God tells Jeremiah to go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 2:1. God says He remembers how it used to be. He remembers their attitude, the kindness of their youth, Jeremiah 2:2. God remembered their affection, Jeremiah 2:2. He remembers how they used to be active.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The youth here refers to their infant political state when they came out of Egypt; they just then began to be a people. Their espousals refer to their receiving the law at Mount Sinai, which they solemnly accepted, Exodus 24:6-8, and which acceptance was compared to a betrothing or espousal. Previously to this they were no people, for they had no constitution nor form of government. When they received the law and an establishment in the Promised Land, then they became a people and a nation.’
He remembers how they used to be holy, Jeremiah 2:3, set apart only for Him. He remembers how she, Israel, was admired. She was the first fruits of His harvest, His increase, Jeremiah 2:3 / Numbers 18:13.
Everyone who tried to offend Israel offended God, Jeremiah 2:3. The descendants of Jacob, all you clans of Israel, are to hear the word of the LORD, Jeremiah 2:4.
In this chapter, God is looking at the past picture of everything. As this chapter reveals, Judah’s reforms under Josiah were external only and didn’t touch the hearts of the people.
They just went on doing what they always did. They delighted in shameful sexual activities. They continued worshipping other so-called gods. ‘The valley’ mentioned later in Jeremiah 2:23 indicates the sacrifice of their children to Molech at the very time of their brazen claim of innocence.
If the reforms under Josiah had been successful, Israel would have repented. If they had returned to the God of their fathers, the Lord would most certainly have postponed their terminal judgment to exile, to captivity.
Here we have the present picture. Before God brings any case before them, He challenges the nation to find fault in Him, Jeremiah 2:5. They are looking for a ‘divorce’, Jeremiah 2:2, but it is because of what they have done and not what God has done.
The gross stupidity and sinfulness of the whole nation are dramatically shown here. They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves, Jeremiah 2:5.
They ran from God to ruin, and they have fallen away from God. They went after worthlessness and became worthless, Jeremiah 2:5. They didn’t remember God who led them through many, many years, Jeremiah 2:6.
The chosen people, who enjoyed the exalted position as the wife of God Himself, who were protected from every enemy, moved into Canaan to replace the pagan inhabitants, Jeremiah 2:6, and became worse than the people that they replaced, Jeremiah 2:6.
God brought them up out of Egypt, Jeremiah 2:6. That is the only way God does lead, up. Through the wilderness, when they were in desolation, Jeremiah 2:6. In the desert, there was death and drought, Jeremiah 2:6.
Faucet and Brown, in their commentary, say the following concerning Jeremiah 2:6.
‘The desert between Mount Sinai and Palestine abounds in chasms and pits, in which beasts of burden may sink down to their knees. `Shadow of death’ refers to the darkness of the caverns amidst the rocky precipices, Deuteronomy 8:15.’
They became profane because they went after profane things, Jeremiah 2:7. These principles will always exist, Romans 1:21-24. All of this should have made them remember the past.
The Prodigal Son learned from his mistakes. But not the Israelites. God had made provision for them. He had given them a plentiful country, fruit and food were good, Jeremiah 2:7, but they polluted it.
The priests were complacent and indifferent, Jeremiah 2:8. The priests have lost the sacrifice for sin. They never looked for the Lord on behalf of the people. The Levites didn’t know God. The scribes have lost the study of Scripture, Jeremiah 2:8. There were no precepts or laws because those who handled the law didn’t know God.
The rulers, the shepherds, were disobedient, Jeremiah 2:8. The shepherds have lost the sustenance and strength to lead the people. The prophets were working for Baal, Jeremiah 2:8, instead of working for the Lord.
The prophets have lost the source of a secret word. They worshipped idols, not God. There was no power from the prophets. Probably it was money and sexual pleasures that took them away from their duties.
They were a stupid group of blind, selfish leaders. With that type of leadership, the people didn’t have a chance. As Jesus stated in Mark 6:34, ‘they were like sheep without a shepherd.’ They all went their own ways and sinned against the Lord, and so, they lost everything. They had everything, now they have nothing.
Here we read of a God acting as the judge who brings charges against His people’s children, Jeremiah 2:9. Even pagan people refused to turn from their gods, but Israel, who had a living God, changed him Jeremiah 2:10-11. God calls upon the heavens to be and shudder with great horror, Jeremiah 2:12.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The conduct of these people was so altogether bad that among all the iniquities of mankind, neither heaven nor earth had witnessed anything so excessively sinful and profligate.’
He says His people have committed two sins: they have forsaken Him who is the spring of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water, Jeremiah 2:13. In other words, they forsook the fountain of living water for cisterns that held no water. They’ve gone from glory and gain when they chose godlessness.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Whereas the pagan nations were guilty of the one evil of worshipping their ‘no-gods,’ Israel was guilty of two evils: 1. forsaking the true God, and 2. going after worthlessness.’
These verses tell us the consequences of their sins. Two questions are asked: Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder? Jeremiah 2:14. They had forsaken a powerful, loving God, and so, Israel finds herself being fed on by others, taxation, etc, Jeremiah 2:15 / Nahum 2:11-13.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following concerning Jeremiah 2:15.
