Jeremiah 2:19 Kommentar

It is probable that this chapter was Jeremiah's first sermon after his ordination; and a most lively pathetic sermon it is as any we have is all the books of the prophets. Let him not say, "I cannot speak, for I am a child;" for, God having touched his mouth and put his words into it, none can speak better. The scope of the chapter is to show God's people their transgressions, even the house of Jacob their sins; it is all by way of reproof and conviction, that they might be brought to repent of their sins and so prevent the ruin that was coming upon them. The charge drawn up against them is very high, the aggravations are black, the arguments used for their conviction very close and pressing, and the expostulations very pungent and affecting. The sin which they are most particularly charged with here is idolatry, forsaking the true God, their own God, for other false gods. Now they are told, I. That this was ungrateful to God, who had been so kind to them (Jer 2:1-8). II. That it was without precedent, that a nation should change their god (Jer 2:9-13). III. That hereby they had disparaged and ruined themselves (Jer 2:14-19). IV. That they had broken their covenants and degenerated from their good beginnings (Jer 2:20, Jer 2:21). V. That their wickedness was too plain to be concealed and too bad to be excused (Jer 2:22, Jer 2:23, Jer 2:35). VI. That they persisted witfully and obstinately in it, and were irreclaimable and indefatigable in their idolatries (Jer 2:24, Jer 2:25, Jer 2:33, Jer 2:36). VII. That they shamed themselves by their idolatry and should shortly be made ashamed of it when they should find their idols unable to help them (Jer 2:26-29, Jer 2:37). VIII. That they had not been convinced and reformed by the rebukes of Providence that had been under (Jer 2:30). IX. That they had put a great contempt upon God (Jer 2:31, Jer 2:32). X. That with their idolatries they had mixed the most unnatural murders, shedding the blood of the poor innocents (Jer 2:34). Those hearts were hard indeed that were untouched and unhumbled when their sins were thus set in order before them. O that by meditating on this chapter we might be brought to repent of our spiritual idolatries, giving that place in our souls to the world and the flesh which should have been reserved for God only!

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 2 This chapter contains the prophet's message from the Lord to the people of the Jews; in which they are reminded of their former favours, in order to aggravate their sins and transgressions they were chargeable with; to show their ingratitude and unkindness, and to bring them to a conviction and acknowledgment of their iniquities, without which punishment would be inflicted on them. The preface to this message is in Jer 2:1, and the discourse begins with an account of their former state and condition when they came out of Egypt; what kindness was shown them by the Lord, and what was returned to him by them; what they were to him, and how much regarded by him, Jer 2:2 and so far were they from being injured by him, that might cause them to depart from him, which they are desired to give attention to, that they were followed with various instances of goodness, which are particularly enumerated; and yet no notice was taken of them, neither by people, priests, pastors, and prophets, who were guilty of the grossest ignorance and wickedness, Jer 2:4, wherefore the Lord determines to plead with them and theirs; and charges them with such idolatry as was not to be found among the Gentiles, Jer 1:9 the heavens are called upon to be astonished at it; and the reason given for it, the ingratitude and folly of this people, Jer 2:12 in order to reclaim them, the Lord by the prophet proceeds to observe to them the corrections and chastisement they had already endured, being brought into bondage, their land wasted, cities burnt, and their glory taken from them; all which were owing to their revoltings and backslidings, and by which they might see what an evil and bitter thing sin is in its effects, Jer 2:14 and again reminds them of former favours; how that he loosed them from their yoke and bonds, when they promised to transgress no more, and yet did more and more; how he had raised them from a right seed, and planted them a noble vine, and yet they were sadly degenerated, and were guilty of such crimes as were not to be removed by anything done by them, Jer 2:20, and notwithstanding all this, they had the impudence to deny that they were tainted with idolatry, when they had been so guilty of it in the valley of Hinnom, and elsewhere; and were comparable to the lustful dromedary and wild ass, and so fond of strange gods, that they thirsted after them, and were resolved to follow them, Jer 2:23 and yet the time would come when all ranks of men among them would be ashamed of their worship of stocks and stones, and in the time of their trouble call upon the Lord to save them, when they would be sent to their gods, who were as numerous as their cities, Jer 2:26 wherefore it was in vain to plead their innocence, when they were all so guilty, and had received correction without amendment, and had even slain the prophets of the Lord, Jer 2:29 and then the Lord again upbraids them with their ingratitude to him, who had been so good and kind to them; with their forgetfulness of him, illustrated by a maid's not forgetting her ornaments, and a bride her attire; with their artful methods to entice others to idolatry, and with their shedding of innocent blood; and yet, after all this, they asserted their innocence, and affirmed they had never sinned, Jer 2:31, for all which sentence is pronounced against them, and punishment is threatened them, Jer 2:36.

