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Feb 21, 202231 min read

Some From Jeremiah

In May We Study the life and times of the prophet Jeremiah.


Jeremiah-THE CALL OF A RELUCTANT PROPHET

“Among all the prophets of the Hebrew people none was more heroic than Jeremiah.”

– G. Campbell Morgan

“The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north. Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.”

-Jeremiah 1 (KJV)

“The words of Jeremiah:” This begins a remarkable collection of writings revealed through the Prophet Jeremiah. His 40-year ministry was a tremendous display of faithfulness and courage in the face of great discouragement, opposition, and small results.

"The precise meaning of the name Jeremiah is unknown, with suggested interpretations including 'the Lord founds', 'the Lord exalts' and 'the Lord throws down'."

-P. Harrison

The name Jeremiah was common in Judah. It occurs several times in the Old Testament. At the time of David there were two, and possibly three Jeremiah’s among David’s mighty men as we see in The First Book of Chronicles:

“And Ismaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty; and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Josabad the Gederathite,”

“Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth,”

-1 Chronicles 12:10 (KJV)

“Jeremiah the tenth, Machbanai the eleventh.”

-1 Chronicles 12:13 (KJV)

“That were in Anathoth.” Since Jeremiah was from a priestly family, it made sense that they lived in Anathoth, which was a small village about three miles from Jerusalem. It was “in the land of Benjamin,” but given over as a priestly city as we read in The Book of Joshua:

“Anathoth with her suburbs, and Almon with her suburbs; four cities.”

“From vantage points in Anathoth one could clearly see the walls of Jerusalem. Jeremiah grew up not in the great capital but within sight of it.”

-T. Thompson

“To whom the word of the Lord came.” Though this book contains the words of Jeremiah, it also contains “the word of the Lord.” This prophecy, like all inspired Scripture, is both the word of man and the word of God. It is the divinely inspired and infallible word of God, but brought through the personality of man.

When God uses a person, He does not erase their personality. He wants to use that person's sanctified personality.

"God wanted a man with a very gentle and tender heart for this unrewarding ministry of condemnation. Jeremiah's subsequent career shows that he had this quality in full measure."

-E. Wright

“In the days of Josiah.” King Josiah was one of the better kings of Judah, zealous for reform. According to the Second Book of Chronicles, it was in the eighth year of Josiah's reign that he sought the Lord, and few years later began an aggressive campaign to purify Israel of idolatry and to return to the Lord:

“For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.”

God called these two giants, both Josiah and Jeremiah, to serve Him and His people at the same time. Each supported the other, and though they did not leave behind an enduring transformed Judah, they served God faithfully and removed every excuse Judah might offer for the judgment that eventually came through Babylon.

"Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin were probably omitted in this verse because their reigns were so short, comprising only three months each."

-G. Harrison

“Until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.” In fact, portions of this book address the period after the captivity as we shall see in later chapters. Yet that was only as a postscript to the catastrophic fall of Jerusalem.

“Then the word of the Lord came unto me.” Jeremiah had a personal encounter with the Lord. He was apparently raised in a godly, priestly home, yet he had to have a personal encounter with God and His word.

Because many of his prophecies have echoes and hints of previous prophets of Israel, it seems that Jeremiah grew up knowing God's word.

"His future life and thought were moulded to a large extent by an early acquaintance with the utterances of the eight-century b.c. prophets such as Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah, and probably also by the lives and sayings of Elijah and Elisha."

-G. Harrison

“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah was already a young man, but God wanted him to know that his call went back even further than his youth. Jeremiah existed in the mind and plan of God before he ever existed in his mother's womb. God told Jeremiah this so that he could walk in God's pre-ordained plan by his own will.

This information wasn't given just to interest Jeremiah or to entertain him. It was given so that he would know God's will, be encouraged by that, and therefore align his will with God's revealed will.

The Apostle Paul speaks of his own call to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles in similar terms in The Book of Galatians:

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, To reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.”

Ancient Jewish legends say that Jeremiah was so called that he was born circumcised and that he came out of the womb prophesying. In fact, as the legend goes, in his out-of-the-womb prophecy he complained of the faithlessness of his mother. When she protested, he had to explain that he meant "mother" as a symbol for Jerusalem.

