Jeremiah 2:1-3

CHAPTER FIVE

SERMONS FROM THE REIGN OF JOSIAH

Jeremiah 2:1 to Jeremiah 6:30

Chapter s 2-6 contain several discourses uttered at different times in the early years of Jeremiah's prophetic ministry. Some of these messages seem to be addressed to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. The material is cast in poetic form as can be seen from the verse arrangement in the New American Standard Version. The theme which runs through these Chapter s is that of past faithfulness and present apostasy. Several times Jeremiah amplifies the contrast between the implicit faithfulness of Israel during the early stage of national existence and the present state of backsliding. Needless to say, only a summary of the actual words of Jeremiah have been preserved here. It is impossible to tell whether this section contains two or three longer addresses, each given on a specific occasion, or a number of shorter speeches or excerpts from sermons which were gathered up by Jeremiah or Baruch at a later time. The second alternative is more probable.

Nearly all commentators are agreed that the messages in Chapter s 2-6 should be assigned to the reign of king Josiah, A reference to that king appears in Jeremiah 3:6. Certain verses seem to point to the period of Josiah's reformation which fell between the years 627 and 621 B.C.

I. THE INAUGURAL SERMON Jeremiah 2:1-37

Jeremiah's inaugural sermon might well be entitled God's Indictment of His People. If chapter 2 does contain Jeremiah's first sermon or at least excerpts from his earliest sermons, it is apparent that this young man from the very beginning did not pull any punches. The language is tough and hard-hitting. The logic is impeccable and the conclusion is inevitable: Judah is deserving of divine judgment. The prophet begins by bringing to the attention of his hearers the past association which they as a nation had enjoyed with God (Jeremiah 2:1-3). He then attacks the present apostasy (Jeremiah 2:4-8) and offers a penetrating analysis of it (Jeremiah 2:9-19). Jeremiah then drives home his accusations with a series of devastating analogies and figures of speech (Jeremiah 2:20-28). The chapter closes with the prophet smashing whatever arguments the apostate people might use to justify their behavior (Jeremiah 2:29-37).

A. Past Associations Jeremiah 2:1-3

TRANSLATION

Now the word of the LORD came unto me saying, (2) Go and cry in the presence of Jerusalem and say, This is what the LORD has said: I remember for your sake the kindness of your youth, your bridal love; how you went after me in the wilderness in a land that was not sown. (3) Israel was the LORD'S holy portion, the first fruits of his increase; all who devour him shall be held guilty, calamity shall come against them (oracle of the LORD).

COMMENTS

Apparently Jeremiah did not have to wait long to receive the first message from the Lord which he was to deliver to his people. While still at Anathoth instructions came to go and preach in Jerusalem the capital city. His message is to open with a nostalgic note which would certainly have gained Jeremiah an initially favorable hearing. The introduction to his sermon was psychologically sound. He proceeds to paint a beautiful picture of the tender relationship which had in past years existed between God and His people. He points out Israel's loving care for God (Jeremiah 2:2) and God's loving care for Israel (Jeremiah 2:3).

1. Israel's loving care for God (Jeremiah 2:2)

God still remembered the loving care which Israel had demonstrated toward Him in the days of national youth. It is in the period of the Exodus and wilderness wandering that the tribes of Israel became a nation. During those formative years Israel had shown tender and affectionate kindness to the Lord their God. This bridal love, as Jeremiah calls it, had caused Israel to follow the Lord from Egypt, a land of comparative plenty (Numbers 11:5) into the wilderness (a land not sown). As a bride in loving trust follows her husband into a strange land so Israel had followed God into the barren wastes of Sinai.[127] But how can the period of wilderness wandering be regarded as a time of love and trust when the narratives of Exodus and Numbers are replete with examples of murmuring and lack of faith? Jeremiah was not ignorant of the wilderness failings of Israel but he apparently felt that these shortcomings did not detract in the least from the loving trust displayed by Israel in venturing into the desert with God. For Jeremiah, and other prophets as well,[128] the wilderness wandering was the honeymoon period of Israel's history. In the wilderness Israel was completely dependent on God. He had no rivals for their affections. Israel was completely devoted to Him.

[127] The figure of a bride is also used in Hosea 2:19-20, Isaiah 54:4-5 and Ezekiel 16:8.

[128] Cf. Isaiah 1:26; Hosea 11:1; Hosea 11:3-4; Ezekiel 16:6-14.

2. God's loving care for Israel (Jeremiah 2:3)

God reciprocated the loving care of Israel. He regarded Israel as his holy portion. According to Isaiah, God was the holy one of Israel; according to Jeremiah, Israel was the holy one of God. Israel belonged to God[129] just as did the first-fruits of the harvest.[130] This being the case, Israel was under the divine protection of the Lord. Foreigners were forbidden to eat of consecrated things; by breaking this law they became guilty of a trespass (Leviticus 22:10; Leviticus 22:15-16). Since Israel was consecrated to God that nation could not be harmed with impunity. Though elsewhere Jeremiah regards the nations as agents used of God to punish Judah, here he lays down the general principle that any who attack God's people will be punished.

[129] Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:19.

[130] Exodus 23:19; Numbers 18:12-13. The use of the term first-fruits in reference to Israel implies that God expected a later harvest among the nations of the world. with the spread of the Gospel such has been the case.