Jeremiah · Chapter 2

Verse 1. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me — The discourse begun here is continued to the end of the fifth verse of the next chapter. In it God professes to retain the same kind and merciful disposition toward his people which he had manifested in their earlier days. He expostulates with them on their ungrateful returns for his past goodness, and shows that it was not want of love in him, but their own extreme and unparalleled wickedness, which had already subjected, and would still subject them, to calamities and misery. He concludes with a pathetic address, exhorting them to return to him, with an implied promise of acceptance; and laments the necessity he was under, through their continued obstinacy, of giving them further proofs of his displeasure. See Blaney.

INTRODUCTORY, 1-3.

1. Moreover — In the original simply and, thus showing the close connexion between this first of the prophetic discourses and the preceding account of the prophet’s call.

V. 2. Go-From Anathoth to Jerusalem. Remember-I remind thee of the kindness that was between us. The love-When I entered into covenant with thee at the giving of the law. Wilderness-I took such care of thee, in the howling wilderness, a land that was not sown.

Verse 2. I remember thee] 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.

Wentest after me] Receivedst my law, and wert obedient to it; confiding thyself wholly to my guidance, and being conscientiously attached to my worship. The kindness was that which God showed them by taking them to be his people, not their kindness to him.

Verses 2, 3. Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem — In the most public parts of the city, that all may hear; saying, Thus saith the Lord — I deliver his message, and not my own. I come to you with a commission from God, and speak in God’s name. I remember thee, &c. — I remember my first kindness to thee, when I delivered thee out of Egypt; (see Hosea 2:15;) and espoused thee to myself, to be my own peculiar people. The covenant which God made with the Israelites, at mount Sinai, is commonly represented under the metaphor of a marriage contract. Upon this account idolatry is represented as spiritual adultery, because it is the same degree of unfaithfulness to God which an adulteress is guilty of in respect of her husband. When thou wentest after me in the wilderness — Out of that love and affection that thou didst manifest to me in following my conduct. Or rather, when thou wast led by me through the wilderness, and I took such care both to protect and provide for thee, and that by a train of miracles; in a land that was not sown — Or, as Houbigant reads it, in an uncultivated land. Israel was holiness to the Lord — A people dedicated to God; and the first-fruits of his increase — Or, as the first-fruits. As the first-fruits are holy to God, so was Israel. All that devour, or rather, devoured, him — For it refers to the time past, not to the future; and so the following words: all that were injurious to him; shall, or, did, offend — Were obnoxious and liable to punishment, as if they had devoured holy things, Proverbs 20:25. Evil shall come, rather, came, upon them — Some evil was inflicted on them from the Lord, who was always wont to stand forth for the vindication of his people; as upon the Egyptians, Amalekites, Sihon, Og, the Midianites, Canaanites, and others, as the four last books of Moses abundantly testify.

Verse 2. I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth. God now addressed them, that he might do the same to the children as he had done to the fathers, and rejoice over them as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride in the day of her espousals. Base must be the heart that could reject so gracious a message, and from a prophet so young. But the Israelites in those days, as Judah in later times, made ungrateful returns for favours so divine.

2. In the ears of Jerusalem — The very headquarters of the theocracy. But it by no means follows, as has been too hastily assumed, that the prophet at that time left Anathoth to reside at Jerusalem, or that the latter was exclusively the sphere of his labours. The contrary seems to be implied in Jeremiah 11:21-23. Remember thee — The very words contain an implication of a lost joy — that the old love of the people had given place to alienation and infidelity. “Thee” — better, as the margin, for thy sake; literally, for thee, on thy account; an expression which is elsewhere used, sometimes in a good sense, to reward, as in Nehemiah 5:19; Psalms 106:45 Psalm

106:45, etc.; and also in a bad sense, to repay with evil, as in Nehemiah 6:14; Psalm 79:8, etc. Here the remembrance is clearly used in the former sense. The kindness of thy youth, may mean the love of God for Israel, or the love of Israel for God, but the latter is evidently the sense demanded by the connexion. The same thought is carried forward into more novel and emphatic expression in the love of thine espousals; thy courtship-time, more fully described as the time of the sojourning in the wilderness. As the wife leaves her old associations and cleaves to her husband, so Israel forsook all and followed God into the parched and barren “wilderness.” God remembers tenderly this expression of loyal love, even as a husband remembers the pure and trustful days of an alienated or fallen wife. In spite of her murmurings and rebellions, her apostasy and idolatry, God still recognises Israel as the nation which he admitted to special covenant with himself, and therefore can never be to him as any other people.

V. 3. Holiness-A people dedicated to God. As-As the first fruits were holy to God, so was Israel. Devour-All that were injurious to him. Offend-Were liable to punishment. Evil-Evil was inflicted on them from the Lord, as upon the Egyptians, Amalekites, Midianites, Canaanites.

Verse 3. Israel was holiness unto the Lord] Fully consecrated to his service.

The first fruits of his increase] They were as wholly the Lord’s, as the first fruits were the property of the priests according to the law, Numbers 18:13. These the priests alone had a right to devote to their own use.

All that devour him shall offend] As they were betrothed to the Lord, they were considered his especial property; they therefore who injured them were considered as laying violent hands on the property of God. They who persecute God’s children have a grievous burden to bear, an awful account to give.

Verses 2, 3. Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem — In the most public parts of the city, that all may hear; saying, Thus saith the Lord — I deliver his message, and not my own. I come to you with a commission from God, and speak in God’s name. I remember thee, &c. — I remember my first kindness to thee, when I delivered thee out of Egypt; (see Hosea 2:15;) and espoused thee to myself, to be my own peculiar people. The covenant which God made with the Israelites, at mount Sinai, is commonly represented under the metaphor of a marriage contract. Upon this account idolatry is represented as spiritual adultery, because it is the same degree of unfaithfulness to God which an adulteress is guilty of in respect of her husband. When thou wentest after me in the wilderness — Out of that love and affection that thou didst manifest to me in following my conduct. Or rather, when thou wast led by me through the wilderness, and I took such care both to protect and provide for thee, and that by a train of miracles; in a land that was not sown — Or, as Houbigant reads it, in an uncultivated land. Israel was holiness to the Lord — A people dedicated to God; and the first-fruits of his increase — Or, as the first-fruits. As the first-fruits are holy to God, so was Israel. All that devour, or rather, devoured, him — For it refers to the time past, not to the future; and so the following words: all that were injurious to him; shall, or, did, offend — Were obnoxious and liable to punishment, as if they had devoured holy things, Proverbs 20:25. Evil shall come, rather, came, upon them — Some evil was inflicted on them from the Lord, who was always wont to stand forth for the vindication of his people; as upon the Egyptians, Amalekites, Sihon, Og, the Midianites, Canaanites, and others, as the four last books of Moses abundantly testify.

3. Holiness unto the Lord — Their national motto, worn by the highpriest on his breastplate. Israel was the sanctuary of the nations; and those who should lay violent hands on her would bring upon themselves Jehovah’s curse as certainly as they who defile the sanctuary or seize the gift from the consecrated altar. “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.” Firstfruits — God’s portion of the harvest — a specimen and a pledge of the general ingathering. And so if Israel is the “firstfruits,” there is in this an implication that all the nations shall ultimately be the Lord’s. So are Christians the firstfruits of a redeemed universe. Romans 8:23.

Verses 4-6. Hear, O house of Jacob, &c. — The prophet here directs his discourse to the twelve tribes, as he does afterward, Jeremiah 3:14, &c. For the captivity of the ten tribes was not so total but that there were some Israelites still remaining in the land among the Assyrian colonists. What iniquity have your fathers found in me? — That is, what injustice or unfaithfulness in not performing my part of the Sinai covenant? That they are gone far from me — Far from the love and fear of me, and from obedience to my laws; far from my worship and service; and have walked after vanity — Have followed after vain idols, incapable of affording them either protection or help. And are become vain — In their imaginations, Romans 1:21, 22; fools, as senseless as the stocks or stones, of which they made their idols. Neither said they, Where is the Lord? — They made no inquiry after him, took no thought about their duty to him, nor expressed any desire to recover his favour; that brought us up out of the land of Egypt? — Working such a deliverance for us as had never been wrought for any people. That led us through the wilderness — Conducting and sustaining our whole nation in that barren desert for the space of forty years, by almost incessant miracles; through a land of deserts and pits — Through desolate and dangerous places; through a land of drought — Where we had no water but by a miracle; and of the shadow of death — Houbigant renders it, where death threatened us. A barren and deadly land, where no man could live; bringing forth nothing that could support life, and therefore where nothing but death could be expected; and, besides, possessed by great numbers of venomous and destructive creatures, such as scorpions, serpents, &c., and where we were exposed to the attacks of many enemies. A land that no man passed through — As having in it no accommodation for travellers, much less for habitation.

JEHOVAH’S FAITHFULNESS AND ISRAEL’S APOSTASY, 4-13.

4. Hear… O house of Jacob — God’s reproof for their ungrateful and wicked apostasy is directed against the whole nation. All the families of the house of Israel — Though the kingdoms of Judah and Israel were separated and alienated from each other, they are joined in a direful unity of apostasy and ruin.

V. 5. Vanity-Idols. Vain-Fools; senseless as the stocks and stones that they made their idols of.

Verse 5. What iniquity have your fathers found in me] Have they ever discovered any thing cruel, unjust, oppressive in my laws? Any thing unkind or tyrannical in my government? Why then have they become idolaters?

Verses 4-6. Hear, O house of Jacob, &c. — The prophet here directs his discourse to the twelve tribes, as he does afterward, Jeremiah 3:14, &c. For the captivity of the ten tribes was not so total but that there were some Israelites still remaining in the land among the Assyrian colonists. What iniquity have your fathers found in me? — That is, what injustice or unfaithfulness in not performing my part of the Sinai covenant? That they are gone far from me — Far from the love and fear of me, and from obedience to my laws; far from my worship and service; and have walked after vanity — Have followed after vain idols, incapable of affording them either protection or help. And are become vain — In their imaginations, Romans 1:21, 22; fools, as senseless as the stocks or stones, of which they made their idols. Neither said they, Where is the Lord? — They made no inquiry after him, took no thought about their duty to him, nor expressed any desire to recover his favour; that brought us up out of the land of Egypt? — Working such a deliverance for us as had never been wrought for any people. That led us through the wilderness — Conducting and sustaining our whole nation in that barren desert for the space of forty years, by almost incessant miracles; through a land of deserts and pits — Through desolate and dangerous places; through a land of drought — Where we had no water but by a miracle; and of the shadow of death — Houbigant renders it, where death threatened us. A barren and deadly land, where no man could live; bringing forth nothing that could support life, and therefore where nothing but death could be expected; and, besides, possessed by great numbers of venomous and destructive creatures, such as scorpions, serpents, &c., and where we were exposed to the attacks of many enemies. A land that no man passed through — As having in it no accommodation for travellers, much less for habitation.

5. Have walked after vanity — The original of “vanity” is, in the historical books, used in the sense of idols or false gods, as in Deuteronomy 32:21; 1 Kings 16:13, 26, etc.; but in Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and some of the Psalms, it is used in a more general or abstract sense. In this book it is used in its earlier import, and this is one of many indications of the affinity of this book in thought and language with the formative period of Hebrew life. The precise words of this text occur in 2 Kings 17:15, where they are applied to the ten tribes. They involve the universally recognised law that the worshipper will be as the worshipped. The deity enshrined in the soul will, of necessity, be the dominant force in the life and character. God will be first of all — Creator in his own realm.

V. 6. Neither-They never concerned themselves about what God had done for them, which should have engaged them to cleave to him. Of drought-Where they had no water but by miracle. Death-Bringing forth nothing that might support life, therefore nothing but death could be expected; and besides, yielding so many venomous creatures, as many enemies that they went in continual danger of. No man dwelt-As having in it no accommodation for travellers, much less for habitation.

