy Jehovah had raised up the foretold Cyrus the Persian to overthrow Babylon in 539 B.C.E. Shortly thereafter, in 537 B.C.E., Jehovah moved this Cyrus the Great to declare a release for repentant Israelites to return to their beloved homeland.

13. Why, in the light of Deuteronomy 24:1-4, was this an exceptional mercy on God’s part toward his wifelike covenant people?

¹³ Was that not an exceptional act of mercy on the part of the Heavenly Husband toward his covenant people, the twelve tribes of Israel? Yes; for according to the Mosaic Law covenant this was not to be expected. In the Law, we read: “In case a man takes a woman and does make her his possession as a wife, it must also occur that if she should find no favor in his eyes because he has found something indecent on her part, he must also write out a certificate of divorce for her and put it in her hand and dismiss her from his house. And she must go out of his house and go and become another man’s. If the latter man has come to hate her and has written out a certificate of divorce for her and put it in her hand and dismissed her from his house, or in case the latter man who took her as his wife should die, the first owner of her who dismissed her will not be allowed to take her back again to become his wife after she has been defiled; for that is something detestable before Jehovah, and you must not lead the land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance into sin.”​—Deut. 24:1-4.

14. In Jeremiah 3:1, how did Jehovah say that he had grounds for a permanent divorce from Israel?

¹⁴ In the prophet Jeremiah’s day, Jehovah emphasized that law to the covenant-breaking Jews in the kingdom of Judah. Stressing the fact that he had grounds for a permanent divorce from Israel, Jehovah inspired Jeremiah to say: “There is a saying: ‘If a man should send away his wife and she should actually go away from him and become another man’s, should he return to her anymore?’ Has that land [of Judah] not positively been polluted? ‘And you yourself have committed prostitution with many companions; and should there be a returning to me?’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”​—Jer. 3:1.

15. When and how did the break in marriage relationship come, and how was Jehovah’s mercy expressed toward individual Jews?

¹⁵ In the face of that, only Jehovah’s all-excelling mercy permitted his marriage covenant with all Israel to continue on for centuries after Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 B.C.E.