Israel Forsakes the Lord
Jer 2:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
Jer 2:2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “This is what the LORD says: “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.
Jer 2:3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,'” declares the LORD.
Jer 2:4 Hear the word of the LORD, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel.
Jer 2:5 This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
Jer 2:6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
Jer 2:7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.
Jer 2:8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.
Jer 2:9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the LORD. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
Jer 2:10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this:
Jer 2:11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.
Jer 2:12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD.
Jer 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Jer 2:14 Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder?
Jer 2:15 Lions have roared; they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted.
Jer 2:16 Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked your skull.
Jer 2:17 Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the LORD your God when he led you in the way?
Jer 2:18 Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Nile? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates?
Jer 2:19 Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
Jer 2:20 “Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute.
Jer 2:21 I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?
Jer 2:22 Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign LORD.
Jer 2:23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there,
Jer 2:24 a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving— in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her.
Jer 2:25 Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’
Jer 2:26 “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets.
Jer 2:27 They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’
Jer 2:28 Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns.
Jer 2:29 “Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,” declares the LORD.
Jer 2:30 “In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravenous lion.
Jer 2:31 “You of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to you no more’?
Jer 2:32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.
Jer 2:33 How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
Jer 2:34 On your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this
Jer 2:35 you say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
Jer 2:36 Why do you go about so much, changing your ways? You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria.
Jer 2:37 You will also leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.
1 God, having shown his former kindness, expostulates with the Jews their causeless revolt, 9 beyond any example. 14 They are the causes of their own calamities. 20 The sins of Judah. 31 Her confidence is rejected.
Israel Forsakes the Lord
Jer 2:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
Word of the Lord. This phrase introduces a series of prophecies extending from ch. 2 to ch. 6. This series is a retrospect of Israel’s past, and shows how present conditions are the result of past failures. The prophecy was given during the first ten years of Jeremiah’s ministry (627/26–c. 616 b.c.), probably in the 13th year of Josiah (see ch. 3:6; cf. ch. 1:2).
Jer 2:2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “This is what the LORD says: “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.
Go and proclaim. If Jeremiah was in Anathoth, he is now commanded to leave and go to Jerusalem for his prophetic labours.
In her youth Israel had responded to the wooing of God’s love. In poetic figure God is represented as the Lover and Israel as His betrothed. The bridal state was at the beginning of her history.
Israel demonstrated the sincerity of her love by forsaking the comparative comforts and security statute of Egypt to follow God in the barren wilderness.
Jer 2:3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the first fruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,'” declares the LORD.
The first fruits. The figure of first fruits was familiar to the Jews (see on Ex. 23:19; Num. 18:12, 13). Israel was as the most precious part of the harvest, the part that was dedicated as God’s portion.
No heathen nation was to be allowed to devour Israel (Jer. 10:25; 50:7; cf. Deut. 7:16).
Jer 2:4 Hear the word of the LORD, you descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel.
Jer 2:5 This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
What fault? See Micah 6:3, 4. God challenged Israel to show that He had been unfaithful or had broken the covenant. The prophet inquires in effect, “Has the Lord practiced any deceit or disregarded any promises? Wherein has He failed?” (see Deut. 32:4). This verse presents the touching challenge of a wounded love conscious of its integrity and faithfulness.
We take on the nature of the object we worship.
Jer 2:6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
The people were basely ungrateful for the providential deliverances and beneficent care that God had lavished upon them, and lightly esteemed their Benefactor.
Brought us up out.
Israel’s career as a nation began with a great act of redemption. The deliverance from Egyptian slavery is frequently referred to as the superlative example of God’s miraculous intervention in behalf of His people (Ex. 20:2; Deut. 7:8; Isa. 63:10–14; Hosea 2:15; 11:1; 12:9, 13; 13:4; Amos 2:10; Micah 6:4; etc.).
Through the wilderness.
God’s preservation of such a vast multitude from the dangers and privations of the wilderness was a marvellous instance of His almighty power, as well as of His goodness and care (see on Deut. 32:10).
Jer 2:7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.
A fertile land. Literally, “the land of the orchard,” that is, “a land planted with vines and fruit trees,” a contrast to the “land of deserts” through which Israel had passed on the way to Canaan.
You. The change from third to second person makes the application of the message more personal.
You. The change from third to second person makes the application of the message more personal.
Jer 2:8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.
That handle the law. The priests were to be experts in the law (see on Deut. 31:9; Ps. 19:7; Prov. 3:1), and to explain it to the people (Deut. 33:10; Mal. 2:6, 7).
The pastors. Literally, “shepherds.” This expression designates responsible leaders in Israel’s theocracy, both civil and religious (see Jer. 3:15; 10:21; Jer. 22:22; Jer. 25:34–36; 1 Kings 22:17; Isa. 44:28; Zech. 10:3; 11:5).
