Jeremiah 3

Jer 3:1-25.

GOD'S

MERCY NOTWITHSTANDING

JUDAH'S

VILENESS.

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).

1. They say--rather, as Hebrew, "saying," in agreement with

"the

LORD";

Jer 2:37

of last chapter [MAURER]. Or, it is equivalent to,

"Suppose this case." Some copyist may have omitted, "The word of the

Lord came to me," saying.

shall he return unto her--will he take her back? It was unlawful

to do so

(De 24:1-4).

shall not--Should not the land be polluted if this were done?

yet return--

(Jer 3:22;

Jer 4:1;

Zec 1:3;

compare

Eze 16:51, 58, 60).

"Nevertheless," &c. (see on

Isa 50:1).

2. high places--the scene of idolatries which were spiritual

adulteries.

In . . . ways . . . sat for them--watching for lovers like a

prostitute

(Ge 38:14, 21;

Pr 7:12; 23:28;

Eze 16:24, 25),

and like an Arab who lies in wait for travellers. The Arabs of the

desert, east and south of Palestine, are still notorious as

robbers.

3. no latter rain--essential to the crops in Palestine; withheld in

judgment

(Le 26:19;

compare

Joe 2:23).

whore's forehead--

(Jer 8:12;

Eze 3:8).

4. from this time--not referring, as

MICHAELIS thinks, to the

reformation begun the year before, that is, the twelfth of Josiah; it

means--now at once, now at last.

me--contrasted with the "stock" whom they had heretofore called on

as "father"

(Jer 2:27;

Lu 15:18).

thou art--rather, "thou wast."

guide of . . . youth--that is, husband

(Jer 2:2;

Pr 2:17;

Ho 2:7, 15).

Husband and father are the two most endearing of

ties.

5. he--"thou," the second person, had preceded. The change to

the third person implies a putting away of God to a greater

distance from them; instead of repenting and forsaking their idols,

they merely deprecate the continuance of their punishment.

Jer 3:12

and Ps 103:9,

answer their question in the event of their penitence.

spoken and--rather (God's reply to them), "Thou hast spoken (thus),

and yet (all the while) thou hast done evil," &c.

as thou couldest--with all thy might; with incorrigible persistency

[CALVIN].

6.

Jer 3:6-6:30,

is a new discourse, delivered in Josiah's reign. It consists of two

parts, the former extending to

Jer 4:3,

in which he warns Judah from the example of Israel's doom, and yet

promises Israel final restoration; the latter a threat of Babylonian

invasion; as Nabopolassar founded the Babylonian empire, 625 B.C., the seventeenth of Josiah, this prophecy is

perhaps not earlier than that date

(Jer 4:5,

&c.; Jer 5:14, &c.;

Jer 6:1, &c.;

Jer 22:1-30);

and probably not later than the second thorough reformation in the

eighteenth year of the same reign.

backsliding--literally, "apostasy"; not merely apostate, but

apostasy itself, the essence of it

(Jer 3:14, 22).

7. I said--

(2Ki 17:13).

sister--

(Eze 16:46; 23:2, 4).

8. I saw that, though (whereas) it was for this very reason (namely),

because backsliding (apostate) Israel had committed adultery I had put

her away

(2Ki 17:6, 18),

and given her a bill of divorce, yet Judah, &c.

(Eze 23:11,

&c.).

bill of divorce--literally, "a writing of cuttings off." The

plural implies the completeness of the severance. The use of this

metaphor here, as in the former discourse

(Jer 3:1),

implies a close connection between the discourses. The epithets are

characteristic; Israel "apostate" (as the Hebrew for

"backsliding" is better rendered); Judah, not as yet utterly

apostate, but treacherous or faithless.

also--herself also, like Israel.

9. it--Some take this verse of Judah, to whom the end of

Jer 3:8

refers. But

Jer 3:10

puts Judah in contrast to Israel in this verse. "Yet for

all this," referring to the sad example of Israel; if

Jer 3:9

referred to Judah, "she" would have been written in

Jer 3:10,

not "Judah." Translate, "It (the putting away of Israel) had come to

pass through . . . whoredom; and (that is, for) she (Israel)

had defiled the land" &c. [MAURER]. English

Version, however, may be explained to refer to

Israel.

lightness--"infamy." [EWALD].

MAURER not so well takes it from the

Hebrew root, "voice," "fame."

10. yet--notwithstanding the lesson given in Israel's case of the

fatal results of apostasy.

not . . . whole heart--The reformation in the eighteenth year of

Josiah was not thorough on the part of the people, for at his death they

relapsed into idolatry

(2Ch 34:33;

Ho 7:14).

11. justified herself--has been made to appear almost just (that is,

comparatively innocent) by the surpassing guilt of Judah, who adds

hypocrisy and treachery to her sin; and who had the example of Israel to

warn her, but in vain (compare

Eze 16:51; 23:11).

more than--in comparison with.

12. Go--not actually; but turn and proclaim towards the north (Media

and Assyria, where the ten tribes were located by Tiglath-pileser and

Shalmaneser,

2Ki 15:29; 17:6; 18:9, 11).

Return . . . backsliding--Hebrew, Shubah, Meshubah, a play on

sounds. In order to excite Judah to godly jealousy

(Ro 11:14),

Jehovah addresses the exiled ten tribes of Israel with a loving

invitation.

cause . . . anger to fall--literally, "I will not let fall My

countenance" (compare

Ge 4:5, 6;

Job 29:3),

that is, I will not continue to frown on you.

keep--"anger" is to be supplied

(see on

Jer 3:5).

