Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 3:2
Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lain with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
2. Israel is shameless and wholly given up to idolatrous excesses.
bare heights ] a favourite word in this Book ( Jer 3:21, Jer 4:11 etc.).
an Arabian in the wilderness ] lit. steppe-dwellers (of N. Arabia). See on Jer 25:24. As they lie in wait for companies of travellers passing, so does Israel seek eagerly its unholy rites.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
These words are not the language of consolation to the conscience-stricken, but of vehement expostulation with hardened sinners. They prove, therefore, the truth of the interpretation put upon the preceding verse.
As the Arabian … – The freebooting propensities of the Bedouin had passed in ancient times into a proverb. As eager as the desert-tribes were for plunder, so was Israel for idolatry.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. As the Arabian in the wilderness] They were as fully intent on the practice of their idolatry as the Arab in the desert is in lying in wait to plunder the caravans. Where they have not cover to lie in ambush, they scatter themselves about, and run hither and thither, raising themselves up on their saddles to see if they can discover, by smoke, dust, or other token, the approach of any travellers.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Lift up thine eyes; do but look, and consider whether I do charge thee wrongfully or no.
Unto the high places: he directs her to the places of her whoredoms and idolatries, called
high places, being principally upon hills, 2Ki 21:3, and divers other places, though sometimes in valleys, Jer 2:23; which notes also her impudence, that whereas other whores affected privacy, she should be filthy in the open view.
And see where thou hast not been lien with; thy filthiness has been every where so frequent, that thou canst scarce show a place that hath been free from thy pollutions, Jer 3:6,13, where there are not the footsteps of thy fornications and idolatries.
In the ways, viz. to allure passengers, see Eze 16:24,25 and waiting for them, viz. thy associates; not being drawn by others allurements, but thine own lasciviousness.
As the Arabian; an allusion to the manner and custom of that people, either lying in wait by the way for passengers, as robbers use to do, Hos 6:9, they being noted for robbers. Or rather, in way of traffic, that were wont to pitch their tents by the way-sides, that they might meet with their customers to trade, as they passed along; very properly pointing out the practice of harlots. See Pro 7:11,12. Thy wickedness; not only thy idolatries, but all other thy wicked courses.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. high placesthe scene ofidolatries which were spiritual adulteries.
In . . . ways . . . sat forthemwatching for lovers like a prostitute (Gen 38:14;Gen 38:21; Pro 7:12;Pro 23:28; Eze 16:24;Eze 16:25), and like an Arab wholies in wait for travellers. The Arabs of the desert, east and southof Palestine, are still notorious as robbers.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Lift up thine eyes unto the high places,…. Where idols were set and worshipped; either places naturally high, as hills and mountains, which were chosen for this service; or high places, artificially made and thrown up for this purpose; see
2Ki 17:9, Jarchi interprets the word
of “rivulets of water”; and so the Targum, where also idolatry was committed:
and see where thou hast not been lien with; see if there is a hill or mountain, or any high place, where thou hast not committed idolatry; the thing was so notorious, and the facts and instances so many, there was no denying it; every hill and mountain witnessed to their idolatry; to which agrees the Targum,
“see where thou hast not joined thyself to worship idols:”
in the ways hast thou sat for them; for the idolaters, waiting for them, to join with them in their idolatries; as harlots used to sit by the wayside to meet with their lovers, to be picked up by them, or to offer themselves to them as prostitutes, Ge 38:14 which shows that these people were not drawn into idolatry by the temptations and solicitations of others: but they put themselves in the way of it, and solicited it, and others to join with them in it:
as the Arabian in the wilderness; who dwelt in tents in the wilderness, and sat by the wayside to trade with those that passed by; or else lay in wait in desert and by places to rob all that passed by them; and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it,
in the ways thou didst sit, expecting them as a thief in the wilderness; the Arabians being noted for thieves and robbers. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it,
as a crow, or raven, of the desert; the same word signifying a “raven” and an “Arabian”: see 1Ki 17:4:
and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness; the land of Judea, where idolatry was so openly and frequently committed, which brought a load of guilt upon it, and exposed it to the wrath and judgments of God; so the Targum,
“thou hast made the land guilty with thine idols and with thy wickedness.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As the Prophet had charged the Jews with being wanton in a loose and promiscuous manner, as it is the case with abandoned women, after having cast away all shame, that they might not evade the charge and object, that they were not conscious of any crime, he makes them in a manner the judges themselves, Raise up, he says, thine eyes to the high places and see; that is, “I bring forward witnesses sufficiently known to thee; there is no hill in the land where thou hast not been connected with idols.” We have already said, and we shall find the same thing often mentioned by this Prophet, — that superstitions are deemed idolatries by God. But it was a customary thing with the Jews to ascend high places, as though they were there nearer to God. This is the reason why the Prophet bids them to turn their eyes to all the hills: See, he says, whether is there any hill free from thy fornications. For as strumpets seek hiding — places to perpetrate their obscenities, so the Jews sought hills as their brothels. And thus their impiety was the more execrable as they went forth openly, and especially as they wished their flagitious acts to be seen at a distance, ascending, as they did, elevated places; but strumpets, having found adulterers or paramours, are wont to seek some secret retreats. The Prophet then cuts off from the Jews every occasion for evading the charge, when he bids them to raise up their eyes to the high places; for when they prostrated themselves before their idols, it was the same as when strumpets commit acts of adultery.
