Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 2:37
Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
37. From him also shalt thou go forth ] The king of Egypt shall repulse thy advances, and thou shalt return mourning.
thine hands upon thine head ] in disgrace and disappointment; cp. 2Sa 13:19.
thy confidences ] those in whom thou confidest, Egypt and Assyria.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
From him – From it, from this Egypt, which though fem. as a land, yet as a people may be used as a masc. (compare Jer 46:8). Now that Nineveh is trembling before the armies of Cyaxares and Nabopalassar, thou hastenest to Egypt, hoping to rest upon her strength: but thou shalt retrace thy steps, with thy hands clasped upon thy head, disgraced and discarded.
Confidences – Those in whom thou confidest.
In them – literally, with respect to them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jer 2:37
The Lord hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
The danger of false confidences
In the state and conduct of Judah we have a picture of the state and conduct of the world, in religious matters, at the present day; and as that nation, by their distrust of God and want of reliance on His power and goodness, wrought for themselves the degradation and the miseries of a long captivity, so those who are seeking for themselves present and eternal peace by any other means than those which God has appointed, and are lulling their souls into security by false confidences, are heaping up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
I. The general mercy of God is the ground of confidence with many, but this is a confidence which the Lord hath rejected. The Scriptures are full of declarations which show the utter fallacy of this trust. We may assure ourselves that those who hold to it have ideas of sin very different from those given us in that sure Word of Prophecy unto which we do well that we take heed. Let us ponder the fact, that if man, as the Scriptures tell us, was formed in the image of God, by every act of transgression we must be effacing that image, and spoiling Gods most glorious workmanship; and if God can look upon such a thing with indifference, and allow it to pass with impunity, He must be reckoned as altogether heedless of the grossest interference with His wise purposes which we can possibly, suppose. Now, is such a thing at all countenanced in the Scriptures? No. God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Evil cannot dwell with Him, nor fools stand in His sight. And so jealous is He of His glory, that in His dealing with the first of our race He annexed the penalty of death to transgression. Adam transgressed, and he died, spiritually and temporally. And where in this is the evidence of a God all mercy? Why did not paradise smile on our first parents as before? Why did the sword of the cherubim keep them out from their first and most beauteous habitation? It was because God is a God of justice, and His veracity stood pledged for the fulfilment of His righteous threatening. And He stands as pledged still with regard to all but those who, being in Christ Jesus, have escaped condemnation. Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest; this shall he the portion of their cup. And hath He said it, and will He not do it; hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?
II. Many trust to their own righteousness for acceptance with God, but this also is a confidence which the Lord hath rejected. Do and live is the motto of the religion of such persons. They purpose to get to life, and their way to it is by keeping the commandments. God, say they, has annexed the promise of future felicity to obedience, and we obey that that felicity may be ours for a reward. Now, this would do very well, did we retain our original standing with God; but whether man be now that holy being he was when God pronounced him to be very good, let the state of the world, let your own hearts witness. The conscience of every man who knows aught of the law of God, and is at all accustomed to compare his conduct and his feelings with its requirements, will testify, that it is as true now as on the day when it was written that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God: But many, who trust to themselves that they are righteous, will endeavour to get rid of these considerations, by saying, that though they have sinned, they have repented: that is, they have felt sorry for their sin, and that God will receive penitence as an atonement. This is trifling with the character of God, and with that righteous government which it is His immutable purpose to maintain throughout the whole of His dominions. Even human legislators have not failed to see how subversive such a principle would be of the good of civil society if put in practice in the world. Would it be right–would it be consistent with good government, that crime should go unpunished, if the criminal, when brought to the bar of justice, should express sorrow for his offence? All know that it would not. And will God fail to vindicate His law, His justice, His veracity because of a few sorrowing tears and sighs? But it is said that Jesus, by His obedience and suffering, has obtained an abatement of the law; that He has softened it down in order to fit it to human infirmity; that it is not a perfect, but a sincere obedience that is required; and that if we fall short in any thing, the merit of Christ comes in to supply the deficiency.
1. We observe that Christ came for no such purpose as to temper the law to our infirm circumstances; for if the law was originally right, if that wisdom which enacted it, and which cannot err, saw it to be fit and necessary, it must be immutably so. What! did Christ die that we should not be obliged to love God and our neighbour, so much as we were originally bound to do? Did He give Himself to procure for us a liberty to sin with impunity? No one in soberness of spirit will say so.
