In the prophecies contained in Jer. 2–6, we have, probably, the records of Jeremiah’s earlier ministrations during the comparatively uneventful years of Josiah’s reign. The great object of the prophet’s mission was to urge upon the people the necessity of making use of that final opportunity of repentance then given them. If personal amendment followed upon the king’s reforms Judah might yet be saved. We have then in these chapters such portions of Jeremiah’s earlier teaching, published during Josiah’s reign, as were deemed fit also for the Church’s use in all time.
The prophecy Jeremiah 2:1-3 consists of three parts, of which the first Jeremiah 2:1-13 contains an appeal from God to all Israel, i. e., the whole twelve tribes, proving to them His past love, and that their desertion of Him was without ground or reason. In the second Jeremiah 2:14-28 the prophet shows that Israel’s calamities were entirely the result of her apostasy. In the last Jeremiah 2:29-3 we see Judah imitating Samaria’s sin, and hardening itself against correction.