Bible Commentaries

Jer 2:1-37.

EXPOSTULATION WITH THE JEWS, REMINDING THEM OF THEIR FORMER DEVOTEDNESS, AND GOD'S CONSEQUENT FAVOR, AND A DENUNCIATION OF GOD'S COMING JUDGMENTS FOR THEIR IDOLATRY.

Probably in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah

(Jer 1:2;

compare

Jer 3:6,

"also . . . in . . . days of Josiah"). The warning not to rely as they did on Egypt

(Jer 2:18),

was in accordance with Josiah's policy, who took part with Assyria and Babylon against Egypt

(2Ki 23:29).

Jeremiah, doubtless, supported the reformation begun by Josiah, in the previous year (the twelfth of his reign), and fully carried out in the eighteenth.

2. cry--proclaim.

Jerusalem--the headquarters and center of their idolatry; therefore addressed first.

thee--rather, "I remember in regard to thee" [HENDERSON]; "for thee" [MAURER].

kindness of thy youth--not so much Israel's kindness towards God, as the kindness which Israel experienced from God in their early history (compare

Eze 16:8, 22, 60; 23:3, 8, 19; Ho 2:15).

For Israel from the first showed perversity rather than kindness towards God (compare

Ex 14:11, 12; 15:24; 32:1-7,

&c.). The greater were God's favors to them from the first, the fouler was their ingratitude in forsaking Him

(Jer 2:3, 5,

&c.).

espousals--the intervals between Israel's betrothal to God at the exodus from Egypt, and the formal execution of the marriage contract at Sinai. EWALD takes the "kindness" and "love" to be Israel's towards God at first

(Ex 19:8; 24:3; 35:20-29; 36:5; Jos 24:16-17).

But compare

De 32:16, 17; Eze 16:5, 6, 15, 22

("days of thy youth") implies that the love here meant was on God's side, not Israel's.

thou wentest after me in . . . wilderness--the next act of God's love, His leading them in the desert without needing any strange god, such as they since worshipped, to help Him

(De 2:7; 32:12).

Jer 2:6

shows it is God's "leading" of them, not their following after God in the wilderness, which is implied.

3. holiness unto the Lord--that is, was consecrated to the service of Jehovah

(Ex 19:5, 6).

They thus answered to the motto on their high priest's breastplate, "Holiness to the Lord"

(De 7:6; 14:2, 21).

first-fruits of his increase--that is, of Jehovah's produce. As the first-fruits of the whole produce of the land were devoted to God

(Ex 23:19; Nu 18:12, 13),

so Israel was devoted to Him as the first-fruit and representative nation among all nations. So the spiritual Israel

(Jas 1:18; Re 14:4).

devour--carrying on the image of first-fruits which were eaten before the Lord by the priests as the Lord's representatives; all who ate (injured) Jehovah's first-fruits (Israel), contracted guilt: for example, Amalek, the Amorites, &c., were extirpated for their guilt towards Israel.

shall come--rather, "came."

4. Jacob . . . Israel--the whole nation.

families--(See on

Jer 1:15).

Hear God's word not only collectively, but individually

(Zec 12:12-14).

5. iniquity--wrong done to them

(Isa 5:4; Mic 6:3;

compare

De 32:4).

walked after vanity--contrasted with "walkest after me in the wilderness"

(Jer 2:2):

then I was their guide in the barren desert; now they take idols as their guides.

vanity . . . vain--An idol is not only vain (impotent and empty), but vanity itself. Its worshippers acquire its character, becoming vain as it is

(De 7:26; Ps 115:8).

A people's character never rises above that of its gods, which are its "better nature" [BACON]

(2Ki 17:15; Jon 2:8).

6. Neither said they, Where, &c.--The very words which God uses

(Isa 63:9, 11, 13),

when, as it were, reminding Himself of His former acts of love to Israel as a ground for interposing in their behalf again. When they would not say, Where is Jehovah, &c., God Himself at last said it for them (compare see on

Jer 2:2).

deserts . . . pits--The desert between Mount Sinai and Palestine abounds in chasms and pits, in which beasts of burden often sink down to the knees. "Shadow of death" refers to the darkness of the caverns amidst the rocky precipices

(De 8:15; 32:10).

7. plentiful--literally, "a land of Carmel," or "well-cultivated land": a garden land, in contrast to the "land of deserts"

(Jer 2:6).

defiled--by idolatries

(Jud 2:10-17; Ps 78:58, 59; 106:38).

you . . . ye--change to the second person from the third, "they"

(Jer 2:6),

in order to bring home the guilt to the living generation.

8. The three leading classes, whose very office under the theocracy was to lead the people to God, disowned Him in the same language as the nation at large, "Where is the Lord?" (See

Jer 2:6).

priests--whose office it was to expound the law

(Mal 2:6, 7).

handle--are occupied with the law as the subject of their profession.

pastors--civil, not religious: princes

(Jer 3:15),

whose duty it was to tend their people.

prophets--who should have reclaimed the people from their apostasy, encouraged them in it by pretended oracles from Baal, the Phœnician false god.

by Baal--in his name and by his authority (compare

Jer 11:21).

walked after things . . . not profit--answering to, "walked after vanity," that is, idols

(Jer 2:5;

compare

Jer 2:11; Hab 2:18).