Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 2:14

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Jeremiah 2:14. Is Israel a servant? — Is he a slave purchased with money, or a servant born in the family? He is a son himself. If so, then, why is he spoiled? Not because God has not shown him love and kindness; but because he forsook God, turned to and is joined with idols.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

A nation’s unfaithfulness (2:1-19)

While Josiah was reconstructing the outward form of Judah’s religion, Jeremiah was searching into the deeply rooted attitudes of the people and trying to bring about a truly spiritual change. He contrasts the nation’s present sad condition with its devotion to God in former days. Israel once loved God, as a bride loves her husband. She was like the firstfruits of the harvest that belonged to God, and those who plundered her were punished (2:1-3).
God now challenges the nation to produce proof that her turning away from God has resulted from any failure on God’s part. He brought his people out of Egypt, cared for them on their long journey through harsh dry country, and gave them a pleasant fertile land to live in. But they polluted the land by their wickedness. Under the leadership of ungodly priests, ignorant teachers, corrupt rulers and worthless prophets, they turned away from God and followed the religious practices of their heathen neighbours (4-8).
Therefore, God lays a charge of unfaithfulness against his people, and calls upon the sun, moon and stars that shine upon them to be his witnesses. Heathen nations remain true to their gods, even though those gods may be lifeless and useless. Israel and Judah, by contrast, exchanged the true and living God for useless idols (9-12). They acted like people who turned away from the natural spring that gave them a permanent supply of pure water, and trusted for their water supply in a cracked cistern they had made themselves (13).
Israel and Judah boasted that they were God’s children, but now they are becoming slaves of other nations. A century earlier Assyria had invaded the northern kingdom, destroyed its cities and taken its people into captivity (14-15). Other nations now threatened the southern kingdom. God warns that it is useless and foolish for Judah to ask either Egypt or Assyria to help defend it against enemy invasions. It is useless because such attacks are a judgment on Judah for its disobedience. It is foolish because, in seeking aid from a more powerful nation, Judah is placing itself under that nation’s religious influence and political power (16-19).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Is Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave? why is he become a slave? The young lions have roared upon him, and yelled; and they have made his land waste: his cities are burned up, without inhabitant. The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of thy head. Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, when he led thee by the way? And 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? Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts."

"Why is he become a slave" There are two ways of looking at this. One is to suppose that Israel is here depicted as a home-born slave of Jehovah; and the question, according to Cook, means: "How does it happen that the member of so powerful a family is spoiled?"Canon F. C. Cook, Jeremiah, p. 150. The other view considers the first two of the three questions here as stressing the fact that Israel is not a slave, but the wife of God; and how, then, is it possible for him to be mined?

"The young lions have roared upon him" These words make it certain that the passage applies to the Northern Israel particularly, because since 722 B.C., when the Samaritan Israel had fallen to Assyria, the young lions (definitely identifying Assyria. See Nahum 2:11-13), had indeed been feeding upon the rains of the Northern Israel. The significance of "the young lions" is that they remained in the den where they fed upon the prey brought to them by the adult lions. What an appropriate picture, because the Northern Israel had already been taken as a prey to Assyria.

"They have made his land waste… etc." "Not only had Israel been wasted, till the multiplication of wild beasts rendered human life unsafe (2 Kings 17:25), but the Assyrian invasions had also reduced Judaea to a state almost as sad."Ibid. The argument here is: Israel, look at what has already happened to your sister nation because of her apostasy!

"Egypt… and Assyria" The mention of Egypt here is surprising; but it is due to the fact of their fighting against Jerusalem, taking it, and murdering the good king Josiah. Jeremiah, being familiar (from history) with the fall of Samaria and personally with the events around the death of Josiah mentioned both together as Judea's suffering from the nation's apostasy.

"Tahpanhes" "This is the Greek Daphnae, modern Tell Defennch, on the eastern border of the Egyptian Delta."The Interpreter's Bible, p. 817.

