cry--proclaim.
Jerusalem--the headquarters and center of their idolatry; therefore addressed first.
thee--rather, "I remember in regard to thee" [HENDERSON]; "for thee" [MAURER].
kindness of thy youth--not so much Israel's kindness towards God, as the kindness which Israel experienced from God in their early history (compare Eze 16:8, Eze 16:22, Eze 16:60; Eze 23:3, Eze 23:8, Eze 23:19; Hos 2:15). For Israel from the first showed perversity rather than kindness towards God (compare Exo 14:11-12; Exo 15:24; Exo 32:1-7, &c.). The greater were God's favors to them from the first, the fouler was their ingratitude in forsaking Him (Jer 2:3, Jer 2:5, &c.).
espousals--the intervals between Israel's betrothal to God at the exodus from Egypt, and the formal execution of the marriage contract at Sinai. EWALD takes the "kindness" and "love" to be Israel's towards God at first (Exo 19:8; Exo 24:3; Exo 35:20-29; Exo 36:5; Jos 24:16-17). But compare Deu 32:16-17; Eze 16:5-6, Eze 16:15, Eze 16:22 ("days of thy youth") implies that the love here meant was on God's side, not Israel's.
thou wentest after me in . . . wilderness--the next act of God's love, His leading them in the desert without needing any strange god, such as they since worshipped, to help Him (Deu 2:7; Deu 32:12). Jer 2:6 shows it is God's "leading" of them, not their following after God in the wilderness, which is implied.
first-fruits of his increase--that is, of Jehovah's produce. As the first-fruits of the whole produce of the land were devoted to God (Exo 23:19; Num 18:12-13), so Israel was devoted to Him as the first-fruit and representative nation among all nations. So the spiritual Israel (Jam 1:18; Rev 14:4).
devour--carrying on the image of first-fruits which were eaten before the Lord by the priests as the Lord's representatives; all who ate (injured) Jehovah's first-fruits (Israel), contracted guilt: for example, Amalek, the Amorites, &c., were extirpated for their guilt towards Israel.
shall come--rather, "came."
families--(See on Jer 1:15). Hear God's word not only collectively, but individually (Zac 12:12-14).
walked after vanity--contrasted with "walkest after me in the wilderness" (Jer 2:2): then I was their guide in the barren desert; now they take idols as their guides.
vanity . . . vain--An idol is not only vain (impotent and empty), but vanity itself. Its worshippers acquire its character, becoming vain as it is (Deu 7:26; Psa 115:8). A people's character never rises above that of its gods, which are its "better nature" [BACON] (Kg2 17:15; Jon 2:8).
deserts . . . pits--The desert between Mount Sinai and Palestine abounds in chasms and pits, in which beasts of burden often sink down to the knees. "Shadow of death" refers to the darkness of the caverns amidst the rocky precipices (Deu 8:15; Deu 32:10).
defiled--by idolatries (Jdg 2:10-17; Psa 78:58-59; Psa 106:38).
you . . . ye--change to the second person from the third, "they" (Jer 2:6), in order to bring home the guilt to the living generation.
priests--whose office it was to expound the law (Mal 2:6-7).
handle--are occupied with the law as the subject of their profession.
pastors--civil, not religious: princes (Jer 3:15), whose duty it was to tend their people.
prophets--who should have reclaimed the people from their apostasy, encouraged them in it by pretended oracles from Baal, the Phœnician false god.
by Baal--in his name and by his authority (compare Jer 11:21).
walked after things . . . not profit--answering to, "walked after vanity," that is, idols (Jer 2:5; compare Jer 2:11; Hab 2:18).
children's children--Three manuscripts and JEROME omit "children's"; they seem to have thought it unsuitable to read "children's children," when "children" had not preceded. But it is designedly so written, to intimate that the final judgment on the nation would be suspended for many generations [HORSLEY]. (Compare Eze 20:35-36; Mic 6:2).
Chittim . . . Kedar--that is, the heathen nations, west and east. Go where you will, you cannot find an instance of any heathen nation forsaking their own for other gods. Israel alone does this. Yet the heathen gods are false gods; whereas Israel, in forsaking Me for other gods, forsake their "glory" for unprofitable idols.
