Jeremiah 2

Notes

Ver. 2, 3. I remember the kindness which I showed to your nation when it was but forming, and when in the Arabian wilderness, by solemn covenant, I espoused you first of all the nations of the world to be my holy and peculiar people, and the affectionate regard which your fathers professed for me. And then I severely punished the Egyptians and others who attempted to do them wrong. 13-18. They have rejected me in my oracles, ordinances, and fulness, who am the freely bestowed, everlasting, and unbounded source of all grace, consolations, and blessings; and have, with inexpressible fatigue, procured to themselves idols which cannot give them the smallest relief. No wonder that they are basely enslaved and cruelly spoiled. The Assyrians, like outrageous lions, have wasted the country of the ten tribes, and murdered and carried captive the inhabitants. And the Egyptians have treacherously disappointed you, or shall murder Josiah, depose Jehoahaz, and impose a tribute. And will you, nevertheless, still send messengers to Egypt or Assyria, to form new alliances, or to borrow new idols? 20-28. When I formerly delivered you from the Egyptians, and other oppressors, ye engaged to keep my commandments, yet ye commit idolatry everywhere. I originally formed your nation of pious patriarchs, and established among you my pure oracles, ordinances, and worship; how then are ye become superstitious, idolatrous, and everyway corrupt, in both church and state? Nor can all your excuses, evasions, or pretences to reformation, conceal the manifest tokens of your wickedness from me. How can ye deny it, when the valley of Hinnom, where ye have burned your children to Molech, and other valleys where ye have worshipped your idols, manifest it? Ye have, even with madness and fury, run after idols empty as wind, one after another; and till fearful distress restrain you, ye appear quite irreclaimable. I have warned you to repent of your lewd, idolatrous, and foolish courses, and of hunting after alliances with heathens, which will bring you to captivity and misery; but ye desperately cleave to your strange gods. Yet all of you at last shall be ashamed of your idols, when ye find that, notwithstanding their multitudes, they can do nothing to save you from disgrace or punishment. 29-37. No excuse can be offered for your conduct; and all of you are guilty. Warnings and judgments have not in the least reclaimed you; nay, ye have cruelly murdered the prophets who admonished you. Did not I plentifully provide for and comfort you while ye continued obedient; why then do ye reject me, as if now, self-sufficient, ye had no need of me? Why thus so long forget me, who have been your chief glory and ornament? Why take such tedious journeys in pursuance of idolatrous courses, and become patterns and teachers to the very heathens in wickedness? Why, in every corner of your land, publicly sacrifice your children to idols, and murder the innocent, and yet hope to pass unpunished? Why thus change your idols and heathen allies? The Egyptians shall no more help you than the Assyrians did; but ye shall be led forth into a mournful and miserable captivity; and the curse of God shall render all your projected methods of relief unprofitable and ruinous to you.

Ver. 6. The shadow of death. Either where there was no shadow of the living, but merely of the monuments of the dead; or where every shadowy retreat was the lurking-place of some murderous robber or ravenous beast. C.

Ver. 10. Chittim—a general name for the west; Kedar, for the east. The one the descendants of Kittim the son of Javan, Ge. 10. 4, the son of Japheth; the other of Kedar the son of Ishmael, Ge. 25. 13, 18. C.

Ver. 11. The facility with which the Israelites changed from the worship of Jehovah to idols forms a prominent and surprising trait in their national character from the formation of the golden calf, Ex. 32. 1-6, throughout all their history, till the Babylonish captivity. Since that period, the tenacity with which they have adhered to their law and traditions, forms an interesting contrast with their former versatility. And no doubt the present decision and tenacity of profession into which Providence has trained them will, when 'their heart turneth to the Lord,' whom they rejected and crucified, render them admirably fitted for that blessed work among the Gentiles, Is. 66. 19, unto which God has destined them in the latter day. C.