2. But, with regard to the merit of Christ supplying only for the little that we may have fallen short, we observe, that it is altogether at variance with every dictate of Scripture on the subject of the sinners salvation. Was not the sacrifice of Christ a full satisfaction to Divine justice? Did He not magnify the law, and make it honourable? And can it be necessary that to His infinite satisfaction and merit we should add our obedience, soiled and imperfect as it must be at best, in order to obtain pardon and acceptance with God? What an unhallowed mixing of the clean and unclean; what a confounding of Christ and Belial would be here! Besides, why will men be so perverse as to seek justification by the law, whether it be abated, as it is not, or whether it stands in its original force, as it does to those who are under it, and as a rule of life to all? Why will men be so perverse, when it is said so pointedly, that by the deeds of the law no living flesh shall be justified? We apprehend that, to every candid person, the foregoing considerations are sufficient to show how unsafe a foundation, on which to build for eternity, are our own righteousness, and those things connected with it which we have noticed. What, then, is the confidence, by depending on which we may look forward securely to eternity? It is the righteousness of Jesus, made ours by imputation, and received by that faith which is of the operation of God.
III. Too many content themselves with a bare speculative knowledge of the true way of salvation and this is a confidence which the Lord hath rejected. There is a form of godliness without the power. In order to a real saving knowledge of the subject of redemption, we must have a deep impression of the truths which the subject involves: the deep depravity of our nature; our alienation from God; the hatefulness and repugnancy of sin to the Divine nature; our inability to rescue ourselves from perdition; the love, the wisdom, the condescension, all infinitely displayed in the plan and the execution of our redemption, and the readiness and ability of Christ to save. (P. MGuffie.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 37. Thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head] Thou shalt find all thy confidence in vain, – thy hope disappointed; – and thy state reduced to desperation. The hand being placed on the head was the evidence of deep sorrow, occasioned by utter desolation. See the case of Tamar, when ruined and abandoned by her brother Amnon, 2Sa 13:19.
Thou shalt not prosper in them.] They shall all turn to thy disadvantage; and this as we shall see in the history of this people, was literally fulfilled. O what a grievous and bitter thing it is to sin against the Lord, and have him for an enemy!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou shalt go forth from him: some apply it to the sad and ineffectual return of the ambassadors, being disappointed in their expectation from the king of Egypt; but rather, All the help thou canst procure from abroad shall not prevent thy captivity, but from hence thou shalt go.
Thine hands upon thine head; a usual posture of sadness and mourning, 2Sa 13:19, suited here to her going into captivity.
Rejected thy confidences; refused to give success unto them, 2Ch 16:7. Or, rejected thee for thy confidences; or, he disapproves thy confidences, viz. all thy refuges which thou seekest out of God.
Thou shalt not prosper in them, viz. in thy refuges and dependencies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
37. himEgypt.
hands upon . . .headexpressive of mourning (2Sa13:19).
in themin those staysin which thou trustest.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Yea, thou shalt go forth from him,…. From the Egyptian, without any help, and with shame; or, “from this” u; that is, from this place, from Jerusalem, and from the land of Judea, into captivity; notwithstanding all the promised and expected help from Egypt,
2Ki 24:7:
and thine hands upon thine head; plucking and dishevelling the hair, as women in distress; so Tamar, when abused by her brother, laid her hand on her head, and went out crying, 2Sa 13:19:
for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences; those in whom they trusted, as the Egyptians; so that they should be of no service to them; or them, because of their trust and confidence in men, when it ought to have been placed above in himself:
and thou shalt not prosper in them; or because of them, as Kimchi; but shalt go into captivity.
u “ab hoc, sub. loco”, Gataker; “ab ista”, Munster, Grotius; “sub. terra, etiam hinc exibis”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Also from this, i.e., Egypt, shalt thou go away (come back), thy hands upon thy head, i.e., beating them on thy head in grief and dismay (cf. for this gesture 2Sa 13:19). refers to Egypt, thought of as a people as in Jer 46:8; Isa 19:16, Isa 19:25; and thus is removed Hitz.’s objection, that in that case we must have . , objects of confidence. The expression refers equally to Egypt and to Assyria. As God has broken the power of Assyria, so will He also overthrow Egypt’s might, thus making all trust in it a shame. , in reference to them.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
