Jeremiah 2:14

14 "Is Israel ¹a slave? Or is he a homeborn * servant? Why has he become a prey?

Jeremiah 2:14 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 2:14

Is Israel a servant?
&c.] That he does not abide in the house, in his own land, but is carried captive, becomes subject to others, and is used as a slave; so the Targum,

``as a servant;''

is he not the Lord's first born? are not the people of Israel called the children of the living God? how come they then to be treated not as children, as free men, but as servants? this cannot be owing to any breach of covenant or promise on God's part, or to the failure of the blessing of national adoption bestowed on them; but to some sin or sins of theirs, which have brought them into this miserable condition: is he a home born slave?
or born in the house, of the handmaid, and so in the power of the master of the family in whose house he was born, ( Exodus 21:4 ) or the sense is, either Israel is a servant, or a son of the family
^F4, as some render the words; not the former, being not only the son of a free woman, but Jehovah's firstborn; if the latter, why is he spoiled?
why is he delivered up to the spoilers? as the Targum; why should he be given up into the hands of the Babylonians, and become their prey? is it usual for fathers to suffer their children, or those born in their house, to be so used? some reason must be given for it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (tyb dyly) "filius familias", Munster.

Jeremiah 2:14 In-Context

12 "Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD .

13 "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.

14 "Is Israel a slave? Or is he a homeborn servant? Why has he become a prey?

15 "The young lions have roared at him, They have roared loudly . And they have made his land a waste; His cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.

16 "Also the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes Have shaved the crown of your head.

Cross References

• 1. Jeremiah 5:19; Jeremiah 17:4