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CHAPTER TWO Jer 2:1-3 Bible Text Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, and 2 "Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: "I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown. 3 Israel was holiness to the LORD, The first fruits of His increase. All that devour him will offend; Disaster will come upon them," says the LORD.'" NKJV

[General Information – 2:1-6:30: Jeremiah’s summons to repentance directed to Jerusalem and Judah.] An early speech by the prophet in which he attempts to persuade his audience to repent from their wrongdoing and worship of foreign gods so that they might return to God. Although these chapters clearly directed to Jerusalem and Judah in their present form (see 2:1-2; 4:3-6:30), many believe that the oracles in 2:2-4:2 were originally addressed by the prophet to the people of the former Northern Kingdom of Israel, destroyed by the Assyrians a century earlier (see 2 Kings Chapter 17). Jeremiah would have attempted to persuade them to accept the rule of King Josiah and the religious authority of the Jerusalem Temple, thereby reuniting all Israel as in the days of David and Solomon (see 2 Samuel Chapters 5-24; 1 Kings Chapters 1- 11). The section was expanded with an address to Jerusalem and Judah as well when it became apparent that King Josiah’s death at the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho (2 Kings 23:28- 30; 2 Chronicles 35:20-27) signaled that Judah, like Israel before it, faced the very real possibility of invasion and exile. [Jewish Study Bible]

[General Information – 2:1-3:5: God’s divorce proceedings against Israel.] The prophet begins with a lengthy speech that metaphorically portrays God’s intention to “divorce” Israel. The use of the marriage metaphor was common among the prophets to portray the relationship between God and Israel (see Hosea Chapters 1-3; Isaiah Chapters 40-55, especially Chapter 54; Zephaniah 3:14-20; Ezekiel Chapter 16; 24:15-17). [Jewish Study Bible]

2:1-3: The prophet relates God’s instructions to go proclaim to Jerusalem. The reference to Jerusalem is missing in the Septuagint,

“Then he said, Thus saith the Lord: 2. I remembered mercy in thy youth; and love, in thy mature age, 3. that thou mightest follow the Holy Israel, saith the Lord. The Holy Israel is to the Lord the chief of His productions all that devour him shall be guilty of trespass: Evils shall come upon them, saith the Lord.” LXX

Which may reflect an earlier version of the book. Lacking this reference, the speech is directed to Israel, which is called to return to Zion or Jerusalem (3:14-4:2) in keeping with Josiah’s attempts to reunite all Israel. God recalls the early period of the relationship with Israel in the wilderness as an ideal time, much like the northern Israelite prophet Hosea (Hosea 2:16-20). In contrast to the northern prophets Jeremiah and Hosea, the Zadokite priest and prophet Ezekiel and the wilderness traditions of the Torah depict the wilderness period as a time of Israel’s rebellion against God. The use of priestly imagery is consistent with Jeremiah’s identity as a priest. [Jewish Study Bible]

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I. GENERAL ADMONITIONS AND REPROOFS BELONGING TO THE TIME OF JOSIAH CH. 2-22 If we compare the six longer discourses in these chapters with the sayings and prophecies gathered together in the other portions of the book, we observe between them this distinction in form and matter, that the former are more general in their character than the latter. Considered as to their form, these last prophecies have, with few exceptions, headings in which we are told both the date of their composition and the circumstances under which they were uttered; while in the headings of these six discourses, if we except the somewhat indefinite notice, "in the days of Josiah" (Jer 3:6), we find nowhere mentioned either their date or the circumstances which led to their composition. Again, both the shorter sayings and the lengthier prophecies between ch. 21 and the end of the book are unmistakably to be looked upon as prophetic addresses, separately rounded off; but the discourses of our first part give us throughout the impression that they are not discourses delivered before the people, but treatises compiled in writing from the oral addresses of the prophet. As to their matter, too, we cannot fail to notice the difference:

1. That, whereas from ch. 21 onwards the king of Babylon is named as the executor of judgment upon Judah and the nations, 2. In the discourses of ch. 2-20 the enemies who are to execute judgment are nowhere defined, but are only generally described as a powerful and terrible nation coming from the north. And so, in rebuking the idolatry and the prevailing sins of the people, no reference is made to special contemporary events; but there are introduced to a great extent lengthy general animadversions on their moral degeneracy, and reflections on the vanity if idolatry and the nature of true wisdom. From these facts we infer the probable conclusion that these discourses are but comprehensive summaries of the prophet's labors in the days of Josiah. The probability becomes certainty when we perceive that the matters treated in these discourses are arranged according to their subjects. (From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

Jer 2:1-3 (1)The first discourse (Jer 2:1-3:5) gives, so to speak, the programme of the subjects of all the following discourses: that disloyal defection to idolatry, with which Israel has from of old requited the Lord for His love and faithfulness, brings with it sore chastening judgments.

(2) In the second discourse (Jer 3:6-6:30) faithless Judah is shown, in the fall of the ten tribes, what awaits itself in case of stiff-necked persistence in idolatry.

(3) In the third (ch. 7-10) is torn from it the support of a vain confidence in the possession of the temple and in the offering of the sacrifices commanded by the law.

(4) In the fourth (ch. 11-13) its sins are characterized as a breach of the covenant; and rejection by the Lord is declared to be its punishment.

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(5) In the fifth (ch. 14-17) the hope is destroyed that the threatened chastisement can be turned aside by intercession.

(6) Finally, in the sixth (ch. 18-20) the judgment of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the kingdom of Judah is exhibited in symbolical acts.

In this arrangement and distribution of what the prophet had to announce to the people in his endeavors to save them, if possible, from destruction, we can recognize a progression from general admonitions and threatenings to more and more definite announcement of coming judgments; and when, on the other hand, we see growing greater and bitterer the prophet's complaints against the hatreds and persecutions he has to endure (cf. Jer 12:1-6; 15:10-11,15- 21; 17:14-18; 18:18-23,20), we can gather that the expectation of the people's being saved from impending destruction was growing less and less, that their obduracy was increasing, and that judgment must inevitably come upon them. These complaints of the prophet cease with ch. 20, though later he had much fiercer hatred to endure.

None of these discourses contains any allusions to events that occurred after Josiah's death, or stand in any relation to such events. Hence we believe we are safe in taking them for a digest of the quintessence of Jeremiah's oral preaching in the days of Josiah, and this arranged with reference to the subject-matter. It was by this preaching that Jeremiah sought to give a firm footing to the king's reformatory efforts to restore and inspire new life into the public worship, and to develop the external return to the legal temple worship into an inward conversion to the living God.

And it was thus he sought, while the destruction of the kingdom was impending, to save all that would let them be saved; knowing as he did that God, in virtue of His unchangeable covenant faithfulness, would sharply chastise His faithless people for its obstinate apostasy from Him, but had not determined to make an utter end of it. (From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Ch. 2:1-3:5. The Love and Faithfulness of the Lord, and Israel's Disloyalty and Idolatry

In the prophecies contained in Jer 2-6, we have, probably, the records of Jeremiah's earlier ministrations during the comparatively uneventful years of Josiah's reign. The great object of the prophet's mission was to urge upon the people the necessity of making use of that final opportunity of repentance then given them. If personal amendment followed upon the king's reforms Judah might yet be saved. We have then in these chapters such portions of Jeremiah's earlier teaching, published during Josiah's reign, as were deemed fit also for the Church's use in all time. (From Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

Jer 2:1 The prophecy (Jer 2:1-3:5) consists of three parts: 1. Of which the first (Jer 2:1-13) contains an appeal from God to all Israel, i.e., the whole twelve tribes, proving to them His past love, and that their desertion of Him was without ground or reason.

