Jeremiah 11:2-5 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Hear ye the words of this covenant God speaks here chiefly to Jeremiah, but seems, at the same time, to address, together with him, all those pious persons who were like-minded with him, and who reproved the wicked manners of the people. The covenant here spoken of was the covenant of the law of God, delivered by Moses, to which the people had frequently promised obedience. And speak unto the men of Judah, &c. Lay the tenor of the covenant before them; and say, Cursed be the man that obeyeth not, &c. Deuteronomy 27:26, it is, Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them: and all the people shall say, Amen. The people's saying Amen, testified their assent, and made the law a covenant; but they had, besides this, formally and explicitly covenanted with God, Exodus 24:3-7, with religious rites and ceremonies, used in stipulations, and afterward consented that God should punish those that violated that covenant, Deuteronomy 27:26. Which I commanded, &c. Which law, (that you by your restipulation made a formal covenant,) I, who am the Lord, and so have a sovereign power to lay laws upon my creatures, commanded your fathers; in the day that I brought them from the iron furnace And thus obliged them to obedience before I laid my law upon them. The use of the iron furnace being to melt and purify metals, it was a proper representation of that state of sore affliction in which the people of God were for many ages in Egypt. Saying, Obey my voice, &c. For which kindness I required no more of them but a gentle service to me, in obeying my voice, as to the things of this law which I gave them in charge; so shall ye be my people, &c. Nor did I only lay my commands upon them, but also encouraged them to obedience, by my gracious promise, that if they would obey they should be a people whom I would peculiarly protect and bless. That I may, or, rather, might (for he refers to the time past) perform the oath, &c. As if he had said, I required their obedience for their own good: for I had sworn to their fathers, that I would give their posterity a land abounding with plenty of all good things, upon condition of their obedience. I have performed that oath; I have brought them into such a land, and showed myself faithful to them. Then answered I, So be it, O Lord God having ended his speech, the prophet says, Amen, as God had commanded, Deuteronomy 27:26; either asserting the truth of what God had said, or expressing his desire that the people would do according to their covenant, or even assenting to the curse as just and reasonable.