"Hast thou not procured this unto thyself" This through Jeremiah 2:19 stresses the lesson that Judaea should be willing to learn: "Know therefore, and see that it is an evil thing, and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God!" As the subsequent verses of the chapter reveal, Judaea would not learn, having fallen completely in love with the Baalim and their licentious worship. These words do not take account of the "righteous remnant," of whom, of course, was Jeremiah.

"What hast thou to do in the way to Egypt... or in the way to Assyria" In full keeping with Jeremiah's constant opposition to all kinds of alliances and intrigues with foreign nations, these words stress the warning that traversing such ways by Israel will lead only to disaster. "To lean on Egypt, or any foreign power, was a violation of the principles of the theocracy, which required God's people to be an independent power, firmly closed against all foreign influences."Scribner's Bible Commentary (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1898), p. 336.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

It was Israel’s glory to be Yahweh’s servant Jeremiah 30:10, and slaves born in the house were more prized than those bought with money as being more faithful Genesis 14:14. Cannot Yahweh guard His own household? How happens it that a member of so powerful a family is spoiled? In the next verse the prophet gives the reason. Israel is a runaway slave, who has deserted the family to which he belongs by right of birth, and thereby brought upon himself trouble and misery.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

These verses are to be read together; for the Prophet first shews that Israel was not as to his original condition miserable, but that this happened through a new cause, and then he mentions the cause. He then first asks, whether Israel was a servant or a slave? God had adopted them as his people, and had promised to be so bountiful to them as to render them in every way happy; and what was more, as a proof of their happiness, he said, In thee shall all nations be blessed. (Genesis 12:3; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 28:14.) We then see what was the original condition of Israel; they excelled all other nations, because they were God’s peculiar people, they were his heritage, they were a royal priesthood.

Hence the Prophet, as though astonished at something new and strange, asks this question, Is Israel a servant? He was free beyond all nations; for he was the first — born son of God: it was therefore necessary to inquire for the cause why he was so miserable; for he says afterwards, that lions roared against him, and sent forth their voice; he says, that their cities were burnt, or destroyed; he says, that their land was reduced to desolation; and at length he adds, Has not this done these things to thee? This again is put as a question, but it is doubly affirmative, for it takes away every doubt: “What do you say is the cause why you are so miserable? for all are hostile to you, and you are exposed to the wrongs of all: whence can you say has all this proceeded, except from your own wickedness?” We now see what the Prophet means.

But that what he says may be more clear, we must remember that he reminds the people, by way of reproach, of the benefits which God had conferred on them. As then the children of Abraham had been honored with so many singular favors that they had the preeminence over all the world, this dignity is now referred to, but only for the purpose of exposing their base conduct, as though he had said, “God did not deceive you, when he promised to be bountiful to you; his adoption is not deceptive nor in vain: hence you would have been happier than all other nations, had not your own wickedness rendered you miserable.” We now see for what end the Prophet asked, Is Israel a servant or a slave? They were indeed on an equality with other people, as they were by nature; but as they had been chosen by God, and as he had favored them with that peculiar privilege, the Prophet asks, whether they were servants, as though he had said, “What is it that prevents that blessedness to appear among you, which God has promised? for it was not God’s design to disappoint you: it then follows that you are miserable through your own fault.” ⁽⁴¹⁾

And by saying, Why is he become a prey, he intimates that except Israel had been deprived of God’s protection, they would not have been thus exposed to the caprice of their enemies. They were not then become a prey except for this reason, because God had forsaken them, according to what is said in the song of Moses,

“How should one chase a thousand, and ten should put to flight as many thousands, except God had given us up as captives, except we had been shut up by his hand.”
(Deuteronomy 32:30.)