Verse 6. Through the wilderness] Egypt was the house of their bondage: the desert through which they passed after they came out of Egypt, was a place where the means of life were not to be found; where no one family could subsist, much less a company of 600,000 men. God mentions these things to show that it was by the bounty of an especial providence that they were fed and preserved alive. Previously to this, it was a land through which no man passed, and in which no man dwelt. And why? because it did not produce the means of life; it was the shadow of death in its appearance, and the grave to those who committed themselves to it.

Verses 4-6. Hear, O house of Jacob, &c. — The prophet here directs his discourse to the twelve tribes, as he does afterward, Jeremiah 3:14, &c. For the captivity of the ten tribes was not so total but that there were some Israelites still remaining in the land among the Assyrian colonists. What iniquity have your fathers found in me? — That is, what injustice or unfaithfulness in not performing my part of the Sinai covenant? That they are gone far from me — Far from the love and fear of me, and from obedience to my laws; far from my worship and service; and have walked after vanity — Have followed after vain idols, incapable of affording them either protection or help. And are become vain — In their imaginations, Romans 1:21, 22; fools, as senseless as the stocks or stones, of which they made their idols. Neither said they, Where is the Lord? — They made no inquiry after him, took no thought about their duty to him, nor expressed any desire to recover his favour; that brought us up out of the land of Egypt? — Working such a deliverance for us as had never been wrought for any people. That led us through the wilderness — Conducting and sustaining our whole nation in that barren desert for the space of forty years, by almost incessant miracles; through a land of deserts and pits — Through desolate and dangerous places; through a land of drought — Where we had no water but by a miracle; and of the shadow of death — Houbigant renders it, where death threatened us. A barren and deadly land, where no man could live; bringing forth nothing that could support life, and therefore where nothing but death could be expected; and, besides, possessed by great numbers of venomous and destructive creatures, such as scorpions, serpents, &c., and where we were exposed to the attacks of many enemies. A land that no man passed through — As having in it no accommodation for travellers, much less for habitation.

Ver. 6. Neither said they, where is the Lord that—led us through—a land of deserts and of pits? hjwvw veshuchah designates glens, gills, ravines, as well as pits, deep places, gloomy like the shadow of death, and where the sun cannot shine: a country without roads, a waste howling wilderness. Psalm 23:4.

6. Neither said they — God is not in all their thoughts — there is total forgetfulness of him. That led us… through a land of deserts, etc. — This description of the desert of the Exodus is graphic and truthful, and may be taken as a fitting illustration of the verisimilitude of Scripture. It is described as a wilderness, that is, a region comparatively uninhabited; a land of deserts, a region of waste country;… of pits,… of drought,… of the shadow of death, without inhabitant and without traveller! (See Robinson, Stanley, and especially PALMER’S Desert of the Exodus.)

V. 7. My land-Consecrated to my name; by your idols and many other abominations.

Verse 7. And I brought you into a plentiful country] The land of Canaan.

My land] The particular property of God, which he gave to them as an inheritance, they being his peculiar people.

Verses 7, 8. And I brought you into a plentiful country — Hebrew, into the land of Carmel. Carmel was so fertile a part of Judea, that the word from thence came to be used to express a fruitful place in general. Canaan was as one great, fruitful field, Deuteronomy 8:7. When ye entered, ye defiled my land — By your sins, especially by your idolatries, Psalm 106:38; that sin being greatly aggravated by this circumstance, that the people thereby renounced God’s authority in that very land into which he had brought them, by a train of unparalleled wonders, and the propriety of which he had reserved to himself, though he had graciously bestowed upon them the use of it: see Leviticus 25:23. The priests said not, Where is the Lord? — That race of men, whom I exalted to the honourable office of ministering to me in holy things, neither inquired after me, nor cultivated any acquaintance or intercourse with me. And they that handle the law knew me not — They, whom I appointed to the important office of instructing others in the knowledge of me and their duty, (see Malachi 7:6, 7,) were ignorant or regardless of it themselves. And this was the principal cause of that degeneracy of manners which prevailed among the people. The pastors also transgressed against me — By pastors here, distinguished from the priests and prophets, are meant the kings, princes, and chiefs of the nation; for the word pastor is used in the prophets for a magistrate, as well as for a teacher of the people, and ecclesiastical governor. And the prophets prophesied by Baal — Gave forth prophecies in the name of Baal, with a view to recommend him as a god. Or, they that should have taught the people the true worship of God, were themselves worshippers of, and advocates for, Baal, and drew others from God to the worship of that idol; and walked after things that do not profit — Namely, after idols; things that could not possibly do them any service, but were sure to bring ruin upon them. It appears from hence, that all orders and degrees of men in authority had contributed to that general corruption of manners, whereof Jeremiah complains.

7. I brought you into a plentiful country — The original is Carmel, (lmrk) garden land, as opposed to the “wilderness.” The fruits of this “Carmel” are enumerated in Deuteronomy 8:7-9; “a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness; thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.” In order rightly to appreciate this description we must bear in mind that its background is the peninsula of Sinai and the South Country, and also that the contrast was intensified and heightened by the hardships and privations of the forty years’ wandering in this region of silence and desolation. As the traveller of to-day emerges from the wilderness of the wandering into the land of promise he exchanges gloom, sterility, solitude, and monotony for beauty, variety, and the exhilaration of life. Ye defiled my land — It should have been, in all its length and breadth, a sanctuary; ye have made it an abomination. Its high hills have become altars of lust; its green trees coverts of uncleanness; and even its sacred temple is filled with pollutions.

V. 8. They-They that should have taught others, knew as little as they, or regarded as little, who are said here to handle the law, the priests and Levites, who were the ordinary teachers of the law. Pastors-Either teachers, or kings and princes. Prophets-They that should have taught the people the true worship of God, were themselves worshippers of Baal.

Verse 8. They that handle the law] yvptw vethophe shey, they that draw out the law; they whose office it is to explain it, draw out its spiritual meanings, and show to what its testimonies refer.

The pastors also] Kings, political and civil rulers.

Prophesied by Baal] Became his prophets, and were inspired with the words of lying spirits.

Verses 7, 8. And I brought you into a plentiful country — Hebrew, into the land of Carmel. Carmel was so fertile a part of Judea, that the word from thence came to be used to express a fruitful place in general. Canaan was as one great, fruitful field, Deuteronomy 8:7. When ye entered, ye defiled my land — By your sins, especially by your idolatries, Psalm 106:38; that sin being greatly aggravated by this circumstance, that the people thereby renounced God’s authority in that very land into which he had brought them, by a train of unparalleled wonders, and the propriety of which he had reserved to himself, though he had graciously bestowed upon them the use of it: see Leviticus 25:23. The priests said not, Where is the Lord? — That race of men, whom I exalted to the honourable office of ministering to me in holy things, neither inquired after me, nor cultivated any acquaintance or intercourse with me. And they that handle the law knew me not — They, whom I appointed to the important office of instructing others in the knowledge of me and their duty, (see Malachi 7:6, 7,) were ignorant or regardless of it themselves. And this was the principal cause of that degeneracy of manners which prevailed among the people. The pastors also transgressed against me — By pastors here, distinguished from the priests and prophets, are meant the kings, princes, and chiefs of the nation; for the word pastor is used in the prophets for a magistrate, as well as for a teacher of the people, and ecclesiastical governor. And the prophets prophesied by Baal — Gave forth prophecies in the name of Baal, with a view to recommend him as a god. Or, they that should have taught the people the true worship of God, were themselves worshippers of, and advocates for, Baal, and drew others from God to the worship of that idol; and walked after things that do not profit — Namely, after idols; things that could not possibly do them any service, but were sure to bring ruin upon them. It appears from hence, that all orders and degrees of men in authority had contributed to that general corruption of manners, whereof Jeremiah complains.

8. This verse is doubly climacteric. Its subjects are —

1. Priests in general — The priests.

2. Teaching priests — They that handle the law.

3. Kings and princes — Pastors.

4. Inspired men — Prophets.

Its predicates are —

1. Indifference — Said not, Where is the Lord?

2. Ignorance — Knew me not.

3. Rebellion — Transgressed against me.

4. Sacrilege — Prophesied by Baal.

Note, also, the adjustment of predicate to subject. The prophet charges the priests, whose office was to serve in holy things and thus to quicken the religious sensibilities of the people, with being themselves insensible. He charges those who should be teachers, with ignorance. He charges those selected to wield and exercise authority, with being themselves rebels. And finally, he charges those who profess to speak under the inspiration of God with going to the extreme of becoming prophets of Baal. Never was a more fearful indictment brought against the leaders of the people.

V. 9. Plead-By his judgments, and by his prophets, as he did with their fathers, that they may be left without excuse. Children-God often visits the iniquities of the parents upon the children, when they imitate their parents.

Verse 9. I will yet plead with you] byra arib, I will maintain my process, vindicate my own conduct, and prove the wickedness of yours.

Verse 9. Wherefore I will yet plead with you — By my prophets, and by my judgments, as I pleaded with your fathers, that you may be left without excuse. And with your children’s children will I plead — According to the tenor of the law, wherein God threatens to visit the sins, particularly the sin of idolatry, of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation.

Ver. 9. I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord; concerning the crime, the grievous crime and blindness of idolatry. I will yet plead with your children, and argue the question at large, if it can be adduced why you of all the nations of the earth should be the only people which have changed their gods? Is there any such thing in the more enlightened Isles of Chittim, and in all the nations of the Greeks, of whom you borrow arts and sciences? What benefit has this change of gods brought to your country? In the days of David, and other upright kings, you were happy; now the fine promises of Baal have superinduced the worst of miseries.

9. Plead — Better. contend. It is the term used of the plaintiff making accusation in court. It covers all means, corrective or punitive, which would tend to establish the right. Children’s children — The fathers are mentioned in verse 5, the present generation in verses 7 and 9, and here, their descendants. In all, a fundamental moral unity is assumed. They are one in sin, and so will be one in punishment.

V. 10. Of Chittim-All the isles in the Mediterranean sea, with the neighbouring coasts; for the Hebrews call all people, that separated from them by the sea, islanders, because they came to them by shipping. Kedar-Arabia that lay east-south-east of Judea, as Chittim did more north or north-west; go from north to south, east to west, and make the experiment; look to Chittim the most civilized, or Kedar the most barbarous, yet neither have changed their gods.

Verse 10. The isles of Chittim] This is the island of Cyprus, according to Josephus. In 1 Maccabees, 1Mac 8:5, it is taken for Macedonia. Besides this, how they (the Romans) had discomfited in battle Philip and Perseus, king of the Chittims. Chittim was the grandson of Japhet; and Bochart has made it appear that the countries inhabited by the Chittim were Italy and the adjacent provinces of Europe, lying along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea; and probably this is the prophet’s meaning. Send unto Kedar] The name of an Arabian tribe. See if nations either near or remote, cultivated or stupid, have acted with such fickleness and ingratitude as you have done! They have retained their gods to whom they had no obligation; ye have abandoned your God, to whom ye owe your life, breath, and all things!

Verses 10, 11. For pass over the isles of Chittim — The neighbouring isles and peninsulas, which lay west of Judea, meaning especially the countries of Greece and Macedonia, and the islands and continents of Europe in general; the countries that were more polite and learned. And send unto Kedar — To Arabia, and the countries to the east and south, as the others lay to the west and north: send to them that are more rude and barbarous. And consider diligently — As a matter well worth your attention; and see if there be such a thing — As if he had said, If you search from east to west, from south to north, you will find no instance of apostacy from the objects of their worship like this of yours. Hath a nation changed their gods? — The gods worshipped by their forefathers? or shown a disposition to change them? Which are yet no gods? — But mere imaginary beings, or images made by men’s hands, or the creatures of the living and true God. But my people have changed their glory, have relinquished the worship of the infinite and eternal Jehovah, their Creator, Preserver, Benefactor, Redeemer, Friend, and Father, to whom they owe their all, and whose worship and service, favour and protection, were their greatest glory. For that which doth not profit — For those idols which never did, nor can, do them any good; that have no essence or power; and of which they must necessarily be ashamed.