He expresses more clearly what he had said of the shameful character of his own nation, — that the Jews, who thought that their safety would be secured by the Egyptians, were seeking their own entire ruin. This seemed to them indeed incredible; for as the Egyptians were neighbors, and as the Jews then only feared the Assyrians and Chaldeans, who were afar off, they thought that they had the best prospect: “What! our enemies are distant from us twenty or thirty days’ journey; and those who are prepared to help us will be soon with us at the shortest warning.” Hence the Jews thought, as we have said, that they were quite safe. But the Prophet here declares, that they were greatly mistaken; for on account of this wickedness, that is, because they trusted in their unlawful and accursed treaty, and promised themselves peace from their enemies, or thought that they could easily overcome them; on this account, he says, thou shalt go forth: but nothing could have been less credible to the Jews than what the Prophet said; for as the Egyptians opposed themselves as a wall against the Chaldeans, and were deemed unassailable, who could have otherwise thought but that the Jews would be preserved quiet in their own country? But he says, Go forth shalt thou, and thine hands on thy head (69)
By this gesture he means extreme despair; for women did either strike or extend their arms when any great calamity happened, as we see it done often in the present day; for when a woman, not able to keep within due bounds, either loses a husband, or expects some very great calamity, she beats her breast, or raises up her hands, according to what is said here. Jeremiah then mentions this gesture as an evidence of extreme despair; as though he had said, “The treaty which fills the Jews with so much confidence shall be so far from being advantageous to them, that it will, on the contrary, bring on them utter ruin and disgrace. (70) But the reason which follows ought especially to be observed, because abhor does Jehovah thy confidences The Prophet here shews why he had spoken so severely. It might have appeared that he spoke hyperbolically when he said, that the people were like an abandoned harlot, who rambled here and there in all directions: but the reason here given ought to have been sufficient to take away all evasions, and that is, that they foolishly trusted in those fallacious helps which they knew were condemned by God. Had this been permitted by God, they would not have been so severely reprimanded; but as God had forbidden them to flee to the Egyptians, it was in the first place a disallowed confidence; and in the second place, they thus despised the aid of God, and cast aside, as it were, all his promises: for as their hearts were fixed on the Egyptians, and as they thought that their safety would be secured by them; so their prayer to God became not only cold, but almost wholly extinguished.
We hence see that the Prophet did not exceed due limits when he spoke against the Jews with so much displeasure, and condemned them in such reproachful terms; for they had transferred the glory due to God to the Egyptians, when they considered them to be the authors of their safety; and they had thus despised the promises of God, so that there was no attention given to prayer: Abhor, then, does Jehovah thy confidences (71)
He then adds, Thou shalt not prosper in them. It ought to be carefully observed, that whatever we resolve to do that is not approved by God, cannot possibly succeed; for God will subvert all our hopes. Let us then know that here is set before us the punishment of all unbelievers, who, being not content with God’s protection, wander after vain and false objects of trust, and prefer to have men propitious to them rather than God himself. Now follows —
(69) There are three other expositions of the words rendered by Calvin, “ on this account.” One is that of our version, “from him;” the second is, “from hence,” i e , from Egypt, adopted by Piscator, Grotius, and Blayney; and the third is, “from here,” i e , from this place, their own land; which, as Gataker says, is probably “the genuine sense:” it is a threatening, that they were to be led into captivity. The rendering of the Septuagint is, “ ἐντεῦθεν — from hence,” or from this place; of the Vulgate, “ ab ista — from that,” meaning, evidently Egypt; of the Syriac and Targum, “ ex hoc — from this;” and of Arabic, “ illinc — from thence.” The particle זה is “this,” and not “that.” — Ed
(70) “The gesture” mentioned here, a striking example of, we find in 2Sa 13:19. Many consider the ו here as having the meaning of “with,” and render the line as Blayney does, —
With thy hands upon thy head.
But more consistent with the genius of the language is to regard the auxiliary verb to be understood, —
And thy hands shall be on thy head.
There is a similar phrase in Isa 35:10, which ought to be rendered thus, —
And everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.
—
Ed.
(71) The verb for “abhor” is מאם, which means to reject, that is, with disdain and contempt; and the same when followed by ב, though often rendered “despise” in our version. It is rendered “reject, “without the ב, in 1Sa 15:23; Jer 7:29; and “despise” being followed by ב in Jud 9:38; Jer 4:30. The early versions and the Targum mostly differ, and none of them give the specific meaning of the verb, except that the Septuagint give its meaning when not followed by ב, “ ἀπώσατο — has rejected.” The whole verse may be thus rendered, —
37. Also from this place shalt thou go forth, And thy hands shall be on thy head: For rejected has Jehovah those in whom thou trustest, And thou shalt not prosper by them.
It is not correct to render מבטחיך, “thy confidences;” for the word means “thy confided ones,“ it being a Huphal participle. The Syriac renders it, “those who afford thee confidence — fiduciam tibi praebentibus.” Blayney’s version is, “the objects of thy trust;” and he translates the verb, “reprobated.” That this is its meaning when followed by ב is evident from Jer 6:30. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(37) From him.Better, from it, sc., from Egypt as a people.
Thine hands upon thine head.The outward sign of depression and despair (2Sa. 13:19).