Chittim--Cyprus, colonized by Phœnicians, who built in it the city of Citium, the modern Chitti. Then the term came to be applied to all maritime coasts of the Mediterranean, especially Greece (Num 24:24; Isa 23:1; Dan 11:30).
Kedar--descended from Ishmael; the Bedouins and Arabs, east of Palestine.
not profit-- (Jer 2:8).
horribly afraid--rather, be horrified."
be . . . very desolate--rather, "be exceedingly aghast" at the monstrous spectacle. Literally, "to be dried up," or "devastated," (places devastated have such an unsightly look) [MAURER].
forsaken me--The Hebrew collocation brings out the only living God into more prominent contrast with idol nonentities. "Me they have forsaken, the Fountain," &c. (Jer 17:13; Psa 36:9; Joh 4:14).
broken cisterns--tanks for rain water, common in the East, where wells are scarce. The tanks not only cannot give forth an ever-flowing fresh supply as fountains can, but cannot even retain the water poured into them; the stonework within being broken, the earth drinks up the collected water. So, in general, all earthly, compared with heavenly, means of satisfying man's highest wants (Isa 55:1-2; compare Luk 12:33).
have broken--rather, shall feed down the crown, &c., that is, affect with the greatest ignominy, such as baldness was regarded in the East (Jer 48:37; Kg2 2:23). Instead of "also," translate, "even" the Egyptians, in whom thou dost trust, shall miserably disappoint thy expectation [MAURER]. Jehoiakim was twice leagued with them (Kg2 23:34-35): when he received the crown from them, and when he revolted from Nebuchadnezzar (Kg2 24:1-2, Kg2 24:7). The Chaldeans, having become masters of Asia, threatened Egypt. Judea, situated between the contending powers, was thus exposed to the inroads of the one or other of the hostile armies; and unfortunately, except in Josiah's reign, took side with Egypt, contrary to God's warnings.
led-- (Deu 32:10).
the way--The article expresses the right way, the way of the Lord: namely, the moral training which they enjoyed in the Mosaic covenant.
the way of Egypt--What hast thou to do with the way, that is, with going down to Egypt; or what . . . with going to Assyria?
drink . . . waters--that is, to seek reinvigorating aid from them; so Jer 2:13, Jer 2:36; compare "waters," meaning numerous forces (Isa 8:7).
Sihor--that is, the black river, in Greek, Melas ("black"), the Nile: so called from the black deposit or soil it leaves after the inundation (Isa 23:3). The Septuagint identifies it with Gihon, one of the rivers of Paradise.
the river--Euphrates, called by pre-eminence, the river; figurative for the Assyrian power. In 625 B.C., the seventeenth year of Josiah, and the fourth of Jeremiah's office, the kingdom of Assyria fell before Babylon, therefore Assyria is here put for Babylon its successor: so in Kg2 23:29; Lam 5:6. There was doubtless a league between Judea and Assyria (that is, Babylon), which caused Josiah to march against Pharaoh-necho of Egypt when that king went against Babylon: the evil consequences of this league are foretold in this verse and Jer 2:36.
backslidings--"apostasies"; plural, to express the number and variety of their defections. The very confederacies they entered into were the occasion of their overthrow (Pro 1:31; Isa 3:9; Hos 5:5).
know . . . see--imperative for futures: Thou shalt know and see to thy cost.
my fear--rather, "the fear of Me."
thy yoke . . . bands--the yoke and bands which I laid on thee, My laws (Jer 5:5).
transgress--so the Keri, and many manuscripts read. But the Septuagint and most authorities read, "I will not serve," that is, obey. The sense of English Version is, "I broke thy yoke (in Egypt)," &c., "and (at that time) thou saidst, I will not transgress; whereas thou hast (since then) wandered (from Me)" (Exo 19:8).
hill . . . green tree--the scene of idolatries (Deu 12:2; Isa 57:5, Isa 57:7).
wanderest--rather, "thou hast bowed down thyself" (for the act of adultery: figurative of shameless idolatry, Exo 34:15-16; compare Job 31:10).
unto me--with respect to Me.
soap--potash, the carbonate of which is obtained impure from burning different plants, especially the kali of Egypt and Arabia. Mixed with oil it was used for washing.
marked--deeply ingrained, indelibly marked; the Hebrew, catham, being equivalent to cathab. Others translate, "is treasured up," from the Arabic. MAURER from a Syriac root, "is polluted."
