Jeremiah 3:14

Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: I AM MARRIED, [ baa`al (H1166) bª-...] - literally, I am Lord, i:e., husband to you, (so Jeremiah 31:32, "My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them;" cf. Hosea 2:19; Isaiah 54:5, "Thy Maker is thine Husband," etc.) Gesenius following the Septuagint version of Jeremiah 31:32, and Paul's quotation of it,...

Jeremiah repeats the same thing in other words; but God by so many words shews clearer how ready he would be to grant pardon, provided the Israelites really repented. It would have been enough for God to testify once, that he would be reconcilable, but seeing that they were slow and hard to believe, he proceeds in the same strain. It is a wonderful forbearance and kindness that God, finding his favor neglected, and as it were rejected through the sloth of men, should yet persevere, and invite them again and again. What man would thus patiently bear the loathing of his favor and kindness? But we see that God does not immediately reject the tardy and the slothful, but adds new stimulants that he might at length move them, though this may seem more than necessary. How great is our torpidity? Were not God daily to urge us, how little attention would any of us give to his admonitions? It is,...

12-20 See God's readiness to pardon sin, and the blessings reserved for gospel times. These words were proclaimed toward the north; to Israel, the ten tribes, captive in Assyria. They are directed how to return. If we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive them. These promises are fully to come to pass in the bringing back the Jews in after-ages. God will graciously receive those that return to him; and by his grace, he takes them out from among the rest. The ark of the covenant was not found after the captivity. The whole of that dispensation was to be done away, which took place after the multitude of believers had been greatly increased by the conversion of the Gentiles, and of the Israelites scattered among them. A happy state of the church is foretold. He can teach all to call him Father; but without thorough change of heart and life, no man can be a child of God...

Verse Jeremiah 3:14. _I WILL TAKE YOU ONE OF A CITY, AND TWO OF A FAMILY_] If there should be but one of a city left, or one willing to return, and _two only of a whole tribe_, yet will I receive these, and bring them back from captivity into their own land. I have heard these words most sinfully applied to show the nature of a fancied eternal decree of election, that has appointed in several cases one only out of a whole city, and _two out of a whole family_, to be eternally saved, leaving the rest, according to the decree of reprobation, to perish everlastingly! And yet these persons, who spoke thus of the Fountain of eternal goodness and mercy, professed to believe in Him who by the grace of God tasted death for every man....

CHILDREN ... MARRIED - The twofold relationship gives a double certainty of acceptance. As children, they were sure of a father’s love, as a wife they might hope for a revival of past affection from the husband of their youth. ONE OF A CITY, AND TWO OF A FAMILY - The family (in Hebrew) is far larger than a city, as it embraces all the descendants of a common ancestor. Thus, the tribe of Judah was divided into only four or five families. However national the apostasy, it does not involve in its guilt the few who are faithful, and the promises are still their rightful possession. TO ZION - To the true Church. The fulfillment of the promise began with the return to Palestine after the Babylonian exile, but is complete only in Christianity....

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 ...

TURN, O BACKSLIDING CHILDREN, SAITH THE LORD,.... All of them were children by national adoption, and some by special grace, and yet "backsliders", O monstrous ingratitude! "backsliders", and yet "children", still the relation continues, O marvellous grace! God's own children may backslide, and often do; either in heart, when love waxes cold, faith declines, zeal wanting; when they get into a carnal sleepy frame of spirit, and have not that quick sense of sin, and of duty, as heretofore: or in practice, when private prayer is restrained; public worship is neglected; get into bad company, and fall into gross sins; all which is owing to the prevalence of indwelling sin, the force of Satan's temptations, and the enticing snares of the world; but God will not leave them, he calls unto them again and again to turn unto him by repentance, and to doing their first works; which calls, at length,...

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

THE CALL TO REPENTANCE AND JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED (3:6-6:30) CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The contrast between backslidden Israel and treacherous Judah (Jeremiah 3:6) _ 2. The call to return and the promised glory (Jeremiah 3:12) 3. The future true repentance predicted and anticipated (Jeremiah 3:19) Jeremiah 3:6. The message which begins with the sixth verse was given to Jeremiah during the reign of Josiah. There is then, first of all, a contrast between Israel (the ten tribes) and her sister Judah. (Compare with Ezekiel 23:

ISRAEL'S SIN LESS THAN JUDAH'S. This passage interrupts the continuity of Jeremiah 3:19 with Jeremiah 3:5 (note also the interruptive introductory formula, Jeremiah 3:6), and seems to be a separate prophecy, though it employs the predominant figure of this section, _i.e._ the marriage of Yahweh and His people, and is probably by Jeremiah (to Jeremiah 3:16). The northern kingdom was faithless to this marriage, through the Baal-cult; Yahweh waited for her return in vain (Jeremiah 3:7 _mg.),_ and at length divorced her ...