Thy confidences.i.e., the grounds or objects of thy confidence.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
37. From him Namely, Egypt. As thou didst turn to Egypt from Assyria, so shalt thou turn from him, clasping thy head with thy hands in grief and dismay. The might of Egypt will surely be overthrown, and all who make it a covert shall be dislodged.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 2:37. Thine hands upon thine head As Tamar went forth from her brother Amnon, her garments torn, and her hands upon her head; insulted and despised, and in the deepest grief and misery.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Being ordained a prophet to the Lord, Jeremiah has his message delivered to him, and is commanded to go to Jerusalem from Anathoth, the place of his residence, and there publicly declare the word of God, that all may hear, and either repent of their iniquities, or be left inexcusable in their unbelief and hardness of heart.
1. He reminds them of their own former professions, and God’s dealings with them; when by every instance of kindness he had engaged their affections, and they had given such fair expectations of their making a suitable return. I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth; either God’s kindness to them in their early days, or rather their affectionate regard to him; the love of thine espousals, when their warm hearts, filled with affection, as a new-married bride, sought only how to please their Lord; when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, trusting on his guidance, and depending on his providence; in a land that was not sown, and where none of the necessaries of life were to be obtained, but they were fed by daily miracles. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, separated for him, consecrated to him, and in the bonds of his covenant solemnly engaged to be his and his alone; And the first-fruits of his increase, presenting themselves, bodies, souls, and spirits, as the first-fruits, a holy offering unto him. Thus they did run well, and God’s blessing was in the midst of them: all that devour him shall offend or be guilty; God protected them, they were as the apple of his eye clear to him, none dared touch them with impunity; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord; God will be the avenger of their wrongs, and their enemies shall perish. From Egypt’s iron bondage he brought them, led them through the wilderness by his pillar of a cloud and fire; through a land of deserts, and of pits, where venomous creatures lodged, scorpions, and fiery flying serpents; through a land of drought, where no water could be found, and of the shadow of death, dismal and lonely; through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt, pathless, without inhabitant; and yet amid difficulties so insurmountable by human power, God safely conducted them, covered them with the shadow of his cloud from the scorching sun, fed them with plenty of the richest food, opened streams from the rock, protected them from every danger, and brought them safe at last to his promised rest, to a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof, to a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands; for which unspeakable favours he justly might expect from them the deepest returns of duty, love, and service. Note; (1.) Our first love should be often remembered, to keep us from departing from our God. Rev 2:4. (2.) God takes pleasure in beholding the affections of his people placed upon him. (3.) When we love God in sincerity, we shall follow him implicitly, and fear no dangers even in the wilderness. (4.) God’s Israel are a holy people; they who answer not this character have no lot nor portion among them. (5.) They who persecute God’s people, will find him the avenger of their quarrel. (6.) The way to heaven lies through difficulties impassable for mortal strength; and if ever our souls are safely led to the heavenly Canaan, we must acknowledge ourselves intirely indebted to his everlasting arms of power and love, which are always engaged for the persevering believer. (7.) The greater our trials, the more is the grace of God magnified in our deliverance. (8.) For all the wonders of his grace, God hath the deepest and most just demands of love and service from us. (9.) The promising beginnings that we have shewn, and the fair professions which we have made, will greatly aggravate our guilt, should we begin in the spirit and end in the flesh.
2. He upbraids them with their black ingratitude. Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me? Had he done them injustice, been a hard master, or unfaithful to any of his promises? No; there is no unrighteousness in him: they who forsake him, forsake their own mercies, and out of their own mouths will be condemnedthat they are gone far from me, apostates from his service and worship; for those who depart from a religious profession, become usually viler than those who never pretended to it; and have walked after vanity, after idols, which are the greatest vanities, and are become vain; as corrupt in their practice as dark in their imaginations; defiling, with their abominations, the good land into which the Lord had brought them, and which they held only on condition of their fidelity. God was utterly forgotten, none said, Where is the Lord? notwithstanding all his miracles of mercy shewn them: nay, the priests, who should have been the first to restrain others, were chief in the transgression; the priests said not, Where is the Lord? and if they, who were their guides, took no pains to acquaint themselves with him, no marvel that the people forgot God: and they that handle the law knew it not; pretending to instruct others, but totally ignorant themselves, and strangers to all experimental knowledge of God and his truth. The pastors also transgressed against me, civil, as well as ecclesiastical, casting off all fear of God; and the prophets prophesied by Baal, pretending inspiration from their idol to contradict the prophets of the Lord, and supported by the princes and priests in their impiety; and walked after things that do not profit, their false gods, from whom no blessing could be derived. Note; When blind priests lead a blind people, no wonder if they perish together.
2nd, Having rebuked their ingratitude, God pleads against them the unprecedented folly of their conduct. He desires to convince sinners, and therefore he uses every argument, and at least will leave them inexcusable in their impenitence.
