In Jeremiah 3, God tells Judah that he "divorced" Ephraim, the northern kingdom of Israel, but elsewhere he identifies all of Israel as his "firstborn son" and says that he divorced Ephraim's and Judah's mother. How are we to reconcile these contradictory metaphors?

The answer is simple: We reconcile them by recognizing that they are metaphors. A metaphor is an illustration that is not meant to be taken as literally true.

This article addresses a false doctrine that stems from over-literalizing the metaphors that the Bible uses to describe God's relationship with Israel:

https://americantorah.com/2025..../08/05/the-doctrine-