For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands,.... The yoke of the people, as the Targum expresses it, that was upon their necks, and the bands in which they were bound by them; referring to the deliverance of them of old from Egyptian bondage by the hands of Moses, and out of their several captivities among their neighbours by the means of the judges, and in their time; though the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "of old thou hast broken my yoke, and burst my bands"; or "thy yoke", and "thy bands", as the Septuagint and Arabic versions; the yoke of the law that the Lord put upon them, and the bands of statutes and ordinances which he enjoined them; but the former sense is best: and thou saidst, I will not transgress; here is a double reading; the Cetib or writing is "I will not serve"; which is followed by the Vulgate Latin, which so renders it; and by the Septuagint version, "I will not serve thee"; and which is the sense of the Arabic version, "I will not subject myself", that is, to the law and will of God; and so the Syriac version, though to a quite different sense, "I will serve no other god any more": which agrees with the Keri or reading, which is "I will not transgress"; and this is confirmed by the Targum, which paraphrases the words thus, "and ye said, we will not add any more to transgress thy word;'' and by Jarchi and Kimchi, who interpret it of transgressing the words and commands of God; both have one and the same sense. For whether it be read, "I will not serve"; the meaning is, as Kimchi observes, "I will not serve idols"; or no other god, as the Syriac version: or whether, "I will not transgress"; that is, the command of the Lord, by serving other gods. Hillerus (p) reconciles the writing and reading after this manner, rendering , "I will not serve", and , "I will not pass", to servitude; though, in another place (q) "I will not pass over", that is, the rivers of Tigris and Euphrates with the captives; and refers to Mic 1:11, but doubtless reference is had to the promise of obedience and service, which the Israelites made at Mount Sinai quickly after their deliverance out of Egypt, Exo 19:8, but this promise they did not keep: "when", or "for", or "but", or "although" (r), upon every high hill, and under every green tree, thou wanderest, playing the harlot; that is, committing spiritual whoredom or idolatry with idols, set on high hills and mountains, and under green trees, groves, and shady places; going from one idol to another, as harlots go from one stew to another; or as whoremongers go from harlot to harlot. (p) De Arcano Kethib & Keri, p. 27, 28. (q) Ib. p. 89, 90. (r) "nam", Vatablus, Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius; "atqui", Calvin, Gataker; "quamvis", Piscator.

The Lord has therefore endured all these things on our behalf, in order that we, having been instructed by means of them all, may be in all respects judicious for the time to come. He endured that, having been rationally taught to love God, we may continue in his perfect love. God has displayed patience in the case of humankind’s apostasy. While humankind has been instructed by means of it, as also the prophet says, “Your own apostasy shall heal you.” God thus determined all things beforehand in order to bring people to perfection, to edify them and to reveal God’s dispensations, that goodness may both be made apparent, and that righteousness be perfected, and that the church may be fashioned after the image of his Son and that humankind may finally be brought to maturity at some future time, becoming mature through such privileges to see and comprehend God.

When he does not convince with his word, God many times permits the experience of things to be the teaching, something that he also said to the Jews. When he expended myriads of words though the prophets, he neither persuaded nor embraced the Jews. Allowing them to be educated through punishment, he said to them, “Your apostasy shall correct you, and wickedness shall reprove you.”

(Verse 19.) Your wickedness will reprove you, and your apostasy will rebuke you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to have forsaken the Lord your God, and that you have no fear of me, says the Lord of hosts. It should be noted that after wickedness or apostasy has fully satisfied the one who commits it, and has come to the point of being nauseating like the quails, it instructs the one who does penance: commanding them to see what they have left behind, and what they have followed; and how, spurning what is good and sweet, they have chosen what is evil and bitter. But all this has happened because he has forsaken his Lord God, and his fear is not with him. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. IX): and because he did not have it, he is delivered to evil and bitterness.

So also that unwearied goodness of God and his unchanging nature hurt no one indeed, but we ourselves by falling from on high and tending to the depths are the authors of our own death, or rather the very fall becomes death to the one who falls.… For “your own wickedness shall reprove you, and your apostasy shall rebuke you. Know and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for you to have left the Lord your God”; for “everyone is bound by the cords of his sins.”

This then is that body of death from which we cannot escape, confined in those who are perfect, who have tested “how gracious the Lord is,” daily feel with the prophet “how bad for himself and bitter it is for a man to depart from the Lord his God.”

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. (Jer. 2:1-37) 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, Eze 16:22, Eze 16:60; Eze 23:3, Eze 23:8, Eze 23:19; Hos 2:15). For Israel from the first showed perversity rather than kindness towards God (compare Exo 14:11-12; Exo 15:24; Exo 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, Jer 2:5, &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 (Exo 19:8; Exo 24:3; Exo 35:20-29; Exo 36:5; Jos 24:16-17). But compare Deu 32:16-17; Eze 16:5-6, Eze 16:15, Eze 16:22 ("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 (Deu 2:7; Deu 32:12). Jer 2:6 shows it is God's "leading" of them, not their following after God in the wilderness, which is implied.

correct . . . reprove--rather, in the severer sense, "chastise . . . punish" [MAURER]. backslidings--"apostasies"; plural, to express the number and variety of their defections. The very confederacies they entered into were the occasion of their overthrow (Pro 1:31; Isa 3:9; Hos 5:5). know . . . see--imperative for futures: Thou shalt know and see to thy cost. my fear--rather, "the fear of Me."