1. They were in this respect more false and fickle even than the idolatrous nations which they affected to resemble. Those retained a veneration for their fathers’ gods: base as the idols were which they worshipped, nothing could prevail with them to forsake the religion of their ancestors. Go to the isles of Chittim, Greece or Italy, or to Kedar in Arabia, and not an instance would be found of a nation that had changed their gods; but my people have changed their glory, have forsaken the living, true, and only God, whose service they should have accounted their highest honour, and their distinguishing separation for him their most exalted glory; for that which doth not profit; for idols, for Baal, in whose worship neither honour nor advantage could be found, but the very contrary.
2. The heavens are called upon with wonder and horror to behold this scene of aggravated guilt and folly. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, the inhabitants of them, or the very inanimate creation might well be amazed; and be ye horribly afraid, trembling for sins so great, and which must bring down judgments so heavy: be ye very desolate, saith the Lord, as if the sun should refuse his light to such miscreants, the clouds thicken with thunder and lightning over them, and sweep them from the earth with the besom of destruction. For my people, separated for God, once professors of his truth, and thereby every departure from him being rendered more infamous and exceeding sinful; my people have committed two evils, their transgressions are numberless, but these the capital sins, and the sources of all the rest: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, rejecting his government, neglecting his ordinances, and leaving him far above out of their sight; and in so doing, have cut themselves off from the fountain of living waters, from that God of all grace and consolation, in whom they might have for ever found a rich supply for all their wants; and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water; such were their idols, which, after all the pains and expence bestowed on them, did not afford the least consolation, not even the miserable relief of a drop of putrid stagnating water, to quench the thirst of their votaries. Note; (1.) They who forsake God forsake their own mercies. (2.) As long as our souls come to Jesus the living fountain, so long shall we find the waters of his grace within us a well of water, springing up to everlasting life. (3.) Whatever creature enjoyments may promise, they will deceive our expectations: if we seek our happiness from wealth, honour, or indulgence, toil as we can to secure the bliss, we shall find the cisterns empty; but one portion can adequately satisfy an immortal soul; and that is, the love of the eternal God.
3rdly, The miseries coming upon them for their sins are spoken of as already present, because they were so near and certain.
1. By their iniquities they had brought themselves into slavery, were defeated by their enemies, and their country ravaged. Is Israel a servant? Is he a home-born slave? whence comes this grievous change, how is their glorious liberty lost? Why is he spoiled? surely some awful provocation hath brought on him this calamity, for terrible are his desolations. The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste; his invading foe, the king of Assyria, with his army, fierce and cruel as these ravening beasts, roaring and yelling with all the horrid din of war, has plundered the country, and his cities are burnt without inhabitant; all led captives, or slain by the sword, and none left to restore them from their ruins. Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head; the Egyptians, whose chief cities these were, as well as the Assyrians, contributed to their ruin, Josiah being slain by Pharaoh Necho, his son dethroned, Jerusalem plundered, and a tribute set upon them, 2Ki 23:29-35. Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, yea, verily; none but themselves had they to blame for their sufferings, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God; him, who was so able to protect them, who stood in a relation to them so glorious, and from whom it was so foolish as well as wicked to depart: him they forsook for idols, and human confidences, changing a rock for a reed; when he led thee by the way, the right way, the path of duty; in which had they abode, they would have certainly found it the way of safety, but they refused his guidance, and rushed on their own ruin. Note; Whatever miseries a sinner is involved in, whether in time or eternity, this bitter reflection will sharpen their edge, Hast thou not procured this unto thyself?
2. The sinful methods which they took to extricate themselves from their troubles, served but to hasten their destruction. Instead of seeking unto God for help against their enemies, they sought other supports. When threatened by Assyria, they ran to Egypt for succour; when invaded by Egypt, they courted the Assyrians’ help. What hast thou to do with these, who in their turn will deceive, oppress, and plunder thee? Thine own wickedness in general, or this in particular, of trusting on these vain helpers, shall correct thee, bring severe chastisement upon them, and thy backsliding, their treacherous departure from God, shall reprove thee. Know, therefore, and see it, that it is an evil thing, and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of Hosts. The event would prove, to their terrible conviction, the evil and misery of the ways which they had chosen, and sinners will find this truth universally verified. Observe, (1.) The root of all sin: My fear is not in thee; there is deep unbelief in the natural heart, God’s warnings make no impression, and the practice can rise no higher than the principle. Hence (2.) The effect produced. Thou hast forsaken the Lord; when the heart is not restrained by his fear, corrupt nature, prone to sin, easily hurries on the soul to all the forbidden indulgences of flesh and spirit. (3.) The issue of sin is evil and bitter. It is not only evil in its own nature, as opposite to God’s purity and perfections, but the consequences are ever evil and bitter to the soul; the curse follows the sinner closer than his shadow; his miseries and disappointments are many, his enjoyments embittered; and death, eternal death, stares him in the face, the terrible wages of sin. (4.) It is happy for those who are brought to see and know this before it is too late; and all God’s visitations have this design, to lead us to repentance for our sins, that we may not perish in them.
