Jeremiah 2:10

For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. PASS OVER THE ISLES - rather, 'cross over to the isles.' CHITTIM ... KEDAR - i:e., the pagan nations, West and East, Go where you will, you cannot find an instance of any pagan nation forsaking their own for other gods. Israel alone does this. Yet the pagan gods are false gods; whereas Israel, in forsaking Me for other gods, forsakes their "glory" for unprofitable idols. CHITTIM - Cyprus, colonized by Phoenicians, who built in it the city of Citium, the modern Chitti. Then the term came to be applied to all maritime coasts of the Mediterranean, especially Greece (; ;...

Here, by a comparison, he amplifies the wickedness and ingratitude of his own nation, — that they had surpassed in levity all heathen nations; for he says that all nations so agreed in one religion, that each nation followed what it had received from its ancestors. How then was it that the God of Israel was repudiated and rejected by his own people? If there was such persistency in error, why did not truth secure credit among them who had been taught by the mouth of God himself, as though they had been even in heaven? This is the drift of the Prophet’s meaning, when he says, _Go into the islands of Chittim, and send into Kedar _ He mentions Greece on one side, and the East on the other, and states a part for the whole. The Hebrews, as we have seen in Daniel, called the Greeks Chittim, though they indeed thought that the term belonged properly to the Macedonians; but the Prophet no doubt...

9-13 Before God punishes sinners, he pleads with them, to bring them to repentance. He pleads with us, what we should plead with ourselves. Be afraid to think of the wrath and curse which will be the portion of those who throw themselves out of God's grace and favour. Grace in Christ is compared to water from a fountain, it being cooling and refreshing, cleansing and making fruitful: to living water, because it quickens dead sinners, revives drooping saints, supports and maintains spiritual life, and issues in eternal life, and is ever-flowing. To forsake this Fountain is the first evil; this is done when the people of God neglect his word and ordinances. They hewed them out broken cisterns, that could hold no water. Such are the world, and the things in it; such are the inventions of men when followed and depended on. Let us, with purpose of heart, cleave to the Lord only; whither else...

Verse Jeremiah 2:10. _THE ISLES OF CHITTIM_] This is the island of _Cyprus_, according to Josephus. In 1 Maccabees, _1Mac 8:5_, it is taken for Macedonia. _Besides this, how they_ (the Romans) _had discomfited in_ _battle Philip_ and _Perseus, king of the Chittims_. Chittim was the grandson of Japhet; and _Bochart_ has made it appear that the countries inhabited by the _Chittim_ were _Italy_ and the adjacent provinces of _Europe_, lying along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea; and probably this is the prophet's meaning. _SEND UNTO KEDAR_] The name of an _Arabian tribe_. See if nations either near or remote, cultivated or stupid, have acted with such fickleness and ingratitude as you have done! _They_ have _retained_ their gods to whom they had no obligation; ye have _abandoned_ your God

Kedar signifies the whole East, and the isles of Chittim (Isaiah 23:12 note) the West. If then you traverse all lands from west to east, it will be impossible to find any nation guilty of such apostasy as that committed by Israel....

EXPOSITION The second chapter forms the introduction of a group of discourses (Jeremiah 2-6), which should be read together. It is called By Ewald (and the position of the prophecy favors this view) the first oracle which Jeremiah delivered in public ("oracle" is, in fact, the nearest English equivalent to those two remarkable Hebrew synonyms, _massa_ and _neum_—especially for the latter). This would bring it into the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah (see Jeremiah 1:3), though of course we cannot be sure that references to a later period may not have been inserted afterwards. It is, obviously, only a summary of the prophet's spoken words which we have in this most impressive discourse. In order to appreciate it, we must bear in mind the external political relations and the internal religions condition of the kingdom of Judah. These have Been already touched

FOR PASS OVER THE ISLES OF CHITTIM, AND SEE,.... Or, "to the isles of Chittim" z; so called from Kittim the son of Javan, Genesis 10:4 who, as Josephus says a, possessed the island of Chethima, now called Cyprus; and, from that, all islands, and most maritime places, are, by the Hebrews, called Chittim, he observes: it may regard all the islands in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas: AND SEND UNTO KEDAR; which was in Arabia, and lay to the east, as Chittim to the west; and so the Targum paraphrases it, "send to the provinces of the Arabians:'' AND CONSIDER DILIGENTLY, AND SEE IF THERE BE SUCH A THING; as what is inquired about in the following verse, a change of deities. All this is to be understood of the contemplation of the mind, and not of any corporeal journey to be taken, to inquire into this matter. z עברו איי כתיים εις νη

Jeremiah 2:1. _Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD._ God remembered what Israel used to be in those good days when the Lord alone did lead them and there was no strange god among them. Now he bids them remember from whence they had fallen, and repent and do their first works lest he come unto them in wrath. Oh, beloved, if you ever lived near to God if you ever rested your head on Christ's bosom, and have now wandered away from him and are spiritually cold and dead, begin to chide yourself; for the Lord himself,

CHAPTER S 2:1-3:5 Expostulation and Impeachment _ 1. His love and kindness to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 2:1) _ 2. The unfaithful people (Jeremiah 2:4) 3. The two evils and the results (Jeremiah 2:12) 4. Impeachment (Jeremiah 2:19) 5. Expostulation (Jeremiah 2:31) 6. Jehovah waiting to show mercy (Jeremiah 3:1) Jeremiah 2

YAHWEH'S REPROACHES. Yahweh asks why His redeeming acts are forgotten and His (true) worship abandoned; other nations do not abandon their gods, though these are worthless, but Yahweh's people have forsaken the one true God. Jeremiah here treats all other gods as worthless, though explicit monotheism is not found until the next century (Deutero-Isaiah). When Israel entered Canaan under its desert-God, Yahweh, it was natural to worship the local Baalim (p. 87), as well, since they were regarded as the gods of agriculture and fertility. But when the land came to be regarded as Yahweh's heritage, there was a strong tendency for Him to be worshipped as the Baalim had been, and under the name of Baal (Lord). Both the worship and the name are here treated as heathenism. Jeremiah 2:5. vanity: lit. breath; _cf._...