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2. In the second (Jer 2:14-28) the prophet shows that Israel's calamities were entirely the result of her apostasy. 3. In the last (Jer 2:29-3:5) we see Judah imitating Samaria's sin, and hardening itself against correction. Jer 2:1-3 Verse 1-3. The Lord has loved Israel sincerely (Jer 2:2-3), but Israel has fallen from the Lord its God and followed after imaginary gods (vv. 4-8); therefore He will yet further punish it for this unparalleled sin (vv. 9-19). From of old Israel has been renegade, and has by its idolatry contracted fearful guilt, being led not even by afflictions to return to the Lord (vv. 20-30); therefore must the Lord chastise (vv. 31-37), because they will not repent (3:1-5). This discourse is of a quite general character; it only sketches the main thoughts which are extended in the following discourses and prophecies concerning Judah. So that by most critics it is held to be the discourse by which Jeremiah inaugurated his ministry; for, as (Hitzig) puts it, "in its finished completeness it gives the impression of a first-uttered outpouring of the heart, in which are set forth, without restraint, Jahveh's list of grievances against Israel, which has long been running up." It unquestionably contains the chief of the thoughts uttered by the prophet at the beginning of his ministry. (From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

Verse 1 [Moreover] literally, And. Notice the connection between Jeremiah's call and first prophecy.

Jer 2:1-3 He remembered to the people Israel the love of its youth. Checed (OT: 2617), ordinarily, condescending love, graciousness and favour; here, the self-devoting, nestling love of Israel to its God. The youth of Israel is the time of the sojourn in Egypt and of the exodus thence (Hos 2:17; 11:1); here the latter, as is shown by the following: lovingness of the courtship. The courtship comprises the time from the exodus out of Egypt till the concluding of the covenant at Sinai (Exodus 19:8). When the Lord redeemed Israel with a strong hand out of the power of Egypt, He chose it to be His spouse, whom He bare on eagles' wings and brought unto Himself, (Exodus 19:4). The love of the bride to her Lord and Husband, Israel proved by its following Him as He went before in the wilderness, the land where it is not sown, i.e., followed Him gladly into the parched, barren wilderness.

History knows of no apostasy of Israel from its God and no idolatry of the people during the time from the exodus out of Egypt till the arrival at Sinai, and of this time alone Jeremiah speaks. All the rebellions of Israel against its God falls within the time after the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai, and during the march from Sinai to Canaan. On the way from Egypt to Sinai the people murmured repeatedly, indeed, against Moses; at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh was pursuing with chariots and horsemen (Ex 14:11 ff.); at Marah, where they were not able to drink the water for bitterness (15:24); in the wilderness of Sin, for lack of bread and meat (16:2 ff.); and at Massah, for want of water (Jer 17:2 ff.).

But in all these cases the murmuring was no apostasy from the Lord, no rebellion against God, but an outburst of timorousness and want of proper trust in God, as is abundantly clear from the fact that in all these cases of distress and trouble God straightway brings help, with the view of strengthening the confidence of the timorous people in the omnipotence of His helping grace. Their backsliding from the Lord into heathenism begins with the worship of the golden calf, after the covenant had been entered into at Sinai (Ex 32), and is continued in the revolts on the 4 THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR way from Sinai to the borders of Canaan, at Taberah, at Kibroth-hattaavah (Num 11), in the desert of Paran at Kadesh (Num 13; 20); and each time it was severely punished by the Lord. (From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

Jer 2:2 Up to this time Jeremiah had lived at Anathoth, he is now to make Jerusalem the scene of his ministrations. [I remember ...] Or, I have remembered for thee the grace "of thy youth, the love of thine espousals," thy going "after me in the wilderness" in an unsown land. Jeremiah contrasts the present unfriendly relations between Yahweh and His people with their past love. Israel, as often elsewhere, is represented as a young bride (Ezek 16:8; Hos 2:20; Joel 1:8). The walking after God in the wilderness was an act of love on Israel's part. Israel did leave Egypt at Moses' bidding, and at Sinai was solemnly espoused to Yahweh. (Barnes’ Notes)

For in v. 2 it is plainly enough told how God remembered to the people its love. Israel was so shielded by Him, as His sanctuary, that whoever touched it must pay the penalty. Qodesh (OT: 6944) are all gifts consecrated to Jahveh. The Lord has made Israel a holy offering consecrated to Him in this, that He has separated it to Himself for a precious possession, and has chosen it to be a holy people: (Ex 19:5 f.; Deut 7:6; 14:2). We can explain from the Torah of offering the further designation of Israel: his first-fruits; the first of the produce of the soil or yield of the land belonged, as qodesh (OT: 6944), to the Lord: (Ex 23:19; Num 8:8, etc).

Israel, as the chosen people of God, as such a consecrated firstling. Inasmuch as Jahveh is Creator and Lord of the whole world, all the peoples are His possession, the harvest of His creation. But amongst the peoples of the earth He has chosen Israel to Himself for a firstling- people, and so pronounced it His sanctuary, not to be profaned by touch. Hence rightly (Hitz.): "he that would devour it must pay the penalty." An historical proof of this is furnished by the attack of the Amalekites on Israel and its result, (Exodus 17:8-15). (Keil & Delitzsch)

Jer 2:3 Render: "Israel" is an offering consecrated to Yahweh, His first fruits of increase. The first fruits were God's consecrated property, His portion of the whole harvest. Pagan, i.e., unconsecrated, nations must not meddle with Israel, because it is the nation consecrated to God. If they do, they will bring such guilt upon themselves as those incur who eat the first-fruits (Lev 22:10, 16). (From Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)

THE FUTURE RELATIONSHIP “And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.” Hosea 2:19, 20

Jer 2:4-8 Bible Text 4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the LORD: "What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, Have followed idols, and have become idolaters? 6 Neither did they say, 'Where is the LORD, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed and where no one dwelt?' 7 I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its 5 THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination. 8 The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?' And those who handle the law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. NKJV

But Israel did not remain true to its first love; it has forgotten the benefits and blessings of its God, and has fallen away from Him in rebellion.

Israel's Abandonment of God 2:8. prophesied by Baal, following idols. Despite the reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah, the people of Judah often reverted back to religious syncretism, performing the rituals and worshiping the deities of Canaan. The prophets who were associated with this syncretism would offer messages from Baal in his name and would ask for oracles before the idols of Baal. (From IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, Copyright © 2000 by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas. Published by Inter Varsity Press. All rights reserved.) [General Information – 2:4-3:5:] God’s speech to Israel appears in the form of a courtroom statement in which a husband seeks a divorce from his wife. [Jewish Study Bible]

2:4: The “call to attention” formula typically introduces public presentations, such as songs, diplomatic statements, prophetic oracles, and instructional speeches (cf. Judges 5:3; 2 Kings 18:28-29; Isaiah 1:10; Ezekiel 3:6; Hosea 4:1; Amos 3:1; Proverbs 7:24). [JSB]

Jer 2:4-8 The "house of Jacob" is the people of the twelve tribes, and the parallel member, "all families of the house of Israel," is an elucidative apposition. The "fathers" in v. 5 are the ancestors of the now living race onwards from the days of the Judges, when the generation arising after the death of Joshua and his contemporaries forsook the Lord and served the Baals (Judg 2:10 ff.). `Aawel (OT: 5766), perversity, wrongfulness, used also of a single wicked deed in (Ps 7:4), the opposite to acting in truth and good faith. Jahveh is a God of faithfulness; in Him is no iniquity, (Deut 32:4). The question, what have they found...? Is answered in the negative by v. 6. To remove far from me and follow after vanity is tantamount to forsaking Jahveh and serving the false gods (Baals), (Judg 2:11). hebel (OT: 1893), lit., breath, thence emptiness, vanity, is applied so early as the song of Moses, Deut 32:21, to the false gods, as being nonentities. Here, however, the word means not the gods, but the worship of them, as being groundless and vain; bringing no return to him who devotes himself to it, but making him foolish and useless in thought and deed. See (Rom 1:21-23. Cf. 2 Kings 17:15), where the second hemistich of our verse is applied to the ten tribe. (From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beats, and creeping things. Romans 1:21-23

“And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and

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[General Information - 2:5-11:] God claims to have been abandoned by the people, despite having led them out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Promised Land. Biblical tradition maintains that proper moral behavior and ritual observance maintains the purity of the land of Israel, but immorality and apostasy defile it (see Leviticus; Ezekiel Chapter 18; Hosea Chapter 4). [Jewish Study Bible]

A though to consider Israel could not take over the land of the Amorites because there cup of indignation was not full, and when the cup of indignation of Israel became full then they were removed from the land. As of now the cup of indignation of any nation including our own the United States of America which was founded on Christian principles becomes full then God will destroy it. Paul the Learner

THE NATION THAT FORGETS GOD, HE WILL DESTROY.