And he adds, that they sat by the ways, as the Arabian in the desert He again repeats what we have before observed, — that the Jews were not led away by the enticement of others to violate the conjugal pledge which they had given to God, but were, on the contrary, moved by their own wantonness, so that they of themselves sought base and filthy gratifications, he had before said, “Thou hast corrupted others by thy wickedness;” and now he confirms the same, “Thou hast sat, he says, “by all the ways.” This also is what is done by vile strumpets, who, as it has been said, have lost all shame. But the Prophet enhances this crime by another comparison, As an Arabian in the desert, who lies in wait for travelers, that he may rob and kill them: thus hast thou sat by the ways (74)
We then see here a double comparison; one taken from strumpets, who having in time past made gain, when they find themselves neglected, besiege the ways, and offer themselves to any they may meet with. This is the first comparison; the other is, that they were like robbers, who lie in wait for travelers; as though he had said, that the Chaldeans and Egyptians were excusable when compared with the Jews, because they had been drawn by their wicked arts into illicit treaties, like a traveler who passing by is enticed by a robber, — “What art thou but a helpless man; but if thou joinest me, and engagest to be my companion, there is the best prospect of gain, and new spoils will fall into our hands daily.” Such a robber is twice and three times more wicked than the other. So also, the Prophet says of the Jews, that they were like old robbers, who had become hardened in intrigues, in plunders, and in every kind of wickedness, and had enticed to themselves both the Egyptians and the Assyrians. It afterwards follows —
(74) Gataker suggests another idea,-that the reference is made to the Arabian traders, who fix their tents in the wilderness to wait for the merchants. Blayney renders the lines differently, —
Lift up thine eyes upon the open plains, and see; Where hast thou not been defiled in the highways? Thou hast sat waiting in them like an Arabian in the desert.
To render שפים, “open plains,” is without authority; it means “craggy eminences,“ or elevated places. See Num 23:3; Isa 41:18; Jer 14:6. The division, too, is arbitrary. “The ways,” or highways, connects better with the following verb; and להם is not “in them,“ but to or for them, that is, her lovers, mentioned in the preceding verse. Our version is the most suitable, with which that of Calvin corresponds.
“
Arabian” is rendered “crow” by the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Arabic; “ robber” by the Vulgate, but “Arabian” by the Targum. It is true that the word for a crow is from the same root, but the iod attached to it shews it to be a proper name. Where the Vulgate got the word “robber,“ it is hard to know. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Lift up thine eyes.The consciousness of guilt was, however, the only foundation of repentance, and the prophets work, therefore, in very tenderness, is to paint that guilt in the darkest colours possible. Still keeping to the parable of the faithless wife, he bids Israel, as such, to look to the high places that have witnessed her adulteries with those other lords for whom she had forsaken Jehovah. Like the harlots of the east, she had sat by the wayside, as Tamar had done (Gen. 38:14; comp. also Pro. 7:12; Eze. 16:31), not so much courted by her paramours as courting them.
