Jeremiah 2:5

Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? INIQUITY - wrong done to them (; ; cf. .) WALKED AFTER VANITY - contrasted with "wentest (walkest: the same Hebrew verb as here, ) after me in the wilderness" (): then I was their guide in the barren desert; now they take idols as their guides. VANITY ... VAIN. An idol is not only vain (impotent and empty), but vanity itself. Its worshippers acquire its character, becoming vain as it...

Then follows the charge: _What, iniquity have your fathers found in me_, that having forsaken _me they should walk after vanity and become vain? _Here Jeremiah charges the people with two crimes, — that they had departed from the true God, whom they had found to be a deliverer, — and that they had become vain in their devices; or, in other words, that they were become for no reason apostates: for their sin was enhanced, because there had been no occasion given them to forsake God, and to alienate themselves from him. As then God had kindly treated them, and they themselves had shaken off the yoke, and as there was no one whom they could compare with God, they could not have said, “We have been _deceived, _” — how so? “_For ye have, _he says, _followed vanity; _and vanity alone was the reason why ye have departed from me.” (29) I wish I could proceed farther; but I have some business to w...

1-8 Those who begin well, but do not persevere, will justly be upbraided with their hopeful and promising beginnings. Those who desert religion, commonly oppose it more than those who never knew it. For this they could have no excuse. God's spiritual Israel must own their obligations to him for safe conduct through the wilderness of this world, so dangerous to the soul. Alas, that many, who once appeared devoted to the Lord, so live that their professions aggravate their crimes! Let us be careful that we do not lose in zeal and fervency, as we gain knowledge....

Verse Jeremiah 2:5. _WHAT INIQUITY HAVE YOUR FATHERS FOUND IN ME_] Have they ever discovered any thing _cruel, unjust, oppressive_ in my _laws_? Any thing _unkind_ or _tyrannical_ in my _government_? Why then have they become _idolaters_?...

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

THUS SAITH THE LORD, WHAT INIQUITY HAVE YOUR FATHERS FOUND IN ME,.... What injustice or injury has been done them? there is no unrighteousness in God, nor can any be done by him; or what unfaithfulness, or want of truth and integrity in performing promises, had they found in him? he never suffers his faithfulness to fail, or any of the good things he has promised. So the Targum, "what falsehood have your fathers found in my word?'' none at all; God is a covenant keeping God: THAT THEY ARE GONE FAR FROM ME; from my fear, as the Chaldee paraphrase; from the word and worship, and ways of God: AND HAVE WALKED AFTER VANITY; after idols, the vanities of the Gentiles, Jeremiah 14:22: AND ARE BECOME VAIN? in their imaginations and in their actions, in their knowledge and in their practice, worshipping idols, as

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._...

WHAT INIQUITY. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 32:4). App-92. INIQUITY. Hebrew. _'aval._ App-44. FATHERS. Not merely recently, but of old (Jeremiah 2:7; Judges 2:10, &c). VANITY. the vanity. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Ad-junct), for vain things: i.e. idols. Compare Jeremiah 10:3; Jeremiah 10:15; Jeremiah 14:22;...