Jeremiah 2: 1 – 37
You cannot soft soap God
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 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.’” 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 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. 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. 14 “Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn 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 broken 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. 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.’ 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. 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.
Let me share with you a theme which many of you might not be too familiar with. The saying is this, ‘Don’t try to soft soap me.’ To give you a hint of what this term means let me give you another theme which might ring a bell, ‘Don’t try to butter me up.’
Yes, these statements refer to flattery. It is sneaky talk meant to persuade, obtain, or achieve a outcome that they long for at your expense. The insinuation is that the one doing the preparation has an ulterior motive for offering a compliment.
This type of scheming has ancient roots which we will see occurring in this chapter by God’s elect, the Jews. The same sinful false modesty is still practiced today by men and women who believe they can pull a fast one over our Great and Holy Father God Yahweh.
In truth sin makes us blind and ignorant. We most likely know that our Holy God Is Omniscient, that is, All Knowing. And we have heard that He Is also All Present. He Is everywhere at all times. But the interesting fact is that we attempt to flatter Him with schemes that we should know will not fly with Him. He understands and sees all that we are trying to pull.
Today, let us pray that our Wonderful Counselor will help us not only understand the very nature that this sin plays out in people’s lives, but also, He will help us take a hard look at ourselves that this root of evil is purged from our lives.
Our precious Holy YHWH now sums up His purpose for calling Jeremiah in terms of a restoration of His people to their wilderness first-love. He reminds them of those first heady days after their deliverance from bondage in Egypt and through the Reed Sea when they had sought Him enthusiastically and had been holy to YHWH, The God of Israel. At that stage YHWH had also promised them that He would regard them as His first fruits and see them as therefore untouchable by the nations.
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jeremiah commences by pointing out once again for the fourth time that what he is describing is the very ‘word of YHWH’. He wants them to recognize that he is not speaking from his own wisdom but as the mouthpiece of God.
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.
He points out that YHWH has commanded him to go and proclaim the word of YHWH in the ears of the people of Jerusalem. And what was that word? It was that YHWH looked back and remembered what they (ideally) had been. He remembered how after the rebirth of the nation they had for a time sought YHWH as a young maiden in love seeks her lover, full of kind thoughts and love towards Him, and how in spite of the fact that they were in a barren infertile wilderness where it was not possible to grow crops, they had ‘gone after Him’, following Him and desiring to maintain their relationship with Him. This mainly has in mind their ‘engagement period’ between leaving Egypt and arriving at Sinai, where their marriage covenant with YHWH would be finally sealed. During that period, despite a few fluctuations resulting from the new hardships that they were then facing in the semi-desert, they had sought Him with all their hearts as they rejoiced in their new-found freedom, so that as they approached Sinai it was with a while-hearted commitment as summed up in Exodus 19.5-6. And even later, despite many further times of lapses, the time in the wilderness had been a time of seeking YHWH, for although they had often gone astray they had always returned and come back to Him in loving submission (through necessity if not through inclination. They had thus initially arrived on the borders of Canaan relatively free from idolatry.
This is a reminder that the wilderness period, especially the early part, was always looked back on as the time of an especially close relationship between YHWH and His people, a time before they became caught up in the sophistication of Canaan. It is also a reminder to us that for us also it is often the ‘wilderness experience’ that renews our faltering love for God at times when the attractions of the world have caused us to stumble and turn from Him to other things. And it is also a reminder of how important it is for us to maintain the flame of our first love, lest we become like the Ephesian church which, having lost its first love, would have its lamp of witness removed from its place (Revelation 2.4).
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.’”
During that period in the wilderness up to Sinai Israel had been seen by YHWH as ‘holy to Him’, as His own special people (Exodus 19.5-6) who were separated off to Him for His own purposes, and as His first fruits of the blessing that was to come, for His plan was that through Israel the whole world would be blessed (Genesis 12.3). They were His initial people and His treasured possession (Exodus 19.5-6), and He had watched over them, determined to bring evil on any who sought to harm them, holding such as guilty before Him. This had been the word of YHWH that accomplishes what He pleases (Isaiah 55.10-13), in other words His firm and assured fixed determination clearly enunciated.
In the words of Exodus 19.6 they were His ‘holy nation’, a holiness which was exemplified on the head piece of the High Priest as the representative of Israel (Exodus 28.36). They were ‘the people of His holiness’ (Isaiah 63.18), the people set apart by Himself in order that they too might be holy and separated off to Him (Leviticus 11.44-45).
