Jeremiah 2:4-13 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

Yahweh's Reproaches. Yahweh asks why His redeeming acts are forgotten and His (true) worship abandoned; other nations do not abandon their gods, though these are worthless, but Yahweh's people have forsaken the one true God. Jeremiah here treats all other gods as worthless, though explicit monotheism is not found until the next century (Deutero-Isaiah). When Israel entered Canaan under its desert-God, Yahweh, it was natural to worship the local Baalim (p. 87), as well, since they were regarded as the gods of agriculture and fertility. But when the land came to be regarded as Yahweh's heritage, there was a strong tendency for Him to be worshipped as the Baalim had been, and under the name of Baal (Lord). Both the worship and the name are here treated as heathenism.

Jeremiah 2:5. vanity: lit. breath; cf. Jeremiah 8:19.

Jeremiah 2:10. Kittim: the people of Kition in Cyprus (Numbers 24:23 f.*); Kedar (Genesis 25:13; Jeremiah 49:28; Psalms 120:5 *): an Arabian tribe; thus, W. and E. are here graphically indicated.

Jeremiah 2:12. be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate: read, with LXX, shudder exceedingly.

Jeremiah 2:13. For the contrast between the fountain, or spring, and the cistern, see Thomson, op. cit., p. 287; the latter, though hewn in rock, is said to crack easily, and its water, collected from the roof, is in any case inferior.

Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 2:4

Jeremiah 2:4-13

4 Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:

5 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

7 And I brought you into a plentifulb country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.

8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.

10 For pass overc the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.

11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.

12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.

13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.