Bible Commentaries
Jeremiah 2

Verses 1-30

V

THE IMPEACHMENT, CALL, AND JUDGMENT

Jeremiah 2-6

This chapter is a discussion of the prophecies of Jeremiah during the reign of Josiah, chapters 2-6. They are abstracts from Jeremiah’s sermons, preached sometime between 626 B.C. and 608 B.C., eighteen years of his public ministry. Here we have the essential points of his discourses for that time, the best parts of the prophecies which he had uttered during that long period. Josiah was one of the best kings that Israel ever had. There are no sins recorded against him. The most complete reformation ever enacted in the nation was wrought under his direction. But it was an external reformation. It is true that he destroyed all the idols, all the high places and stopped the idolatrous worship throughout the entire realm, but he did not change the hearts of the people. "The serpent of idolatry was scorched but not killed." The renovation was not deep enough; it was a reformation only.

We cannot enforce religion by statutory law, legal authority, or royal mandate. It is a matter of the heart. During those years and following, the prophet Jeremiah was at work. His keen prophetic and penetrating mind was able to see deeper than Josiah. He perceived that the reformation and the revolution were external. He knew that many of the people, in fact, most of them, had never really repented. He knew that the nation was still inclined to idolatry, and ready to lapse into heathen worship; yea, he knew that as soon as the pressure was removed, the nation would fall back into the old life of wickedness and idol worship.

Now, the subject matter of these five chapters is this: Israel’s history one long apostasy which would bring on her inevitable destruction. For eighteen years Jeremiah sought to drill that into the people’s minds and hearts and produce the needed reformation which alone could save. Let us see how he went to work; how he brought this truth before them; how he appealed to them; what arguments he used; what threats he uttered against them, if possible to turn them from idolatry and bring them back to the true worship of Jehovah.

The subject of Jeremiah 2 is this: Israel’s history a continual defection to idolatry. He is dealing with all Israel. He makes no distinction between Northern and Southern Israel. He is talking here to the whole race. He reviews their history, that is, their religious history and their present condition.

He has a very beautiful statement here in Jeremiah 2:1-3, picturing the former fulness of Israel. He says, "The word of Jehovah came unto me saying, Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; how thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto Jehovah." Thus he introduces his arraignment with this reference to their former fidelity. Israel started out faithful and true. Hosea pictures her as a faithful bride. She was faithful and true at first. Israel was true to God, and God was true to Israel. Now that is the same picture here and it may be that he got it from Hosea. The relation between the nation and God was fidelity and love. It was the "honeymoon" of the nation’s life. That is how she started.

Since then Israel’s history has been one of repeated acts of unfaithfulness to her God. The prophet seeks to drive it home to their very hearts by a series of questions. We have this question in Jeremiah 2:4-8: "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone from me?" Was it because they had found unrighteousness in God? Had they found Jehovah untrue? Had they discovered unfaithfulness in him? We might ask the backslider today, "Is it because there is something wrong with God that you turn from him?" There is a great sermon in that. He shows next that the leaders turned from him: "I brought you up into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit thereof." I was kind to you; I gave you no occasion to turn from me; I never forsook you and left you in need; I cared for you. Still you and your leaders turned from me. "I brought you up into a land of plenty, to eat the fruit thereof; but when ye entered ye defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. . . . They that handle the law knew me not; the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit."

A serious question is raised in Jeremiah 2:9-13: Has any other nation changed gods but you? "Pass over to the isles of Kittim and see; send unto Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there hath been found such a thing." Kittim here refers to the island of Cyprus and the isles of Greece. Go there and see if they have ever changed their gods. Has it ever been done in the world except as you have done it? Hath a nation changed its gods? "But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit." Do you know of any nation in history that has ever done such a thing? These Hebrews had changed their God? Why had they done so? What reason could they give? Jeremiah says, You Israelites have changed to other gods, and in that you are an exception to the nations of the earth. The strange thing about it, too, is that you have changed from your true God to those that are not gods. "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." Here we have for the first time in the history of religion, a statement that the idols of the nations are not gods. Verse 13 is one of the most beautiful passages in all the Bible. God is a fountain of living waters. That sounds like the words of Jesus to the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well. Idolatry is pictured as cisterns that are broken; that cannot hold water. He means to say that every other form of religion but the worship of Jehovah is a false religion; there is no saving truth in it; it is dry; it will not hold water; it is man made. That is a true description of all false religions. Some scientists and men who study religions deny this; they say that there is a certain amount of truth in other religions as well as in Christianity. Well, so there is some truth in every one, but not saving truth. All other religions are man-made cisterns that will not hold water. This is one of the most suggestive texts in all the Bible, as to the comparative value of the religion of Jehovah and other religions; as to the value of Christianity as compared with heathen religions.