‘The first fruits of His increase’ were the first produce of the soil or yield from the land and belonged exclusively to YHWH (Exodus 23.19). It was His treasured possession. YHWH was thus in the future looking for a good harvest of righteous people (‘His increase’) and saw in primitive Israel their beginnings (‘the first fruits’). For anyone to partake of the first fruits who was not a sanctified priest was to commit blasphemy. Thus, in the same way, those who offended against (devoured) YHWH’s first fruits would become guilty, and evil would come on them. It had been a guarantee of their safety, which they had subsequently forfeited because of their idolatry, which was why they were now in their present position.
So the call of Jeremiah had been determined by God before His birth, was in order to bring His word to Israel and confirm that it would be successful, included one of judgment if they continued to refuse to listen to His words, and was to seek to bring the people back to their first-love. YHWH yearned over those who had once been His.
YHWH’s initial complaint is that despite all that He has done for them in delivering them from Egypt and guiding them through the wilderness to a pleasant and fruitful land, they have turned away from Him. They had once loved Him, but now it seemed that incomprehensibly they had forgotten Him, so that even His appointed priests, rulers and prophets had gone astray after idolatry.
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?
Jeremiah calls Israel to consider what He was now saying. This reminds us that neither God nor the prophets ever lost sight of Israel as a whole, and in truth the ‘people of Judah’ included many Israelites who had come to live among them.
For Judah was now a multinational society, not only made up of many from all the tribes of Israel, but also from many from all nations, who had come to live among them and had been circumcised into the covenant. This had been so right from the very beginning, for initially the foreign servants of the households of the patriarchs had become a part of ‘Israel’ (Genesis 17.11-13), and then the mixed multitude of Exodus 12.43, had all come to be ‘children of Abraham’, a situation sealed at Sinai. (The myth that all Jews are literally descended from Abraham is wishful thinking and totally inaccurate. Anyone could become a genuine Israelite by submitting to YHWH’s covenant and being circumcised. This would also be true when Jesus Christ as the true Vine formed the new remnant of Israel, with whom Gentiles united by submitting to the new covenant and being circumcised in the circumcision of Christ through being united with Him in His crucifixion - Colossians 2.11).
So, YHWH now challenged Israel by asking them to explain in what way He had failed them. They had initially been so eager to follow Him. What unrighteousness then had their fathers found in Him that they had gone so far from Him and had become caught up in vain and useless things? How had He failed them? Let them produce their defense. Let them explain their ways. Let them give an explanation as to why their love for Him had ceased? It appeared to be inexplicable. But the answer was quite clear. It was because of the wickedness of their hearts.
This is a question that we must all face up to when our love for God and for our Lord Jesus Christ begins to grow dim. When we think of what He has done for us what positive reason can we have for not loving Him and following Him with all our hearts?
‘Vanity’ is literally ‘breath, puff of wind’, indicating emptiness and hollowness. The word is found as early as Deuteronomy 32.21, as indicating that false gods were mere nonentities. But here the idea is rather of the groundless worship of them which brings no return to their devotees, but instead makes them ‘vain’, that is, foolish and useless in thought and deed. They become like what they worship.
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?
In pursuing false gods, they had so far forgotten Him that they had failed to ask, ‘Where is YHWH who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness’ with all its problems and difficulties? He had done so much for them, but they had forgotten it. Here then was a reminder that it was YHWH, and YHWH alone, Who had delivered them from bondage in Egypt, and had seen them safely through the wilderness with all its difficulties and pitfalls. The description of the wilderness is vivid. It was a land of deserts and pits. It was a land of drought. It was a land where death lurked. It was a land which no one passed through. It was a land where no one dwelt. In the words of Deuteronomy 32.10 it was a ‘waste, howling wilderness’. And yet YHWH had brought the whole people safely through it all. How was it then that they had forgotten Him and had gone after other gods? This was YHWH’s complaint against the people of Jeremiah’s day. It is often His complaint concerning many of us today. When the good times come we virtually forget the One Who led us through the dark times.