4thly, The prophet prosecutes his charge against this rebellious people.
1. Their crying sin was idolatry; and when they had left the one true God, their wanderings were endless, and their idols innumerable; every city had its god and tutelar deity. On every hill their idols stood thick; and not a spreading tree or grove was there, where their incense had not smoked, and where they had not played the harlot, committing spiritual adultery. Nor was this the crime of the refuse of the people only; their kings, princes, priests, and prophets, horrible to tell! these were the patrons of idolatry, and the most bigotted votaries, saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth; and whilst infatuated, and more senseless than the images which they worshipped, to these they ascribed divine honours, they turned their backs on God, with insolent contempt of his worship and service. Note; When a sinner is given up to his own heart, there are no lengths of folly, iniquity, and impiety, to which he may not run.
2. Their attempts to deny it were vain, and the methods they used to expiate their sins useless. Like the adulteress, Pro 30:20 they disowned the charge of idolatry, when the evidence was so notorious. In the valley, probably of Hinnom, where they burnt their children to Moloch, the monuments of their sin testified against them, and their excuses were frivolous when God had, in his omniscience, marked their iniquities with a brand that they never could wash out, or rather, as Jer 2:22 may signify, their ceremonial ablutions and sacrifices to which they had recourse, could never cancel the guilt of their sins, nor remove the stain of them from their consciences. Note; (1.) To deny, or seek to palliate the evil of our sins, is the sure sign of an impenitent heart. (2.) Nothing can wash out the stain of sin’s black guilt, but the blood of Jesus; every other method will but fix the dye deeper and stronger.
3. Their sins were abundantly aggravated by the mercies that they had received, and the fair promises which they had made. Of old, God had delivered them from the Egyptian yoke, planted them in the promised land as a noble vine, wholly a right seed, both with respect to their worthy ancestors, and their own gracious conduct on their first possessing their inheritance, Jos 24:31 nor could there be more solemn engagements, than they had repeatedly made of their perpetual fidelity, Exo 19:8; Exo 24:7 yet like a broken bow they had started aside, degenerated from their primitive piety, and become as wild gourds, not only useless but noxious. Note; (1.) The greatness of God’s mercies aggravates our guilt and ingratitude. (2.) We need often reflect with shame on the promises that we have made not to transgress, and on our repeated unfaithfulness.
4. They are represented as pursuing their idolatries with determined waywardness, in spite of all warnings; as the dromedary and wild ass, when urged on by their natural desires, so were this people raging in their idolatrous lusts, and no hope remained of reclaiming them, till the judgments of God were heavy upon them, and stopped their career. Note; (1.) Nothing so lawless as brutal lust; vain are all the restraints of reason, conscience, honour, when appetite seizes the reins. (2.) However headstrong in the vigour of health men are in the pursuit of their forbidden gratifications, the hours will come of deep remorse, when their career will be stopped: and when the joys of sin no more inebriate, the sting of sin, like a scorpion, will torment the guilty conscience.
5. Fair warning is given them of the issue of their ways, and they are admonished to prevent their captivity by repentance. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst; for unless they repented of their evil ways, and turned from them, this would be the consequence, that barefoot, and ready to be choked with thirst in the journey, they should be led captives into a distant land. Some understand it as an admonition, not to wear out the shoes of their messengers, and be at the pains of sending to Egypt or Assyria for help, since these succours would be of no use to them: but the former sense seems best.
6. Their obstinacy, or their despair, is rebuked. But thou saidst, There is no hope; bidding the prophets cease their attempts, for they would never attend to them, either to quit their idolatries, or to desist from seeking the help of their heathen neighbours; they liked, and would pursue their own inventions. Or this is the language of despair, as if their case was past hope for God to pardon, or their corruptions so strong, that to attempt to resist them was vain, therefore they desperately abandoned themselves to their iniquities. Note; Nothing so effectually enslaves the soul to sin, as despair; and therefore while Satan is ever a preacher of presumption to the careless, he fails not to be a preacher of despair to the awakened, as if their iniquities were too great to be forgiven, or their corruptions too strong to be subdued; and therefore that it were best to banish their convictions, and abandon themselves to their lusts: but he was a liar from the beginning. No sin can be too great for infinite love to pardon in the penitent, no corruption so strong that Almighty grace cannot subdue. Let us take to us words, and return unto the Lord, and then there is surely yet hope in our end.