For Moses in that passage does also in an indirect manner remind the people how often and how wonderfully God had given them victories over their enemies, and thus he leaves it to their posterity, when in distress, to consider how the change came that one should chase a thousand; that is, how could it be, that they, possessing great forces, should yet be put to flight by their enemies; for they were not wont to turn their backs, but to conquer their enemies: it then follows, that they were made captives by God, and not by the men who chased them. So also here the Prophet shews, that Israel would not have been made a prey, had they not been deprived of God’s assistance.

(41) The difficulty of understanding this passage has arisen from not considering the questions in a negative sense, as implying a strong denial-”Is Israel a servant (or, rather a slave)?” No, by no means. “Is he one begotten in the house,” that is, in a state of bondage? No, by no means. Then the following question comes naturally; since he is neither a purchased slave, nor a slave born in the house, “why has he become a prey?” That there were two sorts of slaves of this kind is evident from many parts of Scripture. See Genesis 17:12, Genesis 17:23, Genesis 17:27; Exodus 21:4; Leviticus 22:11. This is the view taken evidently in our version, by Jun and Trem. , Piscator, Gataker, Grotius, Henry, and Scott.

Blarney renders the two first lines thus, —

Is Israel a slave? or if a child of the household, Wherefore is he exposed to spoil?

He considers “the child of the household” to be the son and the heir, as Isaac was, and refers to Galatians 4:7. Horsley coincides with him. But the usus loquendi gives no countenance to this view, while it confirms the other. To refer to filiusfamilias in Latin is to no purpose. “The child of the house,” as the expression literally is, and similar phrases, ever mean in Scripture those who were born slaves in a family. — Ed.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 2

Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD ( Jeremiah 2:1-2 );

Now this is the first message that he has to deliver. As God is calling to His people and it's really a very pathetic thing. It's filled with pathos as God is calling the people much as Jesus did in His message to the church of Ephesus. "Oh, you've got your works. You've got your organizations. You've got your committees. You're functioning but oh, I've got this against you. You've left your first love. Now remember from whence you have fallen." And God is actually calling the people to the very same thing-to remember the first love that they had for God. God said, "I can remember that first love that you had. That excitement that you had in Me where all you could think about all day long was Me. You were singing the praises unto Me. Your life was just filled with joy and ecstasy as you were walking with Me. You were writing little notes to Me. You were singing praises unto Me. You were making up love songs to Me. I remember those days," God said. The days of your first love. And God is recalling it to Jerusalem.

Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of that engagement, when you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown ( Jeremiah 2:2 ).

"When you were willing to follow Me wherever I would lead you. When you were so dedicated and committed that nothing was held back as far as your commitment." "Where do you want me to go, Lord? What do you want me to do? Lord, I'm for it. Let's go." And God said, "I remember those days when you were so devoted, so committed. The love that you had for Me then."

Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD. Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity did your fathers find in me, that they are gone far from me, and walked after emptiness, and become empty? ( Jeremiah 2:3-5 )

"What have I done? What did I do?" And the messages are perennial. There's always a certain group to whom the message still applies. And I feel that God is speaking to many of you tonight, even as He spoke to Israel. Even as Jesus spoke to the church of Ephesus. He said, "Hey, what did I do that you would turn away from Me? I remember the love, the devotion, the commitment that you used to have. What did I do? How did I offend you? Where did you get turned off? How is it that you've turned your heart away from Me? How is it that you don't have that same devotion and dedication anymore? What iniquities did your fathers find in Me that they would turn and follow after these emptinesses until they themselves became empty?"

They no longer say, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through the land of the deserts and pits, through a land of drought, and the shadow of death, through the land that no man passed through, and where no man lived? And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit of it and the goodness thereof; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and you made my heritage an abomination. The priests weren't saying, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law did not know me: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after the things that do not profit ( Jeremiah 2:6-8 ).