7 I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination.
The list of complaints continues. He had brought Israel into a plentiful land, so that they were able to eat of its fruit and its goodness. And what had they done? Having entered the land, they had defiled it by breaking the covenant and ignoring its requirements, by indulging in false religion, and by setting up false gods. Please take note that this had been done to ‘My land’ and ‘My heritage’, which they had from Him under sufferance, which was why He was now considering ejecting them. It had been a direct insult in the face of YHWH. And it had begun early on, almost as soon as they were settled in the land. ‘The children of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH and served the Baalim. They forsook YHWH the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, the gods of the peoples round about them, and bowed themselves down to them, and provoked YHWH to anger’ (Judges 2.11-12). And the people in Jeremiah’s day were no different.
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.
Even the priests, rulers and prophets, those who should have known better, had failed Him. The Priests, who were supposed to be ‘handlers of the Law’ (Deuteronomy 33.10), ensuring commitment to the covenant, had not sought YHWH by genuinely seeking His face, and they had failed to acknowledge (‘know’) Him by true worship and by responding to His known will through the covenant. We can compare how some of Jesus’ strongest opponents were those who claimed to be experts in the Law. The Rulers (literally ‘the shepherds’) who were appointed to prevent transgressions of the Law, had themselves been transgressors against Him. The Prophets, who should have prophesied in the Name of YHWH, were instead doing it ‘by Baal’. And they were all following things which were of no value to His people and did not benefit them. This then was the catalogue of Judah’s awful failure.
YHWH now expresses His astonishment at the behavior of His people, and calls on the heavens to witness what they have done, first because, unlike all other nations, they have changed the object of their worship by seeking to strange gods, and second because they have turned from Himself, the well-spring of living water, to broken cisterns (false gods and false beliefs) which can hold no water.
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.
Because they have turned away from Him He will now contend not only with them but also with their children and their children’s children. For let them all consider the situation. Let them pass over to the isles of Kittim (the Mediterranean islands to the west) and let them send to Kedar (the Arabian encampments in the east) and let them consider diligently and see if anything quite as remarkable as this has ever happened, that a nation should change the objects of its worship! Why no other nation at all has changed its gods, even though they are no-gods, nonentities. But Judah, what have Judah done? They have changed their glory (YHWH Himself) for what is of no profit to them (the Baalim etc.). They have downgraded the object of their worship, and thereby they have downgraded themselves.
There is a reminder in this of how in the past YHWH had revealed His glory to His people when His cloud had descended on the Tabernacle (Exodus 40.34) and the Temple (2 Chronicles 5.13-14), shielding them from His glory which was being manifested there. But now, instead of wondering at His glory, they were exchanging this for wooden images coated with shinning metal.
12 Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; Be very desolate,” says the LORD.
No wonder then that YHWH called on the heavens, and the angels, to be astonished at what was happening, and to be very much afraid because of what the consequences would be on Judah. They were to be very concerned at the thought of what was coming. For not only had Judah exchanged His glory for a wooden thing coated with earthly gold, but they had also forsaken the One Who was the very source of their spiritual lives.
Moses had called on the heavens to witness what he had to say about the glory of the Lord (Deuteronomy 32.1), but as in Isaiah 1.2, YHWH could only call on the heavens, as impartial witnesses, to witness the mess that Israel had made of their lives and be horrified.
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.
He calls the heavens to witness that His people have committed two evils. First in that they have forsaken Him as the well-spring of living waters, the One Who was the very source of fruitful life, the One Who could send the life-giving rains, the One Who was the very means of spiritual blessing, and second in that they have instead made their own cisterns (molded their own gods), which are broken cisterns which can hold no water, and can send no rain. They have exchanged spiritual and physical well-being for spiritual and physical bankruptcy.
When the rains came the springs poured out clean, fresh running water (living water), the rivers were full, the crops were well-watered, and all could drink continually from an abundance of fresh clean water (John 4.10-14). Life was everywhere. And as earlier prophets had made clear this was a true picture of the spiritual blessing that God wanted for His people (Isaiah 44.1-5). But instead they had exchanged this for a hole which they had dug for themselves in the ground, which only stored limited water that was tepid and dirty, water which tasted of clay and was worm-filled, obtained from cisterns which leaked so badly that they were soon empty. All they were then left with was an extreme thirst and an empty, dank hole in the ground.
The world is full of broken cisterns which appear to offer so much but, in the end, leave us with the same thirst as we had before. And yet all the while, if only we will see it, there is One Who is the source of all true life and blessing, waiting for us to come and drink of Him (John 4.10-14). But it means leaving the broken cisterns behind.