10. Isles of Chittim — The islands and coastlands of the west, as Kedar is representative of the east. The plain meaning is, that the sin of Israel is unparalleled. Similar is the terrible indictment of Christ in Matthew 11:20-24.

V. 11. Their glory-The true God, who was their glory; and who always did them good, giving them cause to glory in him.

Verses 10, 11. For pass over the isles of Chittim — The neighbouring isles and peninsulas, which lay west of Judea, meaning especially the countries of Greece and Macedonia, and the islands and continents of Europe in general; the countries that were more polite and learned. And send unto Kedar — To Arabia, and the countries to the east and south, as the others lay to the west and north: send to them that are more rude and barbarous. And consider diligently — As a matter well worth your attention; and see if there be such a thing — As if he had said, If you search from east to west, from south to north, you will find no instance of apostacy from the objects of their worship like this of yours. Hath a nation changed their gods? — The gods worshipped by their forefathers? or shown a disposition to change them? Which are yet no gods? — But mere imaginary beings, or images made by men’s hands, or the creatures of the living and true God. But my people have changed their glory, have relinquished the worship of the infinite and eternal Jehovah, their Creator, Preserver, Benefactor, Redeemer, Friend, and Father, to whom they owe their all, and whose worship and service, favour and protection, were their greatest glory. For that which doth not profit — For those idols which never did, nor can, do them any good; that have no essence or power; and of which they must necessarily be ashamed.

11. Changed — rymyh. It is best to regard this as from an ayin-vav root, and not as identical in its root with “boast yourselves,” in Isaiah 61:1. Gods — Our Authorized Version misses the full force of the original. Hath a nation changed… gods, which are yet no gods — What so extraordinary as to change gods? And yet the matter is not fairly illustrated by an appeal to experience, for the gods of the nations are not gods. The prophet opposes to glory not its exact antithesis, shame, but that which doth not profit, perhaps as pointing the contrast more sharply.

V. 12. O ye heavens-A pathetical expression, intimating that it is such a thing, that the very inanimate creatures, could they be sensible of it, would be astonished. Be desolate-Lose your brightness, as the sun seemed to do when Christ suffered.

Verse 12. Be astonished, O ye heavens] Or, the heavens are astonished. The original will admit either sense. The conduct of this people was so altogether bad, that among all the iniquities of mankind, neither heaven nor earth had witnessed any thing so excessively sinful and profligate.

Verses 12, 13. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this — A pathetical expression, in the poetic style, signifying that the wickedness of these apostates from God was so great, that the very inanimate creatures, could they be sensible of it, might well stand amazed at it: that the heavens might be affrighted to behold it, and the celestial bodies withdraw their light and influences from that part of the world where such enormities were practised. “Such rhetorical apostrophes import the unusualness, and likewise the indignity, of the things spoken of; implying them to be such that, if men take no notice of them, the elements themselves will testify against such practices.” — Lowth. See note on Isaiah 1:2. For my people have committed two evils — Two remarkable evils, ingratitude and folly: they have acted contrary both to their duty and to their interest; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters — In whom they had an abundant and constant supply of all that comfort and relief they stood in need of, and had it freely; and hewed them out cisterns — Have had recourse to creatures, and to schemes of their own devising; to gods of their own making, for relief in their necessities, for deliverance out of, or support and comfort in, their troubles. Broken cisterns — False at the bottom, and leaky, so that they can hold no water — They have acted as foolishly as persons would do who should reject the waters of a clear, perpetual spring, to drink rain-water, received in cisterns, which could neither be so sweet nor so wholesome as that of pure springs; and not only so, but should betake themselves to such cisterns as, being broken, could hold no water, or none for any length of time, and therefore could give them no assurance of finding any upon having recourse to them. God may, indeed, be justly compared to a perpetual spring, as he is the fountain or origin of all good things; the author and giver of all blessings, both spiritual and temporal, from whom all good gifts are derived, as from an inexhaustible source; see Psalm 36:9. “And wherever else men place their happiness, whether in false religions, or in the uncertain comforts of worldly blessings, they will find themselves as wretchedly disappointed as those who expect to find water in broken cisterns or conduits. Hereby is strongly set forth the folly of the Jews in renouncing the worship of the true God, and their dependance upon him, and betaking themselves to the worship of idols, and the alliance and protection of idolaters.” — Lowth.

12. Be astonished, O ye heavens — Still further to suggest that which is essentially unspeakable, the prophet employs an apostrophe. He calls upon the “heavens” to “be astonished” at the fearfulness of this crime. Not (as Keil) because here the glory of God is most reflected, nor (as Nagelsbach) because “they can behold and compare all that takes place;” but because they are most beyond the reach of earthly changes, and hence, if they express astonishment, it is the most emphatic expression possible. The terms employed show the struggle of the writer for emphasis. Be astonished,… be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate.

V. 13. Of living waters-A metaphor taken from springs, called living, because they never cease, or intermit; such had God’s care and kindness been over them. Cisterns-Either their idols, which are empty vain things, that never answer expectation, or the Assyrians, and Egyptians. Indeed all other supports, that are trusted to besides God, are but broken vessels.

Verse 13. Two evils] First, they forsook God, the Fountain of life, light, prosperity, and happiness. Secondly, they hewed out broken cisterns; they joined themselves to idols, from whom they could receive neither temporal nor spiritual good! Their conduct was the excess of folly and blindness. What we call here broken cisterns, means more properly such vessels as were ill made, not staunch, ill put together, so that the water leaked through them.

Verses 12, 13. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this — A pathetical expression, in the poetic style, signifying that the wickedness of these apostates from God was so great, that the very inanimate creatures, could they be sensible of it, might well stand amazed at it: that the heavens might be affrighted to behold it, and the celestial bodies withdraw their light and influences from that part of the world where such enormities were practised. “Such rhetorical apostrophes import the unusualness, and likewise the indignity, of the things spoken of; implying them to be such that, if men take no notice of them, the elements themselves will testify against such practices.” — Lowth. See note on Isaiah 1:2. For my people have committed two evils — Two remarkable evils, ingratitude and folly: they have acted contrary both to their duty and to their interest; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters — In whom they had an abundant and constant supply of all that comfort and relief they stood in need of, and had it freely; and hewed them out cisterns — Have had recourse to creatures, and to schemes of their own devising; to gods of their own making, for relief in their necessities, for deliverance out of, or support and comfort in, their troubles. Broken cisterns — False at the bottom, and leaky, so that they can hold no water — They have acted as foolishly as persons would do who should reject the waters of a clear, perpetual spring, to drink rain-water, received in cisterns, which could neither be so sweet nor so wholesome as that of pure springs; and not only so, but should betake themselves to such cisterns as, being broken, could hold no water, or none for any length of time, and therefore could give them no assurance of finding any upon having recourse to them. God may, indeed, be justly compared to a perpetual spring, as he is the fountain or origin of all good things; the author and giver of all blessings, both spiritual and temporal, from whom all good gifts are derived, as from an inexhaustible source; see Psalm 36:9. “And wherever else men place their happiness, whether in false religions, or in the uncertain comforts of worldly blessings, they will find themselves as wretchedly disappointed as those who expect to find water in broken cisterns or conduits. Hereby is strongly set forth the folly of the Jews in renouncing the worship of the true God, and their dependance upon him, and betaking themselves to the worship of idols, and the alliance and protection of idolaters.” — Lowth.

Ver. 13. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. The figures here are beautiful. Fountains of water are the joy of citizens, around which villages and towns are built. God is a fountain of joy to his people, and a well of salvation; while the idols of the age, pleasure, music, feasting and dancing are but broken cisterns to the conscious mind, which seeks for happiness not dependent on created good.

13. My people have committed two evils — As against the one sin of the heathen. A twofold contrast is implied in the language used: 1) Between a living fountain and a cistern; 2) Between a suitable cistern and a worthless one.

V. 14. A slave-Slave is here added to home-born to express the baseness of his service, because the master had power to make those slaves who were born of slaves in his house. Why-Why is he thus tyrannized over, as if strangers had the same right over him as owners over their slaves?

Verse 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.

Verse 14. Is Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave? — Is he of a condition to be delivered as a prey to his enemies? Is he of those people whom God regards as slaves and strangers? These interrogations imply, and have the force of, a negative. As if he had said, Is not Israel the son, the chosen and peculiar people of God? Why then hath the Lord treated him as a common slave, and given him up into the power of tyrannical lords and masters? The sense is, God redeemed Israel from the bondage of Egypt, and adopted him to be his son, Exodus 4:22. So that the servitude he now undergoes, and his being made a prey to so many foreign enemies, cannot be owing to his birth, or primitive condition, but must be imputed to his sins, of which his slavery is the consequence. Compare Isaiah 50:1, and 52:3.

ISRAEL’S PUNISHMENT, 14-19.

14. Is Israel a servant… a home-born — Some, as Nagelsbach, make the interrogator in this place to be the prophet, but it is better to regard this as a continuation of the word of God. “Servant” and “homeborn” (slave) are used in a bad sense, and not, as R. Payne Smith and others hold, to call attention to his membership in Jehovah’s family, though in a low sense, which would involve a claim to protection and safety. The meaning is, Is Israel a servant? If not, why is he treated as though he were? Why is he spoiled?

V. 15. Lions-Understand the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians, called lions from their fierceness, and young from their strength. Yelled-Noting the terrible voice that the lion puts forth, either in seizing the prey, or devouring it.

Verse 15. The young lions roared upon him] The Assyrians, who have sacked and destroyed the kingdom of Israel, with a fierceness like that of pouncing upon their prey.

Verses 15, 16. The young lions roared upon them — Lions, in the figurative style of prophecy, denote powerful princes and conquerors; see Jeremiah 50:17; where the king of Assyria is mentioned as one of those lions which had devoured him, and Nebuchadnezzar as another. If we consider the prophet as speaking here of what was past, by the young lions he probably means the kings of Syria and Assyria, who laid the country waste, not only of the ten tribes, but also Judah and Benjamin; and carried the Israelites into captivity; see Isaiah 1:7. But the words µyrpk wgavy are more properly rendered, The young lions shall roar upon him; and so may be understood of Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar, whose successive hostilities against the kingdom of Judah were foreseen by the prophet, and are probably here foretold. It is true, the following verbs of this verse are in the past time, but the context favours interpreting them of the future. Nor is it unusual for the prophets to speak of events yet to come, and foreseen by them, as if they had been already accomplished. They made his land waste, his cities are burned, &c. — That Jeremiah speaks here of the future, and not of the past, appears from this: that in the time of Josiah, when this prophecy was uttered, the country was not in the condition here described; the land had not been reduced to desolation, nor the cities burned with fire; but the determination of the Lord was past, and the prophet clearly foresaw that these calamities would come. Also the children of Noph, &c., have broken the crown of thy head — By the children of Noph and Tahapanes are meant the Egyptians, these being the two principal cities of Egypt, called by heathen writers Memphis and Taphanes, or Daphnæ Pelusicæ. “This no doubt alludes,” says Blaney, “to the severe blow which the nation received in a capital part, when the good King Josiah was defeated by the Egyptians, and slain in battle; or when, afterward, upon the deposition of Jehoahaz, the glory of the monarchy was debased, by its being changed into a tributary and dependant kingdom, 2 Kings 23:29-34, and 2 Chronicles 35:20.

Ver. 15. The young lions, the princes of Chaldea, have roared upon him, as on their prey.

15. Lions roared upon him — “Lions” stand for enemies thirsting for plunder. Micah 5:8; Isaiah 5:29, etc. They “roared,” not “upon,” but against, him; a symbolical statement of the calamities already experienced as well as of those yet in reserve. The last sentence in the verse sets forth in plain language the present condition of the kingdom of Israel. But while this is the foreground of the picture, the swiftly-coming calamities of Judah are also present in prophetic vision.