Now of course when the priests, the pastors become corrupted, then what can you expect? There are so many men today who are so completely liberal in their theology that they no longer really rank as Christians. But still they occupy pulpits and preach their messages to the attended throngs on Sunday morning. But it is no longer the Gospel that they preach. It is no longer the power of Jesus Christ to save a man from sin and the blood of Jesus Christ that redeemed us from our lost estate. But they are flowery speeches of, "It's nice to be nice so go out and be nice this week and just platitudes. Think right. You are what you think. You become what you think. And so correct your thinking." The whole problem with the world is the way men are thinking. Get rid of your negative thoughts; only think in positive terms and all. And there is no more a preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is tragic. The same condition that God was crying about in Israel.

John Hilton, I was with him this week back in Maryland, Middletown, Maryland. And John met the pastor in Middletown of the United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ. Now you that know John can appreciate it. John was in his cut offs. He introduced himself as the new pastor of Calvary Chapel there in Middletown and he thought, "Well, this fellow's a pastor of the United Church of Christ," so he said, "Well, it's great to meet you and I imagine you've been a pastor there for thirty-five years." He said, "I imagine it's a real thrill to share Jesus Christ with people for thirty-five years." He said I was just trying to make conversation. And this guy turned on him and said, "Young man, you don't know a thing about the gospel, talking about Jesus Christ." Just started berating, yelling at John, getting livid with him. And John said, "I didn't know what I'd said. Just tried to talk to the man about the joy of the Lord and loving Jesus." But what can you expect from the people that are sitting under that man's ministry week after week of a real devotion to God or a love for God or a commitment of their lives to Him? It's all programmed. It's all a formal relationship with God.

So God speaks out against them, "The priests who handle the law, they don't even know me. The pastors have transgressed against Me. The prophets are prophesying by Baal."

Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead ( Jeremiah 2:9 ).

Even so I'm still going to plead with you, God said.

For pass over the isles of Cypress ( Jeremiah 2:10 ),

In other words, go to the west. And Cypress was considered the door to the whole western part of the world. Chittim, Cypress.

and send unto Kedar ( Jeremiah 2:10 ),

Now Kedar was the gateway to the east. So go to the west, go to the east.

and consider diligently, and see if such a thing has ever happened before ( Jeremiah 2:10 ).

Such a thing exists.

Has a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? ( Jeremiah 2:11 )

People don't do that. Their whole religious system is so deeply involved in their cultural aspects that people just don't change their gods, even those that worship false gods.

But God said,

but my people have changed their glory ( Jeremiah 2:11 )

That is, their fellowship with Me.

for that which does not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens ( Jeremiah 2:11-12 ),

The angels looking down with astonishment. And I'm sure that they do that on us many times. The angels, I'm sure, are just shocked when they see us starting to do something. "Oh no, look at that, what's that?" Now you know it. And they see us in our stupid moves. I'm sure they just think, "Oh no, I can't look." And they know the disaster that we're going to fall into because of our own follies.

Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD. For my people have committed two evils; [first] they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters ( Jeremiah 2:12-13 ),

So many times water is used as a symbol of life because water is so essential for life. And the Lord so often takes it from the physical on into the spiritual and He said, "I am the water of life. If any man drinks of Me, he will never thirst again."

Jesus cried to the assembled multitude at the Feast of Tabernacles. "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that drinks of the water that I give, out of his belly there will flow rivers of living water" ( John 7:37-38 ). And the last chapter of the Bible, the last invitation in the Bible, "And he that is athirst, let him come and drink of the water of life freely" ( Revelation 22:17 ). The last invitation to the gospel, for thirsty man to come and to drink of the water of life freely.

Now God said they were forsaken me, the fountain of living water. The source, the spring from which life comes.

and [instead they have] hewed out cisterns ( Jeremiah 2:13 ),

Now, that land being an arid land and not really receiving that much rain, it is necessary over there that they set up exotic type of water systems. The Essenes were able to exist in the very dry, barren area down near the Dead Sea where you get maybe an inch of water a year or an inch and a half, two inches at the most a year. But the way they were able to survive down there was by building these great cisterns. And then when it would rain up in the highlands and these washes and gullies would become full of water, they had their dams and they diverted the flow of the water on into these cisterns that they had carved out of this limestone. If you go to Masada, you'll find that all the way around the side of the hill there in Masada are these huge cisterns that they've carved out, as well as the cisterns up on the top of Masada. These huge caverns that have been carved down of the sandstone and, again, they had a dam in the river. And you can see the little ledges that they have carved where they would bring the water along the ledges and dump into these cisterns. And thus, they would gather just the sparsest amount of rain but they would gather the over, the water that would run off and they would preserve it in these cisterns.