Jer 2:4-8 Verse 6 They said not, Where is Jahveh? i.e., they have no longer taken any thought of Jahveh; have not recalled His benefits, though they owed to Him all they had become and all they possessed. He has brought them out of Egypt, freed them from the house of bondage (Mic 6:4), and saved them from the oppression of the Pharaohs, meant to extirpate them (Ex 3:7 ff.). He has led them through pathless and inhospitable deserts, miraculously furnished them with bread and water, and protected them from all dangers (Deut 8:15). To show the greatness of His benefits, the wilderness is described as parched unfruitful land, as a land of deadly terrors and dangers. `Araabaah (OT: 6160) 'erets (OT: 776), land of steppes or heaths, corresponds to the land unsown of v. 2. "And of pits," i.e., full of dangerous pits and chasms into which one may stumble unawares. Land of drought, where one may have to pine through thirst. And of the shadow of death: so Sheol is named in (Job 10:21) as being a place of deep darkness; here, the wilderness, as a land of the terrors of death, which surround the traveler with darkness as of death: (Isa 8:22; 9:1; Job 16:16). A land through which no one passes, etc., i.e., which offers the traveler neither path nor shelter. Through his frightful desert God has brought His people in safety.

Verse 7-8. And He has done yet more. He has brought them into a fruitful and well-cultivated land. karªmel (OT: 3759), fruitful fields, the opposite of wilderness, (Jer 4:26; Isa 29:17). To eat up its fruit and its good; cf. the enumeration of the fruits and useful products of the land of Canaan, Deut 8:7-9. And this rich and splendid land the ungrateful people have defiled by their sins and vices (cf. Lev 18:24), and idolatry (cf. Ezek 36:18); and the heritage of Jahveh they have thus made an abomination, an object of horror. The land of Canaan is called "my heritage," the especial domain of Jahveh, inasmuch as, being the Lord of the earth, He is the possessor of the land and has given it to the Israelites for a possession, yet dwells in the midst of it as its real lord, (Num. 25:34) . - In v. 8 the complaint briefly given in v. 6 is expanded by an account of the conduct of the higher classes, those who gave its tone to the spirit of the people.

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1. The priests, whom God had chosen to be the ministers of His sanctuary, asked not after Him, i.e., sought neither Him nor His sanctuary. They who occupy themselves with the law, who administer the law: these too are the priests as teachers of the law (Mic 3:11), who should instruct the people as to the Lord's claims on them and commandments (Lev 10:11; Deut 33:10). They knew not Jahveh, i.e., they took no note of Him, did not seek to discover what His will and just claims were, so as to instruct the people therein, and press them to keep the law.

2. The shepherds are the civil authorities, princes and kings (cf. Jer 23:1 ff.): those who by their lives set the example to the people, fell away from the Lord;

3. And the prophets, who should have preached God's word, prophesied baba`al (OT: 1168), by Baal, i.e., inspired by Baal. Baal is here a generic name for all false gods; (cf. 23:13), those who profit not, are the Baals as unreal gods; (cf. Isa 44:9; 1 Sam 12:21).

The utterances as to the various ranks form a climax, as (Hitz). Rightly remarks. The ministers of public worship manifested no desire towards me; those learned in the law took no knowledge of me, of my will, of the contents of the book of the law; the civil powers went the length of rising up against my law; and the prophets fairly fell away to false gods, took inspiration from Baal, the incarnation of the lying spirit.

Jer 2:8 The guilt of this idolatry is ascribed to the four ruling classes: (a) The accusation brought against THE PRIESTS is indifference.

(b) "They that handle the law" belonged also to THE PRIESTLY CLASS (Deut 33:10). Their offence was that "they knew not God." Compare Mic 3:11.

(d) The fourth class is "THE PROPHETS." It was their business to press the moral and spiritual truths of the law home to the hearts of the people: but they drew their inspiration from Baal, the Sun-god. Upon the corruption of the prophetic order at this time, (see the Jer 14:13 note).

[Things that do not profit] Here idols, which are not merely unreal, but injurious. See 1 Sam 12:21; Isa 44:9. (From Barnes' Notes)

Jer 2:9-13 Bible Text 9 "Therefore I will yet bring charges against you," says the LORD, "And against your children's children I will bring charges. 10 For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see, Send to Kedar and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing. 11 Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit. 12 Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be very desolate," says the LORD. 13'For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns -- broken cisterns that can hold no water. NKJV 8 THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR

2:10. coasts of Kittim. Kittim is mentioned in the table of nations (Gen. 10) as a descendent of Javan (Greek, Ionia), who is associated with the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. Kittim is probably the Hebrew term for Kition, near modern Lanarca on the south central coast of Cyprus, but most likely referred to the whole island. It was a Bronze Age site. In the period of Jeremiah, the term Kittim most likely denoted Greece or in general a faraway place. Ostraca from Arad in the seventh century B.C. mention individuals from Kittim who have Greek names. These were probably Cypriot traders.

2:10. Kedar. Kedar, the second son of Ishmael (Gen. 25:13), was the name of an Ishmaelite tribe that flourished from the eighth to the fourth centuries B.C. The tribe is known from Assyrian and Late Babylonian texts as Qadar. The personal names of the Kedarites appear to have been related to the southern branch of the Semitic languages. These tribal peoples were based in the Arabian Peninsula and often made their way into the Levant via the Sinai. The Kedarites inhabited the eastern wilderness, while the Kittim inhabited the western reaches of the sea. (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament)

2:11. nations changing gods in the Near East. Because of the infiltration of foreign elements, many nations added gods to their pantheon. Moreover, the names of gods endured slight alterations as time went on. But the concept of a nation exchanging its god(s) for others was a foreign idea in the ancient Near East. The verb possibly carries the idea of "barter" in which case it does not refer to simply a change but to trading for something of greater value. (IVP)

2:13. broken cisterns. Cisterns were often built in hills made of limestone. An individual had to plaster the inside with lime plaster and direct rainwater into it. But these cisterns often developed cracks, and water would seep out, with the farmer losing a life-giving commodity. (IVP) 2:10: The isles of the Kittim refers to the Greek islands or Cyprus, and Kedar refers to a confederation of Arab tribes in the north Arabian Desert (see Gen. 25:13; Isaiah 42:11; Jer. 49:28-29; Ezekiel 27:12). The point is that even if you look far and wide, no comparable action has transpired. [Jewish Study Bible]

[General Information – 2:12-28:] God’s specific accusations against Israel include both political and religious charges, which are understood as connected: God is abandoned for Egypt. [Jewish Study Bible]