V. 16. Noph, &c.-Two of the kings of Egypt’s principal seats. Noph was sometimes called Memphis, now Cairo. Tahapanes probably took its name from Taphanes queen of Egypt, 1 Kings 11:19, called also Hanes: Isaiah 30:4. The inhabitants of these cities are called here their children.

Verse 16. The children of Noph and Tahapanes] Noph and Tahapanes were two cities of Egypt, otherwise called Memphis and Daphni. It is well known that the good king was defeated by the Egyptians, and slain in battle. Thus was the crown of Judah’s head broken.

Verses 15, 16. The young lions roared upon them — Lions, in the figurative style of prophecy, denote powerful princes and conquerors; see Jeremiah 50:17; where the king of Assyria is mentioned as one of those lions which had devoured him, and Nebuchadnezzar as another. If we consider the prophet as speaking here of what was past, by the young lions he probably means the kings of Syria and Assyria, who laid the country waste, not only of the ten tribes, but also Judah and Benjamin; and carried the Israelites into captivity; see Isaiah 1:7. But the words µyrpk wgavy are more properly rendered, The young lions shall roar upon him; and so may be understood of Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar, whose successive hostilities against the kingdom of Judah were foreseen by the prophet, and are probably here foretold. It is true, the following verbs of this verse are in the past time, but the context favours interpreting them of the future. Nor is it unusual for the prophets to speak of events yet to come, and foreseen by them, as if they had been already accomplished. They made his land waste, his cities are burned, &c. — That Jeremiah speaks here of the future, and not of the past, appears from this: that in the time of Josiah, when this prophecy was uttered, the country was not in the condition here described; the land had not been reduced to desolation, nor the cities burned with fire; but the determination of the Lord was past, and the prophet clearly foresaw that these calamities would come. Also the children of Noph, &c., have broken the crown of thy head — By the children of Noph and Tahapanes are meant the Egyptians, these being the two principal cities of Egypt, called by heathen writers Memphis and Taphanes, or Daphnæ Pelusicæ. “This no doubt alludes,” says Blaney, “to the severe blow which the nation received in a capital part, when the good King Josiah was defeated by the Egyptians, and slain in battle; or when, afterward, upon the deposition of Jehoahaz, the glory of the monarchy was debased, by its being changed into a tributary and dependant kingdom, 2 Kings 23:29-34, and 2 Chronicles 35:20.

Ver. 16. The children of Noph and Tahapanes. The inhabitants of Memphis and Daphni, cities of Egypt, Isaiah 19:11, 13, have broken the crown from off thy head, by depriving thee of national independence.

16. Noph (see Isaiah 19:13, and Ezekiel 30:13, 16) is an abbreviation of Menoph, which, in the Hebrew of Hosea 9:6, takes the other abbreviated form of Moph. This was Memphis, situated on the west bank of the Nile, south of old Cairo. It was the ancient capital of Lower Egypt, and later of the whole kingdom. Tahapanes was situated on the Pelusiac arm of the Nile. The two names taken together are made to represent Egypt. Have broken the crown — The English version misses the sense. The verb means, not to break, but to feed on. The sense is, They shall depasture the crown of thy head; that is, they shall make it bare, leave it without a covering, a sign of disgrace and of sorrow. Jeremiah 45:5, and 48:37.

V. 17. When-By the conduct of providence in the wilderness, keeping thee from all dangers.

Verse 17. Hast thou not procured this unto thyself? — Are not all these calamities owing to thy sins, thy known and wilful sins? 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 afterward throw it off. Nothing now appeared of that which, by their constitution, made them both honourable and formidable, and therefore the neighbouring nations neither respected nor feared them. But this was not all: they had provoked God to give them up into the hands of their enemies, who, after becoming a dreadful scourge to them, at last subdued them, and overturned their government. And thus they brought their miseries upon themselves, in forsaking the Lord their God, in revolting from their allegiance to him, and so throwing themselves out of his protection; for protection and allegiance go together. When he led thee, &c. — Hebrew, Ërdb t[b Ëklwm, at the time, the very time, he was leading thee by the way. Then, when he was leading thee on to a happy peace and settlement, and thou wast arrived at the very borders of it, thou didst draw back, and forsake thy guide. We may observe here, that although Josiah was a very pious prince, and exerted himself to the utmost to restore the worship of God, breaking down the altars and groves, and beating the graven images into powder, &c., 2 Chronicles 34., 35., nevertheless, from the complaints of Jeremiah, and his reproofs of their idolatry, it sufficiently appears that the people were far from being reformed.

17. Hast thou not procured this — This has come from forsaking the Lord thy God, when he led thee by the way — No lions are in that way. It is not a way of servitude and sorrow. It may lead into a region of drought and death-shade, but it shall also be through it. To the eye of sense it may be devious and difficult, but to the eye of faith it leads directly to the promised land.

V. 18. And now-What business hast thou there? Sihor-The Nile: it signifies black, called Melas by the Greeks, either from the blackness of the land it passed through, or of the soil it casts up. The waters-Here and by the same words before is meant, to seek help from either place. River-Euphrates, often called so by way of eminency.

Verse 18. What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt] Why dost thou make alliances with Egypt?

To drink the waters of Sihor?] This means the Nile. See on Isaiah 23:3.

The way of Assyria] Why make alliances with the Assyrians? All such connexions will only expedite thy ruin.

To drink the waters of the river?] The Euphrates, as rhn nahar or rhnh hannahar always means Euphrates, the country between the Tigris and Euphrates, is termed to this day Maher alnahar, “the country beyond the river,” i.e., Mesopotamia.

Instead of cleaving to the Lord, they joined affinity and made alliances with those two nations, who were ever jealous of them, and sought their ruin. Egypt was to them a broken reed instead of a staff; Assyria was a leaky cistern, from which they could derive no help.

Verse 18. And now what hast thou to do, &c. — “The kings of Egypt and Assyria were the most potent monarchs in the neighbourhood of Judea; and according as either of these was the stronger, the Jews made their court to him, and desired his assistance. This is expressed by drinking the waters of Sihor, an Egyptian river, which some suppose, and Dr. Waterland renders, the Nile; (see note on Isaiah 42;3;) and of the Euphrates, called here the river, by way of eminence. The expressions allude to verse 13, where human assistances are styled broken cisterns, and opposed to God, who, by reason of his all-sufficiency, is called the fountain of living waters. To drink of the waters of these rivers might possibly allude, further, both to the strong propensity which the Israelites had to return to Egypt, and that which they showed for adopting the idolatrous worship of these countries. For the Egyptians worshipped the water, and particularly that of the Nile.” See Div. Leg., vol. 3., and Calmet.

Ver. 18. What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor, the old name of the Nile, whose waters were black and muddy, according to Virgil: Et viridem Ægyptum nigrâ fœcundat arenâ. Georg. 4:291. This great river was called Siris by the Ethiopians, but the Hebrews retain the old name.—Or in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river. The Euphrates in Syria is called by way of eminence, the River. Why vacilate, oh Judah, between those two great powers for safety? Egypt will strip thee. Babylon will destroy thee. Why not cast thy gods into the fire, and cry to heaven, as Samuel in Mizpeh, and Hezekiah in the day of rebuke and blasphemy? This idea is repeated, ver. 33.

18. The way of Egypt, is the way they must go to secure the aid of Egypt. What business have you going down to Egypt for help? God’s way is from Egypt, not to it. Sihor is the Nile, so called because of its black and turbid waters. The river — The Euphrates, upon whose banks stood Nineveh, Assyria’s capital. To “drink the waters of Sihor,” or “the river,” is to lay hold of the strength of Egypt or of Assyria. Neither the Nile nor the Euphrates could take the place of “the river of God,” which is the one unfailing source of supply to his people. Such a substitution would be like that mentioned verse 13, “broken cisterns” for “living waters.”

V. 19. Thy wickedness-Thy own wickedness is the cause of thy correction. Know-Consider well, and thou canst not but be convinced.

Verse 19. Thy own wickedness shall correct thee — The miseries that your own sins have brought upon you, one would suppose, might be sufficient to reclaim you from your evil courses, and induce you to return to God, by a sincere repentance, Hosea 2:7. Know therefore — Upon the whole matter; and see that it is an evil thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God — For that is the thing that makes thine enemies, enemies indeed, and thy friends, friends in vain. The sense of the clause is, Call to mind what thou hast found by experience, and reflect seriously upon it, and thou canst not but be convinced how dear the forsaking of God hath cost thee. And that my fear — Or, the fear of me; or, that thou hast not my fear in thee, saith the Lord — Consider this well, for it is the ground of all thy sin and suffering, in order that thy correction may not end in thy utter ruin. This whole discourse of Jeremiah is a kind of pleading, wherein the prophet maintains the cause of God against his people.

19. Thy backslidings shall reprove thee — This verse sums up all Judah’s misdoings in one plain, comprehensive, terrible statement. All this fearful array of evils — those filling the background of the recent past and those crowding the immediate future — are self-procured. The nation had voluntarily plucked an apple of Sodom, only to find it to be “bitter and bloody dust!”

V. 20. Broken-The bondage and tyranny that thou wert under in old time in Egypt, as also divers times besides. Tree-Under these shades idolaters thought there lay some hidden deity. Wanderest-The word properly signifies, making hast from one tree to another, or from one idol to another. Playing-Committing idolatry, which is a spiritual harlotry, Jeremiah 3:1,2.

Verse 20. Of old time I have broken thy yoke] It is thought by able critics that the verbs should be read in the second person singular, THOU hast broken thy yoke, THOU hast burst thy bonds; and thus the Septuagint, sunetriyav ton zugon sou, “thou hast broken thy yoke.” And the Vulgate, Confregisti jugum meum, rupisti, vincula mea; “Thou hast broken my yoke; thou hast burst my bonds;” and so the Arabic. But the Chaldee gives it a meaning which removes the difficulty: “I have broken the yoke of the people from thy neck; I have cut your bonds asunder.” And when this was done, they did promise fair: for “thou saidst, I will not transgress;” but still they played the harlot-committed idolatrous acts in the high places, where the heathen had built their altars, pretending that elevation of this kind assisted their devotion.

Verses 20, 21. For of old time I have broken thy yoke — That is, I have delivered thee from the bondage and tyranny that thou wast under, of old time, in Egypt; as also divers times besides. See the book of Judges. And burst thy bands — Alluding either to the bands and fetters with which prisoners were wont to be bound, Jeremiah 40:4, or those bands wherewith yokes were usually fastened upon the necks of beasts. And thou saidst, I will not transgress — When the deliverance was fresh, thou didst form good resolutions. This translation is according to the marginal reading of the Masoretes; but in the Hebrew text, confirmed by the LXX., Syriac, and Vulgate, we read dwb[a al, I will not serve, namely, Jehovah. According to this reading, which seems very just and unexceptionable, and is approved by Houbigant and Dr. Waterland, the meaning of the passage is, that even after the Jews had been freed, by God, from their Egyptian bondage, and admitted into an immediate covenant and alliance with him, they had been guilty of the utmost ingratitude in refusing obedience to the divine law, and particularly in respect to the prohibition of idolatry. When upon every high hill, and under every green tree, &c. — Alluding to their worshipping their idols upon the hills, and under the trees; thou wanderest, playing the harlot — Worshipping false gods. As idolatry is frequently called whoredom in the Scripture language, so the prophet describes the Israelites under the image of a strolling harlot, seeking for lovers wherever she can, without any shame. Yet I planted thee a noble vine — Hebrew, the vine of Sorek; concerning which see note on Isaiah 5:2. Israel is here compared to a shoot, or branch, taken from a generous or good vine, and transferred to another soil, where it degenerates. Wholly a right seed — Without any mixture; the offspring of those true believers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and the laws which I gave thee, and the means of grace which I afforded thee, were sufficient to have made thee fruitful in every good work. How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine? — That is, one which has degenerated from the nature of the vine whence it was taken, and bears worse fruit than that did. The constitution of the Israelitish government, both in church and state, was excellent; their laws righteous, and all their ordinances instructive, and very significant; and there was a generation of good men among them, when they first settled in Canaan. For we learn, Joshua 26:31, that Israel served the Lord, and kept close to him, all the days of Joshua, and of the elders that outlived Joshua. They were then wholly a right seed, likely to replenish the vineyard they were planted in with choice vines: but it proved otherwise; the very next generation knew not the Lord, nor the works that he had done, Judges 2:10, and they grew worse and worse, till they became the degenerate plant of a strange vine — The very reverse of what they were at first. Their constitution was now quite broken, and there was nothing in them of that good which one might have expected from a people so happily formed; nothing of the purity or piety of their ancestors; but their vine was, according to Moses’s prediction, as the vine of Sodom.