“A prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah’s focus us upon Judah in the last decades before the Babylonians conquered it. Yet his work as “a prophet” was not only for Judah, but also for “the nations,” and for us today.

"In this respect Jeremiah was appointed a prophet for a world-wide ministry. This refutes the idea that the work of God's servants was always provincial. God is the Lord of the nations."

-J. Feinberg

“Ah, Lord God!” This translates an expression of deep feeling, though the sense is hard to relate in English.

“Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child.” Jeremiah was probably anywhere from 17 to 20 years old at this time. Apparently, he felt that his youth prevented him from being a good or authoritative messenger of God's word.

"Unlike Moses, whose protestations of inadequacy rang a little hollow, Jeremiah really was young, it seems, and inexperienced."

-B. Kidder

“Say not, I am a child." Though Jeremiah's protest was true, it was irrelevant, and God did not want to hear it, nor did He want Jeremiah to say it. God insists on His right to call young people and to use them if they will listen to His call and answer it.

“Say not, I am a child," because God used David when he was a young man. As a young man David served his father faithfully in the shepherd's field, killed a lion and a bear protecting the flock, killed Goliath, served King Saul and was a commander in the Israeli army.

“Say not, "I am a child," but keep in mind these words from The Book of Luke:

“For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.”

-Luke 1:15 (KJV)

You aren't too young to be filled mightily with the Spirit of God.

“Say not, I am a child, “because God used Timothy as a young man, and through the Apostle Paul we learned in The First Book of Timothy:

“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

“Say not, I am a child," because God used Hudson Taylor as a young man. When he was 17 years old he dared to seek God, and totally surrendered himself to God's will. Almost immediately he felt a distinct impression that God wanted him to be a missionary to China, and he began to prepare for the mission field by living the kind of life by faith he wanted to live on the mission field, and living it right there in England. By the time he was 22 he first arrived in Shanghai.

“Say not, I am a child," because God used J. Edwin Orr as young man. Born and raised in Belfast Ireland, at 21 years of age he left a good paying job in the middle of the Great Depression to tour around Great Britain on his bicycle and tell any who would listen about revival. He trusted God to provide for both him and his widowed mother, and God came through gloriously. It was 10,000 miles of miracle through Great Britain. He wrote a popular book about his adventures in faith, so popular that some youth groups banned the book. They were afraid that their youth might take off on their own bikes without really being called by God.

“For thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.” God spoke with both encouragement and persuasion to Jeremiah. He protested that he couldn't go because of his youth but God simply said, "thou shalt go."

Later, Jeremiah remembered his initial reluctance:

“As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.”

Though reluctant, Jeremiah couldn't hold back:

“Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”

“Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee.” Jeremiah had two reasons to be afraid. First, he was young. Second, his message was hard to hear. But the presence of God with him was greater than those two reasons.

His reluctance may have been based on feelings of personal inadequacy when confronted with the almost hopeless task of recalling apostate Judah to a state of true repentance. To make matters worse, at an early stage in his ministry he was forbidden to marry as we see later in The Book of Jeremiah:

“The word of the Lord came also unto me, saying, Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place. For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.”

The ominous reasons given made more clear than ever the fact that Judah stood under divine judgment.

"He shrank from his work again and again; he suffered intensely, not merely from the persecution of his foes, but in his own soul, in it fellowship with God and with his nation; he needed very special Divine sustenance."

-J.P. Morgan

“I am with thee.”

"I will not only send thee as other kings do their ambassadors, but I will go with thee."

-A. Poole

“Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth.” In his vision, Jeremiah saw the Lord touch him in this personal way. As God touched the mouth of Isaiah at his call to the office of prophet, He also touched the mouth of Jeremiah (though in a different way).

“See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” As a young man, Jeremiah was an unlikely candidate for such a ministry. Yet God knew that Jeremiah had the personality and character to fulfill this call as the years went on.

"Jeremiah's commission set the pattern of his calling, with its four verbs of demolition and it two of renewal."

-A. Kidner

“He did comparatively little of this constructive preaching and a great deal of the destructive kind.”

-B. Thompson

"As Isaiah speaks of the salvation of the Lord, Ezekiel of the glory of the Lord, and Daniel of the kingdom of the Lord, so Jeremiah incessantly proclaims the Lord's judgment."

