Jeremiah 3:1

They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. Contrary to all precedent in the case of adultery Yahweh offers a return to Judah, the spiritual adulteress (Jeremiah 3:1). A new portion of the book begins at , and ends at the close of Jeremiah 6:1. Judah worse than Israel; yet both shall be restored in the last days (Jeremiah 3:6). THEY SAY - rather, as Hebrew, 'saying' in agreement with "the Lord," Je...

Many regard this verse as connected with the last, and thus read them connectedly, “God hates false confidences, because he says, “etc. But this seems not to me to be suitable; for Jeremiah brings before us here a new subject, — that God seeks to be reconciled to his people, according to what a husband does, who desires to receive into favor an unchaste wife, and is ready to grant her full pardon, and to take her again as a chaste and faithful wife. This verse, then, cannot be connected with the foregoing, in which, as we have seen, the people are condemned. The word לסמר _lam _e_r, _means the same, as I think, as when we say in French, _par maniere de dire, _or as when it is commonly said, “Suppose a case.” For the Prophet does not here introduce God as the speaker, but lays before us a common subject, with this preface, לאמר, _lamer, _that is, “Be it so, that a man divorces his wife, a...

1-5 In repentance, it is good to think upon the sins of which we have been guilty, and the places and companies where they have been committed. How gently the Lord had corrected them! In receiving penitents, he is God, and not man. Whatever thou hast said or done hitherto, wilt thou not from this time apply to me? Will not this grace of God overcome thee? Now pardon is proclaimed, wilt thou not take the benefit? They will hope to find in him the tender compassions of a Father towards a returning prodigal. They will come to him as the Guide of their youth: youth needs a guide. Repenting sinners may encourage themselves that God will not keep his anger to the end. All God's mercies, in every age, suggest encouragement; and what can be so desirable for the young, as to have the Lord for their Father, and the Guide of their youth? Let parents daily direct their children earnestly to seek thi...

CHAPTER III _The first five verses of this chapter allude to the subject of_ _the last; and contain earnest exhortations to repentance, with_ _gracious promises of pardon, notwithstanding every aggravation_ _of guilt_, 1-5. _At the sixth verse a new section of prophecy commences, opening_ _with a complaint against Judah for having exceeded in guilt her_ _sister Israel, already cast off for her idolatry_, 6-11. _She is cast off, but not forever; for to this same Israel,_ _whose place of captivity (Assyria) lay to the north of Judea,_...

THEY SAY - Or, That is to say. The prophet has completed his survey of Israel’s conduct, and draws the conclusion that as an adulterous wife could not be taken back by her husband, so Israel has forfeited her part in the covenant with God. Apparently the opening word, which literally means “to say,” only introduces the quotation in the margin. YET RETURN AGAIN TO ME - Or, “and thinkest thou to return unto me!” The whole argument is not of mercy, but is the proof that after her repeated adulteries, Israel could not again take her place as wife. To think of returning to God, with the marriage-law unrepealed, was folly....

EXPOSITION That this chapter (to which the first four verses of Jeremiah 4:1. ought to have been attached) belongs to the time of Josiah seems to be proved by Jeremiah 3:6, and the years immediately following the reformation are not obscurely referred to in Jeremiah 3:4, Jeremiah 3:10. Naegelsbach gives a striking distribution of its contents. The general subject is a call to "return." First, the prophet shows that, in spite of Deuteronomy 24:1, etc; a return is possible ...

THEY SAY, IF A MAN PUT AWAY HIS WIFE,.... Or, "saying" w; wherefore some connect those words with the last verse of the preceding chapter, as if they were a continuation of what the Lord had been there saying, that he would reject their confidences; so Kimchi; but they seem rather to begin a new section, or a paragraph, with what were commonly said among men, or in the law, and as the sense of that; that if a man divorced his wife upon any occasion, AND SHE GO FROM HIM; departs from his house, and is separated from bed and board with him: AND BECOME ANOTHER MAN'S, be married to another, as she might according to the law: SHALL HE RETURN UNTO HER AGAIN? take her to be his wife again; her latter husband not liking her, or being dead? no, he will not; he might not according to the law in Deuteronomy 24:4 and if there was no law r

In this chapter, the sin of God's people is put in the strongest possible light. The figure used may be even said to be a coarse one, but man's sin is itself a coarse thing. The thoughts suggested in this chapter are not what the delicate might desire; but then there is no delicacy in sin. Jeremiah 3:1. _They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted?_ God himself seems here to be at a non plus. His people had gone away from him, they had acted unfaithfully to him, they had joined themselves unto other gods. The case was a very difficult one. If the Lord takes these people back again, will it not look like putting a premium upon sin? That is just the question that is constantly being raised. If God freely forgives great sinners, will it not look as if he treated

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 INFIDELITY. (Some introductory formula, like that of Jeremiah 2:1, has dropped out before Jeremiah 3:1; note _mg.)._ Israel's marital unfaithfulness to Yahweh is too gross for a facile repentance to avail. The analogy of the law of divorce (_mg._ reference) suggests that Israel cannot deal with her Divine Husband as lightly as she will. She has waited for her lovers as persistently as a nomad plunderer for his victims. The loss of that prosperity which depended on the latter rain (of the spring) has brought no compunction. Recent promises have not been kept. Jeremiah 3:1. land should be woman, with LXX; _mg._ 3 to be read....