It is apparent from the words that follow that at the time when Jeremiah was speaking Judah had already suffered problems from invasions by their enemies, including Egypt. It may well therefore have in mind the period immediately following the death of Josiah when the Egyptians were rampant. And YHWH now brings home to them that these distresses were all due to their having forsaken Him. When He had delivered them from Egypt His intention had been to watch over them and protect them from all their enemies (2.3), because they were His holy people, but by their behavior they had made that impossible, and that was why, by their own choice, they were now being subjected to their enemies.
YHWH proceeded to ask three questions;
. The first questioned whether Israel, His firstborn (Exodus 4.22), should really be a servant and a prey to their enemies (verse 14). That had not originally been His intention for them.
. The second was rhetorical and questioned whether they had brought their predicament on themselves by forsaking YHWH (verse 17).
. The third was as to why they were looking to Egypt and Assyria for help when they should have been looking to YHWH. The whole emphasis is on what they have lost by not looking to YHWH from the beginning.
14 “Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he plundered?
Israel were the people who had been delivered by YHWH out of the house of bondage. They were His firstborn (Exodus 4.22). He had meant them to be a free people, freely worshipping their God, enjoying His bounty and living under His protection. Why then had they now become a servant, yes, a home-born slave, having no rights and bound to serve others in what should have been their own home? Why indeed had they become a prey to the roaming wild beasts, both human and beastly? (At this time there were still many savage beasts around in wilderness areas quite willing to take possession of land that became unoccupied, just as there were many human enemies only too eager to seize spoil). It was all because they had forsaken the living God and replaced Him with useless nothings who were helpless to save them.
Others see the question as asking why the one who YHWH’s servant was, one, as it were, born in His house (Genesis 15.3), had now lost YHWH’s protection and become a prey. Either way the thought is of honor and distinction lost.
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 broken the crown of your head.
That was why the young lions (especially the Egyptians) had roared at them and entered their land and had made their land waste and burned their cities leaving them deserted. That was why soldiers from Memphis and Tahpanhes (two leading cities in Egypt) had broken the crown of their head. The breaking of the crown of their head may refer to the death of Josiah. In other words, that the Egyptians had cropped Israel's glory. Among the people of Judah, a good head of hair was seen as an evidence of well-being and blessing. To be shorn was to be shamed.
It is intended to be ironic that the very people from whom YHWH had originally delivered them (verse 6), were now the ones who could play fast and loose with them. Memphis (Noph) was situated on the Nile about seventeen miles from the apex of the Delta, in Lower (Northern) Egypt. Tahpanhes (Daphnai) was in the eastern Delta. It was where Jeremiah and the other refugees would later settle (43.7-9).
17 Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God when He led you in the way?
And who was to blame for all this? Had they not brought it on themselves? It was because they had forsaken YHWH as He led them in the way, YHWH Who was their God, but Whom they had put aside.
There is a warning in this for all that if we cease walking with Him in His way we too will soon encounter pitfalls.
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?
He then asks them what they were doing by drinking of the waters of Shihor, in Egypt, or by drinking of the waters of the Euphrates, in Assyria? What had these rivers to do with them? What they should have been doing was drinking of the wellspring of living waters, partaking of YHWH Himself. The reference is to their switching loyalties between Egypt and Assyria (shortly to be replaced by Babylon), as they looked for their security first to one and then to the other, and always at tremendous cost. These earthly sources of water did not come cheap.
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.
But they could be sure that they would inevitably learn their lesson from the results of their own wickedness and from their own backslidings. The consequences of them would correct and reprove them. And they would soon learn what an evil and bitter thing it was to have forsaken YHWH their God, and to have ceased to fear Him (worship and obey Him in reverent awe). And this was the sure and certain prophetic word of ‘the Sovereign Lord, YHWH of Hosts’. Here God emphasizes just Whom they have forsaken, the One Who could have been their Protector and who could have delivered them, because He was sovereign over all things and God of the hosts of heaven and earth, but Who would now bring judgment on them because He was the Lord of all the hosts of men.