But cisterns were not a source of water, except that they were a reservoir. In other words, they weren't springs; they had no source within them. They had to gather the runoff water. And so at best, a cistern could hold only water that would get stagnant. And God said, "Marvel ye heaven, be astonished. Look at that. They have forsaken Me, the spring, the fountain of living water, in order that they might hew out these cisterns." But then He said, they are

broken cisterns, that can't hold water ( Jeremiah 2:13 ).

Now carrying it over to the spiritual aspect of it, man basically, instinctively is religious. He's got to believe in something. And when men forsake God, they establish a system of thought, a philosophy, concepts, or whatever that they commit themselves to. They become devoted to and they have to believe in it and it requires faith. A creed to be believed, a standard of life, philosophy of life or whatever. So men create their own philosophies, their own rationales for life, their own cisterns. But the thing is all of these cisterns, they can't hold water. They leave you thirsty. They will not satisfy you. The end result is emptiness.

Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled? The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant. Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes [actually cities of Egypt] have broken the crown of thy head. Hast thou not procured this unto thyself ( Jeremiah 2:14-17 ),

Haven't you brought all of this upon yourself? God said.

in that thou hast forsaken the LORD your God? ( Jeremiah 2:17 )

Looking at the calamities that have happened, we bring them upon ourselves. If we'd only been serving the Lord these things wouldn't have happened. Why does it take calamity many times to wake us up?

And now what have you to do with the way of Egypt? ( Jeremiah 2:18 )

They were, of course, looking to an alliance with Egypt to save them from the Babylonians. And an alliance with Assyria, but Assyria was soon to fall to the Babylonians. So an alliance with Assyria wasn't going to be any good. Egypt itself will be taken.

Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts. For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree you are wondering, playing the harlot ( Jeremiah 2:19-20 ).

So the high hills were the places of worship, under the groves that they planted, the green trees. Again, the places of worship as they had turned from God and were committing spiritual adultery or playing the harlot in a spiritual sense.

Yet [when I created, when I planted you] I planted you a noble vine, it was good seed ( Jeremiah 2:21 ):

Abraham.

how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? ( Jeremiah 2:21 )

Again, the figure as Isaiah so graphically illustrates the fifth chapter of the vine that became wild.

For though thou wash thee with nitre ( Jeremiah 2:22 ),

That isn't the saltpeter that we know today, potassium nitrate, but it is a residue that is on the bottom of the lakes when the lakes dry up that they would boil and use in making soap. They'd use it for cleaning.

and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD ( Jeremiah 2:22 ).

You may try to wash yourself outwardly, but it's an inward problem.

How can you say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? See thy way in the valley, know what you have done: for you are as a swift camel traversing her ways; you're like a wild donkey that is used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure ( Jeremiah 2:23-24 );

Now this figure of the wild donkey that God uses is a wild donkey that is in heat, a female donkey in heat. And she's sniffing the wind trying to find out where the male donkeys are in order that she might go and she doesn't care what the male donkey is. She just wants a male donkey. And God uses this as a figure here of Israel who is just turned away from God and just will take anything. Will worship anything. And so susceptible to worship anything. Like the wild donkey snuffing the wind at her pleasure.

in her occasion ( Jeremiah 2:24 )

That is, during the time of her season.

who can take her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her heat they will find her. Withhold thy foot from being unshod ( Jeremiah 2:24-25 ),

In other words, you're running after these things until you wear your feet out.

and thy throat from thirst: but you have said, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, the kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, Saying to a stock [that is, to a piece of wood they've carved into an idol], You are my father; and to a stone [that they've carved out a little figure, You are the one that created me], 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 O god, and save us. But where are your gods that you have made? let them arise, if they can save you in the time of trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah ( Jeremiah 2:25-28 ).

