Wilt thou not from this time, viz. that I have withholden showers? Some refer this,
1. To the time to come; Wilt thou not yet be wise, and for the future seek to me, having found all thy other ways successless? Isaiah 9:13 Jeremiah 8:14.
2. To the time present; How canst thou challenge me for my present severity, and continuing it towards thee, when thou still retainest thy filthiness, thy whore's forehead, Jeremiah 3:3. Thou still continuest worshipping idols, and yet fanciest thyself faithful to me.
3. To the time past, i.e. Hast thou not all along pretended kindness to me, and as if thou hadst walked close with me? 2 Kings 17:32,33 Eze 23:39. Cry unto me, My father; wilt thou not as a child call upon, me, whom thou hast thus greatly provoked, and own me as a father? Jeremiah 3:19; for such have I been to thee, Psalms 103:13 Zechariah 1:6, Zechariah 3:17. The guide of my youth; either on whom I have depended, as being brought up by thee; or the submissive expression of a wife seeking to be reconciled to her husband, that God would be to her as he had been in the days of her youth; such a case as is expressed 1 Corinthians 7:11; words of flattery usual with hypocrites: or rather, being married to thee in thy youth; a periphrasis for husband, Proverbs 2:17; which argues great tenderness towards her, Jeremiah 3:2. Thus the tenderness of this relation is expressed Zechariah 2:14, and so God is said to espouse them to himself Ezekiel 16:8.