In a series of vivid illustrations YHWH brings out Judah’s folly. Even though it was He Who had of old delivered them from bondage, they had rejected His service and ‘played the harlot’ (indulged in ritual sexual activities) at Baal/Asherah shrines throughout the countryside. So, although He had planted them as a choice vine, they had become a degenerate wild vine with the result that all that they produced was iniquity which could not be washed away. Yet despite it they still looked at Him innocently and claimed that what He claimed was simply not true, when all the time they were acting like a female camel or donkey in heat, persistently sinning and easily available, and admitting that she was unable to restrain herself from following her lovers. All were involved in this, kings, princes, priests and prophets, bowing down to trees and stones and turning their back on YHWH. They had multiplied gods, with a new one to be found in every city. Well, where were these newfangled gods when they now found themselves?
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.
YHWH again reminds them that it was He Who had redeemed them from bondage and had broken the heavy yoke under which they had served in Egypt and had set them free from their bonds. And what had been their reply? They had declared that they would not serve Him. And in consequence they had instead bowed themselves down before stone pillars and images, in sanctuaries established ‘on every high hill and under very green tree’ and had there indulged in perverse sexual rites with sacred prostitutes and with each other.
Sanctuaries were erected on ‘high hills’ because high hills were bringing them ‘closer to the gods’, and under ‘green trees’ because green trees were seen as containing ‘life-force’. And their aim was, by sexual activity played out before the gods, to persuade them to imitate them and supply similar fertility to their fields. We can easily see the sensual attractiveness of this new religion, which was also as old as the hills, and it was additionally attractive because it freed them from being bound by YHWH’s strict requirements. They could do what they liked and still attain their ends, but, of course, only if it worked.
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?
What a contrast this was to what YHWH had desired for them. He had planted them in the land as a choice vine, a noble vine, from precisely the right kind of seed (from the Patriarchs), with the intention of producing pure fruits, and of their being a holy people, a people with ideas like Himself, but they had become degenerate branches of a foreign, wild, uncultivated vine, producing only degeneracy and wickedness.
22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord GOD.
Their iniquity was so marked before Him that even though they washed themselves with niter (lye), and used a great deal of soap, they would be unable to erase it. The idea was that no kind of detergent would be of any use. And this was the word of the Sovereign Lord YHWH Himself. It is a reminder that we cannot ‘soft-soap’ God, because God sees what is going on underneath.
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.
Yet they looked at Him innocently and claimed that they were not defiled and had not gone after the Baalim, coming to the Temple at their feasts and ‘worshipping’ as though their only desire was to please YHWH. Had not Josiah purified the cult? But YHWH was not to be deceived and called on them to look at the way in which they behaved when they went back to their valleys and recognize what they were really like. It was there that they really felt at home, like a dromedary (a one humped camel) in heat, going swiftly on its way, looking for a mate, and like a wild she-donkey which is used to the wilderness, similarly filled with heat, and sniffing up the wind so as to find herself a mate, so determined in her quest that none can turn her away. The male donkeys do not need to weary themselves by seeking her out, because when it is her month it is she who will find them. And that is how Judah behaved with their gods and in their immoral worship.
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.’
He informs them that if only they would withhold themselves and look to Him He would ensure that their feet were shod, and that they were never thirsty, but their reply was that they preferred the way of the wild, uncared-for donkey on heat, because they loved strange gods, and were set on following them.
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.’
They are like a thief caught in the act, and desperately ashamed, and this includes their kings, princes, priests and prophets, for all are involved in the degeneracy from the greatest to the least (presumably in the time of Jehoiakim). Absurdly they claim a tree as their father, and a stone as their mother, because, having turned their backs on YHWH instead of turning their face towards Him, they are left with no alternative, for their gods are precisely that, only trees and stones. And yet as soon as trouble comes they go running back to YHWH and cry, ‘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.
But YHWH was having none of that. They had made gods for themselves, let those gods arise and save them (the idea is intended to be ludicrous, salvation through home-made gods!! Think how many they could have on their side). That should surely present no problem to them. Look at all the gods they had, one for every city. Surely together they would be enough to save them. The Canaanite pantheon included a multiplicity of gods.
YHWH now asks them why they are troubling Him with arguments in their favor when all they had previously done was turn away from Him and reject His admonitions and kill His prophets. In spite of His being a supplier of plenty and a giver of light to them (He has not been a desert to them or a land of gloom) they have dismissed Him and forgotten Him, seeking after lovers while all the time their garments were stained with innocent blood, both the blood of innocent children offered up as sacrifices (19.5), and the blood of those who offended them or got in their way. And now they have come back to Him claiming to be innocent and declaring their hope that His anger has gone away, while at the same time straying about to outsiders for help, a help which will only fail them in the end. They are totally inconsistent, and consequently they will be carried away as prisoners, with their hands on their heads.