‘These words make it certain that the passage applies to Northern Israel particularly, because since 722 B.C., when Northern Israel had fallen to Assyria, the young lions definitely identifying Assyria, Nahum 2:11-13, had indeed been feeding upon the rains of 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 Northern Israel had already been taken as prey to Assyria. 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.’
She has become prey to everybody, Jeremiah 2:16. They had forsaken a powerful, loving God, Jeremiah 2:17, and two more questions are asked: why go to Egypt to drink water from the Nile? Why go to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates? Jeremiah 2:18.
Scribner, in his commentary, says the following.
‘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.’
They had forsaken a powerful, loving God, but this hasn’t led them to fear or to acknowledge God, Jeremiah 2:19. What a sorry picture of God’s people!
Here we read of the hypocrisy of Judah. She is playing a harlot with every god on the high hills, Jeremiah 2:20, but still, she plays the part of a God follower.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The reference in Jeremiah 2:20 is to the fertility cults of ancient Canaan, whose rites included so-called sacred prostitution and the ritual self-dedication of young women to the god of fertility.’
God shows the proof of her going astray, Jeremiah 2:21. Instead of being true worshippers and of a holy life and conversation, they had become idolaters of the most corrupt and degraded kind, Jeremiah 2:21 / Isaiah 5:1.
She is defiled before God, Jeremiah 2:21-22. What defiled her? They were living a dual life; they wanted Baal, denying God, Jeremiah 2:23. But at the same time, she pretends she is pure and loved by God.
‘The valley’ mentioned in Jeremiah 2:23 indicates the sacrifice of their children to Molech at the very time of their brazen claim of innocence. Anyone who offers God second place is out of contact with him. So, Judah is wandering and wild, Jeremiah 2:23.
She is like a craving donkey in the wilderness, a donkey in heat in the desert, Jeremiah 2:24. She is easy prey for the males who pursue her, Jeremiah 2:24.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The meaning is that although such animals are exceedingly fierce and dangerous when they are in this state, yet, as soon as they have found the male, the desire is satisfied, and they become quiet and governable as before. But it was not so with this idolatrous people; their desires were ever fierce and furious, they were never satiated, one indulgence always leading to another. The brute beasts had only a short season in which this appetite prevailed, but they acted without restraint or limit.’
God pleads with her that she protect her steps, Jeremiah 2:25. His pleas are met with indifference, but it’s a desperate situation. It’s no use, it is hopeless. Israel wanted alliances with surrounding countries so that they would not attack her but she couldn’t see the danger in it, Jeremiah 2:25.
She thinks she is free, but she is wide open to attack, Jeremiah 2:25. Israel thinks that she can make all the noise that she likes and no one will find her but she has got nowhere to go, Jeremiah 2:25.
Here we read that Judah will be in want. She ‘shall be shamed’, Jeremiah 2:26. She will be like a caught thief, Jeremiah 2:26 / Psalm 115:1-9. This is what Israel was looking at. They were as helpless as the idols that they worshipped, Jeremiah 2:27.
They knew their past, Jeremiah 2:28, and so, God pleads with them again and says He has done nothing to them, so why do you complain against me, why do you blame me? Jeremiah 2:29.
They took no correction, and no instruction, Jeremiah 2:30. They could have used the prophets, they could have instructed them, but they didn’t away with them, Jeremiah 2:30 / Matthew 23:37.
He reminds them of the rebellion and asks them to consider the word of the LORD, Jeremiah 2:31. Three more questions are asked: has God been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say they are free to roam, we will come to God no more? Jeremiah 2:31.
Does a young woman forget her jewellery, a bride her wedding ornaments? Jeremiah 2:32. God answers these questions by saying His people have forgotten Him, Jeremiah 2:32.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘These people have not so much attachment to me as young females have to their dress and ornaments. They never forget them and even when arrived at old age, look with pleasure on the dress and ornaments which they have worn in their youth.’
God says they have become efficient, ‘how skilled you are at pursuing love’, Jeremiah 2:33, but efficient at what? Seeking love and sexual pleasure. So efficient have they become in this that they are even teaching evil people their ways.
Feinberg, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Israel could even teach wicked women new methods of seduction and that she used all kinds of artifices to make herself desirable to her lovers and that she cared nothing at all for the love of God.’
As if they are not bad enough, the blood of people is on them, Jeremiah 2:34 / 2 Kings 21:16 / Ezekiel 34:10, but they are not bothered about these things. ‘You say, ‘I am innocent, he is not angry with me.’ Jeremiah 2:35. Some versions say, ‘you plea’ instead of ‘you say.’
The Hebrew word for ‘you say’ means ‘to be judged.’ God will reward their rebellion, Jeremiah 2:35. This is a judgment, not a plea. You will be put to shame by Egypt as you were by Assyria, Jeremiah 2:36-37.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘When they had departed from the Lord, they sought foreign alliances for support.’
1. The Assyrians, 2 Chronicles 28:13-21, but they injured instead of helping them.
2. The Egyptians, but in this they were utterly disappointed, and were ashamed of their confidence.
See Jeremiah 37:7-8, for the fulfilment of this prediction.