GROSSNESS OF ISRAEL’S IDOLATRY, 20-28.

20. Of old time — From immemorial antiquity. The exact thing implied is, that no limit comes into view, either because none is seen or because there is none. For rhetorical purposes this term, eternity, in Hebrew more than in English, is used in an accommodated sense. The text should not read, I have broken, though in this the English follows both the Chaldee and Syriac, but thou hast broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands. The term “bands” is used in the sense of commandments of God which restrain men from rushing into ruin, (see Psalm 2:3,) and so the two phrases have substantially the same import. High hill… green tree — In these expressions there is a double allusion to the idolatrous shrines so numerous in the land, and also to terrible and common facts of individual vileness. The union of these in this passage is probably in perfect accord with the actual facts in the case. The connexion between the sin of idolatry and of impurity has always been most intimate.

V. 21. A right seed-A right seed of true believers.

Verse 21. I had planted thee a noble vine] I gave thee the fullest instruction, the purest ordinances, the highest privileges; and reason would that I should expect thee to live suitably to such advantages; but instead of this thou art become degenerate; the tree is deteriorated, and the fruit is bad. Instead of being true worshippers, and of a holy life and conversation, ye are become idolaters of the most corrupt and profligate kind. See Isaiah 5:1, &c., where the same image is used.

Verses 20, 21. For of old time I have broken thy yoke — That is, I have delivered thee from the bondage and tyranny that thou wast under, of old time, in Egypt; as also divers times besides. See the book of Judges. And burst thy bands — Alluding either to the bands and fetters with which prisoners were wont to be bound, Jeremiah 40:4, or those bands wherewith yokes were usually fastened upon the necks of beasts. And thou saidst, I will not transgress — When the deliverance was fresh, thou didst form good resolutions. This translation is according to the marginal reading of the Masoretes; but in the Hebrew text, confirmed by the LXX., Syriac, and Vulgate, we read dwb[a al, I will not serve, namely, Jehovah. According to this reading, which seems very just and unexceptionable, and is approved by Houbigant and Dr. Waterland, the meaning of the passage is, that even after the Jews had been freed, by God, from their Egyptian bondage, and admitted into an immediate covenant and alliance with him, they had been guilty of the utmost ingratitude in refusing obedience to the divine law, and particularly in respect to the prohibition of idolatry. When upon every high hill, and under every green tree, &c. — Alluding to their worshipping their idols upon the hills, and under the trees; thou wanderest, playing the harlot — Worshipping false gods. As idolatry is frequently called whoredom in the Scripture language, so the prophet describes the Israelites under the image of a strolling harlot, seeking for lovers wherever she can, without any shame. Yet I planted thee a noble vine — Hebrew, the vine of Sorek; concerning which see note on Isaiah 5:2. Israel is here compared to a shoot, or branch, taken from a generous or good vine, and transferred to another soil, where it degenerates. Wholly a right seed — Without any mixture; the offspring of those true believers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and the laws which I gave thee, and the means of grace which I afforded thee, were sufficient to have made thee fruitful in every good work. How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine? — That is, one which has degenerated from the nature of the vine whence it was taken, and bears worse fruit than that did. The constitution of the Israelitish government, both in church and state, was excellent; their laws righteous, and all their ordinances instructive, and very significant; and there was a generation of good men among them, when they first settled in Canaan. For we learn, Joshua 26:31, that Israel served the Lord, and kept close to him, all the days of Joshua, and of the elders that outlived Joshua. They were then wholly a right seed, likely to replenish the vineyard they were planted in with choice vines: but it proved otherwise; the very next generation knew not the Lord, nor the works that he had done, Judges 2:10, and they grew worse and worse, till they became the degenerate plant of a strange vine — The very reverse of what they were at first. Their constitution was now quite broken, and there was nothing in them of that good which one might have expected from a people so happily formed; nothing of the purity or piety of their ancestors; but their vine was, according to Moses’s prediction, as the vine of Sodom.

21. In the original, two different words in the first member of this verse are emphasized, which fact of emphasis escapes our attention in the English Version. I had planted — The Hebrew places emphasis on the pronoun I, as if God would disclaim all responsibility for the monstrous product. The second emphatic word is wholly, which has a special force from its connexion with sorek, noble vine, preceding. God had planted Israel a “noble vine,” “wholly” a right seed, but they had changed themselves into the degenerate plant (bastards) of a strange vine.

V. 22. Nitre-Though interpreters do greatly vary in describing what is particularly meant here by Nitre and Soap, and would be superfluous to mention here; yet all agree, they are some materials that artists make use of for cleansing away spots from the skin. The blot of this people is by no art to be taken out; nor expiated by sacrifices; it is beyond the power of all natural and artificial ways of cleansing. Marked-Thy filthiness is so foul that it leaves a brand behind which cannot be hid or washed out, but will abide, Jeremiah 17:1.

Verse 22. For though thou wash thee with nitre] It should be rendered natar or natron, a substance totally different from our nitre. It comes from the root rtn nathar, to dissolve, loosen, because a solution of it in water is abstersive, taking out spots, &c., from clothes. It is still used in the east for the purpose of washing. If vinegar be poured on it, Dr. Shaw says, a strong effervescence is the immediate consequence, which illustrates Proverbs 25:20: “The singing of songs to a heavy heart is like vinegar upon natron;” that is, there is no affinity between them; opposition and strife are occasioned by any attempt to unite them.

Thine iniquity is marked before me] No washing will take out thy spots; the marks of thy idolatry and corruption are too deeply rooted to be extracted by any human means.

Verse 22. For though thou wash thee with nitre, &c. — Though thou shouldest use ever so many methods of washing away thy sins, such as the rites of expiation prescribed by the law, or practised by idolaters; though thou shouldest insist ever so much upon thy own innocence and righteousness, yet the marks or stains of thy sins will always appear in the sight of God, till they are done away by his pardoning mercy, exercised toward thee in consequence of thy repentance and reformation. “The nitre here mentioned is not what we call nitre, or salt-petre, but a native salt of a different kind, distinguished among naturalists by the name of natrum, or the nitre of the ancients. It is found in abundance in Egypt, and in many parts of Asia, where it is called soap-earth, because it is dissolved in water, and used like soap in washing.” — Blaney.

Ver. 22. Though thou wash thyself with nitre; that is, natron, steatite, or a peculiar kind of fuller’s earth found in Syria and Egypt: yet thine iniquity is marked before me. Natron will effervesce with acids like calcareous earths.

22. Nitre — A mineral alkali. Soap — A vegetable alkali. The original for wash is not the ordinary term, but the one which is used in application to the fuller. The most powerful means of purification of human devising would be ineffectual.

V. 23. Baalim-The word is plural, as comprehensive of all their idols. Thy way-The filthiness thou hast left behind thee, whereby thou mayst be traced. Valley-Whether of Hinnom where they burnt their children in sacrifice, or in any valleys where thou hast been frequent in thy idolatries. Traversing-A metaphor taken from creatures that are hunted, that keep no direct path.

Verse 23. See thy way in the valley] The valley of Hinnom, where they offered their own children to Moloch, an idol of the Ammonites. A swift dromedary traversing her ways] Dr. Blayney translates, “A fleet dromedary that hath taken to company with her.”

Dr. Dahler rather paraphrases, thus:—

Semblable a une dromedaire en chaleur,

Qui court d’une tote a l’autre.

“Like to a dromedary in her desire for the male,

Which runs hither and thither.”

This is an energetic comparison; and shows the unbridled attachment of those bad people to idolatry, and the abominable practices by which it was usually accompanied.

Verses 23, 24. How canst thou say, I am not polluted? — With what face canst thou go about to excuse thyself, or deny what is so evident, and so truly charged upon thee? see verse 20. I have not gone after Baalim — The word is plural, because meant to comprehend all their idols; being a name usually given to several of them, as Baal-peor, Numbers 25:3; Baal-zebub, 2 Kings 1:16. Because they had the temple, and sacrifices offered therein, &c., they still persuaded themselves that they worshipped the true God, though they joined their idolatries with his worship. Thus the Papists, though they make use of idols in their worship, yet pretend they are not idolaters. See thy way in the valley — Whether of Hinnom, (where they burned their children in sacrifice,) or in any valleys where thou hast been frequent in thy idolatries. Know what thou hast done — Look on, and consider thy ways. Thou art a swift dromedary, traversing her ways — Or, as a swift dromedary. The prophet compares their fondness for a variety of idols to the eagerness with which, in the time of breeding, the swift dromedaries are wont to traverse the plain, and run to and fro in every direction. “And the impossibility of restraining one of those fleet animals, when hurried away by the impetuous call of nature, is represented as a parallel to that unbridled lust and eagerness with which the people of Judah ran after the gratification of their passion for idolatry, called spiritual whoredom.” — Blaney. A wild ass — Or, as a wild ass; used to the wilderness — Another similitude, for the more lively description of the same thing. That snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure — This should rather be rendered, When she snuffeth up the wind in her lust; meaning the time when the female asses seek the males by the wind, smelling them afar off. In her occasion — When she is desirous of the male; who can turn her away? — She bears down all opposition. All that seek her will not weary themselves — They will not bestow their labour in vain, but will let her take her course, and wait their time and opportunity for taking her. In her month they shall find her — Hebrew, hvdjb, which Blaney renders, when her heat is over; or, in her renewal, deriving the noun from the verb vdj, to renew. “That is,” says he, “when the heat is abated, and she begins to come about again to the same state as before the fit came on. The LXX. seem so to have understood it: en th tapeinwsei authv eurhsousin authn, ‘when she is humbled, they shall find her.’ And perhaps it was designed to insinuate to the Jews, by way of reproach, that they were less governable than even the brute beast, which, after having followed the bent of appetite for a little time, would cool again, and return quietly home to her owners: but the idolatrous fit in them seemed never to abate, nor to suffer the people to return to their duty. Or else it may mean, that when their affairs took a new turn, and became adverse, then would be the time when, being humbled, they would again have recourse to the true God who alone could save them.” The expression, in her month, is explained in the margin of our ancient Bible to mean, when she is with foal, an interpretation which many commentators follow. Thus Henry: “They that seek her will have a little patience till she is big with young, heavy, and unwieldy; and then they shall find her, and she cannot outrun them.” And he thus applies it: “The time will come when the most fierce will be tamed, and the most wanton will be manageable: when distress and anguish come upon them, then their ears will be open to discipline; that is the month in which you may find them.” Psalm 141:5, 6.

Ver. 23. How canst thou say, I am not polluted. Thy glory is thy shame. Hast thou not departed from me, the best of husbands, filling the valley of Jehoshaphat with thy bloody worship, immolating poor innocents to Moloch, and multiplying thy gods, as thy cities. Ah Judah, once the choice vine of Sorek, but now bitter as the apples of Sodom.