Baalim--plural, to express manifold excellency: compare Elohim.
see--consider.
the valley--namely, of Hinnom, or Tophet, south and east of Jerusalem: rendered infamous by the human sacrifices to Moloch in it (compare Jer 19:2, Jer 19:6, Jer 19:13-14; Jer 32:35; see on Isa 30:33).
thou art--omit. The substantive that follows in this verse (and also that in Jer 2:24) is in apposition with the preceding "thou."
dromedary--rather, a "young she-camel."
traversing--literally, "enfolding"; making its ways complicated by wandering hither and thither, lusting after the male. Compare as to the Jews' spiritual lust, Hos 2:6-7.
at her pleasure--rather, "in her ardor," namely, in pursuit of a male, sniffing the wind to ascertain where one is to be found [MAURER].
occasion--either from a Hebrew root, "to meet"; "her meeting (with the male for sexual intercourse), who can avert it?" Or better from an Arabic root: "her heat (sexual impulse), who can allay it?" [MAURER].
all they--whichever of the males desire her company [HORSLEY].
will not weary themselves--have no need to weary themselves in searching for her.
her month--in the season of the year when her sexual impulse is strongest, she puts herself in the way of the males, so that they have no difficulty in finding her.
unshod, &c.--do not run so violently in pursuing lovers, as to wear out thy shoes: do not "thirst" so incontinently after sexual intercourse. HITZIG thinks the reference is to penances performed barefoot to idols, and the thirst occasioned by loud and continued invocations to them.
no hope-- (Jer 18:12; Isa 57:10). "It is hopeless," that is, I am desperately resolved to go on in my own course.
strangers--that is, laying aside the metaphor, "strange gods" (Jer 3:13; Deu 32:16).
thief-- (Joh 10:1).
Israel--that is, Judah (Jer 2:28).
in . . . trouble they will say--namely, to God (Psa 78:34; Isa 26:16). Trouble often brings men to their senses (Luk 15:16-18).
according to the number of thy cities--Besides national deities, each city had its tutelary god (Jer 11:13).
your children--that is, your people, you.
your . . . sword . . . devoured . . . prophets-- (Ch2 36:16; Neh 9:26; Mat 23:29, Mat 23:31).
wilderness--in which all the necessaries of life are wanting. On the contrary, Jehovah was a never-failing source of supply for all Israel's wants in the wilderness, and afterwards in Canaan.
darkness--literally, "darkness of Jehovah," the strongest Hebrew term for "darkness; the densest darkness"; compare "land of the shadow of death" (Jer 2:6).
We are lords--that is, We are our own masters. We will worship what gods we like (Psa 12:4; Psa 82:6). But it is better to translate from a different Hebrew root: "We ramble at large," without restraint pursuing our idolatrous lusts.
attire--girdles for the breast.
forgotten me-- (Jer 13:25; Hos 8:14).
way--course of life.
therefore--accordingly. Or else, "nay, thou hast even," &c.
also . . . wicked ones--even the wicked harlots, that is, (laying aside the metaphor) even the Gentiles who are wicked, thou teachest to be still more so [GROTIUS].
souls--that is, persons.
search--I did not need to "search deep" to find proof of thy guilt; for it was "upon all these" thy skirts. Not in deep caverns didst thou perpetrate these atrocities, but openly in the vale of Hinnom and within the precincts of the temple.
hands upon . . . head--expressive of mourning (Sa2 13:19).
in them--in those stays in which thou trustest.
Contrary to all precedent in the case of adultery, Jehovah offers a return to Judah, the spiritual adulteress (Jer 3:1-5). A new portion of the book, ending with the sixth chapter. Judah worse than Israel; yet both shall be restored in the last days (Jer. 3:6-25).