So each city had its own local pagan deity. And as many cities as they had, they had gods. And the tragic thing was God said, "Hey, look, you've turned away from Me. You've turned to these other gods, but in trouble you'll be calling. When your calamity comes you'll be saying, 'Arise, God, save us.'" He said, "But don't bother calling. Go ahead and call unto these gods that you have been worshipping, you have been serving."

It is a tragic thing when God turns a deaf ear to man. When God said to Jeremiah, "Ephraim is given over to her idols. Let her alone. Don't pray anymore for their good, for if you do I'm not going to listen." That's a sad day when God turns a deaf ear to man and God said that day is coming. If you persist in following after strange flesh, strange gods and the worship of these strange gods, there will come a day of trouble and you will call upon God. But He said, "I won't hear, I won't answer." "Many will come in that day," Jesus said, "saying, 'Lord, Lord, open unto us.'" He'll say, "No, I never knew you." Those are heavy words that we need to consider seriously.

Wherefore will ye plead with me? you've all transgressed against me ( Jeremiah 2:29 ),

Why are you going to plead? You've been transgressing against Me.

In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion ( Jeremiah 2:30 ).

God said, "I've dealt with you in vain. Your children are so stubborn and rebellious. And with your own sword you've killed My prophets that I sent to you."

O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? Why do my people say, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee? Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her gown? yet my people have forgotten me days without number ( Jeremiah 2:31-32 ).

Now one thing we've never had and that is a bride that forgets a gown for her wedding. You just don't forget some things. And yet God said you've forgotten Me so many days that you can't number them.

Why do you trim your way to seek love? therefore you have taught the wicked ones thy ways. Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these ( Jeremiah 2:33-34 ).

You're open with it.

Yet you say, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because you say, I have not sinned ( Jeremiah 2:35 ).

You say, "Well, it's not wrong. It doesn't matter. God doesn't care. It's not really sin." And God speaks out against that. He said,

Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them ( Jeremiah 2:36-37 ).

No wonder God said to Jeremiah, "Now don't look at your faces. Don't be afraid of their faces." Boy, he had a heavy, heavy message to lay on these people. He was really laying it on them and not sparing. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Israel was Yahweh’s "firstborn son," not a slave or even a homeborn servant. People paid to purchase slaves for a period of service in Israel, but homeborn servants belonged to their masters as personal possessions (Exodus 21:1-6). [Note: See The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Slave, Slavery," by Kenneth A. Kitchen.] As a firstborn son, Israel enjoyed the special care and provisions of the Lord. Then why had he become a prey to enemies? Enemy rulers, like young lions, had threatened and devoured Israel’s land and destroyed its cities. The lion was a symbol of both Assyria and Babylonia. The Northern Kingdom had gone into captivity in 722 B.C. After that captivity, lions multiplied in the land and became a threat to the people who lived there (cf. 2 Kings 17:25). The Assyrians attacked the Israelites like voracious lions many times.

"Israel, in the metaphor, had not only become a slave, but after a generation or more had become a household servant, one for whom even the memory of freedom had been lost. But the statement of Israel’s slavery in the form of two questions implies that slavery should never have come to pass. Israel, in its covenant, had been granted freedom." [Note: Craigie, p. 32.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Israel’s perverse conduct 2:14-19

Perverse conduct was the consequence of Israel’s apostasy and infidelity, and it led to slavery.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Is Israel a servant?.... That he does not abide in the house, in his own land, but is carried captive, becomes subject to others, and is used as a slave; so the Targum,