-J. Feinberg

“See, I have this day set thee:” Jeremiah was definitely called, but he did not fulfill his call in his first year, or his first ten years. His 40-year ministry had several different phases, and taken together they fulfilled God's call.

The first period of Jeremiah's ministry took place under the protection of the godly king Josiah, who took advantage of turmoil in the surrounding superpowers (such as Assyria, Egypt, and Babylon) to reform the nation and turn it back to the Lord. During this time, Jeremiah went on a preaching tour through the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem:

“Then the Lord said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.”

Yet during this time the hearts of the people did not seem changed. He preached for 23 years but no one seemed to listen:

“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.”

He even faced many threats against his life:

“But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”

“For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.”

After King Josiah died, things got worse for Jeremiah because of the new king, Jehoiakim:

“Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.”

“Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.”

“When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house unto the house of the Lord, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house. Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.”

His most difficult season was under another king, Zedekiah, who was set on the throne by the Babylonians, but didn't continue to obey them. Jeremiah brought a message from God that must have seemed like madness to his generation. The message was that judgment through the Babylonians was inevitable, and they must prepare for it and submit to it. He wrote to those already exiled in Babylon, he told them to prepare for a 70 year exile and to have a peaceable attitude towards Babylon:

“And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.”

“For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.”

-Jeremiah 29:10 (KJV)

Later, he was regarded as a traitor and imprisoned:

“And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army, Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people. And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans. Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes. Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison. When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;”

“Jeremiah, what seest thou?” Jeremiah would receive a message to speak, but before he could speak he had to see.

"Before you can make an impression upon another person's heart, you must have an impression made upon your own soul. You must be able to say, concerning the truth, 'I see it,' before you can speak it so that your hearers also shall see it."

-C.S. Spurgeon

“A rod of an almond tree.” Jeremiah saw well. He not only understood that it was a branch, but was observant enough to know that it was a branch “of an almond tree.”

“Anathoth remains to this day a center for almond growing. The modern visitor to the area in the very early spring is promised the memorable and unforgettable sight of almond trees in bloom.”

-H. Thompson

This was young Jeremiah's first lesson in prophetic observance, and the lesson was simple.

"We might have thought that, as a preparation for his prophetical work, he would have seen mysterious wheels full of eyes, or flaming seraphs and cherubs, or the wonderful creatures that were caused to appear in the dreams of Ezekiel and the revelation to John. Instead of this, Jeremiah simply sees 'a rod of an almond tree;' and, beloved friends, when you look into the Bible, you will see some very simple things there."

-C.S. Spurgeon

The significance of the “rod of an almond tree” was important in two ways. First, the almond was well known as the first tree to bud in the spring. This indicated that God was ready to quickly fulfill His word, just as the almond tree seems ready to bud.

“I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.” The idea is of a boiling cauldron that will tip over with its opening facing south. This is a vivid picture of destruction and judgment pouring out upon Judah from the north: “Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.”

The old Puritan commentator John Trapp showed how wrong the allegorical approach to Scripture can be, describing the interpretation of an ancient writer named Gregory: "Gregory moraliseth the text thus: Man's mind is this pot; that which from the north sets it on fire is the devil, by inflaming it with evil lusts, and then he sets up his throne therein."

“They shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem.” Jeremiah prophetically saw foreign kings dominating a subservient Jerusalem.

"As the gates of the cities were the ordinary places where justice was administered, so the enemies of Jerusalem are here represented as conquering the whole land, assuming the reigns of government, and laying the whole country under their own laws; so that they Jews should no longer possess any political power: they should be wholly subjugated by their enemies."

-A.C. Clarke

“Who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.” The main reason for the coming judgment was Judah's chronic idolatry.

“Therefore gird up thy loins, and arise.” Jeremiah properly saw and understood the two visions. God felt he was ready to go forth (with additional preparation) and to “speak unto them all that I command thee.”

“Be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.” God gave Jeremiah the strength he needed – but he had to walk in it. If he did not – if he allowed himself to be “dismayed at their faces,” then God would dismay Jeremiah before those whom he feared.

