Jeremiah 2:20-26. For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD. How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets,
And there are many people whose repentance is of no more value than the shame of a thief, when he is found out. Oh, for something better and deeper than this!
Jeremiah 2:26-27. So is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
Some men never pray except in stormy weather. Their religion is wholly dependent upon their condition and circumstances. If all is going well with them, they bend not their knees before the Lord, but when they are in sore distress, and especially if they think they are likely soon to die, then they cry unto God, «Arise, and save us,» with no more true faith than these idolaters had when they cried to their powerless idols.
Jeremiah 2:28-30. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah. Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD. In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
So far from accepting God's rebukes in the right spirit, and forsaking their idol gods, they even turned upon the Lord's messengers and put his prophets to death.
Jeremiah 2:31. O generation, see ye the word of the LORD.
«If you will not hear it, see it.»
Jeremiah 2:31. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?
«Do you not see,» says the Lord to these rebellious people, «how much I have done for you? Have you forgotten the numberless mercies I have lavished upon you? I have kept from you nothing that was really good for you. When you worshipped me in sincerity and in truth, you prospered exceedingly; but when you turned away from me, you made a sad mistake. See, then, the sermons which providence itself preached to you if ye will not hear what my prophets say to you in my name.»
Jeremiah 2:32. Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
The very beauty of a believer his glorious dress is his God. Then can we ever forget him; or all the precious things of the covenant of grace which he so freely bestows upon us? Can we can we have fallen so low as to forget the God to whom we owe so much? Alas, he can still say, «My people have forgotten me days without number.»
Jeremiah 2:33-34. Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways. Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.
God's ancient people had so completely turned away from him, and wandered so far from him, that they had practiced all manner of evil in order to prove their love for other gods. They even went among the heathen, and taught them to sin yet worse than they had sinned before. This was most shameful backsliding, a horrible evil in the sight of God.
Jeremiah 2:35. Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me.
The most guilty people are often the most self-righteous. The sinful nation, which ought to have pleaded guilty, here says, «Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me.»
Jeremiah 2:35. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.
That is the great abuse of quarrel between God and men. Many a man still says, «I have not sinned,» although God's law condemns him, and the very office of the Saviour proves that the guilty one needed to be saved by One who was almighty. Self-righteousness is a thing which God utterly abhors.
Jeremiah 2:36. Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
First they trusted to Assyria to save them; and when that broken reed failed them, then they trusted to Egypt; and in a similar fashion, we go from one false hope to another, from one carnal confidence to another, gadding about to change our way; yet, all the while, refusing to turn unto the Lord.
Jeremiah 2:37. Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head:
Thou shalt go forth as a captive, with thine hands bound above thy head; or, like one in great pain or sorrow, thou shalt hold thine hands to thy head.
Jeremiah 2:37. For the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
May God, in his mercy, save all of us from false confidences, both now and throughout our whole lives!