They have turned unto Me the back, and not the face
Human wickedness
I.
As condemning Divine authority. To turn the back upon any one, not only indicates an utter lack of interest in him, but a dislike. To turn the back upon God means--
1. An ignorement of His existence. The language of wickedness is, “Depart from me, I desire not a knowledge of Thy ways.” The wicked are “without God in the world.” They shut their eyes to the greatest fact of facts. God is not in all their thoughts.
2. A repugnance to His presence. What a monstrous sight is this, man turning his back on God.
II. As regardless of Divine instruction. God is constantly teaching men early and late--teaching them--
1. In the operations of nature.
2. In the events of their history.
3. In the monitions of their consciences.
4. In the declarations of His Word. (Homilist.)
Though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.
Disregard of God’s teaching
I. God’s merciful instruction is given to man according to man’s capacity and present situation; and is of that special and particular nature that no one need mistake it; and is so simple and yet so full and impressive in itself that a child even may comprehend it.
1. We have no cloudy pillar resting over our churches, no fire from heaven blazing forth upon an altar of sacrifice, no voice of prophecy attended with signs and wonders, no mysterious “Urim and Thummim” sparkling on the breastplate of a high priest, nor do we hear the voice of God speaking to us audibly from the summit of a mountain encircled with fire and with loud peals of thunder: but the Deity nevertheless teaches us by means equally potent. We have gathered into one source of Divine instruction the accumulated experience of many centuries--the Bible, and this carries with it the evidence of its own Divinity. We have the Church with her solemn sacraments, her public forms of worship, her large assemblies of believers, and her glorious history of martyrs and confessors of the faith. We have the Divine Spirit entering the hearts of the humble, and by the glory of His light piercing the darkest abodes of ignorance, and leading the teachable disciple of Christ into all truth. We have the providence of God showing us in many ways how quickly the sands of life drop away, how uncertain and how frail it is, how like the flower of the field we look for an instant bright and joyous, but the next, droop from the blight of disease, and crumble away into the ashes of the grave God teaches us also through our own everyday feelings, and the very common concerns of our daily existence
2. The words of Jeremiah express an earnestness in the Divine teaching. God is spoken of as “rising up early and teaching them.” He is the first among teachers. He is so desirous that His people should be guided by His counsels that He will be with them in the earliest dawn of their existence, both nationally as well as personally.
II. Man’s disregard of the Divine instruction. “They have turned unto Me,” saith the Lord, “the back and not the face”: and again, “they have not hearkened to receive instruction.” The Jews stand not alone in this matter. We may see some such strange manifestations in our own day. The same spirit of practical infidelity is abroad now, and the same infatuation which makes the most sublime subjects of religion matters for scorn and mockery, may be witnessed in our own land of freedom and enlightenment. We are happy to say the good sense of society and the spread of intelligence keeps this spirit down within narrow boundaries; but nevertheless it may be observed publishing itself with the godless jest, with the boast of independence, and with the mocking contempt of all which bears the stamp of religious profession. (W. D. Horwood.)