"as a servant;''

is he not the Lord's first born? are not the people of Israel called the children of the living God? how come they then to be treated not as children, as free men, but as servants? this cannot be owing to any breach of covenant or promise on God's part, or to the failure of the blessing of national adoption bestowed on them; but to some sin or sins of theirs, which have brought them into this miserable condition:

is he a home born slave? or born in the house, of the handmaid, and so in the power of the master of the family in whose house he was born,

Exodus 21:4 or the sense is, either Israel is a servant,

or a son of the family d, as some render the words; not the former, being not only the son of a free woman, but Jehovah's firstborn; if the latter,

why is he spoiled? why is he delivered up to the spoilers? as the Targum; why should he be given up into the hands of the Babylonians, and become their prey? is it usual for fathers to suffer their children, or those born in their house, to be so used? some reason must be given for it.

d יליד בית "filius familias", Munster.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      14 Is Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave? why is he spoiled?   15 The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.   16 Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head.   17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?   18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?   19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

      The prophet, further to evince the folly of their forsaking God, shows them what mischiefs they had already brought upon themselves by so doing; it had already cost them dear, for to this were owing all the calamities their country was now groaning under, which were but an earnest of more and greater if they repented not. See how they smarted for their folly.

      I. Their neighbours, who were their professed enemies, prevailed against them, and this was owing to their sin. 1. They were enslaved and lost their liberty (Jeremiah 2:14; Jeremiah 2:14): Is Israel a servant? No; Israel is my son, my first-born,Exodus 4:22. They are children; they are heirs. Nay, their extraction is noble; they are the seed of Abraham, God's friend, and of Jacob his chosen. Is he a home-born slave? No; he is not the son of the bond-woman, but of the free. They were designed for dominion, not for servitude. Every thing in their constitution carried about it the marks of freedom and honour. Why then is he spoiled of his liberty? Why is he used as a servant, as a home-born slave? Why does he make himself a slave to his lusts, to his idols, to that which does not profit? Jeremiah 2:11; Jeremiah 2:11. What a thing is this, that such a birthright should be sold for a mess of pottage, such a crown profaned and laid in the dust! Why is he made a slave to the oppressor? God provided that a Hebrew servant should be free the seventh year, and that their slaves should be of the heathen, not of their brethren,Leviticus 25:44; Leviticus 25:46. But, notwithstanding this, the princes made slaves of their subjects, and masters made slaves of their servants (Jeremiah 34:11; Jeremiah 34:11), and so made their country mean and miserable, which God had made happy and honourable. The neighbouring princes and powers broke in upon them, and made some of them slaves even in their own country, and perhaps sold others for slaves into foreign countries. And how came they thus to lose their liberties? For their iniquities they sold themselves,Isaiah 50:1. We may apply this spiritually. Is the soul of man a servant? Is it a home-born slave? No, it is not. Why then is it spoiled? It is because it has sold its own liberty and enslaved itself to divers lusts and passions, which is a lamentation, and should be for a lamentation. 2. They were impoverished and had lost their wealth. God brought them into a plentiful country (Jeremiah 2:7; Jeremiah 2:7), but all their neighbours made a prey of it (Jeremiah 2:15; Jeremiah 2:15): Young lions roar aloud over him and yell; they are a continual terror to him. Sometimes one potent enemy, and sometimes another, and sometimes many in confederacy, fall upon him, and triumph over him. They carry off the fruits of his land, and make that waste, and burn his cities, when first they have plundered them, so that they remain without inhabitant, either because there are no houses to dwell in or because those that should dwell in them are carried into captivity. 3. They were abused, and insulted over, and beaten by every body (Jeremiah 2:16; Jeremiah 2:16): "Even the children of Noph and Tahapanes, despicable people, not famed for military courage nor strength, have broken the crown of thy head, or fed upon it. In all their struggles with thee they have been too hard for thee, and thou hast always come off with a broken head. The principal part of thy country, that which lay next Jerusalem, has been and is a prey to them." How calamitous the condition of Judah had been of late in the reign of Manasseh we find, 2 Chronicles 33:11, and perhaps it had not now much recovered itself. 4. All this was owing to their sin (Jeremiah 2:17; Jeremiah 2:17): Hast thou not procured this unto thyself? By their sinful confederacies with the nations, and especially their conformity to them in their idolatrous customs and usages, they had made themselves very mean and contemptible, as all those do that have made a profession of religion and afterwards throw it off. Nothing now appeared of that which, by their constitution, made them both honourable and formidable, and therefore nobody either respected them or feared them. But this was not all; they had provoked God to give them up into the hands of their enemies, and to make them a scourge to them and give them success against them; and "thus thou hast procured it to thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, revolted from thy allegiance to him and so thrown thyself out of his protection; for protection and allegiance go together." Whatever trouble we are in at any time we may thank ourselves for it; for we bring it upon our own head by our forsaking God: "Thou hast forsaken thy God at the time that he was leading thee by the way" (so it should be read); "Then when he was leading thee on to a happy peace and settlement, and thou wast within a step of it, then thou forsookest him, and so didst put a bar in thy own door."