Jer 2:9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the LORD. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
God will yet prosecute His charges against His rebellious people. He will plead by inflicting judgments upon them (see on Ps. 74:22).
Jer 2:10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this:
The Hebrews were admonished to direct their attention to other nations to observe the fidelity of these peoples to heathen gods and to contrast this fidelity with their own infidelity to the true God.
Jer 2:11 Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.
The question implies a negative answer.
Jer 2:12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD.
Israel bartered the real for the unreal and traded the truth for falsehood (see Ps. 106:20; Rom. 1:23). Other nations could have forsaken their false gods without any loss to themselves. But Israel, in forsaking their God, Jehovah, had acted not only contrary to the custom of other nations but also contrary to the dictates of reason.
Jer 2:12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the LORD.
Israel’s wickedness is so horrible that the prophet, in this impassioned personification, called upon the heavens themselves to be appalled.
Jer 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Two sins. The two evils may be defined as: (1) rejection of the real, and (2) the adoption of the unreal. The first naturally leads to the second.
Forsaken me. The “me” is emphatic in the Hebrew.
Broken cisterns. Water has always been a precious commodity in the Near East. Anyone who possessed a gushing spring of life-giving water would be foolish to trade it for a leaky cistern of stagnant water.
Jer 2:14 Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder?
Servant. Heb. ‘ebed, which may denote a servant either hired or in bondage. The question of the prophet calls for a negative answer. No! Israel is not a slave. Israel is God’s first-born son (Ex. 4:22).
God designed that Israel should have dominion and should not be held in servitude. Men should not blame God for their own failures. They make or mar their destinies by their decisions.
Jer 2:15 Lions have roared; they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted.
Young lions. The foreign invaders, so called because of their fierceness and strength (see Isa. 5:29, 30). Tyrants and oppressors are often compared to lions (Job 4:10, 11; Ps. 58:6; Eze. 19:3, 6; Nahum 2:11, 12; Jer. 4:7; 50:17).
Jer 2:16 Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked your skull.
Memphis, an ancient capital of Lower (northern) Egypt, 14 mi. (22.4 km.) south of Cairo on the west bank of the Nile. The Hebrew name Noph, or Moph (Hosea 9:6), was perhaps a corruption of the middle part of the Egyptian name Men-nefer. In Assyrian the city was called Mempi, or Mimpi, from which the Greek name Memphis comes. Its remains are near Mît Rahineh. From ancient times Memphis was the center of worship of the god Ptah. In the time of Jeremiah, Memphis continued to be one of the first cities of Egypt, and was renowned for its cosmopolitan population.
Tahapanes. Usually identified with Daphnae, the modern Tell Defenneh in the eastern Delta. This city enters prominently into the history of the closing phase of Jeremiah’s ministry (ch. 43:7–10). Noph and Tahapanes here designate the Egyptians who had inflicted injuries upon Judah.
Jer 2:17 Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the LORD your God when he led you in the way?
The prophet pointed out the true cause of the calamities. God had not forsaken His people; they had forsaken Him. He had led them in the true way of life, but they had chosen another path.
Jer 2:18 Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
Of the 12 certain occurrences of back sliding in the OT, 9 are in this book (chs. 2:19; 3:6, 8, 11, 12, 22; 5:6; 8:5; 14:7).
Jer 2:20 “Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute.
The yoke and bonds refer to the discipline and guidance of the Lord (see ch. 5:5).
Every high hill. A designation for the numerous sacred places where sacrifices were offered to Baal or where the lascivious rites of Asherah and Ashtoreth were practiced (see Deut. 12:2; 1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 16:4; 17:10; Isa. 57:5, 7; Jer. 3:6, 13; 17:2; Eze. 6:13).
Jer 2:21 I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?
A choice vine. Heb. śoreq. A choice kind of Oriental vine, producing grapes of a dark-red color (see Deut. 32:32; Ps. 80:8, 9; Isa. 5:1–7; Hosea 10:1).
How then? The perverseness and degeneracy of Israel were not the result of any neglect on God’s part but of their own perversity.
Jer 2:22 Although you wash yourself with soap and use an abundance of cleansing powder, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign LORD.
Self-expiation of sin is impossible, though men in all ages have tried it.
Jer 2:23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? See how you haved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there,
23. How can you say?
This question is evidently more than the prophet’s anticipation of a possible attempt by these sinners at self-vindication. It appears that the inhabitants of Judea repeatedly voiced this objection (see v. 35). Since Josiah had revived the appointed public worship of Yahweh, the people evidently persuaded themselves that they worshiped the true God, in spite of the fact that idolatrous heathen rites still continued (see ch. 9:13, 14).