Jer 2:9-13 In the preceding verses the fathers were charged with the backsliding from the Lord; in v. 9 punishments is threatened against the now-living people of Israel, and on their children's children after them. For the people in its successive and even yet future generations constitutes a unity, and in this unity a moral personality. Since the sins of the fathers transmit themselves to the children and remoter descendants, sons and grandsons must pay the penalty of the fathers' guilt, that is, so long as they share the disposition of their ancestors. The conception of this moral unity is at the foundation of the threatening. That the present race persists in the fathers' backsliding from the Lord is clearly expressed in v. 17 ff. In "I will further chide or strive," is intimated implicate that God had children already up till now, or even earlier with the fathers. Riyb (OT: 7379), contend, when said of God, is actual striving or chastening with all kinds of punishment. (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary)

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Jer 2:9-13 This must God do as the righteous and holy one; for the sin of the people is an unheard of sin, seen in no other people. "The islands of the Chittim" are the isles and coast lands of the far west, as in (Ezek 27:6); having originally been the name for Cyprus and the city of Cition, see in Gen 10:4. In contrast with these distant western lands, Kedar is mentioned as representative of the races of the east. The Kedarenes lived as a pastoral people in the eastern part of the desert between Arabia Petraea and Babylonia; see in (Gen 25:13 and Ezek 27:21). Peoples in the two opposite regions of the world are individualizingly mentioned instead of all peoples. Has any heathen nation changed its gods, which indeed are not truly gods? No; no heathen nation has done this; but the people of Jahveh, Israel, has exchanged its glory, i.e., the God who made Himself known to it in His glory, for false gods that are of no profit, is the glory in which the invisible God manifested His majesty in the world and amidst His people. (Keil & Delitzsch)

God showed His glory to the Israelites in the glorious deeds of His omnipotence and grace, like those mentioned in vv. 5 and 6. The Baals, on the other hand, are not 'elohiym (OT: 430 God the creator), but 'eliyliym, nothings, phantoms without a being, that bring no help or profit to their worshippers. Before the sin of Israel is more fully set forth, the prophet calls on heaven to be appalled at it. The heavens are addressed as that part of the creation where the glory of God is most brightly reflected. The rhetorical aim is seen in the piling up of words. Chaareeb (OT: 2720), lit., to be parched up, to be deprived of the life-marrow. (Keil & Delitzsch)

Israel has committed two crimes: a. It has forsaken Jahveh, the fountain of living water. Chayiym (OT: 2416) mayim (OT: 4325), living water, i.e., water that originates and nourishes life, is a significant figure for God, with whom is the fountain of life (Ps 36:10), i.e., from whose Spirit all life comes. Fountain of living water (here and Jer 17:13) is synonymous with well of life in (Prov 10:11; 13:14; 14:27, Sir. 21:13). b. The other sin is this that they hew or dig out wells, broken, rent, and full of crevices that hold no water. The delineation keeps to the same figure. (From Keil & Delitzsch)

“O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” Jeremiah 17:13

The dead gods have no life and can dispense no life, just as wells with rents or fissures hold no water. The two sins, the forsaking of the living God and the seeking out of dead gods, cannot really be separated. Man, created by God and for God, cannot live without God. If he forsakes the living God, he passes in spite of himself into the service of dead, unreal gods. Forsaking the living God is exchanging Him for an imaginary god. The prophet sets the two moments of the apostasy from God side by side, so as to depict to the people with greater fullness of light the enormity of their crime. The fact in v. 11 that no heathen nation changes its gods for others, has its foundation in this, that the gods of the heathen are the creations of men, and that the worship of them is molded by the carnal-mindedness of sinful man; so that there is less inducement to change, the gods of the different nations being in nature alike. (Keil & Del.)

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2:10 The isles of the Kittim refers to the Greek islands or Cyprus, and Kedar refers to a confederation of Arab tribes in the north Arabian desert (see Genesis 25:13; Isaiah 42:11; Jeremiah 49:28-29; Ezekiel 27:21). The point is that even if you look far and wide, no comparable action has transpired. 12-28: God’s specific accusations against Israel include both political and religious charges, which are understood as connected: God is abandoned for Egypt. Jewish Study Bible

But the true God claims to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, and does not permit the nature and manner of His worship to depend on the fancies of His worshippers; He makes demands upon men that run counter to carnal nature, insisting upon the renunciation of sensual lusts and cravings and the crucifixion of the flesh, and against this corrupt carnal nature rebels. Upon this reason for the fact adduced, Jeremiah does not dwell, but lays stress on the fact itself. This he does with the view of bringing out the distinction, wide as heaven, between the true God and the false gods, to the shaming of the idolatrous people; and in order, at the same time, to scourge the folly of idolatry by giving prominence to the contrast between the glory of God and the nothingness of the idols. (Keil & Delitzsch)

Jer 2:14-19 Bible Text 14 "Is Israel a servant? Is he a home born slave? Why is he plundered? 15 The young lions roared at him, and growled; they made his land waste; His cities are burned, without inhabitant. 16 Also the people of Noph and Tahpanhes Have broke the crown of your head. 17 Have you not brought this on yourself, In that you have forsaken the LORD your God When He led you in the way? 18 And now why take the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or why take the road to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? 19 Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the LORD your God, And the fear of Me is not in you," Says the Lord GOD of hosts. NKJV

2:15. lion metaphor. This probably represents the Assyrians who like lions, devoured cities and lands. Any numbers of Assyrian military campaigns are being alluded to here. The Assyrians had winged human-headed lions at the gates of many of their cities. (IVP Commentary)

2:15. burned towns. This refers to specific campaigns of a number of Assyrian rulers, who came into the Levant, including: 1. Tiglath-Pileser III (745 B.C. - 727 B.C.), 2. Shalmaneser V (727 B.C. - 722 B.C.), 3. Sargon II (721 B.C. - 705 B.C.), 4. Sennacherib (705 B.C. - 681 B.C.) 5. And Esarhaddon (681 B.C. - 668 B.C.). Since the Assyrians had no intention of occupying these towns, their practice was to burn them in order to warn against the cost of noncooperation. (IVP Bible Background Commentary)

2:16. Memphis. Memphis was the residence of the early Egyptian kings. Many Judeans (as well as Phoenicians, according to Herodotus) fled there during the Babylonian invasion of 587 B.C. It is identified with the modern site of Mitrahineh, about fifteen miles south of Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile. The city had been in decline since about 1000 B.C. However, it was restored by the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty and became the primary residence of the Egyptian kings

11 THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR in the seventh century B.C. It was most likely also the residence of the kings of the Twenty- Sixth Dynasty. For more information see comment on Jer 46:19.