23, 24. I am not polluted — New and most significant imagery is employed to illustrate the insane lust of idolatry. The reckless greed of the people for the excitements of the false worship is figured by the swift dromedary traversing her ways, and the wild ass running herself weary in her heat. Thy way in the valley — Is probably an allusion to the valley of Ben-Hinnom, to the south of Jerusalem, where the rites of Moloch were celebrated, and which had become infamous as the place where human sacrifices were offered. It was fitly a type of hell and its ever-burning fire. Swift dromedary — Rather, camel-filly. The adjective suggests the animal heat which is the main feature of the comparison. “Traversing” — that is, crossing, or interweaving; a graphic picture of urgent, unregulated haste. Wild ass — Emblem of unbridled licentiousness. See Job 24:5; 39:5. Snuffeth up wind… occasion… her month — All these terms point to the one feature of the comparison — the passionate heat of the animal.

V. 24. A wild ass-Another similitude for the more lively description of the same thing. The wind-This creature, by the wind, smells afar off which way her male is. In her occasion-That is, when she has an occasion to run impetuously to her male, she bears down all opposition. In her month-Perhaps the sense is, though Jerusalem be now madly bent upon going after her idols, that there is no stopping her, yet the time may come, in their afflictions, that they may grow more tame, and willing to receive counsel.

Verse 24. A wild ass used to the wilderness] Another comparison to express the same thing.

Snuffeth up the wind] In a high fever from the inward heat felt at such times, these animals open their mouths and nostrils as wide as possible, to take in large draughts of fresh air, in order to cool them. In her mouth they shall find her.] 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 an other. The brute beasts had only a short season in which this appetite prevailed; but they acted without restraint or limit.

Verses 23, 24. How canst thou say, I am not polluted? — With what face canst thou go about to excuse thyself, or deny what is so evident, and so truly charged upon thee? see verse 20. I have not gone after Baalim — The word is plural, because meant to comprehend all their idols; being a name usually given to several of them, as Baal-peor, Numbers 25:3; Baal-zebub, 2 Kings 1:16. Because they had the temple, and sacrifices offered therein, &c., they still persuaded themselves that they worshipped the true God, though they joined their idolatries with his worship. Thus the Papists, though they make use of idols in their worship, yet pretend they are not idolaters. See thy way in the valley — Whether of Hinnom, (where they burned their children in sacrifice,) or in any valleys where thou hast been frequent in thy idolatries. Know what thou hast done — Look on, and consider thy ways. Thou art a swift dromedary, traversing her ways — Or, as a swift dromedary. The prophet compares their fondness for a variety of idols to the eagerness with which, in the time of breeding, the swift dromedaries are wont to traverse the plain, and run to and fro in every direction. “And the impossibility of restraining one of those fleet animals, when hurried away by the impetuous call of nature, is represented as a parallel to that unbridled lust and eagerness with which the people of Judah ran after the gratification of their passion for idolatry, called spiritual whoredom.” — Blaney. A wild ass — Or, as a wild ass; used to the wilderness — Another similitude, for the more lively description of the same thing. That snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure — This should rather be rendered, When she snuffeth up the wind in her lust; meaning the time when the female asses seek the males by the wind, smelling them afar off. In her occasion — When she is desirous of the male; who can turn her away? — She bears down all opposition. All that seek her will not weary themselves — They will not bestow their labour in vain, but will let her take her course, and wait their time and opportunity for taking her. In her month they shall find her — Hebrew, hvdjb, which Blaney renders, when her heat is over; or, in her renewal, deriving the noun from the verb vdj, to renew. “That is,” says he, “when the heat is abated, and she begins to come about again to the same state as before the fit came on. The LXX. seem so to have understood it: en th tapeinwsei authv eurhsousin authn, ‘when she is humbled, they shall find her.’ And perhaps it was designed to insinuate to the Jews, by way of reproach, that they were less governable than even the brute beast, which, after having followed the bent of appetite for a little time, would cool again, and return quietly home to her owners: but the idolatrous fit in them seemed never to abate, nor to suffer the people to return to their duty. Or else it may mean, that when their affairs took a new turn, and became adverse, then would be the time when, being humbled, they would again have recourse to the true God who alone could save them.” The expression, in her month, is explained in the margin of our ancient Bible to mean, when she is with foal, an interpretation which many commentators follow. Thus Henry: “They that seek her will have a little patience till she is big with young, heavy, and unwieldy; and then they shall find her, and she cannot outrun them.” And he thus applies it: “The time will come when the most fierce will be tamed, and the most wanton will be manageable: when distress and anguish come upon them, then their ears will be open to discipline; that is the month in which you may find them.” Psalm 141:5, 6.

Ver. 24. A wild ass, flying from me as the swift-footed dromedary, to every criminal excess. The hrkb bichra, onager, is said to be the wild ass of the woods. Job 6:5. This animal, most difficult to tame, strikingly expressed the impetuous passions of gentile excesses, enormities, and shame, to which there is here a delicate allusion. In her occasion, when she strays for society with the male, who can turn her away. But in her month thou shalt find her. Those breaks of the jews for gentile feasts, are here rebuked by the wanton ass, the lowest of the brutes. Well might the kings, the prophets, and the priests of Judah be ashamed as a thief when apprehended for robbing his neighbour’s house.

23, 24. I am not polluted — New and most significant imagery is employed to illustrate the insane lust of idolatry. The reckless greed of the people for the excitements of the false worship is figured by the swift dromedary traversing her ways, and the wild ass running herself weary in her heat. Thy way in the valley — Is probably an allusion to the valley of Ben-Hinnom, to the south of Jerusalem, where the rites of Moloch were celebrated, and which had become infamous as the place where human sacrifices were offered. It was fitly a type of hell and its ever-burning fire. Swift dromedary — Rather, camel-filly. The adjective suggests the animal heat which is the main feature of the comparison. “Traversing” — that is, crossing, or interweaving; a graphic picture of urgent, unregulated haste. Wild ass — Emblem of unbridled licentiousness. See Job 24:5; 39:5. Snuffeth up wind… occasion… her month — All these terms point to the one feature of the comparison — the passionate heat of the animal.

V. 25. Withhold-Take not those courses that will reduce thee to poverty, to go bare foot, and to want wherewith to quench thy thirst. No hope-We care not since there is no remedy. Strangers-Idols.

Verse 25. Withhold thy foot from being unshod] When it was said to them, “Cease from discovering thy feet; prostitute thyself no more to thy idols.”

And thy throat from thirst] Drink no more of their libations, nor use those potions which tend only to increase thy appetite for pollution. Thou didst say, There is no hope: it is useless to advise me thus; I am determined; I have loved these strange gods, and to them will I cleave.

Verse 25. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, &c. — “Do not wear out thy shoes, or sandals, and expose thyself to thirst and weariness in undertaking long journeys, to make new alliances with idolaters.” Thus Lowth, and many other expositors. “But I rather take it,” says Blaney, “to be a warning to beware of the consequences of pursuing the courses they were addicted to: as if it had been said, Take care that thou dost not expose thyself, by thy wicked ways, to the wretched condition of going into captivity unshod, as the manner is represented Isaiah 20:4; and of serving thine enemies in hunger, and in thirst, and in want of the necessaries of life,” Deuteronomy 28:48. But thou saidst, There is no hope — The language of desperate sinners, who are resolved to continue in their wickedness, in spite of every reason that can be offered to the contrary. No; for I have loved strangers — Strange gods, idols; and after them will I go — The Jews probably did not really speak in this manner, but they acted thus: this, the prophet signifies was the language of their conduct. By their actions they professed that idolatry which they denied with their mouths.

25. Withhold… from being unshod — Running so eagerly after illicit love as to go with unsandalled feet and thirsty throat. No hope — Your warning is vain and useless: we have made our election.

V. 26. Found-Not ashamed of his sin of theft, but that he is at last found.

Verse 26. As the thief is ashamed] As the pilferer is confounded when he is caught in the fact; so shalt thou, thy kings, princes, priests, and prophets, be confounded, when God shall arrest thee in thy idolatries, and deliver thee into the hands of thine enemies.

Verses 26-28. As the thief is ashamed — As the thief has nothing to say for himself, but is perfectly confounded when he is taken in the very act, so the house of Israel hath no manner of plea wherewith to defend or excuse their idolatry. They, their kings, their princes — Whose duty it was to have restrained them from such practices by their authority; their priests, and their prophets — Who ought to have set them a better example, and have given them better instruction. Saying to a stock, Thou art my father — Giving the title of father, which belongs to God, as the sovereign Creator and Preserver of all things, (see Jeremiah 3:19,) to senseless images, made of wood and stone. They did not, indeed, think themselves to be created or made by these images, but thus they addressed the gods whom they thought to be present in the consecrated images. But as there was in fact no such deity residing in the image, but it was a mere nothing, a fiction of the idolaters, their worship in reality centred in, or went no higher than, the image itself. For they have turned their back unto me — A token of contempt and aversion; and not their face — Which they turn wholly toward their idols. But in the time of their trouble — A time which is approaching; they will say, Arise, and save us — As they did formerly; see the margin. When they prove, by experience, the vanity of their idols, and their own folly in relying on things that cannot help or save them, and in rejecting me, then they will apply to me for relief and aid. But where are thy gods? — Thy idols, the gods of thy own making? Let them arise — From the places where they are fixed; if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble — In thy great distress, when thou art in such need of help. For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods — For thou hast a sufficient number of them, every country and city having its peculiar deity, imitating the heathen, who, according to Varro, had above thirty thousand gods. Make trial, if any, or all of them together, can help thee.

GROSSNESS OF ISRAEL’S IDOLATRY, 20-28.

20. Of old time — From immemorial antiquity. The exact thing implied is, that no limit comes into view, either because none is seen or because there is none. For rhetorical purposes this term, eternity, in Hebrew more than in English, is used in an accommodated sense. The text should not read, I have broken, though in this the English follows both the Chaldee and Syriac, but thou hast broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands. The term “bands” is used in the sense of commandments of God which restrain men from rushing into ruin, (see Psalm 2:3,) and so the two phrases have substantially the same import. High hill… green tree — In these expressions there is a double allusion to the idolatrous shrines so numerous in the land, and also to terrible and common facts of individual vileness. The union of these in this passage is probably in perfect accord with the actual facts in the case. The connexion between the sin of idolatry and of impurity has always been most intimate.

V. 27. Brought me forth-Or begotten me; so is the word used, Genesis 4:18. This denotes the sottish stupidity of this people, to take a lifeless stock or stone to be their maker, and to give the honour of God unto them, Isaiah 44:17. Turned-They turn their faces towards their idols.

Verse 27. Thou art my father] By thee we have been produced, and by thee we are sustained. This was the property of the true God; for he is the Author and Supporter of being. How deeply fallen and brutishly ignorant must they be when they could attribute this to the stock of a tree!

Verses 26-28. As the thief is ashamed — As the thief has nothing to say for himself, but is perfectly confounded when he is taken in the very act, so the house of Israel hath no manner of plea wherewith to defend or excuse their idolatry. They, their kings, their princes — Whose duty it was to have restrained them from such practices by their authority; their priests, and their prophets — Who ought to have set them a better example, and have given them better instruction. Saying to a stock, Thou art my father — Giving the title of father, which belongs to God, as the sovereign Creator and Preserver of all things, (see Jeremiah 3:19,) to senseless images, made of wood and stone. They did not, indeed, think themselves to be created or made by these images, but thus they addressed the gods whom they thought to be present in the consecrated images. But as there was in fact no such deity residing in the image, but it was a mere nothing, a fiction of the idolaters, their worship in reality centred in, or went no higher than, the image itself. For they have turned their back unto me — A token of contempt and aversion; and not their face — Which they turn wholly toward their idols. But in the time of their trouble — A time which is approaching; they will say, Arise, and save us — As they did formerly; see the margin. When they prove, by experience, the vanity of their idols, and their own folly in relying on things that cannot help or save them, and in rejecting me, then they will apply to me for relief and aid. But where are thy gods? — Thy idols, the gods of thy own making? Let them arise — From the places where they are fixed; if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble — In thy great distress, when thou art in such need of help. For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods — For thou hast a sufficient number of them, every country and city having its peculiar deity, imitating the heathen, who, according to Varro, had above thirty thousand gods. Make trial, if any, or all of them together, can help thee.