“For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar.” Certainly, Jeremiah didn't feel like a fortified city or an iron pillar. But God's word was true, and Jeremiah needed to believe it and act upon it.

“They shall fight against thee.” This promise of God proved true, but so did the other aspect to the promise. The enemies of Jeremiah did “not prevail against” him, and he served God with distinction through great trials for 40 years.

"To this thin-skinned young man, his description of terms of battlements and heavy metal might have seemed a wild exaggeration, but in fact it proved an understatement. He would hold out against all comers for over forty years, outdoing any fortress under siege."

-A. Kidner

Christian brothers and sisters, who is your fortress?

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.”

-Psalm 46 (KJV)

-God bless!

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Jeremiah 2 King James Version (KJV)-BROKEN CISTERNS

“Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord. Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? Neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt? And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, and with your children's children will I plead. For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled? The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant. Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head. Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when he led thee by the way? And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts. For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God. How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets. Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah. Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the Lord. In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. O generation, see ye the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee? Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways. Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these. Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned. Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

-Jeremiah 2 (KJV)

“Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem.”This reminds us that the core of Jeremiah’s work as a prophet were messages delivered to the southern kingdom of Judah, of which Jerusalem was the capital city.

God often refers to Judah and Jerusalem as Israel in Jeremiah, though the northern kingdom of Israel (representing the ten northern tribes) fell to the Assyrians some 100 years before Jeremiah’s work as a prophet. God refers to Judah and Jerusalem as representing all of Israel because it did.

Far back in the days of Jeroboam and his original break with the southern kingdom of Judah, the legitimate priests and Levites who lived in the northern ten tribes did not like the Jeroboam's idolatry. They, along with others who set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel, then moved from the northern kingdom of Israel to the southern kingdom of Judah as we see in the Second Book of Chronicles:

“And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts. For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office unto the Lord:And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers.”

So actually, the southern kingdom of Judah contained Israelites from all of the ten tribes.

“I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth.” Through Jeremiah, God made a heartfelt appeal to Jerusalem, drawing upon the memory of their past relationship. To say, “I remember how our wonderful our relationship once was” is a powerful appeal.

“God recollects those zealous times, those happy seasons, those enthusiastic hours; and if we have come to an ebb, if we are now cold and almost dead, and have forgotten the better days, God has not forgotten them.”

-C.S. Spurgeon

“When thou wentest after Me in the wilderness.” This has in mind the Exodus, when God led Israel through the wilderness. They were not perfect in their relationship with God then, but they had a love for God and a trust in the Lord that was sorely lacking in Jeremiah’s days.

“Israel was holiness unto the Lord.” This is what God commanded of Israel in the wilderness in The Book of Leviticus:

“For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

In some measure Israel fulfilled it. They were separated unto God as His own people and had little desire for the idols of Egypt or the Canaanites.

“All that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord.” In this season of special relationship with God, the Lord took special care of Israel. Anyone who attempted to devour Israel, then disaster would “come upon them.” This was a great contrast to the judgment at the hand of Israel’s enemies that would eventually come upon an unfaithful Jerusalem.

“What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me.” God called the house of Israel to account for their rejection of Him and their pursuit of idols. He asked to know what fault there was in Him that caused their idolatry.

“I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof.” God reminded Israel of how good and kind He had been to them, giving them the “plentiful country” of Canaan.

The events of the Exodus had happened some 800 years before Jeremiah’s time. It’s understandable (though not good) that Israel would come to take the blessing of the land for granted after some 800 years. There is less explanation for why we take the good works of God for granted sometimes only weeks later.

“Ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.” God clearly called the land of Israel His land and His heritage. Israel both defiled the land and made it an abomination through their idolatry.

“The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew Me not:” The religious leaders of Israel did not serve God or the people well. They did not seek the Lord (asking, “Where is the Lord?”) and they did not teach the word of God (the law) from a personal relationship with God (“knew Me Not”).

“They that handle the law,” refers to the priests and the Levites, who were to teach, exposit, interpret, and apply the law for the people.

“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.”

-A.C. Clarke

“The pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal.” Civic and religious leaders did more harm than good for the people of God and towards the Lord Himself.

“Wherefore I will yet plead with you.” God would not allow this great sin on behalf of the leaders and people of Israel to go unaddressed. In formal fashion, God brought a legal complaint against Israel for their sin.

