CHAPTER 2

(629 B.C.)

THE WICKEDNESS OF ISRAEL

¹Moreover the Word of the LORD came to me, saying (this Word given by Jeremiah is thought by some to be the first Oracle delivered in public),

²Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the LORD; I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. (This Message was addressed to Judah, but, as it did not flatter them, it was rejected, and its rejection shows that the revival of 629 B.C. did not last [3:10].

I remember for your good the kindness of your youth, speaks of that of God toward the people, rather than the people toward God.

Your espousals, refers to Israels beginnings, the bridal state.

When you went after Me, refers to the forty years in the wilderness, and the tremendous Miracles wrought by the Lord in response to His People.)

³Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of His increase: all who devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, says the LORD. (Israel was holiness unto the LORD, refers to their being a consecrated people. This does not necessarily imply a personal holiness and, in fact, definitely did not imply such, but rather an imputed holiness. It is as if the Holy Spirit was attempting to pressure the people to be what they should have been.

The firstfruits of His increase, is compared to the firstfruits of the land, which were devoted to the House of the Lord [Ex. 23:19; Num. 18:12-13].

All who devour him shall offend, refers to enemies attempting to hurt or even destroy Israel. By attempting such, they would incur the Wrath of God. Such foreign nations or tribes became guilty of a most serious trespass, having invaded the rights of Jehovah.)

⁴Hear you the Word of the LORD, O House of Jacob, and all the families of the House of Israel (now the Holy Spirit through Jeremiah will begin a long litany of grievances against Judah. The pleadings by the Holy Spirit present the pathos of a broken heart the broken heart of God!):

⁵Thus says the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that they are gone far from Me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? (This Passage refers to God, Who never fails and always keeps Covenants and Promises. Of course, there is no iniquity in the Lord! If a man leaves God, it is always wrongdoing on the part of the man, and never on the part of God.

Have walked after vanity refers to idols. In the wilderness, they walked after Jehovah; in Canaan, they walked after Moloch and became vain, for man becomes morally like that which he worships.)

⁶Neither said they, Where is the LORD Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt? (The words, Neither said they, refer to lack of inquiry on the part of Judah. Even though the Lord had done so many great things for them, they were little interested in recounting His mighty Exploits. They did not want Him now; therefore, they had no desire to recount past Blessings.)

⁷And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof, but when you entered, you defiled My Land, and made My Heritage an abomination. (This Verse simply speaks of the glory of the Land of Israel. It was a garden-land. If one is to notice, the Holy Spirit says, My Land, denoting the fact that the Land of Israel belongs to the Lord. He has never relinquished ownership and, in fact, never will.)

⁸The Priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they who handle the Law knew Me not: the Pastors also transgressed against Me, and the Prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. (The Priests, the Magistrates, and the Prophets, i.e., the whole nation, apostatized from God to Baal. Only that which comes from the Lord and His Word is profitable. All else does not profit.)

⁹Wherefore I will yet plead with you, says the LORD, and with your childrens children will I plead. (In modern terminology, the Holy Spirit pleads with people. The pleading is always for them to get right with God and draw closer to Him. The word plead also refers to chastisement, for the Lord chastises those He loves [Heb. 12:5-11].)

¹⁰For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. (Chittim lay to the west and Kedar to the east of Jerusalem. The challenge here was to find, if possible, either east or west, a nation that had changed its gods. Such a quest would be fruitless.

Here is found an unanswerable argument in support of the credibility of the Bible and in refutation of the popular theory that Jehovah was just another trifle god invented by the Hebrews themselves.

Had such been so, they never would have forsaken Him, but would have clung to Him with the same devotion with which all nations cling to the gods and goddesses of their own creation.)

¹¹Has a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but My People have changed their glory for that which does not profit. (The question, Has a nation changed their gods? actually asks, Has any heathen nation ever changed its idol god for another?

Actually, Judah never ceased worshipping Jehovah altogether, but rather incorporated heathen religions in with their worship of the True God. Neither did they wholly forsake the Law, but rather added their own man-made laws to the Law of God. Is the modern Church guilty of the same thing?