13. Only acknowledge--

(De 30:1, 3;

Pr 28:13).

scattered thy ways, &c.--

(Jer 2:25).

Not merely the calves at Beth-el, but the idols in every direction,

were the objects of their worship

(Eze 16:15, 24, 25).

14. I am married--literally, "I am Lord," that is, husband to you

(so

Jer 31:32;

compare

Ho 2:19, 20;

Isa 54:5).

GESENIUS, following the Septuagint version

of

Jer 31:32,

and Paul's quotation of it

(Heb 8:9),

translates, "I have rejected you"; so the corresponding

Arabic, and the idea of lordship, may pass into that of

looking down upon, and so rejecting. But the

Septuagint in this passage translates, "I will be Lord

over you." And the "for" has much more force in English Version

than in that of GESENIUS. The Hebrew

hardly admits the rendering though [HENGSTENBERG].

take you one of a city--Though but one or two Israelites were in

a (foreign) city, they shall not be forgotten; all shall be restored

(Am 9:9).

So, in the spiritual Israel, God gathers one convert here, another

there, into His Church; not the least one is lost

(Mt 18:14;

Ro 11:5;

compare

Jer 24:5-7).

family--a clan or tribe.

15. pastors--not religious, but civil rulers, as Zerubbabel, Nehemiah

(Jer 23:4; 2:8).

16. they shall say no more--The Jews shall no longer glory in the

possession of the ark; it shall not be missed, so great shall be the

blessings of the new dispensation. The throne of the Lord,

present Himself, shall eclipse and put out of mind the ark of the

covenant and the mercy seat between the cherubim, God's former throne.

The ark, containing the two tables of the law, disappeared at the

Babylonian captivity, and was not restored to the second temple,

implying that the symbolical "glory" was to be superseded by a "greater

glory"

(Hag 2:9).

neither . . . visit it--rather, "neither shall it be missed" (so

in

Jer 23:4).

done--rather, "neither shall it (the ark) be made

(that is, be restored) any more" [MAURER].

17. Jerusalem--the whole city, not merely the temple. As it has

been the center of the Hebrew theocracy, so it shall be the point of

attraction to the whole earth

(Isa 2:2-4;

Zec 2:10, 11; 14:16-21).

throne of . . . Lord--The Shekinah, the symbol of God's peculiar

nearness to Israel

(De 4:7)

shall be surpassed by the antitype, God's own throne in Jerusalem

(Ps 2:6, 8;

Eze 34:23, 24;

Zec 2:5).

imagination--rather, as Margin, "the obstinacy" or stubbornness.

18. Judah . . . Israel . . . together--Two distinct apostasies, that

of Israel and that of Judah, were foretold

(Jer 3:8, 10).

The two have never been united since the Babylonish captivity;

therefore their joint restoration must be still future

(Isa 11:12, 13;

Eze 37:16-22;

Ho 1:11).

north--

(Jer 3:12).

land . . . given . . . inheritance--

(Am 9:15).

19. The good land covenanted to Abraham is to be restored to his seed.

But the question arises, How shall this be done?

put . . . among . . . children--the Greek for adoption means,

literally, "putting among the sons."

the children--that is, My children. "How shall I receive thee back

into My family, after thou hast so long forsaken Me for idols?" The

answer is, they would acknowledge Him as "Father," and no longer turn

away from Him. God assumes the language of one wondering how so

desperate apostates could be restored to His family and its privileges

(compare

Eze 37:3;

CALVIN makes it, How the race of Abraham can be

propagated again, being as it were dead); yet as His purpose has

decreed it so, He shows how it shall be effected, namely, they shall

receive from Him the spirit of adoption to cry, "My Father"

(Joh 1:12;

Ga 4:6).

The elect are "children" already in God's purpose; this is the ground

of the subsequent realization of this relationship

(Eph 1:5;

Heb 2:13).

pleasant land--

(Jer 11:5;

Eze 20:6;

Da 11:16,

Margin).

heritage of . . . hosts--a heritage the most goodly of

all nations [MAURER]; or a "heritage possessed by

powerful hosts"

(De 4:38;

Am 2:9).

The rendering "splendors," instead of "hosts," is opposed by the fact

that the Hebrew for "splendor" is not found in the

plural.

20. Surely--rather, "But."

husband--literally, "friend."

21. In harmony with the preceding promises of God, the penitential

confessions of Israel are heard.

high places--The scene of their idolatries is the scene of their

confessions. Compare

Jer 3:23,

in which they cast aside their trust in these idolatrous high places.

The publicity of their penitence is also implied (compare

Jer 7:29; 48:38).

22. Jehovah's renewed invitation

(Jer 3:12, 14)

and their immediate response.

heal--forgive

(2Ch 30:18, 20;

Ho 14:4).

unto thee--rather, "in obedience to thee"; literally, "for thee"

[ROSENMULLER].

23. multitude of mountains--that is, the multitude of gods worshipped on them

(compare

Ps 121:1, 2,

Margin).

24. shame--that is, the idols, whose worship only covers us with

shame

(Jer 11:13;

Ho 9:10).

So far from bringing us "salvation," they have cost us our cattle and

even our children, whom we have sacrificed to them.

25.

(Ezr 9:7).