2:16. Tahpanhes. Tahpanhes was an outpost in the eastern Delta region of the Nile, bordering the Sinai. It was known as Daphne by the Greeks, who inhabited the outpost as mercenaries by the seventh century B.C. The Greek historian Herodotus states that Daphne was one of three outposts set up by the Egyptians to stop the Assyrian invasion. The Jews in flight from the Babylonians may have stopped there in the early sixth century B.C (IVP Commentary)

2:16. shaved head. A shaved head in the ancient Near East usually (but not always) denoted a slave or a subordinate. However, the Hebrew term used here "to shave" is problematic and there is little agreement on its meaning. (IVP Commentary)

2:18. Shihor. Shihor is probably the Hebrew name for "waters of Horus," the falcon deity of Egypt. Although it was probably a body of water in the northeast Delta region of the Nile, its location is uncertain. Some have associated it with the Brook of Egypt, the first body of water seen traveling south into Egypt from Palestine. (IVP Commentary)

2:18. the River. In Scripture the Euphrates River is often referred to as the River. (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament)

2:14: This type of rhetorical question is very typical of Jeremiah (so, e.g. in v. 31). [JSB]

2:16: Noph and Tahpanies refer to the Egyptian cities of Memphis the ancient capital of Egypt, and Tahpanhes, a northeastern Nile Delta city fortified by Pharaoh Psammetichus 1 (664-610 BCE). Psammetichus and his son Necho later allied with the Assyrians against Babylonia, and Necho killed King Josiah in 609, putting an end to Judah’s attempts to gain independence from the Assyrians. God’s speech likens Judah’s submission to Egypt and Assyria as a return to Egyptian bondage and pagan gods (cf. Isaiah 10:20-26). [Jewish Study Bible]

Jer 2:14-15 To characterize such a fate as in direct contradiction to its destiny is the aim of the question: Is Israel a servant? i.e., a slave or a house-born serf... Is he who has in any way fallen into slavery, a slave born in the house of his master. The distinction between these two classes of salves does not consist in the superior value of the servant born in the house by reason of his attachment to the house. This peculiarity is not here thought of, but only the circumstance that the son of a salve, born in the house, remained a slave without any prospect of being set free; while the man who has been forced into slavery by one of the vicissitudes of life might hope again to acquire his freedom by some favorable turn of circumstances. [K & D]

Jer 2:16 Israel has had to submit to spoliation at the hands of the Egyptians too. The present reference to the Egyptians is explained by the circumstances of the prophet's times-from the fact, namely, that just as Israel and Judah had sought the help of Egypt against the Assyrians (cf. Hos 7:11; 2 Kings 17:4, and Isa 30:1-5, 1) in the time of Hezekiah, so now in Jeremiah's times Judah was expecting and seeking help from the same quarter against the advancing power of the Chaldeans; (cf. Jer 37:7, 8). [K & D] 12 THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR

Noph and Tahpanhes are two former capitals of Egypt, here put as representing the kingdom of the Pharaohs, in Hosea 9:6 mop (OT: 4644) contracted from mªnop, Manoph or Menoph, is Memphis, the old metropolis of Lower Egypt, made by Psammetichus the capital of the whole kingdom. Its ruins lie on the western bank of the Nile, to the south of Old Cairo, close by the present village of Mitrahenny, which is built amongst the ruins. [K & D]

“Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. 8 And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.” Jeremiah 37:7-8.

Jer 2:16 [Have broken the crown of thy head] literally, shall depasture the crown of thy head; i.e., make it bald; baldness was accounted by the Jews a sign of disgrace (2 Kings 2:23), and also a mark of mourning (Isa 15:2; 22:12). The Egyptians in slaying Josiah, and capturing Jerusalem, brought ruin, disgrace, and sorrow upon the Jews. (From Barnes' Notes)

Jer 2:17-19 In v. 17 the question as to the cause of the evil is answered. zo't (OT: 2063) is the above- mentioned evil, that Israel had become a prey to the foe. The fact that thou hast forsaken Jahveh thy God has brought this evil on thee. At the time when He led thee on the way. The forsaking of Jahveh is not to be limited to direct idolatry, but comprehends also the seeking of help from the heathen; this is shown by the following 18 Th verse, in which the reproaches are extended to the present bearing of the people, what is to thee in reference to the way of Egypt (for the expression, see Hos 14:9), i.e., what hast thou to do with the way of Egypt? Why dost thou arise to go into Egypt, to drink the water of the Nile? The black, turbid stream is a name for the Nile, taken from its dark-grey or black mud. (From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary)

Jer 2:17-19 The Nile is the life-giving artery of Egypt, on whose fertilizing waters the fruitfulness and the prosperity of the country depend. To drink the waters of the Nile is as much as to say to procure for oneself the sources of Egypt's life, to make the power of Egypt useful to oneself. Analogous to this is the drinking the waters of the river, i.e., the Euphrates. What is meant is seeking help from Egyptians and Assyrians. The water of the Nile and of the Euphrates was to be made to furnish them with that which the fountain of living water, i.e., Jahveh (v. 14), supplied to them. This is an old sin, and with it Israel of the ten tribes is upbraided by Hosea (Hos 7:11; 12:2). From this we are not to infer "that here we have nothing to do with the present, since the existing Israel, Judah, was surely no longer a suitor for the assistance of Assyria, already grown powerless" (Hitz.).

“Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.” Hosea 7:11

The wickedness was shown in forsaking Jahveh, in the mªshubowt, backslidings, and the repeated defection from the living God; (cf. Jer 3:22; 5:6; 14:7). As to the fact, we have no historical evidence that under Josiah political alliance with Egypt or Assyria was compassed; but even if no formal negotiations took place, the country was certainly even then not without a party 13 THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR to build its hopes on one or other of the great powers between which Judah lay, whenever a conflict arose with either of them.

(1). “Return, ye back sliding children, and I will heal your backslidings….” Jeremiah 3:22 (2). “…..because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.” Jeremiah 5:6 (3). “….for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.” Jeremiah 14:7

Jer 2:20-25 Bible Text 20 "For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; and you said, 'I will not transgress,’ when on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down, playing the harlot. 21 yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine? 22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before Me," says the Lord GOD. 23 "How can you say, 'I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley; Know what you have done: You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways, 24 A wild donkey used to the wilderness, That sniffs at the wind in her desire; In her time of mating, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they will find her. 25 Withhold your foot from being unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said,’ There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.' NKJV

2:20. high hill and spreading tree as place of prostitution. Part of the fertility rites of local Canaanite sanctuaries were carried out on hilltops in connection with various sorts of trees (including oaks, poplars and terebinths). The sexual rituals dedicated to gods of fertility are also mentioned in Hosea 4:13. Asherah is pictured in Israelite iconography as a stylized tree. [IVP]

2:22. soda, soap. The term translated "soda" refers to a sodium carbonate byproduct, most likely imported from Egypt. Soap was made from the ashes of a local plant. [IVP]

2:23. Baals. The employment of the plural Baals refers to the many cult centers of Baal in Canaanite practice. In other words, there was a Baal for each city (e.g., Tyre, Sidon and Gad). A number of place names in the Old Testament contain the element Baal (e.g., Baal-Zephon and Baal-Peor). It is presumed that they mean "Baal of Peor," or "Baal of Zephon." Baal, which means "lord," occurs as a divine name as early as the eighteenth century B.C. in Amorite personal names from Mari. Some would offer examples as early as the late third millennium. By the fourteenth century the title was used by Egyptians to refer to the storm god. The name is also evident in texts from Alalakh, Amarna and Ugarit as the personal name of the storm god Adad. Baal was a fertility deity and was a dying (winter) and rising (spring) god. In the mythology of Ugarit he is pictured in combat with Yamm (the sea) and Mot (death). His consorts are Anat and Astarte. [IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament]

2:23-24. camel/donkey metaphor. Young female camels are not at all reliable creatures and nervously wander around in a disorderly fashion. The female donkey, when in heat, becomes almost violent and chases after the male donkey, just as Israel, like the wild female donkey, chases after the Baals. (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament)

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2:23-24: Images of animals in heat symbolize Israel’s eagerness to accept other gods in place of her “husband” the Lord. Throughout his lifetime, Jeremiah called for Judah to ally with Babylonia and to reject alliance with Egypt and Assyria (see Chapters 27-29). [Jewish Study Bible]

Jer 2:20-25 V. 20. mee`owlaam (OT: 5769), from eternity, i.e., from immemorial antiquity, has Israel broken the yoke of the divine law laid on it, and torn asunder the bands of decency and order which the commands of God, the ordinances of the Torah, put on, to nurture it to be a holy people of the Lord; torn them as an untamed bullock (Jer 31:18) or a stubborn cow, (Hosea 4:16). mowceerowt (OT: 4147), bands, are not the bands or cords of love with which God drew Israel, Hosea 11:4 (Graf), but the commands of God whose part it was to keep life within the bounds of purity, and to hold the people back from running riot in idolatry. (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