Ver. 12. Be astonished, O ye heavens! The heavenly powers who 'desire to look into' the mystery of man's redemption, and with whom there is 'joy over one sinner that repenteth.'—Query, As the sins of professed believers are said even to 'grieve the Holy Spirit,' and 'crucify the Lord afresh,' does not this expression intimate that, even among angels, in heavenly places, there may be a holy sorrow over the sins and apostasies of the church? See Ge. 6. 6; Ps. 95. 10; Ep. 4. 30; He. 6. 6. C.

Ver. 14. Is Israel a servant? God redeemed him from servitude, and made him a son, Ex. 4. 22, wherefore his present enslaved condition must be the punishment of his sins, Is. 50. 1; 52. 3. C.

Ver. 16. Noph was the Hebrew name of Memphis, the capital of Egypt. It stood just at the southern angle of the Delta, where the Nile branched.—Tahapanes, or Daphne, was also an Egyptian city, situated on the border of the country, on the Pelusiac arm of the Nile. These two cities are mentioned as representatives of all Egypt. P.——Broken the crown. By the defeat and death of the good king Josiah, the kingdom was reduced to a tributary province, 2 Ki. 23. 29, 33. C.

Ver. 22. Nitre. Natron, or carbonate of soda, which is found in many parts of Asia and Africa, and when dissolved in hard (acidulous) water, renders it fit for washing. Mixed with oil, it forms one species of soap. C.

Ver. 23. In the valley. The valley of the sons of Hinnom, where they had built the high places of Tophet. See ch. 7. 31; Is. 57. 5.—A swift dromedary. As swift as the dromedary, which, though subjugated, 'traverses (rather twists) her ways' to pass by her master who would impede or stop her from seeking her mate. C.

Ver. 24. A wild ass. As wild as the onager, which, bred in the desert, and unaccustomed to restraint, 'snuffeth up the wind,' and thereby discovering her companions, hastes to them as matter of right.—In her month they shall find her. Her mate will find her without difficulty, because she seeks as earnestly as she is sought; so Israel sought after idolaters as earnestly as idolaters sought after them. C.

Ver. 25. 'Withhold thy foot from being unshod,' as the wilful dromedary or untamable wild ass; 'and thy throat from thirst,' such as they experience in the wilderness—that is, eschew this wilfulness and wildness, and 'let thy feet be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace,' and drink of the 'well of water springing up unto life eternal.' C.

Ver. 31. Have I been a wilderness—have my ways (ver. 31) been unprepared, my waters bitter or scanty, my food unprovided, my habitation unbuilt? C.

Ver. 34. I have not found it. 'I have not found it in a hole digged' (to hide it, Le. 17. 13), 'but upon every oak' (to expose and proclaim it), as an offering acceptable to abominable idols.—Note, Instead of the words upon all these, in the authorized translation, the ancient versions render it upon every oak, in allusion to the groves in which idols were worshipped, and their impure rites celebrated. C.

Ver. 35. Because I am innocent. I am 'innocent' of idolatry; using graven images, not as gods, but as means of devotion. So say the Hindoos (see Duff's India), so say the Council of Trent (see their decrees); but let Christians see the second commandment, and believe and obey God rather than men. C.

Ver. 36. At the particular period here referred to the Israelites were in great national distress and danger. The armies of Assyria threatened to overwhelm them. Instead of trusting in God, they turned to Egypt for help. This proved the immediate cause of the overthrow of the Jewish monarchy and the destruction of Jerusalem. P.

Reflections.—It is honourable for nations, families, and persons to be early beloved by God, and addicted to his service; and safe to be followers of him through every difficulty. But very absurd is it for those who have shared his distinguished favours to apostatize from him to idols, and render him hatred for love; for church-officers to be ringleaders in guilt; and for men at once to belie their profession, affront their God, and cheat themselves out of happiness. Alas! in what slavery, poverty, and disappointment, and endless wandering after idols, do unbelief and forsaking of God issue! With denial of guilt, eagerness, obstinacy, and impudence, do men, abandoned by God, proceed from evil to worse. And it is common for sinners to supplicate relief from God when their idols cannot help them. But dreadful is their case who, under his word, rod, or favours, grow insolent and imperious in wickedness; and when, forgetting God, notwithstanding checks unnumbered, they abound in impiety.