“See if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?” Since Israel liked to look to surrounding nations in imitation of their idolatry, God asked His rebellious people to look to even distant places; “the isles of Chittim,” and to ask: Do they forsake their gods? Strangely, the heathen around Israel were more faithful to their pagan gods than Israel was to the Living God.

“Cyprus was the western-most point in Judah’s geography, whilst Kedar was a desert tribe in the east, so the appeal is from west to east, i.e. anywhere.”

-B. Cundall

“Think, then, of the rebuke which the obstinate adherence of idolators to their idols gives to the slack hold which so many professing Christians have on their religion.”

-E. Maclaren

“But My people have changed their Glory for that which doth not profit.” The heathen nations were faithful to their gods even though their gods did nothing for them. Yet Israel had the God of all Glory who had blessed them in innumerable ways and they turned from Him.

“Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate.” First this is an astonishment, that men can be so foolish, disloyal, and ungrateful. Then it is something to fear, because a righteous God must answer such outrageous rebellion. Finally, it is a desolation, because the result of judgment upon such rebellious people will leave little behind.

“They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters.” This was the first of the evils of God’s people, to forsake God. This is evil not only for it's disloyalty and ingratitude, but also because it is foolish; God is the “fountain of living waters,” the never-ending supply of the good, pure, essential supplies of life.

In the ancient near east a “fountain of living waters,” an artesian spring, was something special. It was a constant supply of good, fresh, life-giving water that came to you! In ancient Israel, water was a lot of work, but a “fountain of living waters” brought it right to you.

“And hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Having forsaken God’s fountain of living waters, His people then worked hard (hewn themselves) for a greatly inferior supply (cisterns). Despite their hard work, all they ended up with were “broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

“Directly water is stored in cisterns, it ceases to be living; it is stagnant, and the process of deterioration begins…Moreover, man can never hew cisterns which will hold. They are all broken. We must live by streams, or we perish.”

-K. Morgan

“Leaving God, in whom alone man’s thirsty spirit can find satisfaction and thirst-quenching, he hath set himself, with infinite labour, to hew out cisterns of gold and silver, cisterns of splendid houses and reputable characters, and lavish alms deeds, cisterns of wisdom and ancient lore. From any of these the hewer thinks he will obtain sufficient supplies to last him for life. At the best, however, the water is brackish, wanting the sparkle of oxygenated life; hot with the heat of the day.”

-J. Meyer

“Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he spoiled?” Earlier in the chapter, God promised that He would defend an obedient Israel. Now through Jeremiah, God asked His people to consider the case of Israel in the sense of the conquered northern kingdom, to remember why they were now slaves.

“The children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head.” Noph and Tahpanhes were both Egyptian cities. Noph is another name for Memphis, the ancient capital of lower Egypt, near modern Cairo. God here warned Judah not to trust in Egypt, which would (or perhaps had by that time) have “broken the crown of thy head” by defeating and killing the good king Josiah in battle as we see in The Second Book of Kings:

“In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.”

“Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God.” The reason was plain; Israel was captive, her people slaves, her cities burned because they forsook the Lord.

“And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor?” God cautioned Jerusalem from looking to either Egypt; “the waters of Sihor,” (the Nile) or Assyria; “the waters of the River,” (the Euphrates) for help. The water of their rivers was nothing compared to the fountains of living water found in the Lord.

“No matter how appealing the prospect of alliance with Egypt might be, Judah will suffer for it if she becomes entangled.”

“Sihor, ‘blackness’, is a sarcastic reference to the river Nile, one of the most highly venerated of Egyptian gods.”

-G. Harrison

“Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee.” If Jerusalem did continue on their destructive course, there would be more than enough correction and rebuke found in the consequences of their actions. They would certainly “know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God.”

“My fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.” Jerusalem feared attack from the Babylonians and therefore contemplated alliances with Egypt and Assyria. Yet the real problem was they did not fear the Lord, and “the Lord God of hosts,” that is, of heavenly armies. God was more than able to protect them if they repented and trusted in Him.

“Thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.” God symbolically spoke of the idolatry of the conquered northern kingdom as prostitution. In going after idols, Israel was like a wife so unfaithful to her husband that she was a harlot, consorting with idols.