Jer 2:20-25 Verse 21 In this whoring with the false gods, Israel shows its utter corruption. I have planted thee a noble vine; not, with noble vines, as we translate in (Isa 5:2), where Israel is compared to a vineyard. Here Israel is compared to the vine itself, a vine which Jahveh has planted; (cf. Ps 80:9; Hos 10:1). This vine was all, in its entirety, referred to genuine seed; a proper shoot which could bear good grapes (cf. Ezek 17:5); children of Abraham, as they are described in Gen 18:19. But how has this Israel changed itself to me into bastards! Not shoots or twigs, but degenerate sprouts or suckers. The article in hagepen (OT: 1612) is generic: wild shoots of the species of the wild vine. "A strange vine" is an interloping vine, not of the true, genuine stock planted by Jahveh (v. 10), and which bears poisonous berries of gall. (Deut 32:32). [K & D]

Jer 2:22 [Nitre] Or, natron, a mineral alkali, found in the Nile valley, where it effloresces upon the rocks and surfaces of the dykes, and in old time was carefully collected, and used to make lye for washing (see Prov 25:20). [Barnes’ Notes]

[Soap] A vegetable alkali, now called "potash," because obtained from the ashes of plants. Its combination with oils, etc., to form soap was not known to the Hebrews until long after Jeremiah's time, but they used the lye, formed by passing water through the ashes. Thus then, though Israel use both mineral and vegetable alkalies, the most powerful detergents known, yet will she be unable to wash away the stains of her apostasy. [Barnes’ Notes]

[Thine iniquity is marked] i.e., as a stain. (From Barnes' Notes)

Verse 23 The public worship of Baal had been practiced in the kingdom of Judah under Joram, Ahaziah, and Athaliah only, and had been extirpated by Jehu, (2 Kings 10:18 ff). Idolatry became again rampant under Ahaz (by his instigation), Manasseh, and Ammon, and in the first year of Josiah's reign. Josiah began to restore the worship of Jahveh in the twelfth year of his reign; but it was not till the eighteenth that he was able to complete the reformation of the public services. (From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament) In their defense of themselves (compare Jer 2:35), the people probably appealed to the maintenance of the daily sacrifice, and the Mosaic ritual: and even more confidently perhaps to

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Josiah's splendid restoration of the temple, and to the suppression of the open worship of Baal. All such pleas availed little as long as the rites of Moloch were still privately practiced.

[Thy way in the valley] i.e., of Hinnom (see 2 Kings 23:10 note). From the time of Ahaz it had been the seat of the worship of Moloch, and the prophet more than once identifies Moloch with Baal. "Way" is put metaphorically for "conduct, doings." (Barnes’ Notes)

[Traversing] Interlacing her ways. The word describes the tangled mazes of the dromedary's course, as she runs here and there in the heat of her passion. (Barnes’ Notes)

“And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.” 2 Kings 23:10

Verse 10 The word Topheth, or Topher-variously derived from toph, "a drum" or "tabour," because the cries of the sacrificed children were drowned by the noise of such instruments; or, from a root taph or toph, meaning "to burn" - was a spot in the valley of Hinnom (marginal reference note). The later Jewish kings, Manasseh and Amon (or, perhaps, Ahaz, 2 Chron 28:3), had given it over to the Moloch priests for their worship; and here, ever since, the Moloch service had maintained its ground and flourished (marginal references). (Barnes' Notes)

Jer 2:20-25 The next words, "and know what thou hast done," do not, taken by themselves, imply that this form of idol-worship was yet to be met with, but only that the people had not yet purified themselves from it. If, however, we take them in connection with what follows, they certainly do imply the continued existence of practices of that sort. The prophet remonstrates with the people for its passionate devotion to idolatry by comparing it to irrational animals, which in their season of heat yield themselves to their instinct. The comparison gains in pointed ness by his addressing the people as a camel-filly and a wild she-ass. q' bikªraah (OT: 1072) is vocative, co-ordinate with the subject of address, and means the young filly of the camel. (K & D)

Qalaah (OT: 7031), running lightly, nimbly, swiftly. Dr' mªsaareket (OT: 8308), intertwining, i.e., crossing her says; rushing right and left on the paths during the season of heat. Thus Israel ran now after one god, now after another, deviating to the right and to the left from the path prescribed by the law, (Deut 28:14). To delineate yet more sharply the unruly passionate ness with which the people rioted in idolatry, there is added the figure of a wild ass running herself weary in her heat. (K & D)

Verse 24-25.Thus much is beyond all doubt, that the words are still a part of the figure, i.e., of the comparison between the idolatrous people and the wild ass. The meaning of the comparison is this: the false gods do not need anxiously to court the favour of the people; in its unbridled desires it gives itself up to them; (cf. Jer 3:2; Hos 2:7, 15). The answer of the people to this admonition shows clearly that it has been receiving an advice against running after the gods. Although idolatry is the matter chiefly in hand, yet it was so bound up with intriguing for the favour of the heathen nations that we cannot exclude from the words some reference to this also. (From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

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Jer 2:26-32 Bible Text 26 "As the thief is ashamed when he is found out, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets, 27 saying to a tree, 'You are my father,’ And to a stone, 'You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise and save us.' 28 But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. 29 "Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me," says the LORD. 30 'In vain I have chastened your children; they received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. 31 "O generation, see the word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, 'We are lords; we will come no more to You'? 32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number. NKJV

2:27. wood-father, stone mother. In this case the tree was an image of Asherah, a female deity, and the male symbol is that which "gave me birth." Thus the Israelites are completely confused as to their worship. It is difficult to determine whether the text is referring generally to polytheistic worship or specifically to fertility symbols. [IVP Bible Background Commentary]

2:28. as many gods as towns. The various pantheons of most ancient Near Eastern peoples included hundreds and sometimes even thousands of deities. Jeremiah is claiming that the Judeans are no different from their polytheistic counterparts. It was also common practice for towns to have patron deities, so that gods could multiply as towns developed. [IVP]

Jer 2:26-28 The thought in vv. 26 and 27a is this; Israel reaps from its idolatry but shame, as the thief from stealing when he is caught in the act. The comparison in v. 26 contains a universal truth of force at all times. The perfect Howbiyshuw (OT: 954) is the timeless expression of certainty (Hitz.), and refers to the past as well as to the future. (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary)

Jer 2:26-28 Just as already in past time, so also in the future, idolatry brings but shame and confusion by the frustration of the hopes placed in the false gods. The "house of Israel" is all Israel collectively, and not merely the kingdom of the ten tribes. To give the greater emphasis to the reproaches, the leading ranks are mentioned one by one, not: who say, but because (since) they say to the wood, etc., i.e., because they hold images of wood and stone for the gods to whom they owe life and being; whereas Jahveh alone is their Creator or Father and Genitor, (Deut 32:6,18; Isa 64:7; Mal 2:10).With "for they have turned" follows the reason of the statement that Israel will reap only shame from its idolatry.