But My People have changed their glory, refers to the fact that they no longer worship God, but rather idols.)

¹²Be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be you very desolate, says the LORD. (Judah at this time should have been trembling with fear, especially considering the awful doom that was soon to break upon them! The heavens were afraid, but not Judah! With Judah and Jerusalem, it was business as usual, even with the storm clouds gathering on the horizon.)

¹³For My People have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the Fountain of Living Waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. (When one forsakes God, they always do such for that which is far, far less! The answer for every problem is found in the Word of God; however, the modern Church has by and large forsaken the Word, and rather resorted to humanistic psychology, which can be defined as nothing other than a broken cistern.)

THE CONSEQUENCES OF ISRAELS SINS: THE COMING CAPTIVITY

¹⁴Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled? (Israel was a son, not a slave, yet they were about to become slaves! In fact, Israel had become a servant, i.e., slave, to the heathenistic gods. As a result, they would soon become a slave to a foreign power.

The question, Is he a homeborn slave?, is interesting indeed! It has reference to an animal in a zoo. An animal was made by God to be free and unfettered. However, if born in a zoo and knowing nothing but the confines of such, it is a slave without really knowing it. Such was Israel, and such are so many modern Believers!

The question, Why is he spoiled?, refers to Judah, which had sinned so long with impunity that there was no fear of Divine Retribution.)

¹⁵The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant. (The Prophet will now speak of future events as if they had already happened. Actually, Verse 15 also applied in the past tense to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which had fallen to Assyria nearly a hundred years earlier. The Holy Spirit uses it as an example of what is going to happen in the near future to Judah.)

¹⁶Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of your head. (The implication in this Passage is that despite the reforms of Godly Josiah, the Lord, knowing the unrepentant heart of Judah, took Josiah, the righteous man [Isa. 57:1], out of the way in order to hasten Judahs judgment. When Josiah was killed, in effect, the Egyptians broke the crown of your head.)

¹⁷Have you not procured this unto yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when He led you to the way? (So long as God leads, there is sonship, liberty, and dignity, but self-will insures slavery.)

¹⁸And now what have you to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or what have you to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? (The waters of Sihor, referring to Egypt, and the waters of the river [Euphrates], referring to Assyria, are what the Holy Spirit is speaking of in Verse 13, when He mentions broken cisterns. Judah forsook the Lord for that!)

¹⁹Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that My fear is not in you, says the Lord GOD of Hosts. (The suffering that comes upon men results from their own self-will, and is not justly chargeable to God. So, the idea, as claimed by humanistic psychology, that Believers should forgive God, borders on blasphemy!)

²⁰For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bands; and you said, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree you wandered, playing the harlot. (For of old time I have broken your yoke, refers to their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Playing the harlot, is a descriptive term used by the Holy Spirit, referring to idolatry.)

²¹Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then are you turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me? (The implication is that the type of Vine planted by the Lord was a noble Vine, which came from the right Seed, with the inference referring to Christ and, thereby, designed to bring forth much fruit.

Nevertheless, despite the Lord Himself serving as the Gardener, this noble Vine turned into a strange vine.)

THE GUILT CANNOT BE WASHED AWAY

²²For though you wash yourself with nitre, and take you much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before Me, says the Lord GOD. (The inference by the Holy Spirit is that all of mans efforts cannot take away your iniquity. Such can only be done by the Blood of Christ. The problem of the modern Church is that it treats the results of mans sin instead of the cause of mans sin! Man doesnt need to be saved nearly so much for what he has done as for what he is a sinner.)

²³How can you say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see your way in the valley, know what you have done: you are a swift dromedary traversing her ways (sin deadens and blinds the conscience here the Prophet indignantly points to the valley of Hinnom, which was filled with idolatrous altars. Judahs fault was not in neglecting the public worship of Jehovah in His appointed Temple, but in super-adding these idolatrous rites, which were anathema to the teaching of the Bible. Such is the problem in the modern Church today!