      II. Their neighbours, that were their pretended friends, deceived them, distressed them, and helped them not, and this also was owing to their sin. 1. They did in vain seek to Egypt and Assyria for help (Jeremiah 2:18; Jeremiah 2:18): "What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt? When thou art under apprehensions of danger thou art running to Egypt for help, Isaiah 30:1; Isaiah 30:2; Isaiah 31:1. Thou art for drinking the waters of Sihor," that is, Nilus. "Thou reliest upon their multitude, and refreshest thy self with the fair promises they make thee. At other times thou art in the way of Assyria, sending or going with all speed to fetch recruits thence, and thinkest to satisfy thyself with the waters of the river Euphrates; what hast thou to do there? What wilt thou get by applying to them? They shall help in vain, shall be broken reeds to thee, and what thou thoughtest would be to thee as a river will be but a broken cistern." 2. This also was because of their sin. The judgment shall unavoidably come upon them which their sin has deserved; and then to what purpose is it to call in help against it? Jeremiah 2:19; Jeremiah 2:19. "Thy own wickedness shall correct thee, and then it is impossible for them to save thee; know and see therefore, upon the whole matter, that it is an evil thing that thou hast forsaken God, for it is that which makes thy enemies enemies indeed, and thy friends friends in vain." Observe here, (1.) The nature of sin; it is forsaking the Lord as our God; it is the soul's alienation from him and aversion to him. Cleaving to sin is leaving God. (2.) The cause of sin; it is because his fear is not in us. It is for want of a good principle in us, particularly for want of the fear of God; this is at the bottom of our apostasy from him; men forsake their duty to God because they stand in no awe of him nor have any dread of his displeasure. (3.) The malignity of sin; it is an evil thing and a bitter. Sin is an evil thing, only evil, an evil that has no good in it, an evil that is the root and cause of all other evil; it is evil indeed, for it is not only the greatest contrariety to the divine nature, but the greatest corruption of the human nature. It is bitter; a state of sin is the gall of bitterness, and every sinful way will be bitterness in the latter end; the wages of it is death, and death is bitter. (4.) The fatal consequences of sin; as it is in itself evil and bitter, so it has a direct tendency to make us miserable: "Thy own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee, not only destroy and ruin thee hereafter, but correct and reprove thee now; they will certainly bring trouble upon thee; and punishment will so inevitably follow the sin that the sin shall itself be said to punish thee. Nay, the punishment, in its kind and circumstances, shall so directly answer to the sin, that thou mayest read the sin in the punishment; and the justice of the punishment shall be so plain that thou shalt not have a word to say for thyself; thy own wickedness shall convince thee and stop thy mouth for ever and thou shalt be forced to own that the Lord is righteous." (5.) The use and application of all this: "Know therefore, and see it, and repent of thy sin, that so the iniquity which is thy correction may not be thy ruin."