As the Arabian in the wilderness.The Arabian is chosen as the representative of the lawless predatory tribes of the desert. As they, like the modern Bedouins, lay in ambush, waiting eagerly for their victims, so had the harlot Israel laid wait for her lovers, and so the land had been polluted.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. High places More exactly, bare-topped hills; the places selected for idolatrous worship, which is here and elsewhere denominated spiritual adultery. Compare Hos 4:13; Num 23:3. As the Arabian, etc. An allusion to the freebooting propensities of the Bedouins. Eager as they were for plunder, so eager was Israel for idolatry.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 3:2. High-places, &c. See Pro 7:8-10 and the Observations, p. 52. The fondness of the people for idolatry is compared to the wantonness of a harlot, who lies in wait for men as for her prey; or as the Arabian hides himself in the desert, to strip the unwary traveller. Mr. Harmer has cited from a manuscript of Sir John Chardin the following lively description of the attention and eagerness of the Arabs in watching for passengers, whom they may spoil. “Thus the Arabs wait for caravans with the most violent avidity, looking about them on all sides, raising themselves up on their horses, running here and there to see if they cannot perceive any smoke, or dust, or tracks on the ground, or any other marks of people passing along.” Harmer’s Observations, vol. 1 Chronicles 2 obs. 7.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 3:2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
Ver. 2. And see where thou hast not been lien with. ] Pouring out thy spiritual whoredoms, as Papists now do with their crosses, chapels, pictures, set up in all places.
In the ways thou hast sat for them.
As the Arabian in the wilderness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lift: Jer 2:23, Eze 8:4-6, Luk 16:23
unto: Jer 2:20, Deu 12:2, 1Ki 11:3, 2Ki 23:13, Eze 16:16, Eze 16:24, Eze 16:25, Eze 20:28
In the: Gen 38:14, Pro 7:11, Pro 23:28, Eze 16:24, Eze 16:25
thou hast: Jer 3:1, Jer 3:9, Jer 2:7
Reciprocal: Lev 20:5 – whoring Num 14:33 – bear Psa 106:39 – went Pro 7:12 – General Pro 21:29 – hardeneth Isa 24:5 – defiled Isa 57:7 – General Isa 59:12 – our transgressions Jer 2:29 – will ye plead Jer 2:33 – Why Jer 3:13 – and hast scattered Jer 3:20 – so have Jer 11:13 – For according Jer 11:15 – seeing Jer 13:27 – thine adulteries Jer 14:10 – have they Jer 16:18 – they have defiled Eze 8:5 – lift Eze 21:24 – your transgressions Eze 36:17 – they defiled Mic 2:10 – because Zec 5:7 – is Act 2:11 – Arabians
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 3:2. The comparison between idolatry and adultery is a familiar one and it is continued in this verse. When any particular subject or fact is selected for the purpose of illustration, the terms used will generally lie those that are literally true of the illustration, even though the writer means the subject being illustrated. Thus the Lord calls attention of his unfaithful wife to the many high places (spots where idols were erected) where she has committed spiritual adultery. An Arabian wanders in territories where there are not many people, and If a woman desires the unrighteous experience there she will sit down and wait for a chance passerby, so eager is she for the corrupt act.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 3:2. Lift up thine eyes Do but look and consider whether I charge thee wrongfully or not; unto the high places The places of thy spiritual whoredoms or idolatries, their false gods being generally worshipped upon the hills and mountains, 2Ki 21:3. Thy idolatries have been so frequent that thou canst scarcely show a place where some false god has not been worshipped. In the ways hast thou sat for them To allure passengers. Thus the fondness of the people for idolatry is compared to the wantonness of a harlot, who lies in wait for men as for her prey; or, as the Arabian hides himself in the desert, to rob and spoil the unwary traveller. The Arabs, says Sir John Chardin, in a manuscript quoted by Harmer, wait for caravans with the most violent avidity, looking about them on all sides, raising themselves upon their horses, running hither and thither, to see if they can perceive any smoke, or dust, or tracks on the ground, or any other marks of people passing along. And with thy wickedness Not only with thy idolatries hast thou polluted the land, but with all thy other wicked courses.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3:2 Lift up thy eyes to the high places, and see where thou hast not been lain with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the {e} Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy harlotry and with thy wickedness.
(e) Who dwells in tent and waits for them that pass by to rob them.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Continuing the figure of Judah as a harlot, the Lord urged His people to look around. There was hardly a place they could see where they had not been unfaithful to Him by worshipping idols. They had pursued this evil as avidly as roadside harlots sought lovers (cf. Gen 38:14-23; Pro 7:12-15; Eze 16:25). Arabs of the desert waited along the wilderness routes and eagerly offered wares for sale to anyone who passed by. They also sometimes hid in ambush to rob passing caravans. The similarly eager Israelites had polluted the land spiritually with their wicked harlotry.