To the living God who has power to help them they turn their back; but when distress comes upon them they cry to Him for help. But then God will send the people to their gods (idols); then will it discover they will not help, for all so great as their number is. The last clause of v. 28 runs literally: the number of thy cities is thy gods become, i.e., so great is the number of thy gods; cf. Jer 11:13. Judah is here directly addressed, so that the people of Judah may not take for

17 THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR granted that what has been said is of force for the ten tribes only. On the contrary, Judah will experience the same as Israel of the ten tribes did when disaster broke over it. (From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

“For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.” Jeremiah 11:13

SO GOD SAYS. “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.” Jeremiah 11:14

2:32. jewelry. The term for jewelry here is translated elsewhere as "jewels," but here it probably denotes the bridal attire or a specific item that was unique to the bride. See comment on Ezek 16:11-12 for description of the ornaments. (IVP Bible Background Commentary)

Jer 2:29-32 The question in v. 29, wherefore contend ye against me? Implies that the people contended with God as to His visitations, murmured at the divine chastisements they had met with; not as to the reproaches addressed to them on account of their idolatry (Hitz. Graf). Riyb (OT: 7379) with 'el (OT: 413), contend, dispute against, is used of the murmuring of men against divine visitations, Jer 12:1; Job 33:13. Judah has no ground for discontent with the Lord; for they have all fallen away from Him, and (v. 31) let themselves be turned to repentance neither by afflictions, nor by warnings, nor by God's goodness to them. lashaawª' (OT: 7723), to vanity, i.e., without effect, or in vain. [K & D]

We must combine the two references, and understand muwcaar (OT: 4148) both of the rebukes or warnings of the prophets and of the chastisements of God, holding at the same time that it was the correction of the people by the prophets that Jeremiah here chiefly kept in view. In administering this correction the prophets not only applied to the hearts of the people as judgments from God all the ills that fell upon them, but declared to the stiff-necked sinners the punishments of God, and by their words showed those punishments to be impending: (e.g., Elijah, 1 Kings 17 and 18, 2 Kings 1:9 ff.; Elisha, 2 Kings 2:23; the prophet at Bethel, 1 Kings 13:4). [K & D]

Thus this portion of the verse acquires a meaning for itself, which simplifies the transition from the first to the third clause, and we gain the following thought: I visited you with punishments, and made you to be instructed and reproved by prophets, but ye have slain the prophets who were sent to you. Nehemiah puts it so in (Neh 9:26); but Jeremiah uses a much stronger expression; your sword devoured your prophets like a lion which destroys, in order to set full before the sinners' eyes the savage hatred of the idolatrous people against the prophets of God. Historical examples of this are furnished by (1 Kings 18:4, 13; 19:10; 2 Chron 24:21 ff., 2 Kings 21:16; Jer 26:23). [K & D]

The prophet's indignation grows hotter as he brings into view God's treatment of the apostate race, and sets before it, to its shame, the divine long-suffering and love. 'Atem (OT: 859) hadowr (OT: 1755), O generation ye! English: O generation that ye are! (cf. We. §327, a), is 18 THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR the cry of indignation; (cf. Deut 32, where Moses calls the people a perverse foolish generation rª'uw (OT: 7200): see, observe, give heed to the word of the Lord. This verb is often used of perceptions by any sense, as expressive of that sense by which men apprehend most of the things belonging to the outward world. Have I been for Israel a wilderness, i.e., an unfruitful soil, offering neither means of support nor shelter? This question contains litotes, and is as much as to say: have not I richly blessed Israel with earthly goods? [Keil & Delitzsch Commentary]

By a comparison breathing love and longing sadness, the prophet seeks to bring home to the heart of the people a feeling of the unnaturalness of their behavior towards the Lord their God. Does a bride, then, forget her ornaments? Etc. qishuriym, found besides in (Isa 3:20), is the ornamental girdle with which the bride adorns herself on the wedding-day; (cf. Isa 3:20 with 49:18). God is His people's best adornment; to Him it owes all the precious possessions it has. It should keep fast hold of Him as its most priceless treasure, should prize Him more highly than the virgin her jewels, than the bride her girdle. But instead of this it has forgotten its God and that not for a brief time, but throughout countless days. Yaamiym (OT: 3117) is accus. Of duration of time. (From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

Jer 2:33-37 Bible Text 33 "Why do you beautify your way to seek love? Therefore you have also taught the wicked women your ways. 34 Also on your skirts is found the blood of the lives of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, But plainly on all these things. 35 Yet you say, 'because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will plead My case against you, because you say, 'I have not sinned.' 36 Why do you gad about so much to change your way? Also you shall be ashamed of Egypt as you were ashamed of Assyria. 37 Indeed you will go forth from him with your hands on your head; For the LORD has rejected your trusted allies, and you will not prosper by them. NKJV

Jer 2:33-34 In v. 33 the style of address is ironical. How good thou makest thy way! i.e., how well thou knowest to choose out and follow the right way to seek love. derekª (OT: 1870) heeyTiyb (OT: 3190) sig. usually: strive after a good walk and conversation; (cf. Jer 7:3, 5; 18:11, etc).; here, on the other hand, to take the right way for gaining the end in view. "Love" here is seen from the context to be love to the idols, intrigues with the heathen and their gods. Seek love = strive to gain the love of the false gods. (K & D)

To attain this end thou hast taught thy ways misdeeds, i.e., accustomed thy ways to misdeeds, forsaken the commandments of thy God which demand righteousness and the purifying of one's life, and accommodated thyself to the immoral practices of the heathen. Haaraa`owt (OT: 7451), with the article as in 3:5, the evil deeds which are undisguised visible. For in v. 34 we have indisputable evidence that the matter in hand is not evils and misfortunes, but evil deeds or misdemeanors; since there the cleaving of the blood of innocent souls to the hems of the garments is mentioned as one of the basest "evils," and as such is introduced by the gam (OT: 1571) of gradation. (K & D)

The "blood of souls" is the blood of innocent murdered men, which clings to the skirts of the murderers' clothes. kªnaapayim (OT: 3671) are the skirts of the flowing garment, (Ezek 5:3; 1 Sam 15:27; Zech 8:23). The thought runs thus: The poor ones thou hast slain were no thieves or

19 THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR robbers whom thou hadst a right to slay, but guiltless pious men; and the killing of them is a crime worthy of death. (Ex 21:12). (K & D)

Consequently the words bear this meaning: Not for a crime thou killest the poor, but because of thine apostasy from God and thy fornication with the idols, their blood cleaves to thy raiment. The words seem, as (Calven). surmised, to point to the persecution and slaying of the prophets spoken of in v. 30, namely, to the innocent blood with which the godless king Manasseh filled Jerusalem, (2 Kings 21:16; 24:4); seeking as he did to crush out all opposition to the abominations of idolatry, and finding in his way the prophets and the godly of the land, who by their words and their lives lifted up their common testimony against the idolaters and their abandoned practices. (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

Jer 2:35 Yet withal the people holds itself to be guiltless, and deludes itself with the belief that God's wrath has turned away from it, because it has for long enjoyed peace, and because the judgment of devastation of the land by enemies, threatened by the earlier prophets, had not immediately received its fulfillment. For this self-righteous confidence in its innocence, God will contend with His people. (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)

2:36. disappointed by Egypt and Assyria. It is not certain whether Jeremiah is referring to specific events or to these nations in general. By at least 732 B.C. both Judah and Israel entered into a vassal relationship with Assyria. However, in the end Assyria did not protect its vassals but destroyed them, as they did to Israel in 721 B.C. and to Judah in 701 B.C. Egypt, however, had been unable to protect its vassals against the power of Assyria or other West Asiatic kingdoms. In the end then, neither kingdom provided the safety or security that Judah was looking for. (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament)