You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways, refers to a young she-camel which has not yet had a foal, and is running backwards and forwards at the impulse of passion. In other words, Israel did not know where she was going!);

²⁴A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her. (In Verses 23 through 25, Judah is compared to the camel and to the ass, which, in the mating season, run hither and thither after the males, so that these need not weary themselves in searching for them. Thus, Judah ran after idols!)

²⁵Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst: but you said, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. (Concerning her love for God, Judah said, No, I love strange gods, and after them will I go; but the result was shame to their kings, their princes, their Priests, and their Prophets.)

ISRAELS IDOLATRY

²⁶As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the House of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their Priests, and their Prophets (the blame for Judahs plight is laid at the feet of her spiritual leaders),

²⁷Saying to a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto Me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. (Judah forsook God as their Father, and worshipped idols. These idols were given credit for Israels inheritance, as modern psychology is given credit today! The Holy Spirit warns that a time of trouble is coming, and then they will say, Arise, and save us. However, it will then be too late!)

²⁸But where are your gods that you have made for yourself? let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. (The impotency of idols and the mental degradation of idolaters are the sad burden of Verses 27 and 28.)

PUNISHMENT IS AT HAND

²⁹Wherefore will you plead with Me? you all have transgressed against Me, says the LORD. (The question, Wherefore will you plead with Me? refers to Judahs audacity at attempting to justify herself!)

³⁰In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword has devoured your Prophets, like a destroying lion. (In vain have I smitten your children, refers to the fact that the Lord brought corrective judgments on Judah, but to no avail! However, they received no correction, meaning that Judah, despite their chastisements, would not be corrected. Instead, they killed the very ones, i.e., your Prophets, sent to warn them. As well, their attitude was like a destroying lion, implying that they did such with a hatred, a vengeance, and malice, which ultimately resulted in their murder of the Messiah.)

³¹O generation, see you the Word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say My People, We are lords; we will come no more unto You? (The Lord is asking Judah the question, Did He lead them into privation and misery? Of course not! God does not lead His People in lowliness and darkness, but into light and fellowship. The last line of this Verse, We are lords; we will come no more unto You? refers to Judahs independence of God. In other words, they were saying, We are our own master; we prefer the religion of Moloch to that of Jehovah!)

³²Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet My People have forgotten Me days without number. (It was completely contrary to nature for Judah to forget God.)

³³Why do you trim your way to seek love? therefore have you also taught the wicked ones your ways. (The wicked ones actually mean wicked women. The idolatrous nations are here compared to debauched women having Judah as their teacher in vileness. It is a sad fact that the rejecter of Biblical Truth falls to a lower moral level than those who have never heard the Gospel.)

³⁴Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these. (The poor innocents refer to the helpless. The accusation is: the evidence of Judahs guilt as the destroyer of Gods Servants is so visible that a search is not needed.)

³⁵Yet you say, Because I am innocent, surely His Anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with you, because you say, I have not sinned. (Someone has said, A revival which is not based upon conviction of sin and the certainty of Gods Wrath is a false revival! Even at this late date, with the cup of iniquity running over, Judah claims innocence, and then brazenly says, I have not sinned.)

³⁶Why do you gad about so much to change your way? you also shall be ashamed of Egypt, as you were ashamed of Assyria. (The question, Why do you gad about in order to change your way? refers to the different political parties in Judah, which were seeking alliances, first in this place and then in another. In other words, Judah is no longer being led by the Lord, but rather by men.

You also shall be ashamed of Egypt, refers to such efforts bringing no lasting solid results.)

³⁷Ye s, you shall go forth from him, and your hands upon your head: for the LORD has rejected your confidences, and you shall not prosper in them. (Confident schemes which repose upon human promises and which ignore God never prosper. For the LORD has rejected your confidences, refers to the fact that God will not allow these alliances, or proposed alliances, to prosper. They were not of Him, so He would not sanction them. Such is God with all the schemes of men!)