_They say_ That is, _men use to say, If a man put away his wife_ Or give her a bill of divorce, Deuteronomy 24:1; _and she go from him_ In consequence thereof; _and become another man's_ Engage herself to another; _shall he return unto her?_ He cannot take her again according to the law, Deuteronomy... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lift up thine eyes_ Do but look and consider whether I charge thee wrongfully or not; _unto the high places_ The places of thy spiritual whoredoms or idolatries, their false gods being generally worshipped upon the hills and mountains, 2 Kings 21:3. Thy idolatries have been so frequent that thou ca... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore the showers have been withholden_ Namely, by me, according to my threatening, Leviticus 26:19; Deuteronomy 28:23; that is, a drought was sent upon their land, either as a punishment of their wickedness, public sins bringing public judgments, or as an aggravation of it, in which case the c... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wilt thou not from this time_ Namely, that I have withholden showers, this time of conviction and correction; now that thou hast been made to see thy sins, and to smart for them, wilt thou not forsake them and return to me, saying, _I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better w... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then the Lord said unto me_ “Here begins an entire new section, or distinct prophecy, which is continued to the end of the sixth chapter. It consists of two distinct parts. The first part contains a complaint against Judah for having exceeded the guilt of her sister Israel, whom God had already cas... [ Continue Reading ]
_After she had done all these things_ For which she might justly have been abandoned; _I said, Turn thou unto me_ Namely, and I will receive thee. Though they had forsaken both the house of David and the house of Aaron, who both had their authority from God without dispute, yet God sent his prophets... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I saw_ As if he had said, That which others discerned not, I saw perfectly; namely, both her hypocrisy and her incorrigibleness, notwithstanding what had befallen Israel, whose correction should have instructed and reformed her. _When for all the causes_ The various idolatries and other sins, f... [ Continue Reading ]
_And through the lightness of her whoredom_ “By this phrase,” says Blaney, “I take to be meant, that she was not nice in the choice of the objects, but was ready to prostitute herself to all that came in her way; that is, she eagerly fell in with all kinds of idolatrous worship indiscriminately, des... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the Lord said unto me_, &c. The case of these sister kingdoms is here compared, and judgment given upon the comparison. _Israel hath justified herself more than Judah_ Hebrew, צדקה נפשׁה, _hath justified her soul:_ so the LXX. εδικαιωσε την ψυχην, and the Vulgate. The meaning is, that of the tw... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go, and proclaim these words toward the north_ “The sin of the ten tribes being attended with more favourable circumstances than that of Judah, the prophet is commanded to call them to repentance with promises of pardon. In order to this he is bid to direct his speech northward, that is, toward Ass... [ Continue Reading ]
_Turn, for I am married unto you_ I am in covenant with you, and this covenant, notwithstanding all your unfaithfulness, I am ready to renew with you. Hebrew, בעלתי בכם, which Blaney translates, _I have been a husband among you;_ observing, that God hereby “means to remind them that he had fulfilled... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will give you pastors according to my heart_ This is likewise an evangelical promise, (compare Jeremiah 23:4,) implying that under the happy times here foretold all governors, both civil and ecclesiastical, should faithfully discharge their trust, in duly governing and instructing the people comm... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when ye be multiplied_ That is, when the kingdom of the Messiah shall be set up, and there shall be a vast increase of the members of the church by the accession of the Gentiles: for that the days of the Messiah are here intended, the Jewish masters themselves acknowledge; _they shall say no mo... [ Continue Reading ]
_At that time_ Of _reformation_, διορθωσεως, _emendation_, (Hebrews 9:10,) when things should be put into a better state by the coming of the Messiah; _they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord_ Instead of the ark, the Christian Church, typified by Jerusalem, shall be the place of God's speci... [ Continue Reading ]
_In those days the house of Judah_, &c. Judah and Israel shall be happily united; the enmity that was between them shall be taken away, and they shall walk one with another, in a friendly manner, in the ways of God. This implies their being incorporated in one body, by one spirit, under Christ their... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I said_ Namely, within myself, God is here represented as deliberating with himself, after the manner of men, in what way he might, consistently with his divine attributes, receive the Jewish people into his favour, and admit them into the Christian Church. _How shall I put thee among the child... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely, as a wife treacherously departeth_, &c. This may be rendered, _As a woman is not faithful to her husband_, or, _her friend_, as the Hebrew רעה signifies. Here God returns to the carnal Israelites; so that the Jewish doctors seem to be right in calling the spirit of prophecy an _abrupt spiri... [ Continue Reading ]
Here begins a dialogue between God and his people, wherein he offers gracious terms of pardon to them, and they make sincere professions of obedience to him. _Return, ye backsliding_ Or _revolted, children_ Return to me, and to my worship and service; return to your duty. God is introduced as saying... [ Continue Reading ]
_Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills_ From idols worshipped on hills and mountains. It is a continuation of that form of confession begun Jeremiah 3:22, drawn up with a reference to the present state of the idolatrous Israelites; wherein they express their abhorrence of those idols w... [ Continue Reading ]
_For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers_ That is, _the fruit_ of their labour, יגיע, which properly signifies _labour_ and _toil_, being here put by a metonymy for _the substance_ acquired by toil; that is, their labours have been followed by disappointment and shame; they have not reaped... [ Continue Reading ]