Jer 2:36 Yet in spite of its proud security Judah seeks to assure itself against hostile attacks by the eager negotiation of alliances. This thought is the link between v. 35 and the reproach of v. 36. Why runniest thou to change thy way? For tee'zªliy (OT: 235), from 'aazal (OT: 235), go, with mª'od (OT: 3966), go impetuously or with strength, i.e., go in haste, run; (cf. 1 Sam 20:19). To change, shift (shanowt (OT: 8138)) one's way, is to take another way than that on which one has hitherto gone. The prophet's meaning is clear from the second half of the verse: "for Egypt, too, wilt thou come to shame, as for Assyria thou hast come to shame." Changing they way, is ceasing to seek help from Assyria in order to form close relations with Egypt. The verbs teeboshiy (OT: 954 thou shalt be ashamed) and boshªtª (OT: 954 to be ashamed) show that the intrigues for the favour of Assyria belong to the past, for the favour of Egypt to the present. [K&D]

Judah was put to shame in regard to Assyria under Ahaz, (2 Chron 28:21); and after the experience of Assyria it had had under Hezekiah and Manasseh, there could be little more thought of looking for help thence. But what could have made Judah under Josiah, in the earlier days of Jeremiah, to seek an alliance with Egypt, considering that Assyria was at that time already nearing its dissolution? (Graf) is therefore of opinion that the prophet is here keeping in view the political relations in the days of Jehoiakim, in which and for which time he wrote his book, rather than those of Josiah's times, when the alliance with Asshur was still in force;

20 THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR and that he has thus in passing cast a stray glance into a time influenced by later events. [K&D]

As little does his setting himself against the now mighty Pharaoh Necho at Mediggo show clearly that he remained faithful to the alliance with Asshur in spite of the disruption of the Assyrian Empire. Historically only thus much is certain, that Jehoiakim was raised to the throne by Pharaoh Necho, and that he was a vassal of Egypt. During the period of this subjection the formation of alliances with Egypt was for Judah out of the question. Such a case could happen only when Jehoiakim had become subject to the Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar, and was cherishing the plan of throwing off the Chaldean yoke. But the reference of the words to this design is devoid of the faintest probability, (vv. 35 and 36); and the discourse throughout is far from giving the impression that Judah had already lost its political independence; they rather imply that the kingdom was under the sway neither of Assyrians nor Egyptians, but was still politically independent. [K & D]

We may very plausibly refer to Josiah's time the resolution to give up all trust in the assistance of Assyria and to court the favour of Egypt. We need not seek for the outward inducement to this in the recognition of the beginning decline of the Assyrian power; it might equally well lie in the growth of the Egyptian state. That the power of Egypt had made considerable progress in the reign of Josiah, is made clear by Pharaoh Necho's enterprise against Assyria in the last year of Josiah, from Necho's march towards the Euphrates. Josiah's setting himself in opposition to the advance of the Egyptians, which cost him his life at Megiddo, neither proves that Judah was then allied with Assyria nor excludes the possibility of intrigues for Egypt's favour having already taken place. [K & D]

It is perfectly possible that the taking of Manasseh a captive to Babylon by Assyrian generals may have shaken the confidence in Assyria of the idolatrous people of Judah, and that, their thoughts turning to Egypt, steps may have been taken for paving the way towards an alliance with this great power, even although the godly king Josiah took no part in these proceedings. The prophets' warning against confidence in Egypt and against courting its alliance is given in terms so general that it is impossible to draw any certain conclusions either with regard to the principles of Josiah's government or with regard to the circumstances of the time which Jeremiah was keeping in view. [K & D]

2:37. hands on head. The "hands on the head" gesture was a sign of grief in the ancient Near East. It has been illustrated by the mourning female figures on the Phoenician sarcophagus of Ahiram, thirteenth-century king of Byblos. The Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers also describes this gesture as an indication of mourning. (From IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, Copyright © 2000 by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas. Published by Inter Varsity Press. All rights reserved.)

Jer 2:37 Also from this, i.e., Egypt, shalt thou go away (come back), thy hands upon thy head, i.e., beating them on thy head in grief and dismay (cf. for this gesture 2 Sam 13:19). Zeh (OT: 2088 he) refers to Egypt, thought of as a people as in (Jer 46:8; Isa 19:16, 25); and thus is removed (Hertz’s) objection, that in that case we must have zo't (OT: 2063). mibªTaachiym, objects of confidence. The expression refers equally to Egypt and to Assyria. As God has broken the 21 THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR power of Assyria, so will He also overthrow Egypt's might, thus making all trust in it a shame. Laahem (OT: 3807a), in reference to them. (From Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

THE HOPE “Egypt rises up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.” Jeremiah 46:8

THE REALITY “The word that the Lord Spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.” Jeremiah 46:13

THE FUTURE “In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.

20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a Savior, and a great one, and he shall deliver them. 21 And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it. 24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: 25 whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying: 1. Blessed be Egypt my people, 2. And Assyria the work of my hands, 3. And Israel mine inheritance.” Isaiah 19:19-21; 24-25

Note: This will be the time the Jesus Christ rules the Earth. Paul the Learner

Note two things: 1. 1 Samuel 8:5, 7 “…now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 7 “….for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” 2. The “Lo-Ammi” Periods. See Hosea 1:9 When Israel was regarded by Jehovah as “Lo- Ammi,” i.e. Not My People then, Jehovah dealt with them on a different principle in recording time.

During this time when Israel had rejected in total the Lord and His Commandments and follow other gods, then God in order to bring them back to Himself would send in other nations to afflict them and cause them to go into bondage and suffering. After a while Israel would repent and turn from their wicked ways and God would send them a Judge to bring deliverance to the nations, this happened 7 times in the book of Judges. But even God, looses patience with Israel. At this time in their history, we find that 10 tribes were taken and lost. They never were restored as before. Today Israel is finding some of them, scattered throughout the earth.

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‘My Spirit will not always strive with man’ Learn the lesson or parish, as it is written, so let it be done. Paul the Learner Judeo-Christianity Today From the last fourth century on the break between Judaism and Christianity was complete. From this point on we see two separate and distinct religions, each with its own exclusive path to salvation, sharing a common history but also differing from one another in many respects. There is no going back to the beginning, no undoing the final and perhaps inevitable break between Judaism and Christianity.

It is interesting to note that in the fourth century Christians felt threatened by “Judaizing” Christians, while in our times the Jews feel threatened by “Jewish-Christian” movements. [Like Jews for Jesus]. In the early centuries of the Common Era (AD) Christianity was still a young and new religion. Many people thought of Christians as “some kind of Jews.” This changed because around the year 380 A.D. the Bishop John Chrysostom, was appointed to be ‘Bishop of Antioch.’

So coming to the city, he was shocked to find his members regularly attending the Jewish synagogue, and also enjoying the sermons that the Rabbi’s spoke as well as socializing with the Jews. The young believers even treated rabbis as holy men of God.

John Chrysostom responded in a series of sermons called ‘Adversus Judaeus,’ in Latin meaning ‘Against the Jews,’ he also condemned the Jews as ‘servants of the Devil.’ He also forbade any social or economic contact of any kind with the Jews, much less a sharing of religious ideas and practices. Even though John Chrysostom did maintain cordial relations with the Jews.

Today, after two millennia of Jewish powerlessness, the relationship is reversed. Christian identity is not at stake, with more than a billion Christians living on earth. It is the Jews – few in number, powerless, often subject to persecution, who fear being swallowed. Which ever group is relatively small and powerless feels that attempts to minimize differences are really treats of destruction by the more established party. Jews of today, like fourth century Christians, wise to be acknowledged as believers in a separate and distinct religion that is complete in itself. Every religion has its own integrity. The ultimate goal is not merger but mutual respect. The Jews in the Time of Jesus by Stephen M. Wylen

Note: This tells me that when God brought Israel back into the Promised Land in 1948 and made them a nation that according to His plan which is recorded in the Scriptures our time on earth is limited and the night is fast approaching and we must work while it is day. Paul the Learner