Jeremiah 2:25

Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. WITHHOLD ... - i:e., Abstain from incontinence; figurative for idolatry (Houbigant). UNSHOD ... - do not run so violently in pursuing lovers as to wear out thy shoes: do not 'thirst' so incontinently after sexual intercourse. Hitzig thinks the reference is to penances performed barefoot to idols, and the thirst occasioned by loud and continued invocations to them. I prefer taking the language as figurative of eager desire for idols. Contrast "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" (.) NO HOPE - (). Though thus giving up all ho...

The words of the Prophet, as they are concise, may appear at the first view obscure: but his meaning is simply this, — that the insane people could by no means be reformed, however much God might try to check that excess by which they were led away after idols and superstitions. In the first clause, God relates how he had dealt with the people. All the addresses of the prophets had this as their object — to make the people to rest contented under the protection of God. But he employs other words here, _Keep thy foot, _he says, _from unshodding, and thy throat from thirst _For whenever there was any danger they ran, now to Egypt, then to Assyria, as we have already seen. Hence God complains of their madness, because they obeyed not his wise and salutary counsels. Had God bidden them to run here and there, either to the east or to the west, they might have raised an objection, and say, tha...

20-28 Notwithstanding all their advantages, Israel had become like the wild vine that bears poisonous fruit. Men are often as much under the power of their unbridled desires and their sinful lusts, as the brute beasts. But the Lord here warns them not to weary themselves in pursuits which could only bring distress and misery. As we must not despair of the mercy of God, but believe that to be sufficient for the pardon of our sins, so neither must we despair of the grace of God, but believe that it is able to subdue our corruptions, though ever so strong....

Verse Jeremiah 2:25. _WITHHOLD THY FOOT FROM BEING UNSHOD_] When it was said to them, "Cease from discovering thy feet; prostitute thyself no more to thy idols." _AND THY THROAT FROM THIRST_] Drink no more of their libations, nor use those potions which tend only to increase thy appetite for pollution. Thou didst say, There is no hope: it is useless to advise me thus; I am determined; I have loved _these strange gods_, and to them will I cleave....

God the true husband exhorts Israel not to run barefoot, and with parched throat, like a shameless adulteress, after strangers. THERE IS NO HOPE - i. e., It is in vain....

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

WITHHOLD THY FOOT FROM BEING UNSHOD,.... That it may not be unshod, be naked and bare. The sense is, either, as some, do not take long journeys into foreign countries for help, as into Assyria and Egypt, whither they used to go barefoot; or wore out their shoes by their long journeys, and so returned without; or refrain from idolatry, as Jarchi interprets it, that thou mayest not go naked into captivity; or this is an euphemism, as others think, forbidding adulterous actions, showing the naked foot, the putting off of the shoes, in order to lie upon the bed, and prostitute herself to her lovers; and is to be understood of idolatry: AND THY THROAT FROM THIRST; after wine, which excites lust; abstain from eager and burning lust after adulterous, that is, idolatrous practices; so the Targum, "refrain thy feet from being joined with the people, and thy mouth from worshipping the idols of t...

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 first-fruits of his increase: all that devour him shalt offend; evil shall come upon then, saith the LORD._ God reminds his people of what they used to be in their first days, when they came out of Egypt. They had very sadly declined from what they then were. They were none too faithful to the Lord then; but they had fallen back even from that condition. Does not this passage come home to some of you who are not now what you once were? May the Lord graciously speak through these words to your ear, and to your heart, if you have backslidden from him in any degree!...

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

ISRAEL'S FALSE RELIGION. Israel has forfeited the privileges of a son, and incurred disaster by forsaking Yahweh for the sensuous worship of the Baalim (_cf._ Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 2:28). Jeremiah 2:14 may be a later insertion, as it seems to break the connexion between Jeremiah 2:13 and Jeremiah 2:18; Jeremiah 2:15 apparently refers to the devastation of the northern kingdom by Assyria,...