Jeremiah 2

CHAPTER 2

Israel Forsakes God (2:1–37)

1–3 Chapters 2–6 constitute a single connected message, which Jeremiah delivered early in his ministry, probably during the reign of Josiah. The message of these five chapters highlights God’s love for His people, His anger at their sin, His certain judgment, and His promise of SALVATION for those who repent. Notice that God (through Jeremiah) is addressing the people of Jerusalem and Judah (verse 2), but yet in this chapter He refers to them as “Israel,” the original name of His chosen people.

God starts by comparing Israel’s original devotion to Him with the current unfaithfulness of the people of Judah. (The northern kingdom of Israel had already been punished for its unfaithfulness; the Assyrians had destroyed the northern kingdom in 722 B.C.) Before its division into northern and southern kingdoms,⁸ the nation of ISRAEL had been holy, set apart to the Lord (see Leviticus 11:44–45 and comment); Israel had been the firstfruits—the choicest fruit—of the Lord’s harvest (verse 3). Israel had been the first nation to worship the true God; it was His treasured possession (Exodus 19:5). God had established a covenant with the ISRAELITES, in which He promised to bless them and, in return, they promised to be faithful to Him, to obey Him.⁹ However, the people had not kept their side of the agreement.

4–8 Here Jeremiah proclaims the Lord’s word to the house of JACOB—that is, Israel¹⁰ (verse 4). The Lord asks a rhetorical question: Was it His fault that the Israelites broke the covenant? (verse 5). No, it was they who broke the covenant by following worthless idols. In spite of all God had done for them—delivering them from Egypt and leading them to the fertile land, the “promised land” (verses 6–7)—they defiled the land they had been given, they defiled God’s inheritance¹¹ (see Deuteronomy 4:20). They defiled it by worshiping Baal, the main god of the Canaanites (verse 8); here Baal stands for all the pagan idols the Israelites worshiped (see Judges 2:10–13).

9–12 Now God brings His charges against the people of Judah. He tells them to look from the west to the east—from Kittim (Cyprus) to Kedar (northern Arabia); they will not find a pagan nation that has changed its gods (verse 10). Yet the Israelites have done so! Worse, they have exchanged the true God, their Glory, for worthless idols! (verse 11). God’s own people have acted more faithlessly than the pagans around them.

13–19 God’s people had committed a double sin: they had forsaken Him, the spring of living water (see John 4:10,14); and they had replaced Him with broken cisterns that held no water—namely, lifeless idols (verse 13). All the idols worshiped by humans—wealth, pleasure, fame, power—are “broken cisterns”; they contain no “living water.”

God often uses rhetorical questions in dealing with His people (verses 5,11); here He asks if Israel had been a slave by birth (verse 14). The answer is “No.” God had redeemed¹² Israel before it was even born as a nation; He had freed the Israelites from bondage in Egypt (Exodus 6:6). But now the Israelites were being enslaved again—by their own sins. They were, in effect, enslaving themselves! Lions (Assyria) had already enslaved the northern kingdom (verse 15); now Babylon was about to enslave Judah, the southern kingdom. Even the Egyptian cities Memphis and Tahpanhes (representing Egypt) had shaved the crown of [Judah’s] head¹³ (verse 16).

So why should the people of Judah think about going to Egypt or Assyria for help against the Babylonians? Why drink water (seek help) from former enemies?¹⁴ (verse 18). Making foreign alliances was futile; only God could protect Judah. Yet the people had forsaken their God, their only protection¹⁵ (verse 19).

20–25 Here God describes the idolatry of the people; He compares it to adultery. Having broken off the yoke of the Lord’s covenant, the people lay down as a prostitute on every high hill to worship idols¹⁶ (verse 20). God’s people had originally been “planted” like a choice vine (verse 21), but they had yielded only bad fruit (Isaiah 5:1–2). No matter how much His people washed themselves on the outside, they could not wash away their guilt, their inner defilement (verse 22). Only by confession and repentance could they be cleansed (1 John 1:9); but these people were still proclaiming their innocence! “I am not defiled,” the people said (verse 23).

God compares the people of Judah to a female animal in heat, looking for male animals (idols) to mate with (verse 24). God told them: “Don’t keep running after idols until you’re worn out, until your feet are bare”; but they loved their foreign gods too much to listen (verse 25).

26–30 The Lord continues His condemnation of the people’s idolatry. They make idols of wood and stone, and then call them “father” and “mother” (verse 27). Yet when the people get into trouble, they call out to God; but God tells them to let their idols come and save them! (verse 28).

Over and over God tried to discipline His people, but they did not respond to correction (see Hebrews 12:7–10); instead, they put to death the prophets God sent to warn them (verse 30).

31–37 Again God asks His people: “Have I been a desert or a land of great darkness?” (verse 31). No; God has led them through the desert and the darkness. And yet they have left Him to pursue the love of idols (verse 33). Having left God, they have also left God’s moral standards; they have descended into immorality and even murder. They kill innocent people, accusing them of being thieves even though they did not catch them breaking in (verse 34). Yet the people of Judah continue to say, “I am innocent” (verse 35). In this they are like people everywhere: we humans are experts in justifying ourselves. But God alone is the One who can truly justify us.

God says He will pass judgment on the people of Judah. They will be forced to leave Jerusalem with their hands on [their] head—that is, as prisoners (verse 37). Egypt and Assyria will be of no help, because the Lord has rejected them.

God proclaimed all this to the people of Judah through His prophet Jeremiah. And all this came true less than forty years later, when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and took its people captive (see 2 Kings 25:1–21). With its capital city destroyed, the rest of Judah was easily conquered.