7. If they persisted in their ways, confusion would cover them in the day of their calamity, as a thief detected in the fact, when their false gods cannot relieve them; and the true God, whom they have forsaken, will refuse to hear their prayer. Note; (1.) In the day of calamity, many, who never thought of him before, are driven to God to cry, Save us; but when the fear of hell merely, not the sense of the evil of sin, dictates the prayer, no marvel that it is rejected. (2.) Whatever the impenitent sinner places his comfort or confidence in, the day will come when it will prove a refuge of lies.
5thly, It is the folly and wickedness of sinners, that they complain against God, as if his punishments were severe, and his ways unequal; when they alone are the authors of their own misery, and their punishment less than their iniquities deserve.
1. God vindicates his justice. Wherefore will ye plead with me? when their case was so indefensible; ye all have transgressed against me, and therefore could neither exculpate themselves from guilt, nor justly complain of their sufferings. Note; We are all sinners at God’s bar; every mouth must be stopped; we have nothing to do but to confess our guilt, justify his judgments, and cast ourselves wholly on his mercy.
2. He charges upon them their incorrigibleness. In vain had been all the afflictions that he had brought upon them; hardened under the rod, they received no correction, were not brought to any repentance. Nay, as if exasperated by what they suffered, when he seconded the rebukes of his providences by the word of his prophets, like furious lions they rushed on these ministers of God, and cruelly shed their blood for their fidelity. Note; (1.)They who will be zealous in rebuking men’s sins, must put their life in their hands. (2) It is the sign of a desperate state when afflictions harden, instead of softening the heart.
3. He expostulates with them on their ingratitude. Had he shewn them unkindness, or brought them into darkness and distress, they might have had some plea for their revolt; but his conduct to them in the wilderness, the rich provision that he made for them, the light with which he led them, and the land in which he placed them, all evinced his unutterable kindness; and the least attention to his dealings with them might convince them of it: how ungrateful then was their rebellion, thus to cast off his government, and reject his worship and service! Note;
(1.) They who cleave to God, find all his ways pleasantness and peace: if sinners are entangled in a wilderness, or enveloped with darkness, it is because of their departure from him. (2.) They who affect to emancipate themselves from God’s government, only exchange his service, which is perfect freedom, for the base and tyrannical servitude of their lusts.
4. He accuses them of sundry crimes against him. [1.] Forgetfulness of him. It would be counted strange if a maid forgot her ornaments, and a bride her attire; but, stranger far! my people have forgotten me days without number. They were his professing people, and therefore the more criminal their neglect of him, and especially when so long persisted in. [2.] They were corrupters of others. Like a lewd harlot who dresses and paints, to inveigle men into her snares, so had they sought to engage their heathen neighbours to become their confederates, and join in their idolatries: therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways, instructing them in their superstitions; and, vile as they were before, making them worse by the connexion. Note; (1.) They who entice others into sin, will have most aggravated guilt on their heads. (2.) Fellowship with the workers of iniquity is dangerously infectious, and diligently to be avoided. [3.] They were polluted with innocent blood, of the children whom they sacrificed to Moloch; or of innocent persons, especially the prophets and faithful men, who were murdered for reproving their impieties, 2Ki 21:16 and this openly and notoriously; it needed no search, nor deep inquiry; their skirts were dyed with blood, and the corpses cried for vengeance against them. And therefore, [4.] Their plea of innocence was presumptuous, and their expectation of God’s wrath being removed, vain. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned, which was an aggravation of their sin, and provoked God the more to arise in judgment against them. Note; (1.) If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar. (2.) Until a sinner be brought to acknowledge the justice of God’s wrath, it will never depart from him.
5. Their confidences should at last fail them, and they be led into a miserable captivity. Like an adulteress who gads about to gratify her most sinful desires, so had they gone to Assyria and Egypt, making leagues with them in turn for their assistance, as they were pressed by either; but they would disappoint them. Assyria had distressed them formerly as allies, 2Ch 28:20 and the Egyptians would alike be their confusion, as they afterwards proved, when, against Nebuchadnezzar, they promised help in vain; so that thou shalt go forth with thine hands upon thine head, as a mourner, led into a shameful captivity; for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences, their allies, in whom they trusted, and thou shalt not prosper in them, but he gives them up for a prey to their enemies. Note; (1.) The soul that leaves God wanders endlessly, seeking rest, and finding none. (2.) Human confidences and comforts in the day of evil will prove a broken reed, unable to support the soul.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
PAUSE my soul over the Prophet’s sermon, and remark how graciously the Lord pleads with his people for their good; how reluctant the Lord seemeth to give them up, and with what gentle expostulations he reasons with them, on his patience and their determined obstinacy.