27. In the time of… trouble — As with the prodigal when he “began to be in want,” or the sailors with Jonah in the storm. A little pressure of calamity will often develop a vivid sense of God, and most fervent appeals for mercy and help.

V. 28. For-Thou hast enough of them, imitating the Heathens, who had, according to Varro, above thirty thousand deities. Make trial if any, or all of them together, can help thee.

Verse 28. According to the number of thy cities are thy gods] Among heathen nations every city had its tutelary deity. Judah, far sunk in idolatry, had adopted this custom. The Church of Rome has refined it a little: every city has its tutelary saint, and this saint has a procession and worship peculiar to himself. So here; not much of the old idolatry is lost.

Verses 26-28. As the thief is ashamed — As the thief has nothing to say for himself, but is perfectly confounded when he is taken in the very act, so the house of Israel hath no manner of plea wherewith to defend or excuse their idolatry. They, their kings, their princes — Whose duty it was to have restrained them from such practices by their authority; their priests, and their prophets — Who ought to have set them a better example, and have given them better instruction. Saying to a stock, Thou art my father — Giving the title of father, which belongs to God, as the sovereign Creator and Preserver of all things, (see Jeremiah 3:19,) to senseless images, made of wood and stone. They did not, indeed, think themselves to be created or made by these images, but thus they addressed the gods whom they thought to be present in the consecrated images. But as there was in fact no such deity residing in the image, but it was a mere nothing, a fiction of the idolaters, their worship in reality centred in, or went no higher than, the image itself. For they have turned their back unto me — A token of contempt and aversion; and not their face — Which they turn wholly toward their idols. But in the time of their trouble — A time which is approaching; they will say, Arise, and save us — As they did formerly; see the margin. When they prove, by experience, the vanity of their idols, and their own folly in relying on things that cannot help or save them, and in rejecting me, then they will apply to me for relief and aid. But where are thy gods? — Thy idols, the gods of thy own making? Let them arise — From the places where they are fixed; if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble — In thy great distress, when thou art in such need of help. For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods — For thou hast a sufficient number of them, every country and city having its peculiar deity, imitating the heathen, who, according to Varro, had above thirty thousand gods. Make trial, if any, or all of them together, can help thee.

28. Where are thy gods — “I also will laugh at your calamity: I will mock when your fear cometh.” This passage of bitter irony is double-barbed. It contains a taunt of their many gods and of their powerlessness. ISRAEL’S GUILT AND PUNISHMENT, 29-35.

Verses 29, 30. Wherefore will ye plead with me? — Why do you insist upon your innocence? See verse 35. Why do you lay claim to my former promises, as if you had not forfeited your title to them by your sins? In vain have I smitten your children — That is, the children or people of Judah. They had been under divine rebukes of many kinds, whereby God designed to bring them to repentance, but it was in vain: they did not answer God’s end in afflicting them; their consciences were not awakened, nor their hearts softened and humbled, nor were they induced to seek unto God by repentance and prayer. They received no correction — Though they were corrected, yet they would not be instructed and reformed. They did not receive, that is, they did not submit to, or comply with, the correction; but in their hearts fretted against and opposed the Lord. Observe, reader, it is a great loss thus to lose an affliction. Your own sword hath devoured your prophets — You are so far from receiving and improving by God’s chastisements, that you take away the lives of those prophets who, in God’s name, reprove you, and call you to repentance. Thus Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, was put to death in the reign of Joash, 2 Chronicles 24:20, 21. See also 1 Kings 19:1, 10; Nehemiah 9:26; Matthew 23:30-37.

V. 30. Children-Your inhabitants in every city, they being frequently called the children of such a city. Correction-Instruction: though they were corrected, yet they would not be instructed. Your sword-You have been so far from receiving instruction, that you have, by the sword, and other ways of destruction, murdered those that I have sent to reprove you.

Verses 29, 30. Wherefore will ye plead with me? — Why do you insist upon your innocence? See verse 35. Why do you lay claim to my former promises, as if you had not forfeited your title to them by your sins? In vain have I smitten your children — That is, the children or people of Judah. They had been under divine rebukes of many kinds, whereby God designed to bring them to repentance, but it was in vain: they did not answer God’s end in afflicting them; their consciences were not awakened, nor their hearts softened and humbled, nor were they induced to seek unto God by repentance and prayer. They received no correction — Though they were corrected, yet they would not be instructed and reformed. They did not receive, that is, they did not submit to, or comply with, the correction; but in their hearts fretted against and opposed the Lord. Observe, reader, it is a great loss thus to lose an affliction. Your own sword hath devoured your prophets — You are so far from receiving and improving by God’s chastisements, that you take away the lives of those prophets who, in God’s name, reprove you, and call you to repentance. Thus Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, was put to death in the reign of Joash, 2 Chronicles 24:20, 21. See also 1 Kings 19:1, 10; Nehemiah 9:26; Matthew 23:30-37.

30. Sword hath devoured — See 1 Kings 18:4, 13; 19:10; 2 Kings 21:16, etc.

V. 31. O generation-O ye men of this generation. See-You shall see the thing with your eyes, because your ears are shut against it. A wilderness-Have I been like the wilderness of Arabia, have not I accommodated you with all necessaries? A land of darkness-As it were a land uninhabitable, because of the total want of light. Have I been a God of no use or comfort to them, that they thus leave me? Have they had nothing from me but misery and affliction? We-Words of pride and boasting.

Verse 31. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel?] Have I ever withheld from you any of the blessings necessary for your support? A land of darkness] Have you, since you passed through the wilderness, and came out of the darkness of Egypt, ever been brought into similar circumstances? You have had food and all the necessaries of life for your bodies; and my ordinances and word to enlighten and cheer your souls. I have neither been a wilderness nor a land of darkness to you. We are lords] We wish to be our own masters; we will neither brook religious nor civil restraint; we will regard no laws, human or Divine. It was this disposition that caused them to fall in so fully with the whole system of idolatry.

Verses 31, 32. O generation — O wicked generation; see ye the word of the Lord — Consider what I say to you from the mouth of God. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? — Have ye not been plentifully provided for by me? Have I been backward in bestowing favours upon you? Have I not accommodated you with all necessaries? A land of darkness — Hebrew, hylpam xra, rendered by the Vulgate, terra serotina, a land backward or late in producing its fruits. Our translation of the clause, however, a land of darkness, seems preferable, as darkness is often used to denote calamity and distress: see Jeremiah 13:16; Isaiah 5:30, and 8:22. “The meaning of the passage,” says Blaney, “is, Have I been wanting to you, while ye have been under my guidance, in providing you with good things, or have I brought you unto the gloom of trouble and distress?” Wherefore say my people, We are lords, &c. — We are our own masters, and will no more acknowledge thee as Lord over us, nor obey thy laws. This was the language, probably, not of the lips, but of the hearts and lives of the idolatrous Jews, who would not return to the worship and service of the true God. Can a maid forget her ornaments — How seldom is it, and unlikely, that a maid should forget her ornaments? or a bride her attire? — On which her thoughts and affections are placed? Yet my people have forgotten me — Their chief glory and ornament, on whose favour and protection they were wont justly to value themselves, and whereby they were distinguished from all other nations. Such was the folly and wickedness of God’s ancient people, called by his name, rescued from bondage and misery by his power, enriched with all temporal and spiritual blessings by his bounty, and guarded as the apple of his eye. Strange infatuation and weakness this, we are ready to exclaim, of the Jews! But are not multitudes of persons called Christians equally weak and foolish? Do not things of very small worth, and short duration, frequently occupy their thoughts, and even possess their hearts; things of as little value as the ornaments which vain women delight in, while things of the highest excellence and greatest necessity, things far superior to every visible and temporal object, such as salvation, grace, and glory, God, and Christ, and heaven, are overlooked and neglected? Reader, is not this thy practice? does not thy conscience accuse thee of this wickedness and folly?

31. O generation, see ye — Rather, O generation that ye are. The pronoun belongs with the appellative, and not, as in the English, with the verb, and so emphasizes God’s sorrow and indignation. Have I been a wilderness… a land of darkness — There is a mingled sternness and tenderness in this passage which the Authorized Version does not adequately convey. We are lords — Better, with the Chaldee, Syriac, and Vulgate, We will wander at will, that is, we will not be held in restraint. This verb is also used in Genesis 27:40; Hosea 11:12; and Psalm 55:2; in each of which places the sense is missed in the Anglican Version.

V. 32. A maid-How unlikely is it, that a maid should forget her ornaments? A bride-Those jewels which the bridegroom was wont to present his bride with. Forgotten-In the neglect of my worship; me, who was not only their defence, but their glory.

Verse 32. Can a maid forget her ornaments] This people has 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.

Days without number.] That is, for many years; during the whole reign of Manasses, which was fifty-five years, the land was deluged with idolatry, from which the reform by good King Josiah his grandson had not yet purified it.

Verses 31, 32. O generation — O wicked generation; see ye the word of the Lord — Consider what I say to you from the mouth of God. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? — Have ye not been plentifully provided for by me? Have I been backward in bestowing favours upon you? Have I not accommodated you with all necessaries? A land of darkness — Hebrew, hylpam xra, rendered by the Vulgate, terra serotina, a land backward or late in producing its fruits. Our translation of the clause, however, a land of darkness, seems preferable, as darkness is often used to denote calamity and distress: see Jeremiah 13:16; Isaiah 5:30, and 8:22. “The meaning of the passage,” says Blaney, “is, Have I been wanting to you, while ye have been under my guidance, in providing you with good things, or have I brought you unto the gloom of trouble and distress?” Wherefore say my people, We are lords, &c. — We are our own masters, and will no more acknowledge thee as Lord over us, nor obey thy laws. This was the language, probably, not of the lips, but of the hearts and lives of the idolatrous Jews, who would not return to the worship and service of the true God. Can a maid forget her ornaments — How seldom is it, and unlikely, that a maid should forget her ornaments? or a bride her attire? — On which her thoughts and affections are placed? Yet my people have forgotten me — Their chief glory and ornament, on whose favour and protection they were wont justly to value themselves, and whereby they were distinguished from all other nations. Such was the folly and wickedness of God’s ancient people, called by his name, rescued from bondage and misery by his power, enriched with all temporal and spiritual blessings by his bounty, and guarded as the apple of his eye. Strange infatuation and weakness this, we are ready to exclaim, of the Jews! But are not multitudes of persons called Christians equally weak and foolish? Do not things of very small worth, and short duration, frequently occupy their thoughts, and even possess their hearts; things of as little value as the ornaments which vain women delight in, while things of the highest excellence and greatest necessity, things far superior to every visible and temporal object, such as salvation, grace, and glory, God, and Christ, and heaven, are overlooked and neglected? Reader, is not this thy practice? does not thy conscience accuse thee of this wickedness and folly?

Ver. 32. Can a maid forget her ornaments. hlwtb betoolah, a virgin. Isaiah applies the word to Babylon, and other virgin cities, which had never been taken by storm, and plundered. Virgins were distinguished in the east from married women by the superior ornaments of dress: and the better sort of women would never appear without proper attention to that distinction. This was a very ingenious mode of reproving a harlot nation.

32. More tenderly does God appeal to them in the comparison of this verse. Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire — This last term means a sash or girdle which a bride puts on on her wedding-day, answering somewhat in significance and preciousness to the marriage ring. So God is his people’s best adornment and choicest treasure, and yet they have turned away from him.

V. 33. Trimmest-Or, deckest, Ezekiel 23:40, thinking thereby to entice others to thy help. Taught-Nations that have been vile enough of themselves, by thy example are become more vile.

Verse 33. Why trimmest thou thy way] Ye have used a multitude of artifices to gain alliances with the neighbouring idolatrous nations. Hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.] Ye have made even these idolaters worse than they were before. Dr. Blayney translates, “Therefore have I taught calamity thy ways.” A prosopopœia: “I have instructed calamity where to find thee.” Thou shalt not escape punishment.