He says, in Jeremiah 2:14-17: "Is Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave?" Is he such that he must become a prey? "The young lions have roared upon him, and yelled." Now it is only the slave in the household that is whipped to make him do his duty. Is that the case with Israel? Must he be whipped like a slave to compel him to do his duty? to obey Jehovah? Other nations have whipped him, they have chastised him, "They have broken the crown of his head." Was Israel but a slave to be thus whipped and beaten? Is there no manhood in the nation? What a powerful appeal to national pride and honor is this? He raises another question in verses Jeremiah 18-19: "Now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?" What business have you turning from Jehovah to make alliances and seek help from Egypt? What business have you to be turning to Assyria for aid? We have seen that one of the causes of the destruction of both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms was that they made alliances with Egypt rather than trust in Jehovah. It was an evil thing that they should turn from Jehovah to seek aid from human strength.

Other questions are raised in Jeremiah 2:20-25. He says, Jeremiah 2:21-22: "I planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine?" That reminds one of Isaiah 5. Here he is saying that they were bad to the heart: "Though thou wash thee with soap, with lye, yet is thine iniquity marked," or ingrained, "before me." In Jeremiah 2:23-25 we see Israel trying to condone her sin. She has tried to make out that she has not done wickedly. Now can you say you have not been faithless? You are like the wild ass in the wilderness, snuffing up the wind in her desire – who can turn her away? They, like an animal, were running hither and thither, wild with passion, raving with desire for other gods, crazed with eagerness for idolatry. It is not a very elegant figure, but a highly suggestive one.

Then the question of Jeremiah 2:26-28 is, Why don’t you go to your idols in the time of trouble? As a thief is ashamed when found out, so is the house of Israel; priests, princes, and king, that say to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou art my mother. Now why do you come to me in trouble? Why don’t you let your gods help you? This passage tingles with sarcasm. It is a very striking arraignment, showing the helplessness of heathenism.

In Jeremiah 2:22 he presents the impossibility of improving the internal nature by external applications. This is true because:

1. Of the nature of the operation. Wash and paint are applied only to the external.

2. They do not affect the diseased will.

3. They do not free one from fascinating and enslaving pleasure.

4. They do not affect a morbid appetite which increases with indulgence.

5. They have no power to break habit.

6. They cannot remove the blindness of the understanding.

7. They cannot purify a drugged conscience.

If this be true then why should we preach? Because:

1. There is a law that condemns and a gospel that liberates from the bondage of the law;

2. The only hope of a change lies in driving one from the conviction that he can change himself.

The following poem contains the whole story: O Endless Misery I labor still, but still in vain; The stains of sin I see Are woaded all, or dyed in grain, There’s not a blot will stir a jot, For all that I can do; There is no hope in fuller’s soap Though I add nitre, too. I many ways have tried; Have often soaked it in cold fears; And when a time I spied, Poured upon it scalding tears; Have rinsed and rubbed and scraped and scrubbed And turned it up and down; Yet can I not wash out one spot; It’s rather fouler grown. Can there no help be had? Lord, thou art holy, thou art pure: Mine heart is not so bad, So foul, but thou canst cleanse it sure; Speak, blessed Lord; wilt thou afford Me means to make it clean? I know thou wilt; thy blood was spilt; Should it run still in vain?

A sinner released from hell would repeat his sins.

There are yet other questions propounded in Jeremiah 2:29-37: Why do you plead with me when all the while you transgress against me? I have smitten you; I have smitten your children but they are incorrigible; they will not be corrected. You have killed the prophets that were sent unto you. Why then will you still plead with me? Why do you have anything to do with me? Go after those gods that you have made for yourselves.