29 “Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me,” says the LORD.
YHWH now asks them why they have ludicrously come to argue their case, requiring Him to defend His position, when all that they had ever done was continually transgress against His covenant by ignoring their covenant obligations. And it was true of every one of them. He wants them therefore to know that this position is ‘the fixed resolve of YHWH’. We do well to remember that we have no claim on God if we are not following Him with all our hearts. He is not there simply for our convenience.
30 “In vain I have chastened your children; They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.
He points out that in the past He had chastened them, but that it had been in vain, for their children had not accepted His correction any more than they had but had obstinately gone on in their own ways. Like a destroying lion they had revolted against His prophets and slain them with the sword. This probably mainly has reference to the death of Uriah the prophet (26.23), but also brings out that it has been their behavior towards all His prophets past and present, including Jeremiah (1Kings 19.10). No one except the wise love the one who disturbs their conscience.
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’? 2
YHWH then calls on that generation to see and consider His word. He asks in what way He had failed them that they should ‘break loose’ from Him. Had He been like a desert to them (unfruitful and unproductive)? Had He been like a land of gloom or thick darkness (leaving them in the dark and fearful)? Had He not rather provided fruitfulness in their land and fed them spiritually through the prophets, and given them light through His word and through His covenant? Why then had His people said that they ‘had broken loose from Him and would come to Him no more’? What good reason had they had for their desertion?
32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number. 2
Their attitude was folly. What virgin would forget to wear and treasure the ornaments that added to her beauty? What bride would forget her wedding dress and jewelry, the things that made her look so beautiful? Yet they had overlooked the fact that Judah’s true glory was YHWH (2.11), and that their decoration was His covenant. Thus, they had foolishly and incredibly forgotten Him days without number.
33 “Why do you beautify your way to seek love? Therefore, you have also taught. The wicked women your ways.
For instead of wearing His beautiful ornaments, portraying to the world His glory, they had dressed themselves up revealingly, ‘trimming their ways’ to seek ‘love’ (which was really lust). Why, they were so depraved that by their ways they had even demonstrated to prostitutes how to go about their loathsome trade.
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.
And they had not only demonstrated by their attire how far they had fallen into degeneracy but had also drawn attention through it to their sinfulness in other ways. For the truth was that their skirts were stained with the blood of the innocent poor. These were not excusable killings, like the slaying of a thief who had broken into their homes, but were inexcusable violence shown towards the weak and helpless. (Violence had become rife in the days of Jehoiakim, probably largely due to his weak control, and the forced labor building activity which required violence to keep it operative. For once the government is weak all take advantage of it). So, their idolatry had inevitably resulted in the ignoring of covenant requirements, and the destabilization of normal life, that is, of life as it should have been lived, in accordance with His Law.
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.
Yet Judah still approached YHWH in wide-eyed innocence, not believing that YHWH could hold their ways against them. He had accused them of shedding the blood of the innocent poor, but did He not recognize that they too were innocent? Each of them cried, ‘I am innocent, surely His anger is turned away from me.’ But this was so hypocritical that it constituted a main ground for His judgment. It demonstrated the depths to which they had fallen, in that they did not even recognize the truth about their own sin. That is why their case was almost hopeless. God could help sinners, but it was not possible to help those who were blind to their own sinfulness.
This is very like so many today who, when it is suggested that they have no claim on God are full of wide-eyed innocence because they believe that they have done nothing really wrong, and that God owes it to them to help them when they need Him (in spite of their having mainly ignored Him when things were going well). This is a reminder that God has no time for such people unless they truly repent.
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.
He then points out that instead of genuinely coming to Him they are rather constantly changing their loyalties, first by going to Egypt and then by going to Assyria. They are incorrigible. They go about from one to the other, and do not realize that both will let them down. For Egypt cannot cope with Babylon, and Assyria is broken. They will thus in the end be ashamed for trusting in either of them. This would appear specially to apply to the days of Jehoiakim.
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.
Indeed as a result of this trust they will go from their places where they were, as prisoners (of Babylon), with their hands on their head, because YHWH has rejected both Egypt and Assyria with the result that their case will not prosper. They will be totally let down by both nations.
The hands on the head may have been to prevent any violent reaction by prisoners, but in 2 Samuel 13.19 the hands on the head indicated rather great distress, which may be the case here.