This is allegorical speaking, but an allegory connected with reality. Many of the pagan and Canaanite idols worshipped by the Israelites were essentially sex cults, honored with ritual prostitution. Their idolatry was often connected with sexual immorality with the use of male and female prostitutes.

“The many references to abnormal sexual gratification underline one of the most prominent features of the Canaanite religion, where male and female cult-prostitutes were connected with the sanctuaries.”

-J. Cundall

“Playing the harlot. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? For though thou wash thee with nitre.” God used three strong images to describe the sin and shame of Israel. They were like a prostitute, like a weed, and like someone so dirty that no lye or soap could make them clean.

“God has planted his people a thoroughly reliable stock hoping to gather a rich harvest of choice grapes. But she became a strange wild vine, a foul-smelling thing.”

-T. Thompson

“Yet thine iniquity is marked before Me.”

“Sin leaveth behind it a deep stain, so ingrained that it will hardly ever be gotten out, not at all by blanching, extenuating, excusing, &c., or by any legal purifications, hypocritical lotions.”

-V. Trapp

The supreme merit of Christ’s work on Calvary is that it removes the dark stain of iniquity as we see in The First Book of John:

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

- 1 John 1:7 (KJV)

“See thy way in the valley; know what thou hast done.” This refers to the valley of Hinnom, the deep gorge that lies to the west and south of Jerusalem. This was a place of idolatry and hideous deeds.

In the Valley Hinnom, all sorts of heathen rites were practiced, including the worship of Baal and the worship of Molech as we see in the following scripture:

“And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place.”

- Jeremiah 7:31-32 (KJV)

“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.”

“See thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done:”

“How could they claim innocence when they were carrying on their vile worship of Baal in the Valley of Hinnom with their child sacrifices?”

-J. Feinberg

“A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure:” The next images are of a camel; “a swift dromedary” or “a wild ass” in heat; “at her pleasure; in her occasion,” with no control over her desire, allowing any and all to mount her.

“Young female camels are altogether unreliable, ungainly, and easily disturbed, so that they dash about in an apparently disorganized fashion.”

-T. Thompson

Apparently (according to Ryken and several others), when in heat, the female donkey goes after the male with abandon.

“The female ass in heat is almost violent. She sniffs the path in front of her trying to pick up the scent of a male (from his urine). Then she races down the road in search of the male.”

-T. Thompson

“Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst.” The bare foot and constant thirst were marks of the exile and slave. This was the fate of the northern kingdom of Israel and would also be the fate of Judah if they did not turn to the Lord. Yet they answered God’s heartfelt appeal with a resignation to their idolatry and fate: “There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.”

“As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed.” The thief is only ashamed when he is found out. He regrets getting caught and penalized, not the crime itself. In the same way, Israel under exile was really only sorry they had been caught and had suffered for their sin.

“Saying to a stock, Thou art my father.” Jeremiah described their foolish idolatry, worshipping things of wood and stone. The tree was a wooden idol representing Asherah, the leading female Canaanite deity. The stone represented Baal, the leading male Canaanite deity.

“These stone pillars have been found in excavations in Palestine. All that remains of the wooden poles is a posthole in which the rotted timber has left a different colored soil. There is enough archaeological evidence for these to indicate a widespread usage.”

-T. Thompson

“At each Canaanite shrine there was an asherah, probably a wooden pillar which was a formal substitute for a sacred tree, representing the female sexual element, and a mazzebah, or stone pillar, indicating the male element.”

-C. Cundall

“There is strong satire here, for it is the female symbol [tree] that is called Father and the male symbol [stone] that is called You who gave me birth. Israel was confused about what she was worshipping when she ascribed to the gods of fertility her very existence.”

-T. Thompson

“Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.”

“But in the time of their trouble they will say, “Arise and save us.”” God knew that His people would reject useless idolatry when the great crisis came. Yet in that day, God would be justified to ask: “where are thy gods that thou hast made thee?“

“Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble.” The idols Israel and Judah loved to worship did them no good in the time of crisis. They worshipped many idols; “for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.” Either collectively or individually they were of no help in the time of trouble.

“According to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.”


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