Verses 33, 34. Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love — “The prophet,” says Lowth, “alludes to the practices of common harlots, who deck themselves, and use all inveigling arts, that they may recommend themselves to their gallants; in like manner,” the prophet intimates, “the Jews tried all methods to gain the friendship and assistance of foreign idolaters, who are called their lovers:” see Jeremiah 3:1, and 22:22. Houbigant’s translation of this verse is, “Why dost thou strew thy way, that thou mayest find lovers; and teachest thy ways to thy companions?” The original word, rendered trimmest, ybcyt, properly means, to make good, right, or agreeable. Noldius expounds the clause, “Why dost thou justify thy ways, or insist upon thy innocence?” And the French interpret the verse, “Why wouldest thou justify thy conduct, to enter into favour with me? so long as thou hast taught to others the evil which thou hast done; and while (verse 34) in thy skirts,” &c. Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls, &c. — This would be better rendered, Also in thy skirts is found the blood of poor and innocent persons, for by souls is meant persons; and by the blood being found in their skirts, the prophet means their committing murders and oppressions, secretly, perhaps; but their guilt was as manifest as though the blood of the persons slain had been found sprinkled upon their garments. The LXX. render the clause en taiv cersi sou eureqhsan aimata yucwn aqwwn, in thy hands have been found the blood of innocent souls, or persons. Their sacrificing of their little children to their idols, as well as their oppressing and murdering of adult persons, is intended to be comprised here. I have not found it by secret search — The LXX., with whom all the ancient versions agree, render the clause ouk en diorugmasin euron autouv, I have not found them in digged holes, or ditches, but upon all these. The LXX. and Syriac render hla lk l[, here, upon every oak. “The meaning of which,” says Blaney, “is this: In the law it is commanded, (Leviticus 17:13,) that the blood of animals killed in hunting should be covered with dust, in order, no doubt, to create a horror at the sight of blood. In allusion to this command, it is urged against Jerusalem, (Ezekiel 24:7,) that she had not only shed blood in the midst of her, but that she had set it upon the top of a rock, and poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust; that is, she had seemed to glory in the crime, by doing it in the most open and audacious manner, so as to challenge God’s vengeance. In like manner it is said here, that God had not discovered the blood that was shed in holes under ground, but that it was sprinkled upon every oak before which their inhuman sacrifices had been performed.”

Ver. 33. Why trimmest thou thy way. See on ver. 18.

V. 34. Skirts-Of thy garments: the tokens of cruelty may be seen openly there. Innocents-In thee is found the murder expressed here by blood of innocent persons, murdering souls as well as bodies. Search-Heb. by digging; as if the earth had covered the blood, or as if they had committed their wickedness in some obscure places. These-Upon thy garments, exposed openly to publick view.

Verse 34. The blood of the souls of the poor innocents] We find from the sacred history that Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; see 2 Kings 21:16, and Ezekiel 34:10.

I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.] Such deeds of darkness and profligacy are found only in Israel. Dr. Blayney translates, “I have not found it in a digged hole, but upon every oak.” Others cover the blood that it may not appear; but ye have shed it openly, and sprinkled it upon your consecrated oaks, and gloried in it.

Verses 33, 34. Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love — “The prophet,” says Lowth, “alludes to the practices of common harlots, who deck themselves, and use all inveigling arts, that they may recommend themselves to their gallants; in like manner,” the prophet intimates, “the Jews tried all methods to gain the friendship and assistance of foreign idolaters, who are called their lovers:” see Jeremiah 3:1, and 22:22. Houbigant’s translation of this verse is, “Why dost thou strew thy way, that thou mayest find lovers; and teachest thy ways to thy companions?” The original word, rendered trimmest, ybcyt, properly means, to make good, right, or agreeable. Noldius expounds the clause, “Why dost thou justify thy ways, or insist upon thy innocence?” And the French interpret the verse, “Why wouldest thou justify thy conduct, to enter into favour with me? so long as thou hast taught to others the evil which thou hast done; and while (verse 34) in thy skirts,” &c. Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls, &c. — This would be better rendered, Also in thy skirts is found the blood of poor and innocent persons, for by souls is meant persons; and by the blood being found in their skirts, the prophet means their committing murders and oppressions, secretly, perhaps; but their guilt was as manifest as though the blood of the persons slain had been found sprinkled upon their garments. The LXX. render the clause en taiv cersi sou eureqhsan aimata yucwn aqwwn, in thy hands have been found the blood of innocent souls, or persons. Their sacrificing of their little children to their idols, as well as their oppressing and murdering of adult persons, is intended to be comprised here. I have not found it by secret search — The LXX., with whom all the ancient versions agree, render the clause ouk en diorugmasin euron autouv, I have not found them in digged holes, or ditches, but upon all these. The LXX. and Syriac render hla lk l[, here, upon every oak. “The meaning of which,” says Blaney, “is this: In the law it is commanded, (Leviticus 17:13,) that the blood of animals killed in hunting should be covered with dust, in order, no doubt, to create a horror at the sight of blood. In allusion to this command, it is urged against Jerusalem, (Ezekiel 24:7,) that she had not only shed blood in the midst of her, but that she had set it upon the top of a rock, and poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust; that is, she had seemed to glory in the crime, by doing it in the most open and audacious manner, so as to challenge God’s vengeance. In like manner it is said here, that God had not discovered the blood that was shed in holes under ground, but that it was sprinkled upon every oak before which their inhuman sacrifices had been performed.”

34. Secret search — Rather, at housebreaking. The meaning is, Thou didst not kill the poor for crime, but this is innocent blood upon thy skirts. But upon all these — Rather, on account of all these, the wicked lusts of idolatry. But the passage is difficult, and this sense, which is favoured by Keil, Hitzig, R. Payne Smith, and others, is far from satisfactory.

V. 35. Behold-I will proceed in my judgment against thee. Because-Because thou justifiest thyself.

Verse 35. Because I am innocent] They continued to assert their innocence, and therefore expected that God’s judgments would be speedily removed!

I will plead with thee] I will maintain my process, follow it up to conviction, and inflict the deserved punishment.

Verses 35, 36. Yet thou sayest — Or interrogatively, Darest thou say? Hast thou the impudence to affirm it? Because I am innocent — Clear of this whole charge; surely his anger shall turn from me — Shall not break out against me, Isaiah 5:25. Behold, I will plead with thee — I will proceed in my judgment against thee; because thou sayest, I have not sinned — Because thou continuest to justify thyself, as if I had no cause to be angry with thee. Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? — That is, thy actions. Why hast thou recourse to so many different expedients for relief? Why dost thou seek auxiliaries anywhere rather than cleave to me? Or act like those adulterous women, whose love is never fixed, but sometimes set on one, sometimes on another. This is rendered by the Vulgate, “How vile art thou become, changing or repeating thy ways!” Continuing still to seek new succours from strangers, though thou hast been so often deceived! Egypt now shall fail thee, as Assyria has done before. Blaney renders this last clause, “By means of Egypt also shalt thou be put to shame, even as thou hast been put to shame by Assyria.” “The people of Judah,” he observes, “seem to have courted the assistance of foreign nations, by a sinful compliance with their idolatrous customs. But this measure had already failed them, and they had been disappointed in their expectations from Assyria in the time of King Ahaz, who, as we read 2 Chronicles 28:16-21, called upon the king of Assyria to help him in his need; but he distressed him only, instead of helping him. In the same manner, also, it is here prophesied they would be served by the Egyptians, whose alliance would only disappoint them, and make them ashamed of having trusted to so ineffectual a support; and it turned out accordingly.” See Jeremiah 37:7, 8.

35. Yet thou sayest, etc. — The language seems to imply some such outward phariseeism as the reformation of Josiah might have produced. It is not unlikely that this reformation may have supplied the background of this verse.

V. 36. Why-Why dost thou seek auxiliaries anywhere, rather than cleave to me? Ashamed-Egypt shall stand thee in no more stead than Assyria hath done.

Verse 36. Why gaddest thou about] 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.

Verses 35, 36. Yet thou sayest — Or interrogatively, Darest thou say? Hast thou the impudence to affirm it? Because I am innocent — Clear of this whole charge; surely his anger shall turn from me — Shall not break out against me, Isaiah 5:25. Behold, I will plead with thee — I will proceed in my judgment against thee; because thou sayest, I have not sinned — Because thou continuest to justify thyself, as if I had no cause to be angry with thee. Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? — That is, thy actions. Why hast thou recourse to so many different expedients for relief? Why dost thou seek auxiliaries anywhere rather than cleave to me? Or act like those adulterous women, whose love is never fixed, but sometimes set on one, sometimes on another. This is rendered by the Vulgate, “How vile art thou become, changing or repeating thy ways!” Continuing still to seek new succours from strangers, though thou hast been so often deceived! Egypt now shall fail thee, as Assyria has done before. Blaney renders this last clause, “By means of Egypt also shalt thou be put to shame, even as thou hast been put to shame by Assyria.” “The people of Judah,” he observes, “seem to have courted the assistance of foreign nations, by a sinful compliance with their idolatrous customs. But this measure had already failed them, and they had been disappointed in their expectations from Assyria in the time of King Ahaz, who, as we read 2 Chronicles 28:16-21, called upon the king of Assyria to help him in his need; but he distressed him only, instead of helping him. In the same manner, also, it is here prophesied they would be served by the Egyptians, whose alliance would only disappoint them, and make them ashamed of having trusted to so ineffectual a support; and it turned out accordingly.” See Jeremiah 37:7, 8.

36. Why gaddest thou — What restlessness and inconstancy equals that of the unbeliever? From Egypt to Assyria, from Assyria to Babylon, from rationalism to spiritualism, from pantheism to atheism, from no religion to all religions — such a life is one weary go-round of fruitless toil and profitless speculation. Nothing in human history is more notable than the fickleness of infidelity.

V. 37. Yea-All the help thou canst procure shall not prevent thy captivity, but from hence thou shalt go. Thy hands-An usual posture of mourning.

Verse 37. Thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head] Thou shalt find all thy confidence in vain,—thy hope disappointed;—and thy state reduced to desperation. The hand being placed on the head was the evidence of deep sorrow, occasioned by utter desolation. See the case of Tamar, when ruined and abandoned by her brother Amnon, 2 Samuel 13:19.

Thou shalt not prosper in them.] They shall all turn to thy disadvantage; and this as we shall see in the history of this people, was literally fulfilled. O what a grievous and bitter thing it is to sin against the Lord, and have him for an enemy!

JEREMIAH

Verse 37. Yea, thou shalt go forth from him — The ambassadors thou sendest to Egypt shall return with disappointment and confusion; and their hands on their heads — Condoling the desperate condition of their people. Or, Thou shalt go forth from hence, namely, into captivity, in a strange land. And thy hands upon thy head — As Tamar went forth from her brother Amnon, her garments torn, and her hands upon her head, insulted and despised, and in the greatest grief and misery; and Egypt, on which thou reliedst, shall not be able to prevent it, or to rescue thee out of captivity. For the Lord hath rejected thy confidences — Hath refused to give success to them, or hath rejected thee for thy confidences; or he disapproves thy confidences, namely, all thy dependances and refuges, which thou seekest out of him. And thou shalt not prosper in them — They shall not stand thee in any stead, nor give thee any satisfaction. As there is no counsel or wisdom that can prevail against the Lord, so there is none that can prevail without the Lord. Some read it, The Lord hath rejected thee for thy confidences; that is, because thou hast dealt so unfaithfully with him as to trust in his creatures, nay, in his enemies, when thou shouldest have trusted in him only, he has abandoned thee to that destruction from which thou thoughtest thus to have sheltered thyself; and then thou canst not prosper, for none ever either hardened himself against God, or estranged himself from God, and prospered.

37. From him — Namely, Egypt. As thou didst turn to Egypt from Assyria, so shalt thou turn from him, clasping thy head with thy hands in grief and dismay. The might of Egypt will surely be overthrown, and all who make it a covert shall be dislodged.