Look through the history of the Church then, and look to the Church now: and ask and see, whether we are in better circumstances than they, or more deserving? Did ever Zion languish more than in the present hour? Were ever the interests of Jesus less regarded? Where shall we direct our attention to find any that prefer the prosperity of the Church above their chief joy? My soul! what sayeth thine own personal experience to this statement? While thou lamentest in secret, the little conquests of Jesus’s grace in thine own heart; canst thou say, as one of old did, in beholding the sorrowful state of the Church around thee: rivers of waters run down mine eyes because men keep not thy law. Alas! who is grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
Oh! thou great Head of thy Church, and of thy people! Oh! Lord Jesus! take to thyself thine own glorious cause, and come forth by thy Holy Spirit, in the midst of thy Church! Remember Lord when Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the first-fruits of his increase. And as all Israel’s holiness was in thee, and is in thee forever: do thou Lord stir up to thyself an holy zeal, in the hearts of thy people. Thou knowest Lord, that were we to wash with nitre and take much soap, still would our iniquity be marked before thee. Take away therefore Lord all our iniquity, and receive us graciously, and turn to thyself a people with one consent, to call on the Lord: so shall thy name be praised from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same; and the name of our Lord Jesus shall be great among the Gentiles. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 2:37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
Ver. 37. Yea, thou shalt go from him. ] Or, From hence, into captivity.
With thine hands.
For the Lord hath rejected thy confidence.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thine hands upon thine head. The Eastern custom of expressing grief. Compare 2Sa 13:19.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thine hands: 2Sa 13:19
for the Lord: Jer 2:36, Jer 17:5, Jer 37:7-10, Isa 10:4, Eze 17:15-20
and thou: Jer 32:5, Num 14:41, 2Ch 13:12
Reciprocal: Gen 19:30 – for he 2Sa 11:12 – General 2Ch 28:20 – distressed him Jer 22:20 – and cry Jer 22:22 – surely Eze 29:16 – the confidence Hos 2:7 – she shall follow Hos 4:19 – and Hos 10:6 – receive
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 2:37. Him refers to the unlawful lover with whom the unfaithful wife had been intimate. Hands upon thine head is a gesture of shame for some humiliating event that has taken place, like the action of Tamar in 2Sa 13:19. The difference between the cases, however, is that Tamar was not to blame; but the shame was there and it was indicated by placing her hand upon her head. Israel was at fault in this unlawful intimacy, but she was destined to realize it and would feel the blame as much as did the innocent Tamar.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 2:37. Yea, thou shalt go forth from him The ambassadors thou sendest to Egypt shall return with disappointment and confusion; and their hands on their heads Condoling the desperate condition of their people. Or, Thou shalt go forth from hence, namely, into captivity, in a strange land. And thy hands upon thy head As Tamar went forth from her brother Amnon, her garments torn, and her hands upon her head, insulted and despised, and in the greatest grief and misery; and Egypt, on which thou reliedst, shall not be able to prevent it, or to rescue thee out of captivity. For the Lord hath rejected thy confidences Hath refused to give success to them, or hath rejected thee for thy confidences; or he disapproves thy confidences, namely, all thy dependances and refuges, which thou seekest out of him. And thou shalt not prosper in them They shall not stand thee in any stead, nor give thee any satisfaction. As there is no counsel or wisdom that can prevail against the Lord, so there is none that can prevail without the Lord. Some read it, The Lord hath rejected thee for thy confidences; that is, because thou hast dealt so unfaithfully with him as to trust in his creatures, nay, in his enemies, when thou shouldest have trusted in him only, he has abandoned thee to that destruction from which thou thoughtest thus to have sheltered thyself; and then thou canst not prosper, for none ever either hardened himself against God, or estranged himself from God, and prospered.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thy hands upon {z} thy head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
(z) In sign of lamentation, as in 2Sa 13:19 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
From Jerusalem (cf. Jer 2:2) God’s people would depart in grief and captivity, with their hands on their heads, because Yahweh had rejected the nations in whom Israel trusted, and by whom she hoped to prosper (cf. 2Sa 13:19). He wanted them to trust and prosper in Him.
"It is perfectly possibly [sic] that the taking of Manasseh a captive to Babylon by Assyrian generals may have shaken the confidence in Assyria of the idolatrous people of Judah, and that, their thoughts turning to Egypt, steps may have been taken for paving the way towards an alliance with this great power, even although the godly king Josiah took no part in these proceedings." [Note: Keil, 1:76.]
Throughout this oracle, Jeremiah presented Israel’s covenant unfaithfulness to God from two perspectives: religious and political. Yahweh’s people had abandoned exclusive faith in their covenant God, and had committed spiritual adultery by participating in the Baal fertility cult. Nationally, they had ceased to recognize Yahweh’s sovereignty over them, and had turned to Egypt and Assyria for security. [Note: Craigie, p. 45.]