Jeremiah 3 - The terrible unfaithfulness of Israel (the northern part of the ancient Davidic kingdom) is recounted as if the relationship between God and the two sister kingdoms of Israel and Judah were akin to marriages. If a wife is unfaithful and the husband divorced her; and if the divorced wife ten married another (or others – other gods), then no reconciliation was possible under Jewish law (see Deut 24:1). And, not learning from the “divorce” the Lord dealt out to Israel, Judah is now just as unfaithful as "she" was. And, to the extent that “she” has returned to God at all, it is mostly pretense (3:10).  Israel was a “rebel,” and Judah is a “traitor.” 

Still, the Lord sends Jeremiah north with this message: “Return, rebel Israel . . .I will not remain angry with you; for I am merciful . . . I will not continue my wrath forever.  Only know your guilt” (3:2-13), acknowledge your guilt. If they do, the Lord assures them, He will take them back, even if the faithful constitute only a remnant—“one from a city, two from a clan . . .I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart. . .”  (3:14-15). God doesn’t want them to bring back the “cult” (note in NAB) of the ark (3:16). “They will no longer think of it, or remember it, or miss it, or make another.” (3:16). 

This is interesting.  The Lord laid out this "cult" for them (see Exod 25), but now he hopes and expects that they should move beyond it to the centralized worship of the Jerusalem Temple.  The “Covenant Box” was a way of bringing the sacred presence of God along with them as they traveled. It contained not only the Mosaic Laws but the “manna” set aside from the exodus. This movable sign of God’s presence is to be left behind, even though it had a legitimate role to play in its time. 

1 Corinthians 8 - Since “gods” other than Yahweh really do not exist, Paul is not troubled by eating food sacrificed to them.  They are illusory.  But if others are troubled, then one ought to refuse so as to preserve the good conscience of one’s brother or sister in the Lord.

The note in the NAB is very good: “Paul urges them to take a communitarian rather than an individualistic view of their Christian freedom. Many decisions that they consider pertinent only to their private relationship with God have social consequences.  Moral decisions cannot be based on purely theoretical considerations; they must be based on concrete circumstances, specifically on the value and needs of other individuals, and on mutual responsibility within the community.”