Jeremiah 2:34

Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these. ALSO. Not only art thou polluted with idolatry, but also with the guilt of shedding innocent blood (Maurer). Rosenmuller; not so well, translates, 'even in thy skirts,' etc.; i:e., there is no part of thee (not even thy skirts) that is not stained with innocent blood (; ). See as to innocent blood shed, not as here in honour of idols, but of prophets for having reproved them, ; Jeremiah 26:20, King Jehoiakim slew the prophet Urijah by the hand of Elnathan and others. Souls...

The Prophet repeats, as I think, what he had before said, — that the wickedness of his nation was incorrigible; for they repented not when warned, but on the contrary raged like wild beasts against the Prophets and religious teachers. Those interpreters are mistaken who think that the savage cruelty of the Jews in general is here condemned; and all are of this opinion. But the Prophet no doubt enhances this evil, by saying, that the Jews were not only obstinate in their vices, but also raged furiously against the Prophets. Hence he shews again, that God had used all remedies to heal the Jews, but without effect, for what better medicine could have been offered than for the Prophets to reprove the people and to shew to them how wickedly they had departed from God? God then wished thus to correct the vices of his own people; but so far was he from effecting anything, that at Jerusalem and...

29-37 The nation had not been wrought upon by the judgements of God, but sought to justify themselves. The world is, to those who make it their home and their portion, a wilderness and a land of darkness; but those who dwell in God, have the lines fallen to them in pleasant places. Here is the language of presumptuous sinners. The Jews had long thrown off serious thoughts of God. How many days of our lives pass without suitable remembrance of him! The Lord was displeased with their confidences, and would not prosper them therein. Men employ all their ingenuity, but cannot find happiness in the way of sin, or excuse for it. They may shift from one sin to another, but none ever hardened himself against God, or turned from him, and prospered....

Verse Jeremiah 2:34. _THE BLOOD OF THE SOULS OF THE POOR INNOCENTS_] We find from the sacred history that Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; see 2 Kings 21:16, and Ezekiel 34:10. _I HAVE NOT FOUND IT BY SECRET SEARCH, BUT UPON ALL THESE._] Such deeds of darkness and profligacy are found only in Israel. Dr. _Blayney_ translates, "I have not found it in a digged hole, but upon every oak." Others cover the blood that it may not appear; but ye have shed it openly, and sprinkled it upon your consecrated oaks, and gloried in it....

I HAVE NOT FOUND IT ... - Rather, thou didst not find them breaking into thy house. The meaning is, that these poor innocents had committed no crime: they were not thieves caught in the act, whom the Law permitted men to slay Exodus 22:2, and therefore Israel in killing them was guilty of murder. The one crime here of theft is put for crime generally. UPON ALL THESE - Or, because of all this. Thou killedst the poor innocents, not for any crime, but because of this thy lust for idolatry....

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

ALSO IN THY SKIRTS IS FOUND THE BLOOD OF THE SOULS OF THE POOR INNOCENTS,.... Either of the innocent infants of poor persons, who were sacrificed to Moloch; or of the poor prophets of the Lord, whom they slew, because they faithfully reproved them for their sins; and the blood of those being found in their skirts is expressive of the publicness and notoriety of their sin, and also of the large quantity of blood shed, inasmuch as the skirts of their garments were filled with it, as if they had trod and walked in blood; see Isaiah 63:3. I HAVE NOT FOUND IT BY SECRET SEARCH; or, "by digging" q; there was no need to dig for it; it lay above ground; it was upon their skirts, public enough: or, "in ditches", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin r versions; as when murders are privately and secretly committed; but these were done openly. Some read the words, "thou didst not find the

Jeremiah 2:20. For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD. How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst:...

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

THE DESERVED PUNISHMENT. Israel's sorrows are well deserved, for Yahweh's love has been forgotten. In spite of wrong-doing, there is no penitence for sin. The help of Egypt will be as futile as that of Assyria. Jeremiah 2:29. plead: complain. Jeremiah 2:30. For YOUR OWN read the with LXX. Jeremiah 2:32. attire: properly sash (Isaiah 3:20, RV). Jeremiah 2:33. trimmest: lit. makest good, _i.e._ pickest. WICKED WOMEN: better, evil things, same word as in...