Jer 2:24 a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving— in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her.
In her zeal Israel resembles this wild, unbridled creature (see Job 24:5; 39:5).
Sniffing the wind. In the ardor of her heat she sniffs the wind to ascertain where the he-ass is to be found.
In the same way the false gods would not need to court Israel’s favor. In her wild lust she pursued them (Eze. 16:34; see Hosea 2:7).
Jer 2:25 Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’
25. Withhold thy foot. The sense seems to be: Cease this mad running after idols till your feet are bare and your throat parched.
It’s no use. The reasons that she has gone too far to turn back.
Jer 2:26 “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets.
The Hebrew tense here employed may be regarded as a perfect of prophetic certainty. Such a tense form describes an event yet future as a completed act, thus emphasizing the certainty of fulfillment.
They had chosen to serve “shame” rather than God. And it amazes me that God did not yet giving up on them and…
Jer 2:27 They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’
How utterly stupid to attribute the production and sustenance of life to a piece of wood. The Lord placed the vanity of idol worship in its strongest light in to emphasize the unpardonable flagrancy of Israel’s transgression.
The pronoun translated “You” is feminine; hence, the stone is addressed as the mother.
Turned their backs. A gesture of contempt and aversion (see chs. 7:24; 18:17; 32:33).
Time of their trouble. Compare Ps. 78:34; Isa. 26:16. Trouble often brings men to their senses (see Hosea 5:15).
Jer 2:28 Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you
Where are the gods? The challenge was made, not to mock the inhabitants of Judah, but to deepen in them the consciousness of their terrible apostasy and to cause them to recognize the real source of help and hope (see Isa. 43:11, 25; 51:12).
Jer 2:29 “Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,” declares the LORD.
The people had no ground of complaint. Their rebellion was too open to be glossed over. How could they still attempt to justify themselves? Any claim to God’s former promises had been forfeited by their transgressions.
Jer 2:30 “In vain I have chastened your children; They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion.
Verses 30–32 re-emphasize the thought (see v. 5) that God is in no way to be blamed for Judahs revolt.
Your children. Here the children or people of Judah. The cities and communities of Judah were sometimes, as probably here, figuratively represented as mothers, and the inhabitants as the children (see Lev. 19:18; Joel 3:4–6; Zech. 9:13).
Your prophets. The men who had been sent to reprove their follies and exhort them to amend their ways (see 2 Chron. 36:15, 16; Neh. 9:26; Matt. 23:29–31; Acts 7:52). The height of this violence against God’s messengers came during the half century of Manasseh’s reign (2 Kings 21:16). Isaiah was one of the first of the prophetic martyrs to fall (PK 382; EGW, Supplementary Material, on Isa. 1:1).
Jer 2:31 “You of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to you no more’?
A desert. As in v. 5 God challenges the people to tell what unkindness He has shown them that has caused them to turn their backs upon Him. Was God ever to them a barren place of no sustenance? Actually God had been Judah’s source of supply for all life’s necessities (see on Deut. 32:13, 14; Neh. 9:15).
The people would be saying in effect: “We will rove at will. We will do what we please. We are our own masters, and will regard no laws, human or divine.” Under grace not under law.
Jer 2:32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.
Wedding ornaments. One would naturally expect a bride to cherish the outward memorials of her marriage.
Forgotten me. Judah had done worse than forget the outward memorials of marriage. She had forgotten her Husband (see ch. 3:14).
Jer 2:33 How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
Judah is represented as decking herself as a harlot to seek illicit relations with foreign nations and their idols, while God, her true glory, is forgotten.
Worst of women. That is, wicked women, as is indicated by the feminine plural in the Hebrew. Judah had become so vile that even wicked women could learn from her. The wickedness of God’s chosen people not only confirmed the heathen in their idolatry but also taught them new ways of practicing it.
Jer 2:34 On your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet despite all this
I am innocent. The nation did not seem to be conscious of its guilt. Perhaps the people flattered themselves that though they had sunk low under the reign of Manasseh, Josiah’s outward reformation had turned aside the threatened wrath of God (2 Kings 22:17).
I will pass judgement with the intent of punishing.
Jer 2:36 Why do you go about so much, changing your ways? You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria.
Why was the nation in such haste to change its policy and shift its alliances?
To his disgrace and ruin Ahaz had formed alliances with the king of Assyria (see 2 Kings 16:10; 2 Chron. 28:16–21). The prophet predicted that an alliance with Egypt would result in similar shame and confusion. The prediction was literally fulfilled in the reign of Zedekiah (Jer. 37:5–10).
Jer 2:37 You will also leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.
Your hands on your head. An expression of deep sorrow and of utter despair (see 2 Sam. 13:19).
Those you trust. That is, those in whom Judah trusted or placed her confidence.