Jeremiah 2:8

The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. PRIESTS ... PASTORS ... PROPHETS. The three leading classes, whose very office under the theocracy was to lead the people to God, disowned Him in the same language as the nation at large, "Where is the Lord" (see )? (1) The priests, whose office it was to expound the law (Malachi 2:6). HANDLE - are occupied with as the subject of their profession. (2) The pastors: civil, not religious; princes () whose duty it was to tend their people. (3) The prophets, who...

God assails here especially the teachers and those to whom was committed the power of ruling the people. It often happens that the common people fall away, while yet some integrity remains in the rulers. But God shews here that such was the falling away among the whole community, that priests as well as prophets and all the chief men had departed from the true worship of God, and from all uprightness. Now, when Jeremiah thus rebukes the teachers and the priests and others, he does not excuse the common people, nor extenuate the crimes, which then prevailed everywhere, as we shall see from what follows. As many think that they set up a shield against God, when they pretend that they are not acquainted with so much learning as to distinguish between light and darkness, but that they are guided by their rulers, the Prophet, therefore, does not here cast the faults of the people upon their r...

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 2:8. _THEY THAT HANDLE THE LAW_] ותפשי _vethophe shey, they_ _that draw out the law_; they whose office it is to _explain_ it, _draw_ _out_ its spiritual meanings, and show to what its testimonies refer. _THE PASTORS ALSO_] Kings, political and civil rulers. _PROPHESIED BY BAAL_] Became his prophets, and were inspired with the words of _lying spirits_....

The guilt of this idolatry is ascribed to the four ruling classes: (a) The accusation brought against the priests is indifference. (b) “They that handle the law” belonged also to the priestly class Deuteronomy 33:10. Their offence was that “they knew not God.” Compare Micah 3:11. (c) The third class are “the pastors” or shepherds, that is the temporal rulers. Their crime is disobedience. (d) The fourth class are “the prophets.” It was their business to press the moral and spiritual truths of the law home to the hearts of the people: but they drew their inspiration from Baal, the Sun-god. Upon the corruption of the prophetic order at th

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

THE PRIESTS SAID NOT, WHERE IS THE LORD?.... Whose business it was to draw nigh to God, and offer the sacrifices of the people, and inquire of God for them; whose lips should keep knowledge, and at whose mouth the law should be sought, they being the messengers of the Lord of hosts, Malachi 2:7: AND THEY THAT HANDLE THE LAW KNEW ME NOT; the sanhedrim, according to Jarchi; or the lawyers and scribes, the Rabbins and doctors of the law, whose business it was to read and explain it; these did not understand it, nor the mind of God in it; and much less did they know him in a spiritual and evangelical manner; or as he is in Christ, and revealed in the Gospel: THE PASTORS ALSO TRANSGRESSED AGAINST ME; kings, as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi interpret it, who were pastors or shepherds in a civil sense; whose business it was to feed the people as the shepherd doe

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._...