Jeremiah 2:31: “O generation . . . have I been a wilderness unto Israel, or a land of thick darkness?" Now that is a question full of suggestion. You have turned away from me. Is it because my religion and my services have been like living in a wilderness where there is no light, no love, no joy, no food? Have I never been a blessing? Is that the reason you have left me? How suggestive! Many people think the services of God are like a wilderness. O Backslider, have God and his services been as a wilderness to you, that you have strayed away? You have not been a faithful bride. "Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number. How trimmest thou thy way to seek love!" Just like a married woman fixing up to make love to a man that is not her husband. See her as she adorns herself to look attractive that she may win favor of strange men. Now that is the picture here. "Why gaddest thou about?" This is the only place in the Bible where that word, "gad," occurs.

Jehovah shows his love and faithfulness to Israel in spite of her sins (Jeremiah 3:1-5). Though Judah has been faithless, there is a prospect of a better future for her: If a man put away his wife, can she return to him? No, "Yet return again to me, saith Jehovah." I will take you back in spite of all. See what you have been doing; you have been like a watcher in the wilderness, watching for false gods and religions to come along – that you might adopt them. They have betrayed you. "Wilt thou not now cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?"

A special lesson by Jehovah is given to Judah (Jeremiah 3:6-18). This is a contrast, unfavorable to Judah (Jeremiah 3:6-10). Judah had taken no warning from the downfall of the Northern Kingdom. Notice especially Jeremiah 3:10: "And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith Jehovah." Now that gives us some idea of the opinion of Jeremiah in relation to Josiah, the great king, in his work of reform. Josiah had touched only the outside of the matter. Judah was no better than Northern Israel, but rather worse. Her improvement was only feigned.

Note the comparison in Jeremiah 3:11-13. The promise was to Northern Israel first. In that promise was blessing on condition of return. Jeremiah 3:12: "Go, and proclaim these words toward the north. . . . I will not look in anger upon you; for I am merciful, saith Jehovah." These blessings are going to come when Judah repents, Jeremiah 3:18: "In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance unto your fathers." Observe that the blessing is to come when Judah and Israel walk together; when they are united again. By that statement he shows that Northern Israel was not more steeped in iniquity than Southern Israel. The Messiah’s advent is coming and Judah will come in with Israel.

Jehovah holds out hope of Judah in Jeremiah 3:19-22: "But I said, How I will put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land. . . . Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me. Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, saith the Lord. . . . Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings."

The prophet bases his hope for Israel on the fact that the perverted nation shall confess its sin Jeremiah 3:23-25, especially Jeremiah 3:24: "The shameful thing [the thing ye have been worshiping, Baal] hath devoured the labor of our fathers. . . . for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers." Now that is a great confession. The prophet presumes to speak for the people by way of prediction that they will do this someday. He still has hope for Israel.

Jehovah makes a proposition to Israel in Jeremiah 4:1-4, that he will bless them if they will return: "If thou wilt return to me, and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight; then shalt thou not be removed." But the change must be thorough (Jeremiah 4:3-4) a very suggestive passage: "Thus saith Jehovah to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground." Finney, in his great book on revivals, has several sermons on this text. He says that every revival of religion ought to begin with preaching on this text. The fallow ground must be broken up. "Fallow ground" stands for two things: First, undeveloped possibilities; and, second, unused powers. The ground must be both broken up and sown with right kind of seed. "Sow not among thorns." Every revival of religion has that object in view. Put the weeds and briers out and put the unused talents and powers to work. Sow the seed of righteousness and benevolence where the weeds of sin and waywardness have been. If we are going to be Christians, let us be wholehearted ones. Break up the fallow ground by putting sin out and service in. All this means that the change must be complete.

The following is a digest of the coming judgment of Jeremiah 4:5-6:30. In this description of the coming judgment he pictures it as advancing from the North. He had in mind the coming Babylonian invasion. Note these items:

1. They are told to get themselves to the fortified cities, Jeremiah 4:5-10: "Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities. . . . flee for safety, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north."

2. It is coming even to Jerusalem herself (Jeremiah 4:11-18). Jeremiah now speaks of the invasion as a hot, withering blast from the desert. He sees the foe coming as a swift cloud; the watchers are at hand; he hears the snorting of their horses; he sees them enclose the cities.

3. The anguish of the prophet. Here we have the suffering of this magnificent patriot, Jeremiah 4:19: "My vitals, my vitals!"

4. The devastation is pictured Jeremiah 4:23-26: "The earth was waste and void." The same expression is used in Genesis (Jeremiah 1:2). The heavens had no light. The mountains trembled, the cities were broken down. The whole land was devastated. All this is a vision of the destruction to come.

