Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
Stand ye in the ways, see, ask for the old paths - Image from travelers who have lost their road, stopping and inquiring which is the right way on which they once had been, but from which their have wandered.
Old paths. Idolatry and apostasy are the modern way; the worship of God the old way. Evil is not coeval with good, but a modern degeneracy from good. The forsaking of God is not, in a true sense, a "way cast up" at all (Jeremiah 18:15; Psalms 139:24, "See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." The law of God given through Moses is the old path-the good way-referred to. Malachi 4:4).
Rest - (Isaiah 28:12, "To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest: and this is the refreshing." The Lord Jesus gives to the weary "rest," such as is not to be found even in the law, as He faith, Matthew 11:29).