5. The destruction is almost complete (Jeremiah 4:27-31). Notice verse Jeremiah 4:27: "I will not make a full end." There is a remnant to be left, the root, the stock, not the entire people. It is not to be utter destruction.

6. This is merited, for all are corrupt (Jeremiah 5:1-9). Here is a striking statement: "Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see if you can find a man, if there be any that doeth justly." He means to say, You cannot find a true man in the whole city. There was not one manly man in Jerusalem. This reminds us of Diogenes, going through the streets of Athens with a lantern looking for a man. In Sodom there were not to be found ten righteous men, only one, and he was a poor specimen. So it is here in Jerusalem. All are corrupt. Verse Jeremiah 4:5: "I will get me unto the great men," the leaders. But he finds that they were corrupt, too.

7. Jeremiah 4:10-19 is a picture of the disaster. They are not to make a full end, but disaster is to come, Jeremiah 5:16-17: "Their quiver is an open sepulchre, . . . they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat; . . . they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall beat down thy city." But remember they shall not make a full end. There shall be a remnant. The cause of all this is the corruption of the people (Jeremiah 4:20-29). Both people and prophets are evil. He repeats these warnings and messages over and over again. He describes the moral condition of the people. A wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the land, Jeremiah 5:30-31: "The prophets prophesy falsely." The preachers are deceiving the people. And the worst thing about it is that the people like to have it so.

8. The foe is still nearer. The capital is invested and must be prepared, for the enemy plans to storm it; another vivid picture, Jeremiah 6:1-8: "Flee for safety, ye men of Jerusalem." Flee to Tekoa, flee to the wilderness, for evil is coming from the north. A great destruction is coming. Thus he goes on with his awful picture of the destruction hastening upon the city. The enemy says, We will take it by storm, at full noon; no, it is past noon; the shadows begin to decline; let us go up at night; let us take it by a night attack.

9. The doom is certain and fixed (Jeremiah 4:9-21). Note Jeremiah 4:14: "They have slightly healed the hurt of my people, saying, Peace, peace; where there is no peace." We are indebted to Jeremiah for that oft-quoted sentence. It is classic. Spurgeon preached a great sermon on that passage. His theme was a blast against false peace. Jeremiah 4:16: "Stand ye in the way and see, and ask for the old paths." There has been many a sermon preached from that text, on the subject, "The Old Paths."

10. In Jeremiah 4:22-26 is a full description of the enemy. Note the minuteness of it, Jeremiah 4:23: "They have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; they ride upon horses; they are against the daughter of Zion."

11. There is another picture of the nation. In Jeremiah 6:28-30: "They are as grievous revolters." "Going about with slanders, they are brass and iron. . . . They are refuse silver, fit only to be thrown out in the street. As silver amalgamates with other metals and loses its value, so these people by amalgamated religion become refuse to be tossed aside into the dump pile of rubbish. This is a magnificent passage. It sums up what Jeremiah preached and taught for eighteen years.

QUESTIONS

1. When were these prophecies uttered and what the conditions under which they were spoken?

2. What is the subject matter of these chapters and what the general content?

3. What is the subject of Jeremiah 2 and to whom addressed?

4. What is the picture of Jeremiah 2:1-3?

5. What, in general, Israel’s history after the first love, what question raised in Jeremiah 2:4-8, and what the charge here brought against the leaders?

6. What question is raised in Jeremiah 2:9-13, what two sins charged against Israel and how illustrated?

7. What are the questions of Jeremiah 2:14-19 and what their application?

8. What tare he other questions raised in Jeremiah 2:20-25, and what the application of each, respectively?

9. What is the question of Jeremiah 2:26-28 and what its application?

10. What is the import of Jeremiah 2:22?

11. If this be true, then why should we preach?

12. Can you recite from memory the poem based on Jeremiah 2:22?

13. What are the questions propounded in Jeremiah 2:29-37 and what are their application?

14. How does Jehovah show his love and faithfulness to Israel in spite of her sins (Jeremiah 3:1-5)?

15. What special lesson by Jehovah is given to Judah and what the result?

16. What hope does Jehovah hold out to Judah in Jeremiah 3:19-22?

17. On what does the prophet base his hope for Israel and how is it signified?

18. What proposition does Jehovah make to Israel in Jeremiah 4:1-4 and of what homiletic value is this section?

19. Give a digest of the coming judgment of Jeremiah 4:5-6:30.